• ☝️ Giant pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao made their long-awaited public debut at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C., ahead of Lunar New Year this week.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 US markets rose last week (S&P: +1.7%; Dow: +2.2%; Nasdaq: +1.7%).
• 🤖 Meta plans to spend as much as $65 billion this year to expand its AI infrastructure, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Friday.
• 📱 The White House is in talks to have Oracle and US investors take over TikTok, according to NPR. | 📝 Perplexity submitted an updated bid for TikTok; US gov’t would have an up to 50% stake in the new entity.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with HISTORY Channel Trivia Game from Dyce Games

• 🏈🏆 Super Bowl LIX is set: The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Washington Commanders 55-23 to win the NFC Conference Championship, while the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills 32-29 to win the AFC; the Super Bowl is on February 9. | 🎾🏆 Australian Open winners: 19th-seed Madison Keys upset world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win her first Grand Slam title on the women’s side; world No.1 Jannik Sinner defeated Alexander Zverev to defend his Australian Open crown on the men’s side.
• 🙏 DJ Unk, the rapper who created the millennial childhood anthem “Walk It Out,” died at 43.
• 🍿 Flight Risk, directed by Mel Gibson and starring Mark Wahlberg, topped the domestic box office with $12 million in its opening weekend. | 🎤 Hans Zimmer, legendary film music composer, is reportedly in talks to recreate Saudi Arabia’s national anthem and collaborate on a few other projects for the kingdom.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 💉 Novo Nordisk’s new weight-loss drug, amycretin, helped patients lose up to 22% of their weight in early-stage clinical trials; the pharma giant’s stock closed up 8.5% on Friday following the news.
• 🦖📸 A new predatory dinosaur species was recently identified from old photos of a fossil that was destroyed by bombing during World War II.
• 🌿 Cannabidoil, the compound in cannabis known as CBD, was discovered in an entirely different plant species that’s common in Brazil; this Brazilian plant doesn’t contain THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis.

MISCELLANEOUS

in partnership with NoNetz

• ⚖️ Ross Ulbricht, the founder of dark web drug market Silk Road who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015, received a full pardon from President Trump.
• 🤝 Israel-Hamas ceasefire: Both sides reached an agreement early Sunday to release four Israeli hostages in exchange for ~200 Palestinian prisoners and for Israel to begin allowing displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.
• 🇩🇪 Friedrich Merz, the front-runner to become Germany’s new chancellor, proposed plans to clamp down on migration that prompted public protests; the bill is supported by Germany’s right-wing AfD party, who hosted Elon Musk for a virtual address on Saturday.

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TRUMP TRACKER

Note: Due to President Trump’s flurry of activity since taking office, we’ve created a new section for today to catch up on recent developments within his administration.

• 🏛️ Trump fired over a dozen independent inspector generals in charge of oversight at federal agencies
• 🇵🇸 Trump said he would like to see Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab countries take more Palestinian refugees; he also suggested a plan to “just clean out” Gaza and remove 1.5 million Palestinians.
• 🧾 Trump promised to fulfill his campaign pledge of eliminating federal taxes on tips.
• 🇨🇴 Trump said he will impose 25% tariffs on Colombian goods coming into the US in retaliation for the government’s rejection of two US flights carrying deported Colombians back home; per Trump, tariffs will rise to 50% in a week; here’s what could get more expensive as a result.

CLICKBAIT

• ✋🗣️ Five Takeaways From Bill Gates’s Interview With The Wall Street Journal.