• An Irish government report published evidence of state funding and regulation of the Magdalene laundries — commercial operations that never paid wages to inmates. Prime Minister Enda Kenny did not issue a full state apology.
• Patti Waldmeir went to help migrant workers trying to get home for Chinese new year, but found they didn’t need her because “this most traditional of holidays is increasingly falling prey to package tour mongers, who unaccountably think people should enjoy their time off work (preferably in Bali or Paris), rather than spending it listening to relatives fight and elders ask when they plan to procreate.
• Europe’s ambitions to launch transatlantic trade talks have been disappointed by Washington’s reluctance to commit to negotiations.
• Lev Grossman buys himself a personal drone and looks at how they are transforming work as well as wars.
• Ezra Klein examines the intricacies of the filibuster: ” No President in American history has seen his initiatives filibustered with anything even approaching the frequency with which the tactic has been used against Obama.”
• Xi Jinping has a new admirer who follows him so ardently that they are scooping even the state media.
• STYLE FLASH: beards are the new black in the Arab and Muslim world — Ashraf Khalil explains why facial hair is more than just a style choice.

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