Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Chinese officials talk North Korea in Seoul. State councillor Yang Jiechi will brief South Korean leaders on the recent meeting in Beijing between Chinese president Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The briefing comes ahead of the North’s potential bilateral summits with South Korea and the US, slated for now for April and May, respectively.
The ninth India-Japan summit kicks off in Tokyo. In an effort to strengthen bilateral relations, Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj will co-chair the three-day strategic dialogue with Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono.
The US and UK release economic data. In the US, a rise of 0.2% in personal spending is expected for February, cooling slightly after January’s bump from the National Tax Act. In the UK, analysts expect full-year 2017 growth of 1.7% to be confirmed (paywall).
While you were sleeping
Preparations got underway for the inter-Korea summit… Officials from the two sides met today in a border village, hoping to determine the date and agenda of the meeting between Kim and South Korean president Moon Jae-in. More such meetings could follow.
… and Japan wants a summit with North Korea. Tokyo, which has been left out in the cold in the last few rounds of North Korea’s sudden diplomacy, sounded out Pyongyang about a bilateral summit, the Asahi newspaper reported. In addition to denuclearization, it wants to discuss the abduction of its citizens by North Korean agents decades ago.
Some targeted ads on Facebook will become less targeted. The social network has been supplementing its own data set for ad targeting with data from third-party data aggregators like Experian, but it will wind down the practice. It’s also rushing out a new design for privacy settings as it cleans up its practices following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
China approved new rules for its $15 trillion asset-management sector. Targeting loopholes allowing regulatory arbitrage and increased leverage, the measures come amid a widening crackdown on risk in the financial system. Yesterday authorities also endorsed plans to establish a specialized court in Shanghai for financial crimes.
Donald Trump replaced the head of veteran affairs with his doctor. Ronny Jackson, who does Trump’s physicals, will take the place of David Shulkin. He’ll manage an agency that has 370,000 employees and offers care to some 20 million veterans. It’s the latest episode in a dramatic two-week period of reshuffling at the White House.
Quartz obsession interlude
Jacques Peretti on how “elite” became a bad word. “The tech aristocracy of Zuckerberg, Musk, and Bezos wear the democratic uniform of t-shirt and jeans. To admit to being an elitist, even a believer in the role of elites, now seems verboten. Following #MeToo, the elite coven of white male Hollywood producers has become a useful shorthand for exclusion and the abuse of power.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Silicon Valley is terrible at making sex toys. Nobody wants an app-controlled, data-capturing erotic product, but that’s what great software minds keep developing.
Italy has a racism problem. Despite its new black senator, xenophobia remains on the rise.
You should never buy a first-generation Apple product. Unless you enjoy half-baked devices like the original Apple Watch, wait for the third generation.
Surprising discoveries
Baby name trends are reflecting changing gender norms in the US. More names are becoming genderless, while some remain firmly on one side of the fence.
Banks are spending billions on fossil fuels. Financing of tar sands and ultra-deepwater oil extraction topped $115 billion from the world’s biggest banks (paywall).
US billionaire Robert Mercer was a secret cop. The Trump supporter volunteered at a New Mexico police department, securing the right to carry concealed weapons in any state.
Playboy is saying goodbye to Facebook. The iconic men’s magazine is deleting its accounts amid the platform’s data scandal.
Slack wants to help you find your gender bias. The workplace communication platform is creating tools to analyze phrasing when speaking to men and women.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, cute baby names, and secret cops to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Steve Mollman and edited by Isabella Steger.