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Here’s what you need to know
Russia-Ukraine peace talks failed to secure a ceasefire. Yet the meetings in Turkey offered an opening for a meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin.
The US Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster dose for people aged 50 and over. The shot, either Pfizer or Moderna, can be given four months after the first booster, and the authorization comes as the BA2 subvariant becomes dominant in the US.
E-commerce platform Shopee shut down in India. The Singapore company abruptly closed its operations after only six months of activity in the country.
Apple stocks are on their longest positive streak since 2003. The stock price has gone up consistently for 11 days so far.
Narendra Modi will virtually address the fifth BIMSTEC summit. The group is a forum for economic collaboration that includes Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal; India’s prime minister is keen to display his leadership in it.
What to watch for
Three airlines—Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and China Southern Airlines—report earnings from their latest quarter today. The numbers come as officials are trying to figure out what happened to China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735, which crashed in a mountainous region of southern China on March 21, killing all 132 people on board. The airline’s shares haven’t recovered from their dip following the crash.
Additionally, a new spike in covid-19 cases has led to fresh lockdowns in China and calls to divert 106 Shanghai-bound flights between March 21 and May 1. Yesterday, China Eastern Airlines got approval from the US to temporarily move some New York City-to-Shanghai flights to different airports in China. But diversions are costly, and any new restrictions or safety regulations will only up the pressure on an industry already struggling with 200 billion yuan ($31 billion) in pandemic-related losses.
The Financial World War
A month into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world’s richest countries have ventured into a financial world war. Sanctions as a weapon aren’t new, but the sheer scope, speed, and spillover of recent actions against Russia, the world’s 11th largest economy, are a watershed moment in the history of economic warfare.
It wouldn’t have been possible without an interdependent global financial system anchored by the dollar that makes it easy to intercept money. But sanctions on such a massive scale are already affecting economies outside of Russia, and took a century of trial and error. Are we willing to accept the global risks of a financial world war?
Something to obsess over
Season two of the Quartz Obsession podcast just ended, but it’s not too late for you to catch up before our third season drops.
Here’s a refresher:
🍅 Movie sequels. Are there good reasons to keep making them?
🦿 Prosthetics. We’re now augmenting able bodies for super-human functions.
🕺🏿 Disco. They tried to kill it, but it’ll never die.
🐟 Fishsticks. It’s what’s for lunch—and what could help us solve bigger dilemmas.
🥻 Indian weddings. The stuff of Bollywood dreams come to life.
☁️ Google Docs. The tool that’s revolutionized the way we work.
🥚 Egg freezing. More women are becoming parents outside their biological bounds.
🪶 Puffer jackets. Does “puffiness” automatically equal warmth?
🎧 Binge all of season two’s episodes, and subscribe to get season three on tap. Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Stitcher
Sponsored by Alumni Ventures
Handpicked Quartz
🤑 What Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos would owe under Biden’s new tax plan
🍔 15-minute grocery delivery startups are already folding
🧐 Why Anil Ambani had to quit the boards of his own companies
💼 10 places in the US where young women actually out-earn young men
👋 India lets investors withdraw from a public offer of a Patanjali-backed firm
😔 The US labor shortage is the deserved outcome of a systemic failure to value workers
Surprising discoveries
Pluto has ice volcanoes. The peaks give support to the theory that everyone’s favorite former planet is an ocean world.
Some yachts have yachts of their own. Aruba is investigating a yacht with a whole fleet of support vessels and its link to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.
There are 4,000 illegal houses built in Agrigento’s 5th century BC Temple Valley. Italy’s highest court decided the owners won’t be sanctioned (link in Italian).
Prehistoric human remains uncovered in Miami. The remains were found during the construction of a luxury condominium, and are evidence of the Tequesta civilization, dating to more than 2,000 years ago.
French Polynesia has an independent online shopping system. People in the remote islands can’t count on e-commerce giants to deliver to them, so they took matters in their own hands.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, meta-yachts, and ice volcanoes to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Ana Campoy, Amanda Shendruk, Annalisa Merelli, Susan Howson, and Morgan Haefner.