Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
NASA unveils exoplanets. The US space agency is holding a news conference at 1pm ET to present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun. The event airs live on NASA Television and nasa.gov, and will be followed by a Reddit Q&A. Researchers say we’re in a “golden age” of exoplanet discovery.
A glimpse at the Fed’s inner monologue. The US Federal Reserve releases the minutes of its first meeting of 2017, where it held interest rates steady after raising them in December. Economists will be looking for clues about the next possible rate hike—its next meeting is in mid-March—and how it might shrink its balance sheet.
Tesla’s report card. The electric car company will report fourth-quarter earnings, after a surprise profit in the third quarter. Analysts are expecting a $160 million loss, and will be looking for Tesla to justify its $44 billion market capitalization. CEO Elon Musk is also expected to give an update on Tesla’s many projects, including its new Model 3, the Solar City acquisition, and the updated Autopilot.
While you were sleeping
The plot thickened in the Kim Jong-nam murder. Malaysian authorities said someone had tried to break into the morgue where the body of the North Korean leader’s half brother is still being held and demanded to question a senior official from the North Korean embassy. Three people have been arrested and seven are being sought in connection with Kim’s death. Officials also dismissed claims that the assassins thought they were playing a prank.
Airbus profit took a nosedive. The European aerospace group reported a 66% fall in full-year profit from the previous year due mainly to incurring $1.2 billion in costs for its troubled A400M military transport program (paywall). Meanwhile, falling demand for jumbo jets as airlines bank on frequent, smaller flights is forcing Airbus to produce the A380 at a loss.
Germany’s renewable energy boom battered RWE. The utility company announced a $4.5 billion writedown across its plants in the UK, Netherlands, Turkey, and Germany. A glut of energy in Germany, caused by an increase in wind and solar power, have driven power prices in the country down by 40% in the past five years. RWE warned its 2016 earnings would suffer.
Mexico announced $20 billion in currency hedges. Policymakers hope the move will curb the peso’s volatility, which hit record lows against the US dollar amid Trump’s threats to impose trade barriers on Mexican goods. On Wednesday morning, the peso was holding steady at a three-month high against the dollar, but some analysts told the FT it was due to “desperate measures” taken to prop up the currency (paywall).
Ex-Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang was sentenced to 20 months in prison. A jury found him guilty of undeclared conflicts of interest, including a luxury flat in mainland China he leased from a broadcaster whose license applications he approved. Tsang, who served as chief executive from 2005 to 2012, is the territory’s highest-ranking official ever to stand trial for corruption.
Quartz obsession interlude
Ana Campoy on the bureaucratic backwater of US immigration courts. “The troubling potential for abuse in the system existed long before Trump won election. Critics of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, including its judges, say its very design makes it prone to mismanagement under any White House administration.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Catastrophe is a powerful antidote to inequality. History is rife with examples of massive violent shocks putting an end to wealth disparities.
Facebook is already too powerful. Mark Zuckerberg’s suggestion that the social network could be used for political ends is proof that it needs to be regulated.
Americans aren’t that attached to democracy. Public support for democratic governance and the rule of law has been waning for some time.
Surprising discoveries
Life expectancy is poised to hit 90 by 2030. South Korean women will be the first to break the average life-expectancy barrier thanks to their healthy lifestyles.
The Icelandic president got into trouble over Hawaiian pizza. Guõni Th. Jóhannesson had to publicly backtrack on his comments that he would like to ban tropical fruit on pizza.
New Zealand might be the tip of a hidden continent. Most of the 2 million square miles comprising “Zealandia” lie beneath the Pacific Ocean.
SpaceX’s rocket booster is actually a giant robot. The rocket is able to steer itself back to earth without any assistance.
A slave mailed himself to freedom. Henry ‘Box’ Brown hid inside a wooden crate for 27 hours to escape a plantation in North Carolina.
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