Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Donald Trump addresses Congress for the first time. The president will call for a big boost in military spending (paywall), and markets will be listening for details on tax reforms and other budget priorities. The speech will be broadcast live during US primetime.
Apple holds its annual shareholder meeting. Investors have plenty of reasons to be happy: Shares closed at their highest price ever earlier this month. This will likely be the last meeting at Apple’s old Cupertino digs before it moves to a new spaceship-shaped headquarters.
A crucial update on the US economy. Fourth-quarter GDP figures are expected to be revised up to a 2.1% year-on-year increase, which could convince Fed officials to hike interest rates “fairly soon.”
While you were sleeping
Samsung’s heir-apparent will be indicted for paying $36 million in bribes. Prosecutors will press charges against Lee Jae-yong for bribery, embezzlement, hiding assets abroad, and perjury. The Korean tech giant shut down its central Corporate Strategy Office in response to its involvement in this seemingly endless scandal, which started with the impeachment of the country’s president, Park Geun-hye, last year.
The Russian stock market caught a Trump-induced cold. Moscow’s Micex index, which had soared on hopes that the US president would ease sanctions, has slumped this month. In fact, the Russian market is set to be the world’s worst performer in February, as Trump’s chummy rapport with Vladimir Putin may not be backed by meaningful action.
Malaysia said it would charge two women with Kim Jong-nam’s murder. The suspects (one Vietnamese, the other from Indonesia) will face the death penalty if convicted of the assassination of the North Korean leader’s half-brother. Kim is believed to have been killed with a dose of deadly VX nerve agent. A North Korean delegation arrived in Malaysia today to take Kim’s body home.
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross was approved as Trump’s commerce secretary. The former banker, known as a “vulture” investor for his buyouts of troubled companies, is among the wealthiest 250 people in the US. Ross agreed to divest most of his personal holdings before taking office, and step down as a director at the Bank of Cyprus, which has ties to Russia.
Quartz obsession interlude
Devjyot Ghoshal on Trump’s infuriating silence over an Indian engineer’s murder: “By choosing not to openly condemn the attack in Kansas at a time when the US is deeply divided along racial lines, Trump risks giving the impression that he cares little for America’s influential Indian immigrants—or Indians in general.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The moon deserves to be a planet. A new paper argues it is geophysics, not orbit, that should determine planetary status.
Bots don’t need a gender. Assigning male and female names to digital assistants unnecessarily reflects entrenched gender roles in society.
Will democracy survive Big Data and AI? Smart cities, factories, and homes do not automatically imply smarter nation-states.
Surprising discoveries
A Mumbai-based startup made a low-level employee a rupee millionaire. The sale of Citrus Pay netted an errand runner about $75,000 in stock options.
Humans and dolphins share a skill. Blind and sighted people alike can be trained to echolocate their surroundings with tongue clicks.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg has the world’s most important personal trainer. He keeps the 83-year-old US Supreme Court justice in shape and out of retirement.
Alphabet’s hate-fighting AI doesn’t understand hate. “Perspective,” a tool to fight online hate speech, is struggling to identify it.
Spain appointed a special commissioner to encourage baby-making. Edelmira Barreira Diz will work to understand why Spain’s death rate is outstripping its birth rate.
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