Let the games begin

Markets: Canada’s main stock index rose yesterday on surging mineral shares. Meanwhile, Wall Street indexes fell amid a mini tech sell-off, with titans like Nvidia, Alphabet, and Microsoft all dropping.

The days may be short, the sidewalks in constant need of shovelling, but at least we finally have the Olympics to carry us through the rest of winter. 

Driving the news: The Milano-Cortina Winter Games officially begin today (though the opening ceremony isn’t until Friday) with alpine skiing and mixed doubles curling. Projections have Canada finishing in a respectable fourth place in total medals with 27, including 10 gold. 

These are the events and athletes you're going to want to keep an eye on: 

Bottom line: Canadians are feeling particularly patriotic these days, which will not only make for some loud cheers (and boos) at home, but some extra fun competition for the athletes over the next two weeks. If the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament last year was any indication, things could get particularly chippy between Canada and the U.S.—LA

French authorities raid X’s Paris office. Cybercrime prosecutors raided the office as part of a probe opened last year. It was initially focused on the social media site’s algorithm but has since expanded to investigate sexualized deepfakes made by the Grok chatbot (which is still happening, FYI). The authorities also summoned X owner Elon Musk for an interview. (CNN)

Ottawa considers bringing back EV rebates. Sources told CBC News the feds are looking at bringing back consumer incentives to promote EV sales, though it's unclear yet what form it might take. Ottawa canned a program that offered up to $5,000 toward an EV purchase last year, and also enacted a one-year pause on its EV sales mandate. (CBC News)  

Ottawa is also considering expanding the Port of Churchill. The feds are discussing plans to expand the Manitoba port, one of Canada’s only hubs with direct access to the Arctic, and turn it into a year-round trade hub. Currently, it operates for only four months of the year. (CTV News)

Walmart joins Club Trillion. The retailer’s market cap eclipsed US$1 trillion yesterday, making it the 12th company to surpass that mark and one of just three non-tech companies. Suffice to say that new CEO John Furner is having a pretty good first week. (CNBC) 

Spain is the latest country to propose a youth social media ban. The country’s plan would block kids under 16 from accessing social media, as well as introduce new laws against “harmful content” on platforms. (BBC News)

China bans Tesla-style concealed door handles on EVs, citing safety concerns. We’d support this change here. There’s nothing worse than when your rideshare home from the bar is a Tesla and you can’t remember how to open a damn door. (Guardian)—QH

If benefits are confusing, health becomes reactive by default.

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Execs from Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery were in the hot seat yesterday, defending the proposed merger of the two companies in front of a U.S. Senate antitrust committee. 

Driving the news: The thrust of Netflix’s argument for why the deal isn’t anti-competitive is that the purview of antitrust regulators is too limited. Netflix isn’t just competing with other streamers, you see, it’s competing with anything that catches a viewers’ attention, including social media. 

Zoom out: Netflix faces other challenges. A group called the Oversight Project has passed a report around the halls of power accusing Netflix of being a purveyor of left-wing propaganda looking to “build the biggest political and ideology messaging machine in human history.” 

Why it matters: The fate of the deal, in the U.S. at least, will come down to the Department of Justice. However, the Senate and Trump — who said he will “be involved” in the review and claimed to be worried about a potential monopoly — will both be able to exert great influence.

Our take: If the Netflix-WB merger goes through, some unsavoury stuff will have likely happened. First, regulators accept Netflix’s argument, which could have catastrophic consequences for future antitrust suits. Second, Netflix will likely have to kowtow to Trump in some capacity, another indicator of a new era of crony capitalism. Neither of these are great developments.—QH

✈️ 987. Days that it takes on average to get an air passenger complaint resolved in Canada. The endless backlog of complaints has left travellers waiting nearly three years to get compensated by airlines for flight delays or cancellations.

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Get over the midweek blahs with a little help from the mini-crossword and the daily sudoku.

And then, test your mental mettle with Codebreakers.