Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Donald Trump rolls back US environmental regulations. An executive order is expected to reverse Obama-era restrictions on greenhouse-gas emissions from coal-fired and natural-gas power plants. Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, claims the “pro-growth pro-environment” order will bring back manufacturing jobs and cut electricity costs.
IHS Markit posts its results. The world leader in global analytics reveals its first-quarter numbers at 8am ET. Click here for the webcast.
How American’s feel about the economy. The Consumer Confidence Index for March is expected to register a slight dip from its 15-year high last month, but stay good overall.
While you were sleeping
Amazon bought Souq. The Middle Eastern online retailer Souq.com confirmed it accepted Amazon’s bid to buy 100% of the 12-year-old company. Amazon beat out rival bidder Emaar Malls, which, sources told Reuters, had offered $800 million. The value of the Amazon deal hasn’t been disclosed.
Debbie did damage in Australia. The monster cyclone—the worst since Cyclone Yasi in 2011—made landfall in Queensland, battering the north east of the country with 160 mph winds and leaving 45,000 homes without power. More than 25,000 people were ordered to evacuate in the last 24 hours.
Britain issued a fraud-proof coin. The Royal Mint released 1.5 billion one-pound coins featuring a 12-sided bimetallic design, a hologram, and other anti-counterfeiting measures. An estimated 45 million fake coins are in circulation.
Didi-Chuxing mulled a $6 billion investment from SoftBank. China’s ride-sharing leader bought out Uber’s China operations last year. If it accepts the Japan-based company’s funding, it would dilute the interests of existing backers such as Apple and Tencent, who reportedly want in on this investment to avoid that.
Tesco paid up for its false accounting scandal. Britain’s biggest supermarket chain agreed to stump up $162 million to a UK fraud regulator, along with an additional $106 million to compensate some investors after an investigation found the company misstated its 2014 profits.
3.7 million Hong Kong voters had their data stolen. Two laptops containing ID card numbers, addresses, and mobile numbers were stolen from the Registration and Electoral office. They also contained the names of the 1,200 electors on the committee that chose Carrie Lam as Hong Kong’s new chief executive on Sunday.
Quartz obsession interlude
Marc Bain on Nike’s multi-billion-dollar empire that is literally built on air. “The idea to expose the innards of the sneaker was the brainchild of now-renowned designer Tinker Hatfield, who had begun his career as an architect. He was inspired by the Centre Pompidou, the modern-art museum in Paris whose creators left its interior architecture exposed.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Health-care reform should be about supply, not demand. A drug that reduces cancer deaths by 10% could save $5 trillion in the United States alone.
The world needs more followers. Yet universities are exclusively focused on glorifying leadership skills (paywall).
The Nintendo Switch could save your relationship. The hybrid console allows for conflicting forms of entertainment to coexist.
Surprising discoveries
Adam Sandler’s lowbrow humor is a boon for Netflix. The comedies score poorly with the critics but are the company’s biggest original film releases.
Indonesians are eating more dog meat. The popularity of dog as a source of cheap protein (paywall) is growing in Indonesia.
Iceland had a birthing boom last weekend. That’s nine months to the date when the Icelandic soccer team demolished England in the Euro 2016 tournament.
Italian detectives solved a 5,000-year-old murder mystery. Ötzi the mummified iceman was shot in the back with an arrow (paywall).
Thieves stole a million-dollar coin from a Berlin museum. The “Big Maple Leaf” Canadian coin weighs 100 kg (220 lb) and is 99.9% pure gold.
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