Weekend edition—Bezos’ India bungle, spyware schemes, experience designers

The world’s richest man “surprised” Indians this week. On Jan. 15, Jeff Bezos made an unannounced appearance at an Amazon event in Delhi, where he said the company would invest $1 billion in India over the next five years, bringing millions of small and midsize local businesses online. The collective reaction? Not now, Jeff. [Quartz Daily Brief]( Good morning, Quartz readers! The world’s richest man “[surprised]( Indians this week. On Jan. 15, Jeff Bezos made an unannounced appearance at an Amazon event in Delhi, where he said the company would invest $1 billion in India over the next five years, bringing millions of small and midsize local businesses online. The collective reaction? Not now, Jeff. Bezos’ visit seemed mishandled from the start. At the Amazon event, his arrival delayed a keynote speech from NR Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys, India’s second-largest IT services company. Murthy ultimately had to cut down his remarks to five minutes from 20. “I am not used to such delays,” he remarked wryly. The central government also appeared nonplussed. Bezos’ trip has included no meetings with ministers or top government officials—many of whom are preparing for upcoming Assembly elections in Delhi—and prime minister Narendra Modi reportedly [refused to meet the Amazon founder](. On Monday, India’s antitrust regulator opened a formal investigation into the practices of Amazon and rival Flipkart, and local retailers protested Bezos’ visit, holding signs with slogans like “Amazon go back” and “Amazon–Flipkart: Second version of the East India Company.” The government’s reticence [may be a rebuke]( of the Bezos-owned Washington Post, which has criticized Modi for [scrapping the special status for Jammu and Kashmir]( as well as for its [new citizenship law](. But the administration may also [not want to upset]( small traders in Delhi—the traditional voter base of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party—by appearing friendly with Bezos just weeks ahead of elections in the capital. “They may have put in a billion dollars,” Indian trade minister [Piyush Goyal said]( at a security conference this week. “But then if they make a loss of a billion dollars every year, then they jolly well have to finance that billion dollars. So it’s not as if they are doing a great favor to India when they invest a billion dollars.” —Itika Sharma Punit FIVE THINGS ON QUARTZ WE ESPECIALLY LIKED A burning world, mapped. Nitrogen oxide, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide, is emitted everywhere something is burning. That usually means humans are at work. Michael J. Coren and Daniel Wolfe [mapped the world’s emissions of NOx]( from burning fields in central Africa to oil tankers steaming across the Red Sea, to show how they’re warming the planet. Engaging the religious groups that educate young children. Advocates of a faith-based model of early childhood education and care say religious leaders are well-respected in their communities and can influence their congregants’ behavior for the better. But as [Annabelle Timsit writes]( detractors worry about quality and oversight, proselytization, and the spread of harmful traditional messages. Now, groups like the World Bank and the United Nations are weighing in. Suspension of disbelief is driving an industry. Experience designers harness unique techniques to build environments that are believable for the immersive entertainment economy, valued at nearly $50 billion. [Amanda Shendruk talks to]( the world-builders behind some of the industry’s most successful events and discovers how they tackle the challenge of providing individualized experiences at a large scale. Trump’s impeachment trial has no comparison. The US president’s trial in the Senate may seem similar on its surface to the last one, in 1999, but Bill Clinton’s case, its implications, and the times are so different as to render them virtually incomparable. Still, [Ephrat Livni argues]( the prior process should be considered the gold standard. Office romances don’t get much worse. When a young insurance broker ended her relationship with a coworker, he didn’t take it well. [Justin Rohrlich reports on]( the wicked, year-long revenge a Maryland man allegedly exacted on his ex-girlfriend, and how it wrongfully landed her in jail multiple times. The case serves as an example of the ways in which a few bits of information—and some well-placed lies—can be used in new and malicious ways that often confound local police departments. QUARTZ MEMBERSHIP Make 2020 the year you [Insert your career goal here!] Become a Quartz member to get the tools you need to jumpstart exciting new opportunities. Our in-depth field guides, work guides, videos, and ready-to-use presentations teach you more than any consultant or shareholder call could. We promise you’ll [see results come Q4](. FIVE THINGS ELSEWHERE THAT MADE US SMARTER The art of the deal, international trade edition. Trump, who made his mark by brokering business bargains that tilted in his favor, brought his approach to the so-called phase-one deal with China—perhaps fundamentally changing the way multinational disagreements are decided going forward, [writes Bob Davis in the Wall Street Journal](. The new system cuts out arbitrators, gives the edge to the US, and disincentivizes the partner from retaliating, echoing the president’s signature style. Smartphones are transforming places. The digital devices in our pockets make it all too easy to take work home. But more than that, [muses Ian Bogost in the Atlantic]( they essentially alter physical spaces. A gastropub, bedroom, or train station suddenly becomes your office. You can continue a Netflix binge in a bathroom, cafe, or taxi. In the process, nowhere feels especially remarkable, and leaving home feels increasingly unnecessary. The plight of Venezuela’s caminantes. While members of the middle and upper classes fled president Nicolás Maduro’s crumbling economy, the poor remained. But eventually even they began to leave in droves, despite being unable to afford bus tickets. In the Los Angeles Times, [Andrea Castillo profiles]( the “walkers” who brave robbers, a frigid high plateau, and worse to reach a Colombian border city—and escape a home where they can no longer afford food. Italy’s phone-hacking scandal. Spyware developers have been criticized for selling their products to repressive regimes keen on tracking activists and reporters. But in a surprising new case, one such company stands accused of monitoring more than 230 people who were not government-authorized surveillance targets, as [Ryan Gallagher writes for Bloomberg](. The firm was allegedly storing over 80 terabytes of sensitive data from hacked phones and computers, unencrypted, on an Amazon Web Services server. The battle over treasure-laden shipwrecks. Technology is making the seabed ever more accessible, luring investors to fund searches for sunken treasure. But discovering long-lost loot doesn’t automatically make it yours. In Hakai Magazine, [Jill Neimark considers]( the 16th-century French vessel La Trinité, found off Cape Canaveral. Much to the relief of maritime archaeologists, Florida and France now control the historically significant wreck—but the salvor who spent large sums revealing it isn’t pleased. Our best wishes for a relaxing but thought-filled weekend. Please send any news, comments, treasure chests, and impeachment comparisons to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by[downloading our app]( and[becoming a member](. Today’s Weekend Brief was brought to you by Steve Mollman, Kira Bindrim, and Holly Ojalvo. 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