Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The US marks the first anniversary of the Parkland massacre. In the wake of the country’s deadliest school shooting, memorials have been erected (paywall) commemorating the lives of all 17 victims killed at the Florida high school. The city will hold a “Day of Service and Love,” and survivors who formed the March For Our Lives group will step away from social media.
The US House votes on a bill to avoid another government shutdown. Lawmakers are expected to pass the legislation, which frees up $1.375 billion for the construction of a 55-mile (89 km) barrier along the Mexico border—an amount significantly lower than Donald Trump’s requested $5.7 billion for border security. He will nonetheless likely sign the bill.
The US and China resume trade talks. The two-day summit will include meetings between Chinese president Xi Jinping and US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, with China’s top economic adviser, Liu He, expected to attend a US delegation banquet. Both sides hope to hammer out a deal ahead of a March 2 deadline in which additional US tariffs will be imposed.
A controversial US-led summit on the Middle East continues. Some world powers have slammed the event for being overly focused on Iran, with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif bashing the US for not directly communicating with his government. Thursday’s main session in Warsaw includes speeches by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and US vice president Mike Pence.
While you were sleeping
Rappler CEO Maria Ressa was arrested in the Philippines for “cyber libel.” The arrest follows a string of libel and tax evasion charges brought against the journalist. President Rodrigo Duterte, who’s derided the news site as “fake news,” denied political motivations, but critics contend the government is attempting to silence the veteran reporter, featured in Time as a Person of the Year.
NASA’s Opportunity rover was formally declared dead. Workers stopped attempting to communicate with the rover after more than 1,000 radio signals went unanswered. Oppy discovered water and drove over 45 kilometers, further than any other craft on Mars in its 15 Earth years on the planet, before a dust storm covered its solar panels, robbing it of power.
Macedonia officially became North Macedonia. The country changed its name in hopes of ending a long-standing dispute with Greece, paving the way to potentially join both NATO and the European Union.
Renault nixed a hefty severance for Carlos Ghosn. The embattled former chairman lost out on $34 million from deferred and performance pay, plus funds from a non-compete clause. Ghosn left the company in November following his arrest over failing to disclose more than $80 million in deferred compensation and is currently detained in Japan.
Levi Strauss filed for an initial public offering. The iconic denim maker says it plans to raise up to $800 million. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan are expected to lead the IPO.
A former Apple lawyer was charged with insider trading. The SEC alleges that Gene Levoff, who was tasked with making sure employees followed securities laws, violated those rules himself: He allegedly used his knowledge of early earnings and iPhone sales numbers to trade Apple stocks ahead of the company’s results and was ultimately fired from his post last September.
Quartz obsession interlude
Pop songs are getting shorter. Blame—or thank—the economics of streaming, and the rappers and country musicians who have figured it out. Think about it: an artist gets paid per stream, so more streamed songs in the same amount of time puts more money in their pockets, so they’re going back to lengths of the 45-rpm single despite infinite storage. Is it a bad thing? Maybe not, since consumer choice seems to point in that direction too. Tune in to the Quartz Obsession.
Membership
Our field guide on cryptocurrency brings you a thought-provoking essay by Matt De Silva about privacy coins and how they may have a bigger future than Bitcoin (which is less anonymous than is often admitted). And in this week’s Tipping Points feature, Allison Schrager looks at how to value the money you haven’t made yet.
Matters of debate
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Netflix’s Fyre Festival documentary is its own scam. The film may have started as a PR stunt, and was co-produced by the social media marketing agency involved with the festival.
Pricing algorithms are terrible for consumers. Researchers say the AI can unwittingly learn to collude, drive prices up, and leave no trace of bad activity.
Truly understanding—and fixing—the gender pay gap requires focusing on the median. Companies should disclose the statistic if they’re committed to working toward equity.
Surprising discoveries
The African black panther was caught on camera for the first time in over a century. Biologists photographed and videotaped the rare, elusive cat–also known as a black leopard–in Kenya.
There’s a new Tinder for cattle. The company behind the app says 42,000 UK farms are using Tudder to match cows and bulls for breeding purposes.
A new battle royale game signed up 25 million players in a single week. Apex Legends also surged past both Fortnite and League of Legends on the game-streaming network Twitch.
Mastercards will now emit a jingle. The credit card’s new “sonic logo” plays a peppy six-note tune when you swipe it.
Chuck E. Cheese’s is at the center of a pizza conspiracy theory. A YouTuber is using photos to accuse the American entertainment restaurant chain of serving pies made up of random unsold slices.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, bovine dating profiles, and credit card melodies to hi@qz.com. Join the next chapter of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written and edited by April Siese and Holly Ojalvo.