Boeing’s Starliner is close to breaking SpaceX’s astronaut monopoly

It's the second private spacecraft to emerge from NASA's commercial crew program.

Did Biden just end US strategic ambiguity on Taiwan?

This is the third time US president Joe Biden has said the US is committed to defending Taiwan in case of an attack by China.

Broadcom is on an M&A spree despite recent regulatory crackdowns

Broadcom is reportedly in talks to buy VMware for upwards of $50 billion, which would be one of the biggest tech takeovers ever and the third...

How a French bank set the gold standard for climate action

La Banque Postale is the first and only bank to set a hard deadline for ending finance to oil and gas.

Who’s at Davos 2022?

The World Economic Forum's 2022 annual meeting in Davos has begun, which means the elite of the international business world are gathering in...

Americans don’t believe Biden will cancel student debt

American optimism for student debt forgiveness is falling.

Socks were the top clothing item Americans bought during the pandemic

The trend dovetails with people staying at home for longer periods.

How Russia made its ruble the world’s top-performing currency

The ruble's apparent resilience isn't the best way to gauge the effectiveness of sanctions.

Russia’s shadow, nature nurtured, Manchin on deck at Davos

The World Economic Forum begins its 2022 annual meeting in Davos with Russia casting a long shadow and "nature" muscling out references to the...

Germany is looking to west Africa to help solve its gas woes

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz started his tour of Africa with a stop in Senegal. On the agenda: Senegal's gas reserves.

Joe Biden says he would be willing to defend Taiwan against China using military force

India’s newest airline has revealed its first aircraft

Akasa's first aircraft will be delivered in June.

Meta’s future-focused policy leader is missing a key problem in its present-day metaverse

The best practices Clegg touts in his metatverse manifesto are mostly absent in Meta’s most popular VR game

Lithium mine investments aren’t keeping up with the EV supply chain

Developments in downstream battery and EV plants outstrip investments in upstream mining and processing.

Perfume: The strangest supply chain

The global perfume industry has supply chains as delicate as the scents captured in its tiny bottles.

The pandemic created a new billionaire every 30 hours

More than 250 million people will fall back into extreme poverty in 2022

At Davos, a day of digs, data, and doppelgängers

The WEF annual meeting included panels on the energy transition, the global economy, and the war in Ukraine.

The complex process of creating the perfect perfume

Perfumers are chemists and artists, dreaming up formulas and then navigating the complicated sourcing needed to make them a reality.

Apple is reportedly looking ramp up manufacturing outside China

If the country shifts manufacturing away from China, others foreign corporations could follow.

India’s top court may have thrown the country’s biggest tax reform off-track

It has given both the central government and states simultaneous powers to legislate on taxes.

Why it has taken Uganda so long to embrace Kiswahili

Africa's ecommerce leader Jumia has stepped up on delivering orders within 24 hours, per its first quarter report for 2022.

✦ Crypto crashed again. Now what?

Hi Quartz members, For people with money in crypto, it’s been a rough two weeks. Losses have topped $400 billion. The selloff, as you’ve...

Even top resellers like StockX and The RealReal are terrible at spotting knockoffs

A lawsuit by Nike against StockX shows once again how empty 100% authentic pledges are.

✦ America’s monopoly habit

The baby food sector is an oligopoly, in which two companies⁠—Abbott and Mead Johnson⁠—dominate the market.

Starbucks and Taco Bell hope to turn NFTs into the new loyalty points

Food brands want to be where the customers are, which is, increasingly in the virtual world.

Dyslexia

A detailed timeline of Elon Musk buying Twitter

Twitter released its history of the Elon Musk purchase—we annotated it

Apple has halted card payments for its in-app subscriptions in India

Regulatory roadblocks have prevented Apple from launching its digital payments service.

People have finally stopped panic-buying Clorox as pandemic fears wane

In a sign of the public's waning pandemic fears, Clorox CEO Linda Rendle announced the company would scale back production as covid-19 shifts to...

Why Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty is expanding into Africa

Fenty is perhaps the biggest and most hyped cosmetic brand to launch in Africa, where multinational beauty brands are already making investments in...

Five telltale signs you need a ‘chief remote officer’

Who will push for your company's remote work plan before it breaks down or is abandoned?

Meta predicts the metaverse could add $40 billion to Africa’s economy

But this estimate, the Meta contracted report says, are only valid if metaverse technologies grow in a similar way as smartphone penetration in the...

The most advanced treatments for monkeypox were developed to address the wrong threat

Monkeypox is treated with smallpox drugs approved in the event of bio-terrorist attacks.

How to prevent financial meltdowns, according to the Library of Mistakes

Housed in a small building down a quiet Edinburgh alley, the Library of Mistakes aims to chronicle the history of business and finance.

Rising inflation is making Indians pessimistic about the future

Retail inflation in India touched an eight-year high of 7.79% in April.