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What to watch for today
A Chinese firm completes its takeover of British Steel. Jingye Group, also a steelmaker, offered to buy the company after it collapsed last year. Unions say hundreds of jobs are threatened, but Jingye has described the deal as a “new chapter in British steelmaking.“
Scrutiny over the MH17 downing intensifies. A Dutch court opens the trial of men who allegedly helped move a Russian missile into Ukraine that shot down the Malaysia Airlines aircraft in 2014. The Kremlin has denied involvement, but evidence to the contrary will be made public.
Lebanon misses a payment. Amid a major financial crisis the nation will default on a foreign debt payment for the first time in its history. On Saturday prime minister Hassan Diab warned that more than 40% of the population could soon be in poverty.
Mexican women stage a national strike. A day after tens of thousands marched to mark International Women’s Day, as many as 20 million women could stay home from work to protest worsening violence against them.
Over the weekend
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Italy sealed off its northern region. Prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced unprecedented restrictions for a swath of the country’s north, effectively placing up to 16 million people under lockdown until April 3. Authorities reported 133 more deaths yesterday, the largest jump since the outbreak took hold there last month.
Australia sued Facebook. The information commissioner filed proceedings in federal court against the tech giantfor breaking Australian privacy laws in connection to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The government body said Facebook used the personal information of its users for purposes other than what the data was being collected for.
Global markets plummeted… The benchmark indexes in Japan and Australia fell 6% and Hong Kong’s over 3%, as investors fled to safer assets like bonds. That pushed the US 10-year Treasury yield to below 0.5% and triggered trading curbs as US futures dropped 5%.
…and an oil price war brewed. After Saudi Arabia slashed its export oil prices in a move likely aimed at Russia, which rejected OPEC’s plan to restrict crude output, oil futures plunged more than 30%—the most since the Gulf War almost three decades ago.
Quartz membership
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Matters of debate
Coronavirus is putting Western democracies on trial. China is already portraying its virus containment as proof of its authoritarian system’s superiority (paywall).
Wikipedia volunteers are the best weapon against misinformation. The editors hold down the fort of truth.
Frequent flier miles are killing the planet. Loyalty programs encourage unnecessary air travel.
Surprising discoveries
Artists are fighting facial recognition with face paint. They use cubist-inspired designs to foil algorithms.
Costco stores have ditched free food samples over coronavirus fears. It’s one of many precautions companies are taking amid the outbreak.
Some airlines are flying empty ghost flights. Carriers are burning fuel to hold their take-off and landing slots.
Crooks keep posting clues to their crimes on Facebook. Police are turning to social media for leads on drug traffickers, extortionists, and bank robbers.
Google’s location data turned a cyclist into a burglary suspect. A Florida man was swept up in the investigation because his bike-tracking app showed he rode past the scene of the crime.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, cubist face paint, and food samples 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 and edited by Isabella Steger.