Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
Trump and May put their heads together. The UK prime minister has wryly noted that “sometimes opposites attract” as she prepares to visit DC, where a joint press conference is scheduled for Friday. They’ll discuss trade, foreign policy and security; May suggested intelligence sharing may be curtailed if the US endorses torture.
Millions travel home for the Chinese new year. Planes, trains, cars and boats will carry around 83 million people to celebrate the holiday with their families. The world’s biggest annual migration is also notable for the gifts being hauled—from kilos of meat to flatscreen TVs.
“Ethical hackers” battle it out in Tokyo. Japan’s annual security contest, known as Seccon, features dozens of programmers trying to find cybersecurity flaws.
While you were sleeping
Mexico’s president bailed on a US summit… Enrique Peña Nieto called off his trip to DC, putting US-Mexico relations into an ugly stalemate. Trump had threatened to cancel it himself if Mexico did not consider paying for his border wall.
…and Trump floated a 20% tax on Mexican imports. Hours after Peña’s cancellation, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the measure would raise $10 billion per year to pay for border barrier. Such a tax, which would need congressional approval, basically means that US consumers would pay for the wall.
Alphabet missed expectations. Google’s parent company came up short with its quarterly profit after earning less per click from advertisers than analysts had forecast. Investors are worried that the company’s growth in mobile and video ad sales has peaked.
Johnson & Johnson picked up a huge new subsidiary. The healthcare giant splashed out $30 billion to buy Switzerland’s Actelion, the biggest biotech company in Europe. The move adds a range of high-priced medicines to J&J’s portfolio.
Ford posted a fourth-quarter loss. After nixing plans for a factory in Mexico and changing its pensions accounting, the auto-company lost $783 million in the last three months of 2016. The factory abandonment cost $200 billion.
The Doomsday clock ticked toward midnight. The world is closer to self-destruction than at any time since the 1950s, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. The group cited Trump’s denial of climate change and willingness to engage in a nuclear arms race.
Quartz obsession interlude
Aamna Mohdin on the European far-right leaders who want to make Europe great again: “With crucial elections in France, the Netherlands, and Germany this year, Trump’s victory has given these far-right leaders hope for a united strategy to inflict Trump-like devastation on European political elites.” Read more here.
Quartz markets haiku
Sales of hard liquor
are booming. Is anyone
Terribly surprised?
Matters of debate
A ban on Syrian refugees will mean losing the war on terror. It would fuel European anti-immigrant movements and boost recruitment for jihadist groups.
Donald Trump’s trade policy was debunked 200 years ago. Adam Smith conclusively proved that mercantilism doesn’t work.
Neuroscience has the solution to the opioid epidemic. Researchers are trying to disconnect pain relief from addiction.
Surprising discoveries
Your hotel thermostat is a lie. Companies override the settings to save money on electricity.
Finland’s adorable “baby boxes” are coming to America. They’re filled with infant gear and double as cribs.
Fake Trump tweets are a Chinese internet sensation. More than a million have been created in the last four days.
Scientists created metallic hydrogen by squashing a gas between diamonds. Strange things happen when super-cold atoms get intimate.
McDonald’s is launching a Big Mac vending machine. It may be an omen of our dystopian roboburger future.
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