Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The Reserve Bank of India meets the press. The central bank will likely leave interest rates unchanged, but its governor Urjit Patel will face questions about the fraudulent activity and lax regulations at the nation’s public sector banks.
North Korea and South Korea prep for talks. North Korea will send a six-member delegation to South Korea to discuss the protocol, security, and media coverage for the upcoming inter-Korean summit later this month. The two sides will meet in the truce village of Panmunjom.
Russia tests missiles just beyond Latvia’s territorial waters. Begun yesterday, the three-day exercise in the Baltic Sea has prompted Latvian authorities to close some commercial airspace, while Sweden has issued air warnings. Latvia’s prime minister called the live-fire drills an ominous “demonstration of force,” though Russia is technically within its rights.
While you were sleeping
Facebook revealed that up to 87 million users’ data had been shared with Cambridge Analytica. In a lengthy release on its plans to restrict data access to third-party apps, Facebook admitted that far more than the originally reported 50 million user profiles had been illicitly harvested. CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before US lawmakers on April 10 and 11.
A US state was cleared to sue Equifax over last year’s massive data breach. A judge in Massachusetts denied a motion by the credit agency to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general. The company expects $275 million in costs this year related the breach, which could become the costliest hack in corporate history.
Trump officially ordered National Guard troops to the US border with Mexico. He said they’ll help stem illegal crossings and that the situation had reached a “point of crisis,” even though border apprehensions are at historically low levels. His base has criticized him for signing a spending bill last month that didn’t fund the border wall he’s promised.
Brazil’s top court upended the nation’s politics. It ruled former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva can be jailed (paywall) while he appeals a corruption conviction. Now running for president and leading in the polls, da Silva says the charges aim to keep him off the ballot. Many voters would question the legitimacy of an election without him.
Quartz obsession interlude
Olivia Goldhill on how Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophical work is all but forgotten. “Textbooks, movies, and TV shows often suggest that King’s quest for racial and economic equality was ultimately successful. Yet half a century since his assassination, King would be dismayed by the ongoing inequality and racism in the US. And the complexities of his ideas are often overlooked.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Utopia is a dangerous ideal. We should instead aim for protopia, or improvement achieved in incremental steps.
Change Facebook by using your account for good. Individual deletion won’t have much impact, but the platform is still the best place to gather around a movement.
Spotify had a wimpy market listing, and that’s fine. Its non-traditional IPO meant low share supply, but having shareholders who are unwilling to sell isn’t a bad thing.
Surprising discoveries
Clean air is China’s new luxury amenity. Hotels, restaurants, and shops hope to attract guests by touting filtered air.
Snow monkeys in Japan counter stress with hot soaks. Female macaques are measurably less stressed (paywall) after taking a dip in hot springs.
A 17-year-old seagull debacle was forgiven. A Canadian luxury hotel absolved a man for the “tornado of seagull excrement” in his room resulting from an open window and a suitcase full of pepperoni.
Balanced fluids may be the new saline drip. Sterile salt water has become the hydration standard in hospital IVs, but an alternative solution could save more lives.
Martin Luther King Jr. persuaded lieutenant Uhura to stay on Star Trek. The civil rights leader told African-American actress Nichelle Nichols her presence on the show was important to the movement (paywall).
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, clean air, and suitcases full of pepperoni 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 Alice Truong.