Briefing

THE WEEK

WORLD LEADERS MET IN DAVOS

Overstock.com

Praised for becoming the first major e-tailer to accept Bitcoin

GOOD WEEK

BAD WEEK

Amazon

Criticized for hosting malware distributors on its cloud servers

‘A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of a sheep. ‘

RICHARD SHERMAN, Seattle Seahawks cornerback, after his team beat the San Francisco 49ers to win the NFC championship; he was addressing 49ers wideout Michael Crabtree, who had criticized Sherman’s field skills

95%

Percentage of ATMs that still operate using Windows XP, which came out in 2001

$80,000+

Amount the Jamaican bobsledding team raised in order to be able to compete at the Sochi Olympics

‘I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it.’

POPE FRANCIS, in a statement read to the business and political leaders assembled at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland; he pushed for better care for the poor

‘This is a generation which knows no fear. It is the generation of the missile, the tunnel and the suicide operations.’

ISMAIL HANIYA, Hamas Prime Minister, making veiled threats toward Israel during his speech at a Hamas training-program graduation ceremony for 13,000 teenagers in the Gaza Strip

‘I DON’T THINK IT IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN ALCOHOL.’

BARACK OBAMA, to the New Yorker, on marijuana use, endorsing the laws legalizing it in Colorado and Washington–though he has told his daughters he thinks smoking pot is “a bad idea”

600

Number of ants aboard the International Space Station for a behavior-monitoring experiment

‘It was used as a term of endearment toward my son, who is white.’

MADONNA, apologizing for using the N word in an Instagram caption. “It was not meant as a racial slur,” she added. “I am not a racist.”

Sources: New Yorker; Times of Israel; CNN; Twitter; World Economic Forum Blog