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Hereās what you need to know
US regulators sued Binance. The crypto exchange was accused of encouraging customers to buy unregistered commodities, an allegation that knocked the price of bitcoin.
Baidu abruptly canceled the launch of its ChatGPT competitor. The Ernie no-showāostensibly due to a desire to give exclusive demos to certain companiesāsunk shares of the Chinese search company right as AI competition is at a fever pitch.
Lebanon backtracked its plans to delay daylight saving time. The population of 6.7 million people were confused as to when to report to work and school.
BioNTechās revenue dropped as demand for covid shots fizzled. The German biotech company is investing its pandemic windfall into developing oncology products.
Remote work is still very much a thing. Tell us how your company prioritizes Those Who WFH (TWWFH?) by April 14, and maybe itāll end up on our 2023 list of Quartzās Best Companies for Remote Workers.
Can a billionaire die without anyone noticing?
Something strange happened on Feb. 28, 2023: A deposit of $7 billion was posted by the US Treasury in the category of āestate and giftā taxes, the highest collection of that kind of tax since at least 2005.
The mystery in US tax data suggests that at least one super-wealthy individual flew under the radar until the very end.
Thereās about to be a lot more diabetes diagnoses
800 million: Number of people in the world who will have diabetes by 2045, up from more than 500 million today
Diabetes is one of the fastest-growing diseases in the worldāand the market for diabetes drugs is projected to spike even faster, nearly doubling in the next decade. Quartzās Annalisa Merelli explains how more diabetes diagnoses will be a boon for diagnostic companies, too.
ā¦ Love stories that help you understand the interaction between health and the global economy? Help keep our content free and accessible to all by becoming a member. Daily Brief readers get 50% off.
Switzerland is past its business hub prime
Even though it feels like a billionaire canāt even skip Davos without people noticing, the demise of Credit Suisse has left Switzerlandās future as a global financial capital hanging in the balance.
Quartzās Clarisa Diaz explains which countries in the Middle East and Asia are looking like much more attractive business hubsāmaybe thereās a reason Elon Musk conferenced in Dubai instead of Davos?
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Surprising discoveries
The mansion in Successionās season 4 premiere belongs to a real-life billionaire. But the view from the glass-enveloped home is much brighter than the outlook for its ownerās company.
The Mediterranean Sea may have goblin sharks. Or the first sighting of its kind could have been a plastic toy, itās hard to say.
An ammo manufacturer is having trouble keeping up with Ukraineās orders. It doesnāt help that it has to compete for energy with a data center that services TikTok.
Luxury gyms donāt want you if youāre not cool. Lengthy application processes create an exclusive atmosphere that only heightens the appeal.
Leather is one of the hardest items for the fashion industry to greenify. And considering fashion is one of the most polluting industries on Earth, thatās pretty bad. But fungus is among us, and itās here to help.
š Listen to āMushroom leather: Fungi saves fashionā on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Stitcher
š Or, read the transcript!
Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, goblin sharks, and courage to quit the gym to talk@qz.com. Reader support makes Quartz available to allābecome a member. Todayās Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner and Susan Howson.