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Quote of the Day

""It's better to be a lion for a day than a sheep for the rest of your life" - Elizabeth Kenny

Word of the Day

Epistemic - of or relating to knowledge or the conditions for acquiring it.

In the news...

Tech’s heavy-hitters report their earnings. . Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon are all expected to post a rise in earnings, although Wall Street historically tends to overestimate the latter’s fourth-quarter results. Alibaba’s results will indicate if the company’s overseas expansions (paywall) have paid off.

India unveils its 2018 budget.Finance minister Arun Jaitley is presenting Narendra Modi’s last full budget ahead of the 2019 general elections. It’s expected to reflect the nation’s efforts to reduce its deficit, while taxpayers will be looking for tax relief.

CBS discusses a merger with Viacom. CBS and Viacom, both controlled by the Redstone family, split into two separately traded companies in 2006; a proposed merger was called off in 2016. The CBS board could put together a committee today at a meeting to formally explore a potential deal.

Poland passed a controversial Holocaust bill. The country’s senate approved a bill that would make it illegal to accuse Poles of being complicit in the Holocaust, or describe concentration camps as Polish. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed opposition against the bill, accusing it of an attempt to alter history.

Facebook earnings crushed expectations. The tech giant beat fourth-quarter earnings and revenue, even as it said that people are spending less time on the platform. Mark Zuckerberg said 2017 was a “hard” year for Facebook, but that this year it’s focused on “making sure Facebook isn’t just fun to use, but also good for people’s well-being and for society.”

The US won’t deport 6,000 Syrians back home. The White House said it would extend (paywall) provisional residency to the Syrians, but those who arrived after Aug. 1, 2016 are still subject to potential deportation. The US took in 12,587 Syrian refugees during the government’s 2016 fiscal year but the Trump administration has admitted significantly fewer.

Mueller could zero in on White House communications director Hope Hicks. The New York Times reported (paywall) that a former spokesman for Donald Trump’s legal team will tell Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, about concerns that Hicks contemplated obstructing justice to cover up a meeting at Trump Tower where the topic of how to get dirt on Hillary Clinton from Russia was discussed.

And now a little Chill

Thinking Corner

Question

In anticpation of the potential Brexit bite, the British government will be reducing the corporate tax rate from 19% to 17% in order to maintian economic growth. Furthermore, a more dramatic tone took place in the USA under the tenour of Donald Trump's first year in offfice. An eye watering cut from 35% to 21% is expected to add an extra trillion dollars to the national debt over the next 10 years.