Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Norway’s prime minister leaves China on friendly terms. Erna Solberg and President Xi Jinping mended fences after a dispute over the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee to imprisoned Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo.
Australia’s prime minister talks nukes in India. Malcolm Turnbull’s visit comes a day after his announcement that Australia will begin exporting uranium to India. The countries signed an export deal for nuclear power three years ago and are working on a free trade agreement.
The White House hosts a Passover Seder. The tradition set by President Obama will continue—except this year, contrary to initial reports, the president won’t attend.
While you were sleeping
Tesla eclipsed GM to become the most valuable US carmaker. Shares in Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company rose more than 3%, pushing its market cap to $51.17 billion. The company’s stock has climbed 45% year to date, and, according to investors, “right now there is nothing to slow Tesla’s momentum.”
The CEO of Barclays was caught trying to unmask a whistleblower… Jes Staley violated the UK bank’s policies and will have his bonus cut. He contacted a US law enforcement agency to discover the identity of an anonymous employee flagging “concerns of a personal nature” about a senior bank official.
…and Wells Fargo’s board clawed back $75 million from two former executives. An internal report found former CEO John Stumpf and former retail bank leader Carrie Tolstedt were primarily responsible for sales abuses dating back to 2002, which resulted in a $185 million fine and two congressional inquiries.
Foxconn bid $27 billion for Toshiba’s computer chip business. The Taiwanese tech manufacturer reportedly offered nearly $10 billion more than competing bidders. That poses a dilemma for Japan’s government, which hopes a Japanese company or US-Japan team will buy the company.
Spain arrested a Russian hacker at the request of the United States. Pyotr Levashov was an alleged distributor of spam and malware, and has also been linked to a Russian cyber-espionage operation to aid Donald Trump’s campaign.
Quartz obsession interlude
Steve Mollman on the next Korean War: “As long as China didn’t get involved to help the North … would lose in a conventional ground war to the US and its allies within ‘six weeks, a month, two months max.’ [But] one possibility is that the North would unleash its chemical or biological weapons.” Read more here.
Markets haiku
United Airlines’/ “re-accomodation” fail / gives Wall Street chills. Overbooked!
Matters of debate
Technology isn’t the biggest threat to the advertising business. It’s the decline of the packaged foods industry, under siege from consumers who prefer fresh produce.
The human rights tribunal against the Khmer Rouge hasn’t produced much. Only three men will answer for the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians.
Marriage should be temporary. Millennials in particular are signing on to an age-old idea.
Surprising discoveries
Disney invented a soft, huggable robot. It may one day replace the human actors at its theme parks.
An Australian rapper made a cinematic escape to avoid paying the bill. Terry Peck, a.k.a. 2pec, was pursued by police on jet skis after fleeing from a beachside restaurant.
A precious collection of ice samples melted in Edmonton. You had one job, Canadian Ice Core Archive.
Honeybees are incredibly hairy. Three million individual hairs are designed to capture pollen, measure air flow, and detect chemicals.
Despite years of study, scientists still aren’t sure how best to tickle rats. Tickling has been shown to decrease rats’ stress levels, but methods vary.
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