Briefing

THE WEEK

RUSSIA CLAIMED CRIMEA

$56 billion

Amount Americans spent on pets last year, up 4.5% over 2012

‘Something went wrong with our process … and terrible things happened.’

MARY BARRA, CEO of General Motors, after GM recalled millions of cars that may have contained the faulty ignition switch that caused several fatal accidents

GOOD WEEK

Google

Praised for its new smart-watch operating system

BAD WEEK

Sony

Announced it will lay off more than 200 employees

‘If you press a spring too hard, it will recoil.’

VLADIMIR PUTIN, suggesting that the West’s dismissal of Russian concerns has necessitated its annexation of Crimea, which he calls “an integral part of Russia in the hearts and minds of people”

4.4

Magnitude on the Richter scale of the earthquake that hit Los Angeles on March 17

‘This is bigger than the Higgs boson.’

MARC KAMIONKOWSKI, a theorist at Johns Hopkins University, after a team of observers at the South Pole found the first direct evidence of gravitational waves, which bolsters the Big Bang theory

‘Whoever did this … had nerves of steel.’

AN UNNAMED VETERAN AIRLINE PILOT, on the deliberate series of events that resulted in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370; experts now assume a knowledgeable pilot was responsible

$400,000

Approximate value of gold pins stolen from the Tri Delta sorority headquarters in Texas

‘We were hopeful that the policy of exclusion would be reversed.’

GUINNESS, announcing it would not sponsor the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City because of a policy that prevents LGBT groups from marching

Sources: The New York Times; Reuters (3); Salon