Quartz Daily Brief—Motorola’s big reveal, HSBC in hot water, Greece’s reprieve, desert parties

Good morning, Quartz readers!

What to watch for today

Motorola’s message in a box. The company said it will deliver mystery boxes to members of the press before making an “exciting announcement” on Feb. 25. It’s expected to be Motorola’s first new product since it was bought by Lenovo in October 2014—a smart watch, perhaps?

HSBC answers to Parliament. CEO Stuart Gulliver and chairman Douglas Flint, top dogs at Britain’s biggest bank, are scheduled to spend two hours with the Treasury select committee answering claims that the bank helped customers evade taxes—and explaining the strange way Gulliver himself is paid.

Day two of Janet Yellen’s Congressional testimony. On Tuesday the US Federal Reserve chair told the Senate that the central bank will send a signal when it’s ready to start thinking about raising interest rates. Markets seemed to take that as a sign that a rate hike might not come as soon as June, and reacted joyously. Today Yellen speaks to the House of Representatives.

Is Target on target? The US retailer should see a jump in its fourth-quarter earnings, a rebound from the 2013 data breach that affected tens of millions of its customers. But it might also be losing business as more people move to shopping online.

Say hello to WOWO. The company known as the “Groupon of China” starts trading. The e-commerce firm is the first Chinese company to list in the US in 2015. Its $29 million in annual sales is a small fraction of Groupon’s revenue, however.

While you were sleeping

Greece got a reprieve. Euro zone countries gave the green light to Greece’s long list of proposed reforms—on privatizations, tax collection, welfare spending, and much more—in return for a four-month extension of its international bailout. The plan now needs to pass parliamentary votes in a handful of euro countries before taking effect.

The chairman of the UN’s climate-change panel stepped down. Dogged by accusations of sexual harassment, Rajendra Pachauri resigned eight months before his term was set to expire. Since 2002 he had chaired the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading authority on climate science.

Nine lives were lost in a Czech Republic restaurant shooting. In Uherský Brod, a sleepy town 180 miles southeast of Prague, a gunman stormed a pub at lunchtime, killing eight people before shooting himself. He had reportedly called a local news station beforehand to explain “that he had been bullied and that the authorities didn’t want to help him.”

Bloodshed in Nigeria. At least 26 people died in two separate suicide bombings at bus stations in Nigeria, blamed on the Islamist Boko Haram militia. Soldiers from Chad, who are part of a force pulled together from several countries to fight Boko Haram, also reportedly killed 207 militants in another Nigerian town.

More banks behaving badly. US regulators are reportedly probing at least 10 big banks, including Credit Suisse, HSBC, and Goldman Sachs, for evidence of colluding to fix daily gold, silver, platinum and palladium prices. Between 2009 and 2013, banks worldwide racked up £166 billion (about $250 billion) in fines for rate-rigging and other misdeeds.

Pot became legal in Alaska. “The Last Frontier” became the third state in the US to let residents possess, grow, and transport marijuana for recreational use. However, as in other US states that have legalized the drug, they can’t smoke it in public. (Here’s how the laws compare).

Quartz obsession interlude

Adam Epstein on FIFA’s decision to hold the World Cup in November and December. “The move, in reality, is an act of desperation to save the tournament, masked by FIFA’s flimsy justification that it’s what’s best for players and fans. It’s certainly not what fans want, if the response across social media is any indication. In many cases these fans are also die-hard fans of club teams. Some leagues, backed by the fans, are threatening a boycott.” Read more here.

Matters of debate

The Islamic State is proof that the “war on terror” failed. And that even though the US may have taken down Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda affiliates have never been stronger.

Drones are the future of peacekeeping. A new report from the UN argues that drone technology is more effective and less intrusive in combat zones than naysayers think.

The American “war on drugs” is burning out. It’s about time.

Greece should exit the euro zone. The conditions of its bailout aren’t sustainable and staying in merely prolongs the euro’s inevitable failure.

Surprising discoveries

Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s most popular athlete. And three of the 10 most popular are Indian cricketers, at least as measured by Google searches.

Be careful about searching online for medical advice. Sites like WebMD.com and healthcare.gov are sending records of your personal health queries to the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Experian.

Academics love Twitter hashtags. Discussions about #AcademicsWithCats and #FailaPhDinThreeWords are welcome escapes from lab benches and libraries.

You probably don’t know a good airline deal when you see it. In a survey, the best ticket fares people could imagine were higher than the real ones.

There’s a wild party on the border of India and Pakistan. The Cholistan Desert Jeep Rally is “all beer and gunshots of joy.“

Explained: Why beer doesn’t spill as easily as water. The foam on top dampens wave action. (It’s a similar story with coffee.)

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, pictures of #AcademicsWithCats, and prison survival guides to [email protected]. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day.