Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Mark Zuckerberg’s mea culpa to Congress. As he is grilled over the Cambridge Analytica scandal and related privacy issues, the Facebook CEO plans to tell lawmakers that the company “didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake.”
Will Xi Jinping ease trade tensions? The Chinese president will deliver a closely watched speech at the Boao Forum for Asia, the “Asian Davos,” and may announce face-saving market reforms to de-escalate friction with Donald Trump. Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte will also speak.
Donald Trump’s next move in Syria. The US president said he will announce within 48 hours what steps the US will take in response to a chemical weapon attack against civilians in a rebel stronghold near Damascus: “If it’s the Russians, if it’s Syria, if it’s Iran, if it’s all of them together, we’ll figure it out.”
While you were sleeping
The FBI raided the offices of Donald Trump’s personal lawyer. Agents seized records pertaining to “several topics,” the New York Times reported (paywall), including Cohen’s payments to adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, who claims she was paid to stay silent about an affair with Trump. The raid, carried out by the US Attorney’s office after a referral by special counsel Robert Mueller, wiped a strong day of gains by US stock markets.
Uber bought bike share startup JUMP for nearly $200 million. The first major acquisition by CEO Dara Khosrowshahi takes the ride-hailing giant into the growing dockless bike sector, which has quickly become a huge business in China and is rapidly expanding into some US cities. Critics say they can cause a huge mess as broken and vandalized bikes are abandoned.
Russian stocks plunged on new Western sanctions. Investors fled from the dozens of oligarchs and companies hit with fresh sanctions by the US, UK, and their allies, sending the benchmark MOEX Russia Index down more than 8%. Aluminum giant Rusal, owned by an ally of Vladimir Putin, warned of a likely default and asked customers to stop sending payments after its accounts were frozen.
Alarm bells rang over ballooning US deficits. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected the federal government’s budget deficit would reach $1 trillion by 2020, two years sooner than expected, because of tax cuts and spending increases signed by Trump. The legislation will increase the total federal debt by nearly $1.9 trillion over the next 11 years.
YouTube was accused of violating US child protection laws. Twenty-three consumer and child safety groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, alleging the Google unit improperly collects data on children. They say Google knows that children use its main site, despite a nominal ban on people below the age of 13.
Quartz obsession interlude
April Rinne on what the gig economy can learn from the mistakes of microfinance: “[We] must pay equal attention to the dynamics of ‘new economy’ business models and their potential blind spots. In particular, flexible platforms for income generation can be incredibly helpful, even transformational, but they must be harnessed responsibly and with appropriate rules—and an eye towards the public good—in place.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Economies of scale are on the way out. New platforms are enabling small companies to undercut their once-formidable larger competitors.
We may be on the verge of quantifying consciousness. Integrated information theory, which proposes that consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe, is being tested in a laboratory brain study.
Blockchain is flawed in vision and design. Regulation-free currency highlights just how important regulations are.
Surprising discoveries
An Indian actress publicly disrobed to protest sexual harassment. Sri Reddy hopes to publicize rampant misogyny in Bollywood (paywall).
Africa’s biggest Ponzi scheme is finally folding. Russian “mutual aid fund” Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox found a foothold in Nigeria during a recession.
Nikola Tesla predicted mobile phones. He also said wireless capabilities would turn the world into a “huge brain,” and women would surpass men.
Baby eel smugglers were thwarted in Spain. The endangered European glass eel (paywall) is a hugely lucrative business, with one shipment alone worth about $450 million.
A 10-year-old boy became wrestling’s youngest champion. Braun Strowman found his tag-team partner among the 78,000 WrestleMania attendees in New Orleans.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, child wrestlers, and baby eels 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 and edited by Adam Pasick and Susan Howson.