What to watch for today
Tunisia clamps down on security after attack. The country’s president said he was deploying additional security troops to protect the largest cities, after ISIL claimed responsibility for the deadly museum attack earlier this week and warned of more pain ahead. The White House said it couldn’t confirm ISIL’s claim.
Putin visits Kazakhstan. Russia’s head of state will meet his Kazakh counterpart, as well as the president of Belarus, in a meeting rescheduled after Putin’s dramatic disappearance last week. The trio will discuss economic matters, according to the Kazakh presidential press service. Putin has previously made statements undermining Kazakhstan’s legitimacy.
Europe hosts gas talks between Ukraine and Russia. Brussels will bring together officials from the two countries to continue resolving a dispute over the price of Russian gas supplies sold to Ukraine. The temporary agreement brokered by the EU last year expires at the end of March.
Lufthansa pilot’s strike drags on. The strike that began Mar. 17 over retirement benefits for pilots enters its third day, after pilots staged a walk-out for long-haul flights. Today’s strike will affect short and medium-haul flights. Lufthansa said it would be able to fly 75% of flights across its carriers.
The sun will disappear. The solar eclipse commences at 8:45am GMT and will last for several hours. It will be visible across Europe, most of northern Africa, western Asia, and in parts of the Middle East. Most North Americans won’t get a glimpse.
While you were sleeping
GoDaddy said it plans to raise up to $400 million with its IPO. The domain registrar—known for its often scandalous Super Bowl commercials—recently updated SEC documents to say it intends to sell 22 million shares at between $17 and $19 a pop (paywall). GoDaddy filed for an IPO last June, but has yet to offer a potential date for the offering.
Huawei was named the #1 applicant for international patents last year. That’s according to a new report from the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization. The Chinese mobile infrastructure and device maker invests 10% of its revenue into research and development, putting it ahead of its closest competitor, Qualcomm, which filed the second most number of patents. Domestic rival ZTE came in third.
TAG Heuer teamed up with Google and Intel on a smartwatch. The biggest watch maker of French luxury maker LVMH says the device will be out during the final quarter of this year and be powered by an Intel chip. The device will square off with the Apple watch, slated to come out next month at a starting US price of $349.
Microsoft unveiled its cheapest smartphone yet. The company is going after first-time smartphone buyers, especially in emerging markets, with the $70 Lumia 430 Windows phone, a cut below its recently released $81 Lumia 435. In a bid to better compete with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, the phone will be released in April in Asia, India, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Belarus.
Tesla’s Model S will soon be able to drive itself around town. The electric carmaker detailed two software updates to its vehicles, to come later this year: The first, due imminently, will monitor how you drive and how to get to the closest charging station; the second will let the car “go between San Francisco and Seattle without the driver doing anything.”
Quartz obsession interlude
Jonah Goodman on an upcoming artistic experiment with our senses. “What does the color red smell like? How does it taste? Imagine you’re in an art gallery, studying a portrait with a red background. Does your interpretation of it change if you taste ketchup while you look? Or smell blood? Or both? Art lovers will soon be able to find out for themselves at Tate Sensorium, an upcoming exhibition at London art museum Tate Britain, which uses interactive technology to experiment with how our senses change the way we look at visual art.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Don’t blame anorexia on the fashion industry. Countries that have banned skinny runway models won’t solve the anorexia epidemic, which is caused by a serious disease, not a fashion whim.
Is Richard Branson about to take on Tesla? At the all-electric Formula E race in Miami, where Branson’s Virgin Racing team competed, Branson said one day the company may be ”competing with the Tesla in the car business.”
India’s prime minister needs to acknowledge his limits. His recently botched moves in the coal sector show that incremental economic reforms are in many cases politically impossible.
All of Israel’s problems are about to get worse. The manner in which prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu ran his campaign will only make Israel more isolated and its problems harder to solve.
Surprising discoveries
Make way for cosmic submarines. NASA wants to put one on one of Saturn’s moons.
Antibiotic resistance may have a cure. A new blood test still in laboratory phase could tell doctors whether a patient’s illness is caused by a virus or bacteria.
Orangutans use their hands to modify their voice. By doing so the animals can lower and deepen their tone, which helps deter predators.
Not all churches embrace the homeless. A church in San Francisco said it will remove a system that pours water on the ground where homeless people tend to rest at night to prevent them from sleeping there.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, voice manipulation techniques, and ruthless water systems to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day.