Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Lyft kicks off its IPO road show. The US ride-hailing company will try to persuade investors not to wait for rival Uber’s upcoming IPO as it aims to raise $2 billion from its listing, anticipated this month.
Theresa May scrambles for support. In last-minute talks, the UK prime minister will try to win over Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party to back her Brexit deal, which has already been defeated twice in parliament. May will put her EU departure plan to a third vote on Tuesday or Wednesday if she believes it can pass.
Another cabinet shuffle in Canada. Justin Trudeau is expected to change his lineup for the third time in three months, after treasury board president Jane Philpott quit after losing confidence in the prime minister. Trudeau is accused of interfering in a corruption case involving Quebec engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, resulting in several high-profile resignations.
China’s foreign minister makes nice in Brussels. Meeting with his EU counterparts, Wang Yi will discuss ways to promote multilateralism and prepare for next month’s China-EU summit. His visit comes in the wake of an EU report labeling China a “systemic rival.”
Key OPEC members plus Russia meet in Azerbaijan. The countries will review the output curbs they’ve been implementing to defend oil prices (paywall). While Donald Trump has called on OPEC to moderate prices, Saudi Arabia in particular is reluctant to comply.
Gamers geek out. The world’s largest game industry event kicks off today in San Francisco, and runs until Friday (March 22). About 28,000 attendees are expected, and lectures and talks will cover the latest in gaming technology—including AR and VR.
Over the weekend
New Zealand talked gun control… Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said her cabinet has agreed “in principle” on the need for more stringent gun laws, and will spend this week hammering out details. Ardern was expected to announce gun reform measures today after 50 were killed during Friday prayers at two mosques in Christchurch, an attack motivated by far-right and anti-immigrant views.
…while Facebook removed 1.5 million New Zealand attack videos. The New Zealand mosque shooter was able to live-stream his attack for 17 minutes before police alerted the social media company. About 1.2 million videos were blocked at upload, but Facebook did not say how many people had seen the rest before they were taken down.
Black box data showed similarities between the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes. Ethiopia’s transport minister said preliminary data showed “a clear similarity” with last year’s crash in Indonesia, which also involved a 737 Max jet. US officials are scrutinizing (paywall) Boeing’s development of the model, and the US Federal Aviation Administration’s approval of it, amid questions about how pilots trained for new features.
Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank started formal merger talks. The German banks confirmed reports that they’re mulling a possible merger (paywall), a move supported by Germany’s finance ministry, even though it would likely mean significant job cuts.
Kirsten Gillibrand made her White House bid official. The New York senator formally announced she’s running for US president in 2020, saying she’ll hold a campaign kickoff rally in front of Trump International Tower in Manhattan. She enters a crowded field of Democratic contenders. Meanwhile, former vice president Joe Biden on Saturday talked up his progressive record, amping up speculation of a 2020 run.
Prada is no longer in vogue. The Italian fashion giant today posted flat sales (paywall) in China for 2018, erasing healthy growth in the first half of last year. Global economic unease in part drove the weaker earnings result, but Prada has grappled with declining profits for several years.
Membership
We’re taking a look at corporate boards this week, examining the role they’ve played (or abdicated) at companies like CBS, Theranos, Facebook, and other places where stronger oversight might have caught problems that instead became full-blown scandals and controversies. We begin with a state of play memo that asks: Has the board’s job gotten too big?
Quartz Obsession
It’s probably accurate to say fact-checking is more important than ever. The internet serves up a tide of errors, some intentional, some not, and the small, skilled community of professional fact-checkers—who can be better at detecting a ruse than PhD historians—has their fingers in the dike. It’s a laborious, unglamorous job, and not many people do it, but everyone can do a little part by learning from how they approach separating fact from fiction. Check it out at the Quartz Obsession.
Matters of debate
Join the conversation with the new Quartz app!
Apple should bring back the click-wheel iPod. We need a renewed focus on individual devices that excel at individual purposes.
It’s time to put your snoozing to use. Neuroscientists increasingly believe that sleep is a time to learn something new—even a foreign language.
The media haven’t figured out how to cover acts of violence. Backlash against the British press for publishing the New Zealand shooter’s manifesto illustrates the difficulty of policing such coverage.
Surprising discoveries
Bird poo turbo-boosts coral reefs. Scientists studying Fiji’s reefs found those with birds can grow four times faster than those without.
A trove of hidden papers could reveal Van Gogh’s London life. Insurance policies, watercolors, and a prayer book were discovered while renovating a Brixton house where the artist lived in 1873.
African politics now has its own dictionary… You can learn the deeper meanings of “three-piece suit voting” and “watermelon politics.”
…and Brexit changed the English language. The word and political phenomenon has captured the world’s imagination.
The US government will pay you $1,000 to adopt a wild horse. The Bureau of Land Management’s corrals are at capacity.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, political lexicons, and click-wheel iPods 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.