Jenni Avins

The epic alleged bribery and corruption ring unwinding at Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, involves executives and politicians spiriting away tens of millions of dollars (and costing Brazil’s economy far more). Brazilian police announced their investigation of the scandal, now known as Operation Car Wash, in March of 2014 after investigators were tipped off when they learned known money launderer (link in Portuguese) Alberto Youssef had given a Land Rover worth $78,000 to former Petrobras executive Paulo Roberto Costa.

Female Lego scientists and Supreme Court justices inspire girls; Lego Golden Girls and Star Wars inspire nostalgia; Lego brick-stepping incidents inspire death wishes. Do not underestimate the power of these little plastic building blocks.

The French parliament has passed a measure that bans modeling agencies and fashion brands from employing models the government deems too thin. Now models will be required to present medical documentation of a body mass index (BMI) of at least 18, Reuters reports. (In 2009, the average French woman’s BMI was 23.2.) People who employ models who fail to meet the requirement could face six months in prison and a fine of €75,000 ($82,417).

High-end fashion retailers have been some of the slowest to sell their products online, taking baby stiletto steps—or none at all—into the realm of e-commerce. Céline, Dior, and Chanel have all kept their collections offline, bristling at the thought of their otherwise exclusive products being sold on the all-access web. But Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s president of fashion, told WWD that will soon change.

Sotheby’s, the centuries-old auction house that conducts sales in cities including London, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Zurich, and Doha, will open a new sales venue today: a special page on eBay. Sotheby’s says a sale of photographs (including the portrait below of Faye Dunaway by Terry O’Neill) at 10am will launch the company’s efforts at live-streaming auctions from the New York showroom, allowing participants access to real-time video and bidding through eBay.

An amendment to an employment law in the United Kingdom will enable Sikhs to wear turbans at work, the BBC reports. The 1989 Employment Act specifically stated that Sikhs at construction sites would not be required to replace their turbans with safety helmets. But it contained a loophole by limiting the exemption to those high-risk worksites. The Sikh Council told the BBC that limited legal protection led to disciplinary action and dismissal for some Sikhs who refused to replace their turbans with helmets. The new amendment will expand the exemption to most workplaces.

Tomorrow (March 30), a Los Angeles court will hear arguments that may determine the fate of an 840-pound (381 kg), boulder-sized emerald whose exact location is a closely-guarded secret. Much is disputed about the stone—most notably, its ownership—but what seems nearly unarguable that the emerald carries a curse.

The numbers: Strong. Hermès reported (pdf) that profits rose 9% to a record €859 million ($942.4 million). Sales were up nearly 10% (or 11% at constant exchange rates) to €4,119 million.

The actor Eva Mendes stepped into a minefield this week when she told the entertainment outlet Extra, ”Ladies, number one cause of divorce in America: sweatpants.” Naturally, people reacted negatively to the offensive and ridiculous assertion that couples get divorced because women aren’t keeping it sexy enough at home.

Anyone who has braved the neighborhoods occupied by Tiffany’s New York stores on a weekend can tell you they are tourist hotspots. But on an earnings call today, Tiffany’s VP of investor relations, Mark Aaron, said foreign tourists in the US aren’t buoying Tiffany’s bottom line like they have before. He didn’t blame the jeweler’s collection, changing tastes, or more attractive competitors. He blamed the dollar.

Today at Baselworld, the international trade fair for watches underway in Switzerland, Gucci announced it would release a smartwatch in a partnership with will.i.am. The creators say the watch, which they have opted to call a “smartband,” is “untethered to any phone.”  They have yet to announce specifics about distribution, pricing, or its release date, but already the watch is running behind the times.

They say bad things come in threes. After Dilma Rousseff’s last few days, she better hope that’s true.

An excerpt from a new biography of Narendra Modi confirms what we here at Quartz have long suspected about India’s PM: his fashion sense is divinely inspired.

On March 15, approximately 1 million Brazilians flooded the streets of cities all over the country, calling for the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff, who was re-elected by a slim margin for a second term in late October. The catalyst for the demonstrations was the enormous corruption scandal at the government-controlled oil giant, Petrobras, where Rousseff was chairwoman from 2003 to 2010.

New reporting from the frontlines of the athleisure movement indicates that people not only love soft, stretchy pants, they are willing to pay an outrageous markup to buy them second-hand. According to Racked, as long as the gear carries the logo of Lululemon, secondhand sellers easily fetch several hundred dollars for pre-owned foldover-waist leggings, thick-strapped tank tops, and very small shorts.

The circus of Fashion Month, the semi-annual series of fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan, and Paris, wrapped up on Wednesday. And as we sift—and scroll—through the digital detritus left behind, specific images tend to stand out.

Today in Paris, the American comedic actors Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson—stars of the fashion industry satire Zoolander—walked the runway at Maison Valentino’s fashion show, handily taking over the Instagram and Twitter feeds of anyone remotely following the fashion crowd.

At today’s event, Apple CEO Tim Cook gushed about the Apple Watch Edition’s “jaw-dropping, beautiful 18-karat gold.” He didn’t say much more, but the company’s website and patents offer additional detail about the metal in these high-end watches, which will sell for between $10,000 and $17,000.

Often the editors sitting in the front rows at fashion shows shoot grainy, blurry, shaky videos that leave a lot to be desired. But bless them for keeping their phones out and capturing this wondrous, fleeting moment, when a model raced down the runway in a half-crouch yesterday at the Maison Margiela show in Paris.

Talking about fur—the pelts of animals used for clothing such as coats, hats, and mittens—makes many understandably squeamish. There’s no denying the material’s origins: Fur was once the skin of a living creature.

Perhaps you remember the doodles that Angelina Jolie’s children did to adorn her Versace wedding gown? Or Mayhem, J.Crew’s 4-year-old designer? Forget millennials—soon we will all be working for toddlers. And Americans are not the only ones possessed by the power of very small people.

This post has been corrected.

The US Supreme Court heard testimony yesterday in the case that pits Samantha Elauf, a Muslim woman who wears a hijab, against the clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, which denied her a job because her head-covering did not meet the company’s “look policy.”

Sao Paulo, Brazil, the most populous region of South America’s largest country, is facing its third consecutive year of drought. Rainfall is at one-third its normal level, and experts say the city of Sao Paulo could soon run out of water. The city’s Cantareira Reservoir (pictured above) supplies some nine million people with water, and is operating at just five percent capacity, according to a report in the Guardian that cites the recently-formed watchdog group Alliance for Water.