Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Primaries in five northeastern US states. Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island go to the polls in one of the final multi-state primaries of the 2016 presidential campaign. Polls show that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump could consolidate their leads in the presidential race.
India hosts Pakistan in a fateful meeting. Their respective foreign secretaries will hold bilateral talks in Delhi—the first step toward reviving peace talks after a terrorist attack on an Indian air force base in January.
Apple reports quarterly results… Analysts are expecting a first-ever dip in iPhone sales, and will be looking for clues on how Apple is doing in China, where media regulators recently blocked its book and movie stores. It’s also been a year since the Apple Watch launched.
…and so does Twitter. Last quarter, the beleaguered social media company said user growth ground to a halt; investors will now be interested to hear if there’s been any improvement and how Twitter’s Periscope video stacks up to Facebook Live.
While you were sleeping
SWIFT suffered multiple hack attacks.The global financial network used by banks to transfer billions of dollars every day said there had been “a number” of incidents recently, where attackers had sent fraudulent messages over its system. The revelation came after SWIFT admitted the $81-million cyber-heist from the Bangladesh central bank’s account at the New York Federal Reserve in February had happened through its software.
France landed one of the world’s biggest defense contracts. State-owned naval contractor DCNS beat out Germany’s ThyssenKrupp and Japan’s Mitsubishi and Kawasaki to clinch the $40-billion deal to build a fleet of 12 submarines for Australia. The decision is a major blow for Japan as it tries to grow its defense export industry.
Malaysia’s scandal-plagued 1MDB defaulted. The government fund has defaulted on a $1.75-billion bond—spillover from failing to pay over $1 billion in connection with a loan from an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. That could trigger more defaults by 1MDB, which is under investigation globally for embezzlement allegations.
Nokia bought a French connected-health startup for $190 million. A year after it bought France’s Alcatel-Lucent for $17.6 billion, the Finnish telecoms company acquired Paris-based Withings as part of an ongoing drive to establish its presence in the “Internet of Things” space.
Hyundai’s first-quarter profit took a dive. The South Korean carmaker reported its ninth quarterly drop in a row, thanks to missing out on the trend for big, gas-powered SUVs in China. Its net profit of $1.47 billion for the first quarter is down 12% from the same period a year ago.
Quartz obsession interlude
Thu-Huong Ha on America’s obsession with adult coloring: “From knitting crazes to mindfulness training centers, Americans today will take anything they can get to escape the hum of their perceived hyper-connectivity and overwork. That demand has created a sort of mindfulness industrial complex.” Read more here.
Matters of Debate
Torturing terrorists doesn’t keep anyone safe. A new neuroscience study shows that torture undermines the cognitive mechanisms needed to recall information.
Bring on a third-party presidential candidate. Establishment America deserves disruption, says Politico’s former CEO (paywall).
America is terrible at promoting democracy abroad. It would be better off setting an example at home.
Surprising discoveries
Mourning dead celebrities is about remembering your own life. Fans transfer their own memories onto departed superstars like Prince.
Italians have developed “kissing garlic.” An engineer and a lawyer are preparing to harvest their first giant, odorless bulbs.
A new group of superheroes is based on Indian aunties. The British artist created them in tribute to immigrant women.
People are racing drones using nothing but their thoughts. The brain-to-computer interfaces are still a little slow and clunky.
A sheepdog walked 240 miles back to his former home. It took homesick Pero two weeks, but he arrived in good shape.
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