Day 2: 2019 World Economic Forum

Brazil’s newly elected president, Jair Bolsonaro, laid out the welcome mat for big business and foreign investors at a summit with CEOs in Davos. The former army captain-turned-right-wing-politician said he would work to open up Brazil’s relatively closed economy, cut and simplify taxes, privatize state companies and arm his new justice minister with tools to tackle corruption.

Britain’s Prince William, switching chairs for a star turn as an interviewer, took up what he called world leaders’“faltering” steps to tackle environmental challenges with David Attenborough. “We are now so numerous, so powerful, so all-pervasive,” the 92-year-old TV naturalist said. “That we can actually exterminate whole ecosystems without even noticing it.”

As businessmen and bankers sip their coffee and admire the Swiss Alps, a disturbing scene is unfolding in the parking lot below: men with guns are ordering people onto their knees and stealing their watches. It's part of an hour-long simulation at the World Economic Forum: “A Day in the Life of a Refugee.”

“Zimbabwe is the best buy in Africa right now,” said the country’s finance minister in an interview with Reuters in Davos. Mthuli Ncube painted an optimistic outlook for his country, despite recent protests over fuel prices that human rights groups say have left at least a dozen people dead.

With little time left until Britain is due to leave the European Union, there is no agreement in London on how and even whether it should leave the world’s biggest trading bloc. So with little time to spare the British Trade Minister Liam Fox will use his time in Davos to meet international trade ministers hoping to replicate around 40 EU free trade agreements by the time Britain leaves the bloc.

United States

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell laid the groundwork for a vote on a Democratic proposal to fund the government for three weeks, without attaching the $5.7 billion U.S.-Mexico border wall funding demanded by President Trump. McConnell said he would also bring up for a vote a proposal by Trump to end the shutdown that includes border wall funding and relief for people brought illegally to the United States as children.

Google disclosed in a quarterly filing that it spent a company-record $21.2 million on lobbying the U.S. government in 2018, topping its previous high of $18.22 million in 2012, as the search engine operator fights wide-ranging scrutiny into its practices. In its filing to Congress, Facebook disclosed that it also spent more on government lobbying in 2018 than it ever had before at $12.62 million. That was up from $11.51 million a year ago, according to tracking by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Hundreds of U.S. military helicopter pilots have taken attractive offers from domestic airlines trying ease a global pilot shortage. A wave of pending retirements at major U.S. airlines, and Federal Aviation Administration rules that increased the number of required training hours has turned the market for pilots into one of the tightest corners of the American economy.

Chasing a milestone 24th Grand Slam title, Serena Williams squandered four match points and blew a 5-1 lead in the deciding set as seventh seed Karolina Pliskova produced an monumental fightback to claim a historic quarter-final victory over the American at the Australian Open.

World

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro responded to comments made on Tuesday by the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence who gave his support to Venezuela’s opposition and called Maduro a “dictator with no legitimate claim to power.” Maduro said he had ordered a “revision” of diplomatic relations with the United States.

Hong Kong introduced a controversial bill to lawmakers that suggests jail terms of up to three years for disrespecting the Chinese national anthem, a move many critics say raises fresh fears over freedom of expression in the city.

Two @Reuters journalists have been imprisoned in Myanmar for 408 days. See full coverage: https://reut.rs/2Qc7QFT

4:09 AM - 23 Jan 2019