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Quartz Daily Brief—Czechs vote, Japan stimulus, Chinese vegetables, Justin Bieber

What to watch for today

Czechs get to choose their own president for the first time. Voting begins in the Czech Republic’s first direct presidential election (previous incumbents were chosen by parliament). The frontrunners to succeed the rabidly euro-skeptical Vaclav Klaus are former prime ministers Milos Zeman and Jan Fischer.

France to help Mali quash rebels. French president François Hollande is to respond to a plea from Dioncounda Traore, his Malian counterpart, for assistance countering Islamist rebels who captured the central city of Konna on Thursday. The UN Security Council meanwhile called for the “swift deployment” of international forces to push back the rebels.

US transport officials address Dreamliner problems. Officials will discuss a series of recent incidents involving Boeing’s new 787 jet, the world’s first airliner with a carbon composite body and that uses lithium-ion batteries. In the latest incidents, All Nippon Airways today said oil leaked from the engine of one plane and a cockpit windscreen cracked on another. This followed three incidents involving ANA and Japan Airlines earlier in the week.

Ireland’s turn to preside over the squabbling of the EU. Ireland takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union for a term of six months. The cost of hosting the presidency is more widely known than the function of it: holding the launch event will cost Ireland €70 million.

Obama welcomes Karzai. US President Barack Obama meets Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss US troop withdrawal plans and subsequent US assistance.

While you were sleeping

Japan approved a ¥10.3 trillion stimulus… The new spending for the year ending in March involves construction projects, subsidies for corporate product development, and overseas acquisitions and loan guarantees for small companies. Funding will include new bond sales of ¥5 trillion ($56.2 billion). We recently analyzed Japan’s stimulus plans.

while Abe grumbled at China. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said China was wrong to allow Japanese-owned shops and factories to be damaged in protests over a territorial dispute.

Chinese inflation reared its head in the cold. The consumer price index rose 2.5% from a year ago, driven by rising costs for vegetables and meat amid a harsh winter. It’s up from 2% in November. The producer price index declined 1.9%, improving from November’s 2.2% annual fall and signaling pressure on profits may be easing for Chinese companies.

Infosys fights off the blues. India’s second largest software services group beat analyst expectations by keeping its fourth quarter profit flat at 23.7 billion rupees ($435 million). With the signing of new contracts, the company raised its revenue growth forecast for the year ending in March to 6.6%.

People got tablets for Christmas. US shipments of personal computers fell 6.4% in the fourth quarter, the first holiday season drop since 2001, despite a sales push for new models featuring Microsoft Windows 8. Global shipments fell 3.2% for the year.

Wal-Mart India venture fires its fixers. Bharti Walmart, the US discount retailer’s Indian wholesale joint venture, and its sister company, Bharti Retail, have dropped about two dozen consulting firms that were helping secure the up to 51 licenses required to open each store around the country. Wal-Mart is probing allegations of bribery involving the joint venture.

Kashmir border links closed. Pakistan suspended trade and bus services across the tense Kashmir frontier with India, after a series of incidents this week led to the death of soldiers from each side.

Quartz obsession interlude

Steve Levine with six geopolitical predictions for 2013. ”Earlier this week, we presented the 14 rules of global events, a Quartz algorithm for making sense of international news and creating your own scenario of what comes next. Now, we apply the rules to some of the biggest issues of 2013 and take a stab at predicting what lies ahead. We do not claim divining powers, only a vantage point on the news based on history and the observation that events seem generally to follow a set of rules.” Read more here.

Matters of debate

Apple is in the clear. Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that is one of Apple’s biggest manufacturers, is looking into allegations its staff accepted bribes in China. But America’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) only looks at bribes paid, not received.

Money does buy happiness. People with more money report higher well-being, at least up to the top 10% of earners.

The cheap smartphone is upon us. Apple was rumored this week to be working on a cut-price iPhone; and other smartphone makers that focus on higher-end markets are doing the same.

What constitution? The biggest problem with Egypt’s new constitution, which provides defenses against tyranny, is that it will probably be ignored.

Predictions for the next 150 years. Most likely for 2013: China’s Great Firewall won’t keep up with its citizens and Pinterest gets bought by Google. Most likely for 2062: You can choose your kids’ genes, world population peaks, and there’s a building over 10km (6 miles) high. And for 2162: We live to be 150.

Surprising discoveries

The US Fed made more money than Apple and Exxon combined. Thanks to bond buying to support the economy, the US central bank earned $89 billion in profit last year, all of which goes to the Treasury.

South Korean weddings disappearing. The country of 49 million registered an all-time low 309,000 marriages last year.

You shouldn’t fear flying. You need to take about 5.3 million flights on average to be in a plane accident.

But maybe you should worry about being kidnapped. Kidnappings for ransom, a crime associated mostly with Latin America, is becoming common across the developing world.

Biggest messaging app censors all users. WeChat, an app from China’s Tencent that has nearly 300 million registered users, is blocking the use of sensitive topical Chinese terms even between users in other countries.

Justin Bieber is a financial adviser. Bieber was named “best celebrity financial strategist” of 2012 and is promoting a prepaid debt card with BillMyParents.com—though with a net worth of more than $110 million, he’s not the kind of guy who would use one.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, 2013 predictions and imitations of Jack Lew’s signature to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates during the day.

Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief here, tailored for morning delivery in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

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