Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The International Olympic Committee rules on a possible Russia ban. The IOC will consider evidence of widespread doping at the 2014 Sochi games, just two months ahead of the 2018 games in South Korea. Last week, an IOC disciplinary commission slapped more than 20 lifetime bans (paywall) on Russian athletes and revoked 11 medals.
The UN sends a diplomat to North Korea. Jeffrey Feltman, the UN’s political affairs chief, will meet North Korean officials, including foreign minister Ri Yong-ho, on a four-day trip to Pyongyang. He’s the first senior UN official to visit the country since 2011.
The Supreme Court hears the “gay wedding cake” case. A Colorado baker refused to make a wedding cake for David Mullins and Charlie Craig on the basis of his religious belief. The couple then brought the case to the Supreme Court, arguing that it represents unlawful discrimination.
While you were sleeping
Fast-moving fires raged across Southern California. The wildfire spread rapidly across 10,000-acre area late Monday night, and more than 1,000 homes are now under mandatory evacuation orders. One person died after his car rolled over. Fire officials warned that powerful Santa Ana winds could push the fire towards the towns of Santa Paula and Ventura.
Deutsche Bank was subpoenaed over its Trump accounts. Special Counsel Robert Mueller asked the German lender to hand over info on Trump and his family’s accounts as part of the probe into Russia’s meddling in the US election. Deutsche, which has loaned millions to the Trump organization, declined to comment.
JAL bet on Branson’s supersonic dream. Japan Airlines invested $10 million in Boom Supersonic, a Denver-based startup backed by Richard Branson, which is planning to build the next generation of supersonic jets. JAL gets the option to pre-order 20 Boom airplanes, which could, if they become a reality, fly from Tokyo to San Francisco in around five hours.
Amazon went live in Australia. The e-commerce giant is going after consumers in one of the world’s wealthiest countries. Analysts said Amazon’s prices were not as aggressive as expected and Australian retailers saw their share prices rise after fears that Amazon would undercut them failed to materialize.
Russia labeled nine US-funded media outlets as “foreign agents.” Its justice ministry said on Tuesday that Radio Free Europe (paywall) and Voice of America had been added to the list. Calling them “foreign agents” suggests they’re regarded as spies; legally, they’ll have to disclose how they’re funded and label their output as the work of “foreign agents.”
Quartz obsession interlude
Akshat Rathi on the only technology that could reverse our failing fight against climate change. “For decades, certain scientists have hoped carbon-capture technologies, deployed at large scales, could save humanity from catastrophic climate change by providing a bridge to a future in which we’ll have enough capacity to create, store, and supply all the world’s energy from only renewable sources.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Deep corporate-tax cuts don’t work in the US. When Ronald Reagan tried doing it, business investment actually plunged.
Concerns about net neutrality are overblown. Neutral broadband access (paywall) is a cash cow for service providers—they need Google and its billions of users a lot more than Google needs them.
Big banks should issue cryptocurrencies. They replicate the anonymity of cash on a digital scale.
Surprising discoveries
Amazon added 75,000 robots in 2017. Meanwhile, human jobs in the US retail industry dropped by 170,000.
6,500 people co-own a 13th Century French castle. A crowdfunding campaign raised around $50 dollars per person to save the relic.
A Chinese zoo has an inflatable animal exhibit. Visitors were disappointed by a flock of blow-up penguins.
Germany is offering rejected asylum seekers up to €3,000 to go home. The scheme is meant to help them rebuild their lives.
A fifth of people can “hear” a silent GIF. A small portion of the population that experiences synesthesia may hear a thudding noise while watching this.
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