Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Will Cristina Kirchner put her foot in her mouth again? Argentina’s president is in China for one more day on a state visit to sign investment deals. Yesterday she tweeted something rather racist about her hosts and seemed unrepentant afterwards.
John Kerry lands in Ukraine. The US secretary of state will meet president Petro Poroshenko for an update on the fighting in the east of the country. Earlier this week, reports emerged that the US was preparing to provide Ukraine with weapons in its fight against pro-Russian separatists.
Twitter makes its case to Wall Street. The social network needs to show investors some progress on either revenue or monthly active users when it reports results. If it can’t, it will probably try to highlight all the cool things it’s launched recently.
Pandora reports earnings. The music streaming service is expected to show a steady rise in market share and revenue but slower growth in new users and listener hours as it competes with services like Spotify.
The day in numbers. Other companies reporting earnings include: LinkedIn, News Corp, Dunkin’ Donuts, GoPro, Takata, Volvo, and Daimler. As for economic data: the US trade balance and German factory orders are due, and the Bank of England is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate at 0.5%.
While you were sleeping
The ECB put the squeeze on Greece. The European Central Bank said it will no longer take Greek government bonds in return for funding, putting the onus on Greece’s central bank to provide liquidity to its banking system. EU officials dropped hints that Greece could run out of money within three weeks unless it plays ball with its creditors.
Jordan carried out air strikes against ISIL. The Jordanian air forcekilled 55 members of the Islamic State in Mosul, Iraq—including a top ISIL commander, according to Iraqi media. The strikes were in retaliation for the Islamist group’s brutal execution of a captive Jordanian pilot.
Yum Brands didn’t do as badly as expected. The owner of KFC and Pizza Hut said same-store sales in China, its biggest market, fell 16% in the fourth-quarter last year, compared with expectations of a 19.4% drop. Food safety scandals in Asia contributed to an $86 million fourth-quarter net loss, compared with a $321 million profit a year earlier.
Australian retail sales underwhelmed. A scant 0.2% rise in sales in December fell short of expectations but was marginally higher than November’s 0.1% increase. The data comes days after the central bankcut interest rates to encourage more spending.
Twitter and Google struck a deal on searchable tweets. Twitter agreed to provide Google with data in real time, allowing search results to include recently-published updates, according to Bloomberg. It’s part of Twitter’s plan to get more people to see its tweets and ultimately boost ad revenue.
Staples and Office Depot made it official. The cash-and-stock $6.3 billion merger between the two US chains will create an office supplies giant. The reason it’s happening: Amazon.
Silk Road’s founder was convicted on all charges. Ross Ulbright, who created the black market web portal that used bitcoins to enable trade in drugs and other illicit goods, was found guilty of distributing drugs on the internet and six other charges by a US federal jury (paywall). Ulbright will be sentenced on May 15, and could face life in prison.
Quartz obsession interlude
Lily Kuo on how China is backsliding on human rights. “Last year, China detained at least 940 Chinese citizens working on human and civil rights—a 72% increase from the year before, according to new data from the advocacy group Chinese Human Rights Defenders. The figure demonstrates what critics say is a worsening government crackdown on the country’s civil society.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Cyberterrorism is a government myth. The US is spreading fear of hackers to justify hacking its own people.
The US unemployment rate is a lie. The head of Gallup says the 5.6% rate includes too many caveats.
Nigeria’s army is useless. Underfunded and undertrained, the troopssimply aren’t fighting Boko Haram.
Agriculture causes more climate change than deforestation. It’sactually a sign of progress.
Life isn’t fair. And believing that is it leads us to blame innocent victims for their suffering.
Surprising discoveries
The Japanese army is really into Star Wars. A brigade spent a month building a Darth Vader snow sculpture.
Herbal supplements lie about their ingredients. Four out of five store brands had none of the promised ingredients.
A mummified monk was discovered in Mongolia. The Dalai Lama’s physician claims he’s still alive.
Nap time isn’t just for little kids. The University of East Anglia is the first British university to have a dedicated nap room.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, soft blankets, and snow sculptures to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day.
You’re getting the Europe and Africa edition of the Quartz Daily Brief. To change your region, click here. We’d also love it if you shared this email with your friends. They can sign up for free here.
Pelias' views 