Quartz Daily Brief—Israel’s election, Apple’s TV service, Nintendo goes mobile, Merkel’s robot handshakes
Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Israel votes. Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is trying to eke out a fourth term, but his Likud party is trailing Isaac Herzog’s center-left Zionist Union alliance. In the lead-up to the unexpectedly close election, Netanyahu has ramped up his rhetoric against Palestinians and Iran.
The US Federal Reserve convenes. The central bank’s two-day meeting will conclude with an official announcement Wednesday. The key question: will the Fed finally increase interest rates?
Flights between New York and Cuba begin. Just a few weeks after relations between the US and Cuba began to thaw, Cuba Travel Services will start selling an $849 round-trip ticket between New York’s JFK and Havana.
While you were sleeping
Apple is preparing a TV streaming service… The tech giant is planning to offer subscribers around 25 channels for $30-$40 per month beginning in the autumn, according to the Wall Street Journal (paywall). Content from CBS, Fox, and ABC is expected to be part of the package—but not NBC, whose corporate parent Comcast is feuding with Apple.
…And an Android trade-in scheme. Apple will buy back non-Apple devices in an attempt to boost sales of its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, according to Bloomberg, as it attempts to consolidate its market share gains against companies like Samsung. The company will also accept Blackberrys.
European countries flocked to China’s development bank. France, Germany, and Italy will join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, according to the Financial Times (paywall), and Australia is rethinking its earlier refusal. Washington has tried to convince its western allies to spurn China’s rival to the US-led World Bank, and expressed anger at Britain’s decision to join last week.
The Malaysian government launched a new airline. The newly-created carrier, flymojo, will spend $1.5 billion on 20 Bombardier aircraft. The airline is due to launch later this year and has the option to buy a further 20 aircraft from the Canadian jet manufacturer.
European car sales got a boost. New car registrations rose by 7% in February compared with a year earlier as economic confidence rose to a seven-month high due to cheaper oil and anticipation over stimulus measures.
The Bank of Japan predicted 0% inflation this year. The central bank said low energy prices will hamper its efforts to spur inflation (paywall), and left its aggressive monetary policy in place, confirming plans to buy 80 trillion yen ($659 billion) of assets per year.
Nintendo is finally bringing Mario to mobile. The company, which has long resisted making games for others’ platforms, is partnering with a Japanese mobile developer to create new games based on Nintendo’s intellectual property.
Quartz obsession interlude
Max Nisen on the fine art of the workplace haggle. ”A frequent piece of advice, enshrined in one of the standard business school texts on negotiation, is to avoid giving a salary range, because an opponent or manager will seize on the low end. Not only is that advice dead wrong, but done right a range actually leads to better results.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Al Gore should run for president. The former vice-president could revive the Democratic Party with a rallying cry to save the environment.
Living forever would be great—if you were rich. It would be a long slog if you were stuck working a crappy job for centuries.
The world can’t get more prosperous forever. Constant GDP growth would eventually require so much energy that the oceans would boil.
“Hands up, don’t shoot” was built on a lie. Marching under the banner of a false narrative betrays the quest for justice.
Mariupol must be saved. The Ukrainian port is the lynchpin for Putin’s plan to create “Novorossiya” along the Black Sea.
Surprising discoveries
Starbucks baristas are being encouraged to talk about race. CEO Howard Schultz is trying to get a bigger conversation started across the US.
Angela Merkel loves shaking hands with robots. The German chancellor has also been known to pat them awkwardly.
McDonald’s managers told employees to treat burns with ketchup. And also with mustard and mayo, according to a labor group lawsuit.
Eric Schmidt is an interrupter of women. Things got awkward (paywall) during a panel on gender inequality in the tech world.
Etsy is causing a schism in the online witchcraft community. Is it ethical to sell spells online?
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, secret robot handshakes, and condiment-based burn treatments to [email protected]. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day.