Quartz Daily Brief—Charlie Hebdo suspect siege, Sri Lanka’s presidential surprise, Santander’s cushion, billion-dollar divorce check

Good morning, Quartz readers! What to watch for today The Charlie Hebdo suspects have taken a hostage. Two brothers suspected of killing 12 people in Paris have taken at least one person captive. They are holed up in a building in the town of Dammartin-en-Goële, near Charles de Gaulle airport, that is surrounded by police, according to AFP. India gets a new airline. Vistara, a premium-priced joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata, takes to the sky with a fleet of Airbus A320 planes that will travel between Mumbai, Delhi, and Ahmedabad. São Paulo braces for bus fare protests. Brazil’s Free Pass movement, which organized a large-scale 2013 protest against an increase in bus fares (paywall), plans to protest another recent fare hike. Some 21,000 people have pledged to attend on the event’s Facebook page. Jobs and inflation data from the Americas. The US December jobs report is expected to show payrolls grew by 240,000 and that unemployment fell to 5.7% from 5.8%. Canada also reports December jobs, after a small decline in November. Brazil publishes its inflation data for the month, and analysts expect that consumer prices rose more slowly, to end the year within the government’s 6.5% upper tolerance limit. While you were sleeping Europe’s largest bank added a $9 billion cushion. Spain’s Santander sold €7.5 billion ($8.88 billion) worth of additional sharesand cut its dividend to bolster its balance sheet, bringing its capital reserves in line with its European peers. Santander shares fell 10% in early trading. Japan approved a $26 billion stimulus package… The 3.1 trillion-yen addition to the budget will be spent on subsidies, shopping vouchers, and cleaning up after natural disasters. The government said it will fund the package with tax revenue and unspent budgets from previous governments. …And the European Central Bank mulled a bold move. Policymakers are considering plans for €500 billion ($591 billion) in government bond purchases, according to Bloomberg, which could provide the full-blown quantitative easing that many believe is necessary to break the euro zone out of its long malaise. Sri Lanka’s president conceded defeat. Mahinda Rajapaksacongratulated his victorious opponent and one-time ally, Maithripala Sirisena, who scored a surprise election victory. Rajapaksa lost popularity when he attempted to scrap term limits and increase his power over the judiciary, and also created a high-profile alliance with China. Thailand’s junta tried to impeach an already-ousted prime minister. The military-appointed parliament weighed accusations that Yingluck Shinawatra neglected her duty by running a disastrous rice subsidy program; a guilty verdict could result in a five-year ban from politics. “I have no position left to be removed from,” Yingluck said in her defense. Starbucks’s #2 executive is taking a “coffee break/sabbatical.”Chief operating officer Troy Alstead, seen as a possible CEO candidate, will take unpaid leave starting in March to “spend more time with his family,” according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. Analysts expect the company to fall short of fourth-quarter estimates, but CEO Howard Schultz said any suggestion of a link with the company’s finances was “false, off-base, and irresponsible.” Pings were detected in the Air Asia search. Indonesian officials said the radio signals may have come from the downed plane’s flight recorder, which appears to have separated from the plane’s recently located tail section. The fuselage, thought to contain most of the bodies of those aboard, has yet to be found. China’s inflation neared a five-year low. Consumer prices rose only 1.5% in December year-on-year, raising concerns of deflation in 2015 and adding more pressure on the government to introduce stimulus measures. Producer prices also fell for the 34th consecutive month. Quartz obsession interlude Heather Timmons on China’s bailout of global oil producers. “Oil-exporting nations are facing budget crises, political instability and social upheaval thanks to the cratering of crude oil prices in recent weeks. Enter China. Despite an economic slowdown of its own—which has been a factor in plunging oil prices—Beijing is stumping up billions of dollars in loans to many of these countries, in exchange for what some analysts warn are tough terms that could cripple future economic recoveries.” Read more here. Matters of debate Ahmed Merabet is a hero. The French policeman died defending Charlie Hebdo’s right to ridicule his religion. Free speech does not mean freedom from criticism. Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons are often virulently racist. The US media are selective about what they deem “terrorism.”The bombing of an NAACP office was virtually ignored. Technology may be killing the jewelry industry. Gadgets have replaced bling as the ultimate status symbol. Surprising discoveries The jet stream is accelerating flights from New York to London. A British Airways 777 crossed the Atlantic in just five hours, 16 minutes. An oil magnate’s ex-wife cashed a billion-dollar divorce check. Sue Ann Arnall seems to have changed her mind about a $975 million settlement. Russia has banned transgender people from driving. The government blames them for causing accidents. A cyberattack inflicted “massive” physical damage in Germany. Hackers took over a steel mill’s furnace. The most-requested photo in the US National Archive is: Richard Nixon shaking hands with Elvis. Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, sabbatical applications, and billion-dollar checks tohi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day. You’re getting the Americas edition of the Quartz Daily Brief. 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