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What to watch for today
A possible new Malaysian government. Anwar Ibrahim, the anointed successor to current prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, warned of a plot to change the ruling coalition and deny him the premiership. Anwar and his wife, deputy prime minister Wan Azizah, will meet the king as political manoeuverings intensified.
Donald Trump kicks off his maiden visit to India. The US president will land in Ahmedabad, the hometown of prime minister Narendra Modi, and inaugurate the world’s largest cricket stadium. The two countries aim to smooth relations strained by trade issues.
Julian Assange starts his fight against extradition to the US. In a London court, the WikiLeaks founder will argue that the spying charges against him are politically motivated. Factoring in appeals, a decision could be years away.
A memorial service for Kobe Bryant. Some 20,000 people are expected to gather at Staples Center in Los Angeles to pay their respects to the NBA basketball player, who was killed in a helicopter crash last month alongside his teenage daughter and seven other people.
Over the weekend
The global spread of coronavirus cases accelerated. Experts say the epidemic is looking more and more like a global pandemic, with Italy, Iran, and South Korea reported surging numbers of infections. Fears intensified that transmission is now happening between countries independent of China and its containment efforts.
Angela Merkel’s party was punished by Hamburg voters. The German chancellor’s Christian Democratic Union suffered what the party called a “bitter day” in yesterday’s regional election. The incumbent centre-left Social Democrats held off a strong challenge from the progressive Greens.
Bernie Sanders solidified his front-runner status. In the US presidential race, the Vermont senator crushed his Democratic rivals in the Nevada caucuses, while former vice president Joe Biden declared a comeback after finishing second.
Police and troops exchanged gunfire in Haiti. The fighting marked a dangerous escalation of protests over police pay and working conditions, and coincided with what should have been the start of a festive three-day carnival celebration.
Hardliners triumphed in Iran’s parliamentary elections. Nationalists and religious conservatives soundly defeated reformists, leading to speculation that president Hassan Rouhani could face impeachment proceedings. Turnout was low amid coronavirus fears.
Quartz daily obsession
We are awash in fluids we don’t understand. The air we breathe and the blood in our veins are liable, at any moment, to slip from a predictable flow into turbulence. Predicting the behavior of fluids—using a set of equations called Navier-Stokes—remains a challenge for physicists and super computers alike. Yet, animal bodies and behavior have been shaped by the physical reality of fluid dynamics, as robots will be in the future. Prepare for turbulence, it’s the Quartz Daily Obsession.
Matters of debate
The CIA’s Twitter account illustrates the banality of evil. Its self-care tips turn the dark realities of the secretive organization into a “brand.”
Grocery delivery is bad for building community. It’s convenient, but sacrifices the social connections of the neighborhood supermarket.
The temperature gun needs a redesign. The thermometers used to scan people for coronavirus need not look so violent.
Surprising discoveries
Harry and Meghan will be forced to drop their brand “SussexRoyal.” The Duke and Duchess of Sussex countered that the ban on the word “royal” is not enforceable overseas.
One in four climate change tweets are by bots. And most of those tweets revolve around rejecting climate science.
The UK’s new passports aren’t very British. The blue travel documents were designed by a French firm and printed in Poland.
An Irish drug dealer lost bitcoin passwords worth $60 million. He stashed them in a fishing rod case, but his landlord threw it out after he was arrested.
A North Korean prisoner escaped with her guard. They became the first such pair to make it out of the country.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, denialist bots, and friendly grocery stores to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app on iOS or Android, and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Mary Hui end edited by Isabella Steger.