Quartz Daily Brief—GOP Iran letter, NZ milk sabotage threat, Credit Suisse’s new boss, Kanye air sale
Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
India’s prime minister hits the road. Narendra Modi will begin a tour through Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Mauritius, and the Seychelles, offering governments there both military and civilian assistance. The visit to Sri Lanka will be the first by an Indian prime minister in nearly three decades.
Audi reports its full-year results. The German automaker has successfully managed to outsell rival BMW during the past two months, and yesterday it announced that it’ll begin producing a second model in North America—an SUV called the Q5—that it will ship to Europe, the US, and other markets (paywall).
Sina reports its fourth quarter results. The Chinese internet company is expected to post a sharp drop in earnings. Its once-popular microblogging service Weibo has fallen behind rival chat app WeChat, especially in the wake of a government crackdown on dissent.
While you were sleeping
New Zealand police revealed a milk powder sabotage threat. Protestors unhappy with the use of a pesticide called 1080 threatened in November to contaminate New Zealand’s infant formula supply if the pesticide’s use isn’t halted, police announced. The threat—which carried a deadline of March, 2015—caused a dip in the New Zealand dollar, and trading in the country’s milk stocks were halted.
Apple finally revealed the range and prices of its smart watches. The full line-up includes a stainless steel watch starting at $549, and the 18-karat-gold Apple Watch Edition, which starts at $10,000. The company has also introduced a new $1,299 laptop, and cut the price of the new Apple TV to $69.
US senators wrote an open letter to Iran. Forty-seven Republican lawmakers seeking to derail ongoing nuclear negotiations are warning Tehran (pdf) that any nuclear deal must be approved by Congress, and that it could be voided by the next president. Barack Obama accused the senators of interfering with diplomatic talks, and said they were an “unusual coalition” with Iran’s hardliners.
Credit Suisse picked a new CEO. The Swiss bank has chosen Tidjane Thiam, currently the head of UK insurer Prudential, to replace its current chief Brady Dougan (paywall) after eight years at the top, according to the Wall Street Journal. Thiam, the first black CEO of a FTSE 100 company, will be only the second non-Swiss head of the bank.
Chinese inflation picked up. Consumer prices rose by 1.4% in February due to an upswing in the cost of fruits and vegetables. But producer price deflation deepened, with factory gate prices falling 4.8% from a year earlier, underscoring the pressure on economic policymakers and corporate profit margins.
Quartz obsession interlude
Hanna Kozlowska on the non-believers. “Americans excel at denial. Take climate change. There’s overwhelming scientific evidence that human activity has accelerated climate change. But a staggering 52% of the population agreed with the statement that climate change ‘is a natural phenomenon that happens from time to time,’ in a global poll published last year. It comes as little surprise, then, that some of the country’s officials have successfully pretended that human-induced climate change does not exist.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The Apple Watch Edition’s true innovation is class anxiety. The device is truly unaffordable for everyone but the obscenely wealthy.
Europe is killing itself slowly. The monetary union that was meant to pull the continent together is tearing it apart.
Murderers are both born and made. A warrior gene makes some men more likely to kill, but childhood trauma also plays a role.
Silence is a luxury good. We must now pay to find solace from brands demanding our attention (paywall).
Surprising discoveries
There’s an app that donates to charity when you exercise. Running is worth 25 cents per mile.
An estrogen-blocking drug increases male sperm count. Letrozol, normally used for breast cancer, restored fertility in a group of obese men.
This dog can smell cancer. Frankie’s nose has an 88% success rate in detecting tumors.
People are selling air from a Kanye West concert. eBay has been flooded with plastic bags purportedly full of the stuff.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Kanye oxygen, and gold Apple Watches (yes, same request as yesterday) to [email protected]. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day.