Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Mike Pence meets Juan Guaidó in Bogota. The US vice president is expected to announce “clear actions” to address the crisis in Venezuela after his first meeting with the opposition leader. Over the weekend, forces loyal to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro violently drove back aid convoys trying to enter from Colombia.
The Mobile World Congress begins in Barcelona. The battle around whether or not to trust China’s Huawei, the world’s biggest telecom equipment provider, and competition between super-expensive foldable phones will dominate this year’s gathering in Spain. Sign up for our MWC Daily Brief, and follow Quartz’s coverage from MWC during the week here.
Silicon Valley steers talks on driverless cars. The three-day event will focus on the challenges of manufacturing and deploying autonomous vehicles globally.
The UN Human Rights Council opens its main annual session. Human rights groups want the council to establish a fact-finding mission to China’s mass detention camps holding members of the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang. Beijing has lobbied hard to thwart scrutiny at the session.
US officials and the Taliban meet in Qatar. The two sides will focus on details of a framework agreed to last month, involving a US troop withdrawal in exchange (paywall) for a guarantee that terrorists will never use Afghan territory. The Afghan government has been excluded from the talks for now.
Over the weekend
Donald Trump raised hopes of a US-China trade deal. Shanghai’s stock market soared this morning after the US president tweeted Sunday that talks had been “very productive,” and that he would delay an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods planned for March 1. The two sides are trying to iron out differences on China’s treatment of state-owned enterprises, forced technology transfers, and other matters.
Kim Jong Un set off for his summit with Trump. Although his second meeting with the US president is not till Wednesday, the North Korean leader is heading to Vietnam by train through China. Trump has been downplaying expectations regarding denuclearization, saying he’d be happy with Pyongyang holding off on weapons testing.
Green Book won the Oscar for best movie. It’s a bad look for the Oscars, given the 1960s-set film about a black concert pianist and his white chauffeur has been criticized for its cheesy portrayal of racial dynamics. Still, in a history-making moment, Spike Lee finally won his first (that’s not a typo) Oscar, for best adapted screenplay for BlacKkKlansman. His passionate acceptance speech (paywall) exhorted listeners to get involved in the 2020 presidential election.
Theresa May postponed a key Brexit vote, again. The British prime minister said lawmakers won’t vote on the agreement governing the UK’s departure from the EU until at least March 12. May is due to give parliament an update on negotiations tomorrow, after returning from talks on the sidelines of the first EU-Arab Summit, in Egypt. Meanwhile, Europe is considering a plan to allow the UK to delay its exit, scheduled for the end of March, to 2021.
Nigeria began counting election results. Observers have said the race between president Muhammadu Buhari, who’s seeking a second term, and former vice president Atiku Abubakar, is too close to call, but an official announcement is expected tomorrow. Meanwhile, Senegal’s president Macky Sall claimed re-election victory in the Sunday vote, with official results expected later this week.
Pope Francis called for “an all-out battle against the abuse of minors.” The pope spoke after a four-day Vatican meeting (paywall) on clerical sexual abuse, but did not offer any new efforts (paywall) to hold priests who abuse children accountable.
India intensified its crackdown in Kashmir. Authorities rushed about 10,000 additional paramilitary soldiers to the area, and security forces killed three militants, and lost two of their own, in a gunfight. Tensions in the region have been simmering after a Feb. 14 suicide attack killed 42 Indian security personnel.
Membership
The US economy has been enjoying one of its longest periods of growth in recent history. That can’t go on forever. Today’s state of play memo begins by looking at how we’ve addressed the boom-bust economic cycle in the past, and how our strategies have become less effective over time, due to the changing nature of recessions.
Quartz Obsession
The candle industry’s future is bright. It’s grown by a third in the past few years, driven by wellness (Goop offers one that invokes “centuries-old floorboards in a mountain chapel somewhere in Yugoslavia”) and luxury (Gucci has a $790 Esotericum feline-head candle). But the dominant player is the omnipresent Yankee Candle Company, which has nearly half of the US market. Follow the scent at the Quartz Obsession.
Matters of debate
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Work is the new religion for America’s elite. The affluent are looking to their jobs for identity, transcendence, and community.
Late bloomers are happier and more successful. Early failures are great practice for building resilience and overcoming obstacles.
Individual investors aren’t “dumb money.” New research shows they make better decisions than Wall Street acknowledges.
Surprising discoveries
Algae could play a key role in getting humans to Mars. The green slime has enormous potential for long-term space travel, including in waste removal and radiation shielding.
The trauma caused by distance from nature has a name. It’s called “psychoterratica.”
Rental goats could prevent forest fires. A California town is crowdsourcing funds to bring in goats that eat flammable plants (and most everything else) in a campaign called “Goat Fund Me.”
Indonesia is the least volatile economy of the 21st century. Its GDP per capita grew between 3% and 5% every year from 2002 to 2017.
Vietnam is toasting the Trump-Kim summit. Hanoi’s bars are serving up drinks like the “Kim Jong Ale” and “Rock It, Man” for the occasion.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, summit-inspired cocktail recipes, and goats for rent 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 Adam Rasmi and edited by Jackie Bischof.