Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The FCC publishes its order to end net neutrality in the US. The new directive from the Federal Communications Commission is expected to trigger a slew of lawsuits from states and interest groups. They want to prevent service providers from charging for preferential access to the internet.
Hewlett Packard’s results. This will be the company’s first earnings call with the new CEO Antonio Neri, who took over after Meg Whitman’s surprise resignation. HPE is expected to post a fall in first-quarter revenue and profit, caused by a drop in sales across servers, networking, and data storage.
Germany braces for a crucial diesel-ban decision. The federal court in Leipzig will rule on whether cities have the right to ban heavily polluting diesel cars. A ban would affect 15 million vehicles in Germany—and cause a crash in resale prices and the cost of leasing contracts for carmakers.
While you were sleeping
Students grilled politicians at a CNN town hall on gun control. One student asked Florida senator Marco Rubio whether he would turn down donations from the NRA—Rubio didn’t say if he would. During a White House listening session with parents and students earlier Wednesday, Donald Trump said arming teachers could stop mass school shootings.
A man threw an explosive device at the US embassy in Montenegro. The unidentified attacker fired what was likely a hand grenade into the embassy grounds late Wednesday night, killing himself. The embassy was already closed for the night and no others were hurt.
Barclays booked a £1.9 billion ($2.6 billion) net loss for the year. The British bank’s profits took a hit from the sale of its African operations and the US corporate tax reform. But investors didn’t mind, and its share price surged 6% (paywall) on the results. UBS has a buy recommendation on Barclays stock—noting there “ain’t no future in the past.”
Rovio suffered the worst selloff since its September IPO. Rovio Entertainment, the maker of Angry Birds, saw shares drop by 40% in Helsinki after it warned revenue and profit would fall in 2018. The Finnish company’s licensing revenue and income from its Angry Birds toys fell dramatically in the last quarter.
Quartz obsession interlude
Aamna Mohdin on the dangerous, daring work of producing ethical soap. “Lush’s biggest crisis to date involved a glittery mineral known as mica. In India, one of the world’s top-producing mica countries, children as young 10 were mining the mineral that’s widely used to add a shimmer to beauty products. Some of the world’s biggest cosmetics companies buy this material—and, until 2014, Lush did too.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The future of curling is in Asia. The success of the South Korean and Japanese women’s teams in the Winter Olympics shows how Asian countries are challenging traditional powerhouses.
The first step towards fixing the UK’s health care system is admitting it’s broken. Brits hold the NHS up as sacred, but it is not even close to the best in the world.
Tech companies should stop pretending that AI won’t destroy jobs. Half of our tasks can be done better at almost no cost by AI, but society is simply not ready for the transition.
Surprising discoveries
Eyebrows wax and wane with the stock market. Japanese analysts take browscaping trends seriously as a way to predict market fluctuations.
South Africans created two-minute song playlists to help people get through the drought. Officials in Cape Town have told people to keep their showers to under two minutes.
Japanese couples still aren’t allowed to keep their own names after marriage. Some women go to extremes, like getting divorced, to use their maiden names.
Every single European city faces heat waves, droughts, or floods. Extreme weather is a given if carbon emissions aren’t dramatically reduced.
A California teen tried to smuggle an endangered tiger into the US. Evidence suggests he was running a smuggling operation.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, shower playlists, and eyebrow pencils to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android. Today’s Daily Brief was written and edited by Jill Petzinger and Lianna Brinded.