Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Donald Trump meets the Italian prime minister. Paolo Gentiloni is at the White House to discuss the upcoming G7 summit in Sicily, which will be the US president’s first overseas trip.
World finance leaders gather in Washington. The IMF and World Bank’s spring meeting will, unsurprisingly, be focused on how Trump’s “America First” policies could affect global trade. IMF director Christine Lagarde is reportedly aiming to educate the Trump administration about the IMF’s agenda.
China launches its first cargo spacecraft. The unmanned Tianzhou-1 takes off Thursday night at 7:41pm local time (7:41am ET) from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre. It’s designed to resupply China’s space station, Tiangong 2, which is scheduled to be permanently manned by 2022.
While you were sleeping
Venezuela seized a GM plant. GM said the plant, which employs 2,600 workers in the industrial hub of Valencia, was taken over by authorities, who halted operations and seized assets. The country’s auto industry is in crisis due to the ongoing economic meltdown. Three people were killed in mass protests against president Nicolás Maduro on Wednesday.
Unilever celebrated with an ice cream… The world’s third-biggest consumer group, which fought off a takeover bid from Kraft Heinz in February, said new products like chocolate-coated Magnums in a tub helped the ice-cream division in the first quarter. The almost 3% rise in quarterly sales was mainly due to price increases, Unilever said.
…While Nestlé cried into its chocolate milk. Unilever’s Swiss rival had a sluggish first quarter, thanks in large part to North American consumers turning away from packaged foods (paywall)—even Easter didn’t boost Nestlé’s confectionary business.
Mike Pence demanded a level playing field with Indonesia. After meeting with Indonesian president Joko Widodo today, the US vice president said Washington wanted a “win-win relationship” between the two countries. Indonesia is accused of running a trade surplus with the US. Widodo, who leads the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has been critical of Trump’s immigration policies.
Australia made it harder to become an Australian. Applicants for citizenship will be tested on their commitment to integration and Australian values. The length of permanent residency required to earn citizenship was also extended from one year to four. The changes come two days after prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced restrictions on visas for foreign workers.
Quartz obsession interlude
Marc Bain on Amazon’s patent for an automated on-demand clothing factory: “Standard operating procedure in the apparel industry goes like this: Make clothes, and then sell them. … But Amazon, the ecommerce giant steadily growing into the largest apparel seller in the US, has another idea.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The big winner in the French election will be Vladimir Putin. Three of four leading candidates are pro-Putin.
Live crime is the beast Facebook can’t control. Relying on user reports has its limits.
America’s credibility is rapidly vanishing. The preponderance of fake news and conspiracy theories spread by Trump and his supporters is eroding its allies’ trust (paywall).
Surprising discoveries
Silicon Valley invested $120 million in a juicer that does nothing. Juice packs for the Juicero can just as easily be squeezed by hand.
Amazon is using peer pressure to keep workers from calling in sick. German warehouse employees only get a bonus if their coworkers show up.
A massive traveling iceberg is photobombing a Canadian village. Newfoundland’s “iceberg alley” is hosting a record crop this year due to rising temperatures.
The war in Syria has been great for North Korea. Pyongyang is getting rich selling weapons to the Assad regime, and gaining valuable military expertise in return.
China put Richard Gere out of work. The star says his outspoken advocacy of Tibet has led Hollywood to stop placing him in big-budget movies meant to reach audiences in China.
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