Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The euro zone measures manufacturing health. Economists expect (paywall) the composite purchasing managers index to decline only slightly in February. The survey will shed light on whether a modest recovery has been affected by policy uncertainty.
A report card from the mining sector. BHP Billiton, Anglo American, and Glencore all report earnings this week (paywall); analysts expect results to showcase a dramatic turnaround in commodity markets. Copper alone has surged more than 30% (paywall) in the past year. BHP investors will also want an update on the company’s pledge to find $1.8 billion in productivity gains.
France’s independent candidate campaigns … in London. Emmanuel Macron, considered a presidential frontrunner alongside François Fillon and Marine Le Pen, will address expat French voters in Westminster. With a 300,000-strong French community, London has been called the “sixth biggest French city.”
While you were sleeping
Russia’s UN ambassador died suddenly. Vitaly Churkin fell ill in his office at the UN’s headquarters in New York, Russian officials said, and later died at a nearby hospital. His cause of death was not immediately known. Churkin had held his post at the UN since 2006. Tuesday would have been his 65th birthday.
The Kim Jong-nam murderer was (maybe) caught on tape. A Japanese TV network obtained and released surveillance camera footage (paywall) from Feb. 13 purportedly showing Kim Jong Nam, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s half-brother, being attacked by two people at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in an assault that took less than three seconds.
The US was tsked by Tusk. After a meeting in Brussels, European Council president Donald Tusk cautioned US vice president Mike Pence that “too many new and sometimes surprising opinions have been voiced…about our relations, and our common security, for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be.” Tusk said he and Pence had agreed on issues of international order, security, and US/EU relations, but that “both Europeans and Americans must simply practice what they preach.”
Trump named Flynn’s replacement. US president Donald Trump told reporters in Florida that retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who had been serving as acting national security advisor, will take over as chief of staff on the National Security Council. Kellogg replaces Michael Flynn, who resigned after lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the US.
Snapchat started selling Spectacles sunglasses online. The sunglasses, which record videos and upload them to Snapchat, can now be purchased online in the US for $130. They had previously only been available from vending machines in surprise locations. The announcement came as Snapchat parent company Snap arrives in London to woo investors ahead of its March IPO.
Quartz obsession interlude
Steve Levine on journalists’ response to Trump: We’re not afraid of you. “Reporters around the world know this drill—a leader who feels a need for an enemy in order to rule effectively. And so he creates one. As for the wild praise of his followers, I and colleagues have seen that, too—the president who plays to the galleries. Trump does not hate the media—for him, it is theater.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Deleting Uber is the least you can do. It’s time for consumers to take an ethical stand that Uber’s board, financiers, and executives won’t.
It’s morally right to keep great apes in zoos. There’s rarely a viable alternative to captivity.
Trump will kill the press and the press will kill Trump. The US president is going to destroy the mass media that got him elected, and that’s okay.
Surprising discoveries
Barns are red because of nuclear fusion. Red paint is cheaper, but why it’s cheaper has to do with the size at which nuclei stop producing energy.
A tiny failed satellite became an unlikely hero in the Rosetta space mission. After failing at its primary mission, Japan’s Procyon spacecraft helped Rosetta gather data.
Citronella candles are useless against mosquitos. Also ineffective: sonic mosquito repellers and bracelets containing herbal extracts.
Russians are obsessed with a blob-like sculpture. Artwork meant to symbolize the experience of waiting to see a doctor has become an internet meme.
You’re a completely different person at 14 than you are at 77. At least that’s the conclusion of the longest personality study ever conducted.
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