Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Mike Pence visits Japan. The US vice president will discuss trade in Tokyo with finance minister Taro Aso. Japan has criticized the Trump White House for comments that have roiled the currency market.
Goldman Sachs releases earnings. Following strong results from JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup last week, Goldman Sachs is poised to beat expectations on the strength of its fixed income, currency and commodity trading businesses.
The IMF’s first post-Trump forecast. The International Monetary Fund will update its global growth forecast for the first time since US president Donald Trump moved into the White House. Last week, the fund warned that growing protectionism will pose a challenge for emerging economies.
While you were sleeping
Russian state media turned on Trump. A pro-Kremlin TV anchor who once praised the US president’s “independence” called him a bigger threat to world peace than Kim Jong-Un. “Both are dangerous, but who is more dangerous? Trump is,” Dmitry Kiselyov said on Russia’s biggest weekly news show.
International monitors and opposition parties criticized Turkey’s referendum. The country’s main opposition party rejected the results of a referendum that narrowly granted sweeping new powers to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The triumphant president told European election observers to “talk to the hand.”
A social media murder put more pressure on Facebook. The FBI is conducting a multi-state manhunt for Steve Stephens, who posted a video of a cold-blooded murder of a random bystander in Cleveland. Facebook took about three hours to delete the graphic footage.
Arconic’s CEO stepped down amid a battle with an activist fund. The aluminum giant, recently spun off from Alcoa, said Klaus Kleinfeld would resign after he sent a letter to an official at major shareholder Elliott Management, which has been trying to unseat him. The Arconic board said the letter read as a “threat to intimidate or extort” the official.
Netflix earnings disappointed. The streaming giant’s first quarter earnings were better than expected but it fell short on subscriber growth and expected profits going forward, causing its stock to fall about 4% in after-hours trading.
Quartz obsession interlude
Peter D’Auria on the South American protesters who took Europe’s space program hostage: “For more than three weeks, French Guiana has been effectively shut down by protests and a general strike. … Despite its crumbling infrastructure, the territory is home to some of the world’s most advanced technology. Last year, the Guiana Space Center was the second-busiest spaceport in the world.” Read more here.
Markets haiku
United’s earnings / are up. Hard to change much if / you’re making money.
Matters of debate
North Korea is like “a Cuban missile crisis in slow motion.” But the Trump administration’s aggressive policies may be speeding things up.
Philosophers are the original tech bros. From antiquity to the modern day, they are the archetypal “brilliant jerks.”
Losers are the new winners in China. More than 500 million people self-identify as diaosi (屌丝), which was originally used as an online insult.
Surprising discoveries
Plants use good vibrations to find water. They listen for acoustic signatures that signal moisture, even if there is no trace of water in the soil.
CRISPR could fight bacteria, too. Researchers are using the versatile gene-editing technique as an antibiotic.
A London bar’s latest cocktail comes with a VR headset. Patrons can experience the Scottish Highlands as they sip 12-year-old whisky.
A Canadian river vanished in four days as a glacier receded. It’s the first known case of “river piracy” due to global warming.
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