Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The Vatican begins a crucial summit on clergy sexual abuse. Pope Francis has warned against inflated expectations of the four-day meeting in Rome to address what some have called the Church’s biggest crisis. Advocates for abuse survivors nevertheless hope to see concrete steps on accountability, transparency, and ways to protect children from predatory priests.
Israel’s first mission to the Moon takes off. The Beresheet probe weighs 1,290 lbs (585 kg), is about the size of a dishwasher, and, if the launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida is successful, will make Israel the fourth nation to make a lunar spacecraft landing.
Liu He joins US-China trade talks in Washington. The Chinese vice premier, who has been given “special envoy” status by Beijing, will sit down with US trade negotiators today, and is likely to meet with president Donald Trump (paywall) tomorrow. The two countries are trying to reach an understanding ahead of a March 1 deadline after which China could see US tariffs on $200 billion of goods jump from 10% to 25%.
Baidu reports earnings. China’s search giant is expected to report weak fourth-quarter earnings after US market close today, as it faces competition from the supremely popular WeChat messaging service, the threat of Google returning in some form to the country, and complaints about how well it serves information seekers. Its video-streaming arm iQiyi will also post numbers.
While you were sleeping
A fire in Bangladesh’s capital killed at least 70. The fire, which broke out last night in an old, mixed-use area of Dhaka, raced through several buildings (paywall), one of which was storing paint. A fire at a garment factory in 2012 that killed over 100, and the Rana Plaza factory collapse the following year that killed more than 1,000, have highlighted the country’s unsafe working conditions.
Jussie Smollett was charged with staging a hate crime against himself. The actor on the Fox series Empire reported being attacked by two men late one January night in Chicago, and said they had put a rope around his neck as they yelled “MAGA country!” Chicago police charged the actor after two extras on show said they had been paid by the actor to carry out a faux attack.
Malaysia charged a British citizen in the 1MDB scandal. Paul Stadlen, who was media adviser to former prime minister Najib Razak, has been charged in absentia with two counts of money laundering. Najib, toppled in elections last year, is awaiting trial on multiple counts of corruption in connection with the looting of billions of dollars from a state development fund. Stadlen left the country soon after the polls.
Lyft could hold its IPO as soon as next month. The ride-hailing company, which submitted its IPO filing late last year, is expected to make that paperwork public next week (paywall), and hold a roadshow from March 18, ahead of a Nasdaq listing. The company expects to be valued at between $20 billion and $25 billion.
Samsung introduced its new iPhone competitors. The suite of new Galaxy S10s included the company’s first phone designed explicitly for 5G, and the category-defying Galaxy Fold.
Membership
Microsoft’s rivals. Today we have a stunning interactive that charts the many competitors Microsoft has battled over the years, and we take a close look at Microsoft Teams, the workplace chat platform that signals a whole new way of thinking by the company about communication. And in today’s Tipping Points feature, Allison Schrager writes about how the biggest division in our country may not be political, regional, or cultural, but generational.
Quartz Obsession
In 1995, one of Microsoft’s biggest failures predicted the future. Its infamous Bob software was a “social interface” for Windows, dropping inexperienced users into a cartoon house and using cutesy animated characters to guide them through basic home-office tasks. Bob burst and left an infamous legacy (Clippy! Comic Sans!), but its social interface was also well ahead of its time. We’ll show you around at the Quartz Obsession.
Matters of debate
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TV and newspaper ads are yesterday’s news. Facebook and Google show no signs of stopping their domination of the advertising industry, as digital ads surpassed print and broadcast for the first time ever.
Workplaces can learn a lot from the “flipped” classroom. Offices could inspire more productivity if employees used them for unstructured networking instead of tackling big projects.
Going cashless isn’t as simple as eliminating paper currency. The UK’s latest initiative will only succeed if it’s willing to address the 25 million people who rely on cash and coins.
Surprising discoveries
More than 10,000 people want the US to sell Montana to Canada. A petition for the $1 trillion idea was launched in an effort to help pay down the considerable US national debt.
Hong Kong has an obsession with “cum.” The archaic Latin word, which is used by officials to mean “combined with,” haunts local signboards to many residents’ chagrin.
A New York deli informed Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s feminism. At a time when few companies counted women among their staff, Russ & Daughters showed the US Supreme Court justice that female business owners can be just as successful as men.
Teens are more worried about, well, being worried than bullying or drugs. A recent Pew survey found that anxiety and depression were the biggest concerns for US teens, with 70% of respondents considering both to be a “major problem.”
An enterprising Girl Scout turned Samoa cookies into Jason Momoas—and sales skyrocketed. The fifth-grader worked with her mom to feature the Aquaman actor on the box and says customers can’t get enough.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Clippy fan art, and teen stress-reduction tips to hi@qz.com. Join the next chapter of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Tripti Lahiri and edited by Isabella Steger.