Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The European Central Bank weighs in. With the French election imminent, the ECB is not expected to make any major moves, but traders will be watching for any shifts in tone of the bank’s assessment of the euro zone economy and hints about future tapering.
A big day for tech earnings. Analysts expect Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to post an impressive 21% increase in revenue, to $20.02 billion, though they’ll also be watching for signs that advertisers are abandoning YouTube. Microsoft and Amazon will also report quarterly results.
Shinzo Abe sits down with Vladimir Putin. North Korea will be on the agenda when the Russian and Japanese leaders meet in Moscow—but so will sea urchin and scallop cultivation in the islands off the coast of Hokkaido that are claimed by both countries.
While you were sleeping
Trump proposed dramatic tax cuts… The US president’s proposal was short on details and hastily arranged to land during his first 100 days in office; it would result in a dramatic increase in the federal budget deficit. If approved by Congress—a long shot at this point—his plan would slash corporate tax rates and eliminate taxes that mostly affect the wealthy.
…And prepared to pull out of NAFTA. An executive order ending US participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement could be issued as early as this week, according to media reports. Nationalist Trump advisors Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon are reportedly spearheading the effort, along with recent crackdowns on Canadian goods.
Didi Chuxing is raising more than $5 billion in new funding. The new cash from investors including Softbank would give Didi a valuation of $50 billion, making it the second-most valuable startup in the world after Uber. Didi was worth an implied $25 billion after its previous round in June.
Turkey purged its police force. The government detained about 1,000 cops and suspended 9,000 more for suspected links to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who it has accused of organizing last year’s attempted coup. With the latest arrests, nearly 50,000 people have been detained in all.
France cited proof of Assad’s involvement in a chemical weapons attack. French officials said samples from a deadly sarin gas bombing in Syria bore “the signature” of president Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons program. The independent French investigation is the strongest evidence yet directly linking the Assad regime to the attack that killed at least 86 people.
Quartz obsession interlude
Katherine Foley on how science got it wrong about fat. “The authors of the review don’t specifically say why there’s been a reporting bias around the risk of cholesterol, fats, and heart health. But they do make a point to say there’s ‘no business model or market’ for promoting good diet and exercise. … The global market for statins, the drugs that lower LDL cholesterol, was $20.5 billion in 2011.” Read more here.
Markets haiku
Trump’s tax plan: Something / For everyone. And a lot/ For the very rich.
Matters of debate
Queens are more likely to wage war than kings. And married queens are more bellicose than unmarried ones.
Pre-muddied expensive jeans are a symptom of “the war on work.” For $425, the wealthy don’t have to get their hands or pants dirty.
Communism can save us from climate change. Totalizing threats demand a totalitarian response.
Surprising discoveries
Donald Trump has a special red button to request a soda. The Oval Office device is not to be confused with the one that could start a nuclear war.
A security robot was assaulted in Silicon Valley. An intoxicated man knocked over the Knightscope K5 and was promptly arrested by (human) police.
Amazon’s new gadget judges your fashion sense, or lack thereof. The $200 Echo camera uses machine learning to analyze your daily clothing choices.
Humans may have arrived in the Americas 130,000 years ago. Controversial research posits that people lived in California 115,000 years earlier than is commonly accepted.
Baby whales whisper to their mothers. The faint squeaks and grunts are designed to prevent eavesdropping by predatory orcas.
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