Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
South Korea heads to the US with a message from North Korea. Two officials who met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un earlier this week are expected to extend an offer from the dictator to the Trump administration to negotiate over denuclearization. Such talks have failed before, so Washington remains cautious.
Donald Trump formally announces tariffs. The White House may be willing (paywall) to temporarily exempt Canada and Mexico from controversial steel and aluminum tariffs that the US president initially insisted would be universal. It might then extend the exemptions based on progress in talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The Geneva International Motor Show starts its engine. Extreme sports cars will grab attention—including McLaren’s $1 million Senna—but there will also be more practical vehicles, including a four-person “coupe” from the typically off-road Range Rover.
Kroger releases its fourth-quarter earnings. The US supermarket operator has been hit by stiff competition fueled by Amazon’s $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods last year. Expectations are low—it’s the 2018 profit outlook investors are particularly anxious about (pdf).
While you were sleeping
China’s exports surged last month. According to customs data they jumped 44.5% from a year ago, beating market expectations. With imports growing 6.3%, that left the nation with a trade surplus of $33.7 billion for the month. The outlook for exports is clouded, however, by deepening trade tensions with the United States.
Japan’s financial regulator punished seven cryptocurrency exchanges. Saying they lacked appropriate internal control systems, it ordered them to improve the way they do business to better protect consumers. That follows a $530 million heist of digital money in January from Tokyo-based Coincheck, expected to announce a reimbursement plan today.
Florida’s lawmakers defied the NRA. They gave final passage (paywall) to a $400 million gun-control and school-safety bill that would raise the minimum age to buy any firearm from 18 to 21, among other changes, following a school shooting last month. Governor Rick Scott hasn’t said whether he’ll sign the bill into law, amid opposition from the powerful National Rifle Association.
Authorities called Sergei Skripal’s poisoning an attempted murder. Officials now believe a nerve agent was used to explicitly target Russian former double agent Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, both critically ill along with the police officer who found them. The UK has threatened to respond “robustly” if evidence shows Russia was behind the attack.
An unidentified attacker stabbed pedestrians in Vienna. The man seriously injured four people, seemingly at random and with no known motive, then fled the area near the Austrian capital’s Prater Park. A major manhunt is currently underway.
Quartz obsession interlude
Ephrat Livni on why swearing feels so damn good. “[Writer Emma Byrne] considers vulgarities to be a necessary part of language; they are extra-powerful signifiers, rather than potent insults. But she does suspect that even slurs are, sadly, a deeply ingrained kind of language. Creating in-groups and out-groups seems to be what creatures do, even among non-humans who become acculturated to human taboos.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
If you live in Florida, you need flood insurance, period. Residents of the state need not bother with flood zone maps, says an official with the US Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Facebook’s political nightmare has only just begun. The 2018 midterms will be a trial run to see if the platform can resist outside meddling.
Streaming is killing cult film. Once upon a time, you had to wait for an arthouse theater to schedule a secret screening to consume obscure movies.
Surprising discoveries
A teenager snapped her retainer while watching Black Panther. She clenched her jaw too hard during a shirtless Michael B. Jordan scene, but the actor offered to replace the broken dental device.
Switzerland is wrapping its glaciers in blankets. The white canvas coverings reduce melting by reflecting sunlight.
Dogs “see” the world with their noses. New research reveals that canines form a mental picture of a target when tracking down a scent.
Samsung’s new TVs are nearly invisible. “Ambient Mode” allows you to snap a picture of the wall behind the TV that you then make the TV’s background.
Giant squids practice food piracy. Kleptoparasitism occurs when one giant squid kills another to steal its food.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, glacier covers, and camouflage TVs 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 by Steve Mollman and edited by Alice Truong.