'Brazil's Storm'
What You Need To Know
Today’s posts that caught my eye:
‘First good news of 2023’: families, friends reunite as Hong Kong-mainland China border reopens after 3 years of coronavirus curbs.
Sweden said Turkey is demanding concessions that Stockholm cannot give to approve its application to join NATO as the prime minister insisted the country had done all it could to meet Ankara’s concerns.
Check out BMW’s color-changing concept car in action.
Know someone who should check out the newsletter? Let them!
The World
Thousands of radical supporters of Brazil’s former far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, stormed and vandalized the country’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential office building before being pushed back by security forces, in an episode that paralleled the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The attacks in the capital city came only a week after the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in a runoff election in October. They amounted to one of the worst attacks against democracy in Brazil since the 1964 military coup. A visibly irritated president Lula condemned the “abominable” acts and said all those involved would be investigated and punished “with all the strength of the law.” He also blamed Bolsonaro for encouraging the attacks by repeatedly questioning the integrity of the electoral process. (Washington Post)
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said that ousted Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro should be extradited from Florida after his radical supporters attacked key government institutions in Brasília over the weekend following his election loss. (Washington Post)
Facing various investigations from his time in office, Jair Bolsonaro is believed to be holed up in Florida. (New York Times)
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived at the country’s presidential Planalto Palace in Brasília late Sunday, inspecting damage after it was stormed by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro. (Wall Street Journal)
Sweden said Turkey is demanding concessions that Stockholm cannot give to approve its application to join NATO as the prime minister insisted the country had done all it could to meet Ankara’s concerns. Ulf Kristersson, the new centre-right leader, on Sunday threw down the gauntlet to Turkey in the clearest indication yet from Stockholm that it could no do no more to help persuade Turkey to drop its opposition to Sweden and neighboring Finland joining the western military alliance. “Turkey confirms that we have done what we said we would do. But they also say that they want things that we can’t and won’t give them. So the decision is now with Turkey,” Kristersson told a Swedish defense conference. (Financial Times)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against criticism of his coalition’s proposed controversial judicial overhaul, saying that the overhaul would strengthen democracy rather than hasten its end and that his government was carrying out the will of the people. “The justice minister presented the first stage of the planned reform. The claim that this reform is the end of democracy is baseless,” said Netanyahu at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. Netanyahu’s comments came a day after the plans were attacked by a former Supreme Court president, and thousands demonstrated in Tel Aviv against them. (Times of Israel)
Israel's Ben-Gvir tells police to remove Palestinian flags from public space. (Reuters)
China reopens borders in final farewell to zero-COVID: Investors hope the reopening will reinvigorate a $17-trillion economy, but the policy reversal has triggered a wave of infections that is overwhelming some hospitals and causing business disruptions. (Reuters)
‘First good news of 2023’: families, friends reunite as Hong Kong-mainland China border reopens after 3 years of coronavirus curbs. Provisional figures show total of 45,558 people crossed border by Sunday evening at four land ports and one ferry terminal, including 33,132 mainland-bound travelers. (South China Morning Post)
The US and Japanese armed forces are rapidly integrating their command structure and scaling up combined operations as Washington and its Asian allies prepare for a possible conflict with China such as a war over Taiwan, according to the top Marine Corps general in Japan. The two militaries have “seen exponential increases . . . just over the last year” in their operations on the territory they would have to defend in case of a war, Lieutenant General James Bierman, commanding general of the Third Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) and of Marine Forces Japan, told the Financial Times. Bierman said that the US and its allies in Asia were emulating the groundwork that had enabled western countries to support Ukraine’s resistance to Russia in preparing for scenarios such as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. (Financial Times)
President Biden visited the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time since taking office in the White House. He was greeted by Gov. Greg Abbott upon arrival at the El Paso airport. Abbott has been a chief critic of Biden’s immigration policies and has frequently called on him to visit the border over the past year as the number of migrant arrests has broken records. The two spoke briefly at the airport and separated ways. Abbott's office said he was not invited to attend the rest of the president's tour of El Paso. Asked about his conversation with Biden, Abbott told reporters, "He said he wanted to work with us on it." (Texas Tribune)
Three years after the novel coronavirus emerged, a new variant, XBB.1.5, is quickly becoming the dominant strain in parts of the U.S. because of a potent mix of mutations that makes it easier to spread broadly, including among those who have been previously infected or vaccinated. XBB.1.5, pegged by the World Health Organization as “the most transmissible” descendant yet of the omicron variant, rose from barely 2 percent of U.S. cases at the start of December to more than 27 percent the first week of January, according to new estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 70 percent of cases in the Northeast are believed to be XBB.1.5. (Washington Post)
GOP lawmaker open to letting C-SPAN cameras run free: The humble cable network that televises hours of daily, unfiltered federal government affairs had a moment in the spotlight during the votes for House speaker. (Politico)
California braces for 'parade of cyclones' after storms kill 7: More than 375,000 customers lost power in Northern California as the latest powerful winter storm pushed through the region, elevating the danger for flooding and bringing intense winds that downed trees. (Reuters, Los Angeles Times)
Natural gas prices in California are soaring: Wholesale prices for natural gas have gone through the roof, soaring higher than predicted for the month of January, and San Diego Gas & Electric officials warn customers with gas hookups to prepare for price shocks. The rate for natural gas has doubled compared with last month, with the price per therm jumping from $2.55 in December to $5.11 in January. (Los Angeles Times)
Economy
Wall Street Sets Low Bar for Corporate Earnings Season: The stock market faces its next big test this week with the kickoff of a corporate earnings season that is expected to be dominated by worries about inflation and the health of the economy. Analysts expect companies in the S&P 500 to report their first year-over-year decline in quarterly earnings since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, according to FactSet. Fourth-quarter profits are projected to have dropped 4.1%, a sharp reversal from the more than 31% growth logged a year earlier. (Wall Street Journal)
What Top Dealmakers Expect to See This Year in Health-Care M&A. (Bloomberg)
Economists Fret Over Perils Ahead for Global Growth: The world economy looks to be transitioning to a more difficult era where interest rates will be higher, geopolitical tensions greater and uncertainties more pronounced. That’s the message that emanated from this year’s annual meeting of the American Economic Association in New Orleans. Economic luminaries — including former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, ex-International Monetary Fund chief economist Kenneth Rogoff and former Bank of England policymaker Kristin Forbes — warned of perils ahead. (Bloomberg)
Goldman Sachs will start one of its biggest rounds of job cuts ever this week, as it locks in on a plan to eliminate about 3,200 positions. The financial services major is expected to begin the process mid-week and the total number of people affected will not exceed 3,200. (Bloomberg)
EY is setting aside $2.5bn to fund an acquisition spree for its consulting arm following its planned separation from the Big Four firm’s audit business, as it presses ahead with preparations for the historic split. The war chest will allow the new company, which EY is aiming to float in New York, to double the pace of dealmaking as it battles to win market share from its Big Four rivals and standalone consulting firms, according to people familiar with the plan. Bosses have also earmarked a budget of up to $400mn to be ploughed into building a new brand for the consulting business, which will no longer use the EY name after the split. (Financial Times)
The UAE business that went from obscurity to a $240bn valuation in 3 years: Three years ago, International Holding Company was a little known company that ran fish farms and food and real estate businesses. It employed just 40 people. Today, the Abu Dhabi-listed group’s market capitalisation of $240bn is more than double that of global giants Siemens and GE and it has a headcount of 150,000. It is an extraordinary transformation that has largely gone unnoticed outside the United Arab Emirates, and is little understood — even by bankers based in the region. “Nobody knows,” said one Gulf-based international banker when asked to explain IHC’s dramatic growth. It is a common response to questions about the conglomerate, despite it accounting for a third of the FADX 15, the benchmark index of the ADX Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. As its share price has soared 42,000 per cent since 2019, it has become the second largest listed company in the Middle East after Saudi Aramco, the state oil company. (Financial Times)
Technology
Tech Industry Reversal Intensifies With New Layoffs: Tech companies that grew rapidly during the pandemic are now reducing spending and staffing, sometimes more than once. (Wall Street Journal)
Qualcomm and satellite company Iridium Communications said they are introducing technology that would allow smartphone users to send and receive messages via satellite when regular cellular connectivity isn’t available. The partnership would initially make a satellite-based emergency service available for devices powered by Google’s Android operating system and containing Qualcomm’s premium chips. (Wall Street Journal)
Seattle’s public schools district has filed a lawsuit in the US against multiple major social media companies, accusing them of harming young people’s mental health across the country. The lawsuit accused the social media companies behind TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube of creating a “mental health crisis among America’s youth”. (The Guardian)
Battle to dethrone Tesla heats up just as Musk is distracted by Twitter: Tesla still owns the lion’s share of the U.S. electric-vehicle market, but it's declining thanks to a surge of competition. And there are signs that Musk could be accelerating Tesla’s fall. (Washington Post)
Check out BMW’s color-changing concept car in action: BMW’s E Ink-powered color-changing concept went from monochromatic to a veritable rainbow of various shades and tints in just a year. The automaker says the dazzling tech could be closer to production than you think. (The Verge)
Smart Links
Snowless slopes spoil winter skiing across Europe. (Reuters)
Deere to Allow Farmers to Repair Their Own Equipment. (Wall Street Journal)
Europe is looking to funnel heat generated by data centers to homes. (Wall Street Journal)
Musk’s Server Cuts at Twitter Could Inspire Other CEOs. (The Information)
Arizona inducing the labor of pregnant prisoners against their will. (AZ Central)
Why do you get sick in the winter? Blame your nose. (Wired)
‘There's nobody': Nurse shortage is hitting K-12 schools in Massachusetts. (WBUR)
Good News
Astronaut Leland Melvin chose to pose for his NASA portrait with his two dogs, Jake and Scout. (Goodable)
Just like they practiced:
Thank you for reading my newsletter. Know someone you think would like it?