Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The Reserve Bank of India will likely leave interest rates unchanged. The RBI will likely leave the repo rate at 6%, despite mounting pressure to cut rates. RBI governor Urjit Patel will face questions on fraudulent activity and the lax regulations applied to public sector banks in India.
North Korea and South Korea prep for talks. North Korea will send a six-member delegation to South Korea to discuss the protocol, security, and media coverage for the upcoming inter-Korean summit. The two sides will meet in the truce village of Panmunjom.
China and Russian defense ministers meet. China’s new defense minister, Wei Fenghe, will meet his Russian counterpart in a move to strengthen strategic cooperation between the two countries. Wei wants the visit to signal to the US just how close the Chinese and Russian armed forces are.
While you were sleeping
Facebook shared up to 87 million people’s data with Cambridge Analytica. In a lengthy release on the company’s plans to restrict data access to third-party apps, Facebook admitted that far more than the originally reported 50 million Facebook profiles had been illicitly harvested in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg will also officially testify before congress in April.
Russia is testing missiles. The Russian defense ministry announced the training on Monday within Latvia’s exclusive economic zone, forcing Latvian and Swedish authorities to close some of its usually-crowded airspace. While Latvia’s prime minister called the exercise an ominous “demonstration of force,” Russia is technically within its rights.
US stocks recovered. Stocks plunged after China retaliated against Donald Trump’s tariffs, but soon bounced back on the news that the two countries would leave the door open for later negotiations. The broader S&P 500 index erased a drop of 1.5%.
The next iPhone could be curved. According to Bloomberg’s sources, Apple is working on touchless features that would let users hover their fingers over the iPhone’s screen without making physical contact. Such controls, though, won’t be ready for at least two years, while a curved iPhone could take up to five years.
Quartz obsession interlude
Olivia Goldhill on how Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophical work is all but forgotten: “Textbooks, movies, and TV shows often suggest that King’s quest for racial and economic equality was ultimately successful. Yet half a century since his assassination, King would be dismayed by the ongoing inequality and racism in the US. And the complexities of his ideas are often overlooked.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Aim for protopia instead of utopia. It’s better to focus on incremental steps toward improving society.
Change Facebook by using your account for good. Individual deletion won’t have much impact, but the platform is still the best place to gather around a movement.
Spotify had a wimpy market listing, and that’s ok. Its non-traditional IPO meant low share supply, but having shareholders who are unwilling to sell isn’t a bad thing.
Surprising discoveries
Clean air is China’s new luxury amenity. Hotels, restaurants, and shops hope to attract guests by boasting filtered air that’s cleaner than the stuff outdoors.
Balanced fluids may be the new saline drip. Sterile salt water has become the hydration standard in hospital IVs, but Ringer’s lactic solution could save more lives.
Snow monkeys have discovered the joys of a hot soak. Female macaques are measurably less stressed after taking a dip in the hot springs of Nagano, Japan.
A 17-year-old seagull debacle was forgiven. A British Columbia hotel absolved a man who’d accidentally trashed his room by leaving a suitcase full of pepperoni to tempt seagulls by an open window.
Martin Luther King Jr. convinced Lt. Uhura to stay on Star Trek. The civil rights leader was also a Trekkie, and he persuaded Nichelle Nichols her presence was important to the movement.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, suitcases full of pepperoni, and the seagulls who love them 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 Susan Howson and Preeti Varathan.