Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
An update on China’s currency reserves. Analysts expect the stockpile to fall about 9% to $3.1 trillion. A bigger decline could signal that Beijing is being forced to aggressively defend the yuan (paywall), which has fallen against the dollar during the US-China trade war.
India braces for a nationwide transport strike. Bus, truck, and taxi drivers—including some working for Uber and Ola—are planning a work stoppage to protest a new transit regulation bill and the rising price of gasoline.
US “snapback” sanctions against Iran take effect. The Trump administration urged Tehran to begin new talks ahead of renewed sanctions that target Iranian purchases of foreign currency and commodities, and ban US imports of carpets and pistachios. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said he is willing to negotiate but only if the US is “sincere.”
While you were sleeping
Facebook is in talks with banks to access user financial data. The social media giant has reportedly approached banks including JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup to provide services like account balances and fraud alerts. Facebook critics warned that the company should not be trusted with the sensitive info, but investors cheered the news, sending shares up 3.5%.
MoviePass begins rationing movie passes. The struggling cinema subscription company reversed course on a previously announced price hike, but said that users would only be able to see three movies per month instead of one per day. Service outages and radical changes to subscription plans have left customers frustrated and confused in recent weeks.
YouTube, Facebook, and Apple blocked InfoWars host Alex Jones. The platforms banned the podcast and web video host for violating hate speech rules after he peddled violent threats and conspiracy theories. Jones stayed active on Twitter, using its Periscope video service to complain that he was being unfairly targeted as a conservative.
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi announced her exit. The 12-year-veteran CEO, one of the few women or people of color to run a large US corporation, will be succeeded by global operations chief Ramon Laguarta. There are only 25 female CEOs, including Nooyi, currently running S&P 500 companies.
“Chef of the century” Joël Robuchon died. The 72-year-old culinary master, who holds the record for most Michelin stars, ran almost two dozen restaurants across three continents. His most famous dish, pommes purée, elevated mashed potatoes to haute cuisine by using an astounding quantity of butter.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Lily Zheng on the impossibility of curing implicit bias: “Bias isn’t like an upset stomach that an individual can take an antacid to fix; it’s a chronic issue that affects entire organizations, industries, and even societies…The outcome of any implicit bias training shouldn’t be to cure people’s bias or make them more objective—it should be to make people bias-aware.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Orcas and humans grieve in the same way. A “tour of grief” by a mother whale for her dead calf says a lot about our parent-child instincts.
Americans live in the ruins of the 2008 financial crisis. Prosperity is undercut by broken institutions, from health care to law enforcement.
Humans are a post-truth species. Homo sapiens have thrived by creating and sharing fake news to unite the collective.
Surprising discoveries
Young employees don’t know how use keyboards. With the rise of smartphones, many have never used a personal computer.
Happiness hangovers are an evolutionary trait. Hedonic hotspots in the brain release their own drug-like neurotransmitters.
Negative power prices are on the rise. They’re most common when clean energy supplies spike at a time when demand is low—especially in Germany.
Dogs in Canada are overdosing on weed. Accidental cannabis consumption could worsen when Canada legalizes recreational marijuana this year.
Starbucks coffee has more caffeine per dollar than McDonald’s. 7-Eleven provides even more bang per buck, while Dunkin’ Donuts trails well behind.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, free power, and stoned dogs 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 Adam Pasick and Aisha Hassan.