🌎 All about that bank (no default)

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Here’s what you need to know

US lenders readied $30 billion to save First Republic Bank. The safeguard stabilized the San Francisco-based bank’s crashing stock. Meanwhile, JPMorgan has ideas on who should be Credit Suisse’s savior, and the European Central Bank brushed off banking fears.

Microsoft is adding ChatGPT power to its office tools. The chatbot, called Microsoft 365 Copilot, aims to make users of software like Word, Teams, and Powerpoint more productive.

New Zealand and the UK banned TikTok from government phones. Both countries said the decision was based on the advice of government cybersecurity experts.

Ticketmaster will refund fans of The Cure. The company agreed to pay back a portion of ticket fees after band leader Robert Smith protested the exorbitant prices.

St. Patrick’s Day is big business in America

Sure, Chicago, Boston, and New York are thousands of miles away from Ireland, but if you go for an evening stroll through an American city on St. Patrick’s Day, you should be prepared for crowds of green-clad, Guinness-toting revelers.

1 in 10: People in the US with Irish heritage, making it the country’s second-largest ethnic group

70 million: Number of people in the global Irish diaspora. The population of Ireland is 5 million

$6.9 billion: Total amount Americans will spend during the holiday festivities, or roughly $44 per person

80%: Share of Americans expected to wear green this weekend

In an NCAA Cinderella story, schools get the glass slipper

Get the full story on how much March Madness funding goes to colleges and universities (but not the student-athletes, of course.)

Radioactive tubes keep disappearing

“If someone breaks the cylinder, when you are directly exposed to it, you could be exposed to a high risk of cancer and serious illness, so please don’t break the cylinder.”

—Office of Atoms for Peace secretary Permsuk Sutchaphiwat talking about a missing radioactive cylinder in Thailand. The hazardous tube, similar to the capsule that was lost in Australia, hasn’t been seen for a week.

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Surprising discoveries

Ernie Bot didn’t come to his own launch party. The ears of the ChatGPT rival from Chinese search giant Baidu were left burning.

Rocks made of plastic were found in Brazil. The mixing of pollution with geology is terrifying scientists.

The world may get its first octopus farm. But the food operation planned for the Canary Islands is tangled in criticism.

Italy’s dugout at the World Baseball Classic has a Nespresso. Paper cups aren’t a hit among players though.

In the old days, astronauts would just chuck satellites out the airlock. Now, we have more efficient ways of getting these Earth observation machines into orbit, so that they can get right to the business of observing weather patterns, identifying human rights atrocities, and more.

🎧 Listen to “Earth observation: Taking the long view,” the latest episode of the Quartz Obsession podcast: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Stitcher

Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, unused Ernie Bot party favors, and dugout espresso to [email protected]. Reader support makes Quartz available to all—become a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Clarisa Diaz, Sofia Lotto Persio, Diego Lasarte, and Morgan Haefner.