Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
North Korea’s neighbors brace for more drama. It’s the 85th anniversary of the Korean People’s Army, and in the past Pyongyang has marked similar events with nuclear tests and missile launches.
Sri Lankan prime minister visits India to officiate an oil agreement. Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will sign a deal to jointly operate an oil facility in Trincomalee, a strategic eastern port district. In anticipation, workers at Sri Lanka’s state-run petroleum company began an indefinite strike on Monday.
Donald Trump speaks at the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s National Day of Remembrance. The US president’s keynote address comes in the wake of Sean Spicer’s highly-criticized gaffe about Hitler’s use of chemical weapons. Every US president has participated in the ceremony since the museum opened in 1993.
While you were sleeping
French stocks surged as polls favored Emmanuel Macron… The CAC 40 stock index in Paris climbed 4.1% to its highest level since 2008, as the centrist political novice took a commanding lead over the far right’s Marine Le Pen. Other European benchmarks rose as well.
…as his campaign fended off Russian cyberattacks. The cybersecurity firm Trend Micro said a pro-Kremlin group known as Fancy Bear has attempted to infiltrate Macron’s campaign with phishing emails—the same tactic used against Hillary Clinton. Le Pen, who opposes France’s membership in the EU and NATO, met last month with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Afghanistan’s defense minister and army chief resigned. The moves came after a Taliban assault killed more than 100 Afghan troops—the deadliest since the US drove the radical Islamist group from power in 2001. The resignations coincided with US defense secretary Jim Mattis’s arrival in Kabul.
Barack Obama re-emerged on the public stage. The former president emphasized civic engagement, escaping filter bubbles, and career advice while speaking to hundreds of young people at the University of Chicago. He didn’t mention his successor.
US astronaut Peggy Whitson set a record. The two-time International Space Station commander spent her 535th day in space—the most by any American—describing an experiment to extract potable water from urine to Donald Trump. His response: “Better you than me.”
Quartz obsession interlude
Katherine Foley on science’s long march toward a malaria vaccine. “Malaria is spread through really sneaky parasites. … Because plasmodium parasites constantly shape-shift—and are difficult to grow in a lab—it’s been really difficult to develop a vaccine that effectively mimics an actual infection.” Read more here.
Markets haiku
Monsieur Macron gives / markets reason to rejoice / But Le Pen still lurks
Matters of debate
Twitter is a cesspool of anti-Semitism. It contains more anti-Jewish posts than Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube combined.
The world’s most famous business school is a boondoggle. After more than a century, Harvard can’t decide what its business school is really for.
Amazon’s plan to dominate the shipping industry is taking shape. There are almost no humans involved.
Surprising discoveries
Alaska suspended a dentist for pulling a tooth while riding a hoverboard. Medicaid fraud was also a factor.
The mastermind of Canada’s great maple syrup heist got five years in prison. His gang stole $19 million worth of liquid gold and replaced it with water.
There’s a caterpillar that eats plastic bags and excretes antifreeze. It could help dispose of trillions of polyethylene shopping bags.
Africa’s last absolute monarch wants to ban divorce. Domestic abuse and sexual violence are widespread in Swaziland, where King Mswati III reigns.
Icelandic is endangered by English-only gadgets. It gets among the least tech support of any language in Europe.
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