Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
Chemical investigators head to Syria. Teams from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons are expected to begin their investigation at the weekend into attacks in Douma. Russia said it will take responsibility for their safety—inspectors from the group were ambushed in Syria during a 2014 probe.
A reading on US consumer confidence. The University of Michigan releases its preliminary consumer sentiment index for April. The gauge has recently been soaring, reaching levels not seen since 2004.
How are the big banks doing? Earnings season kicks off in earnest today, when JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo reveal their latest quarterly figures. Shareholders are hoping that the reports won’t reveal any unexpected horrors on Friday the 13th.
While you were sleeping
Eye-opening excerpts from James Comey’s memoir were released. In A Higher Loyalty, on sale from next week, the former FBI director writes that Donald Trump’s leadership is “transactional, ego driven, and about personal loyalty,” while describing the president as an unethical, mafia-style boss. The Republican party has already set up a rebuttal website.
Trump confirmed he was open to rejoining the TPP. The president tweeted he’d only rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership “if the deal were substantially better than the deal offered to Pres. Obama.” Although the US pulled out of the pact in Jan. 2017, the remaining 11 countries signed a revised version of it last month.
A court banned Telegram in Russia. Some 10 million users could soon be unable to use the secure messaging app after a Moscow court issued a ban on it (paywall), linked to the company’s refusal to hand over encryption keys to Russian security services. Telegram can appeal, but is unlikely to be able to overturn the ruling.
The White House ordered an audit of the US Postal Service. The move follows Trump’s claims that Amazon is fleecing the agency by taking advantage of bulk delivery rates. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also owns the Washington Post, which often draws Trump’s ire for its coverage of him.
China’s trade surplus with the US soared. The balance of exports and imports rose by nearly 20% in March, which could further stoke tensions in Beijing’s trade spat with Washington. At the same time, though, China ran a rare monthly trade deficit with the rest of the world, backed by robust domestic demand.
Quartz obsession interlude
Tripti Lahiri on how Malaysia’s fake-news law makes it hard to talk about its biggest corruption scandal. “Many fear the main aim of the law is to prevent renewed scrutiny of [prime minister Najib Razak], who is running for re-election, in relation to state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd… At least $4.5 billion has been siphoned away from the fund.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Maybe Brexit isn’t so bad after all. One of Brexit’s biggest critics, Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein, said ”there hasn’t been as dramatic a fall-off as some people would have thought” (paywall).
The REcoin ICO fraud will set the tone for future prosecutions. Sketchy practices surrounding initial coin offerings will be watched more closely from now on.
Don’t buy the line that AI will save Facebook. It will be humans who end up making the tough decisions about removing harmful content.
Surprising discoveries
Samuel L. Coleridge’s remains were found in a wine cellar. The coffins of the famous poet and his family had been stashed in a safe place, bricked off, and forgotten.
A sperm whale died with 64 lbs (29 kg) of plastic trash in its belly. It had swallowed all manner of debris, including nets and plastic bags, before washing ashore in Spain.
A US investor owes the Internal Revenue Service $1 billion. John Paulson deferred payments, but the sum is due (paywall)—and it’s more than the IRS can accept in a single check.
Samsung’s latest phone can’t access the internet. The budget Galaxy J2 Pro, released today, only supports calls and texts, and is targeted at students looking to avoid online distractions.
Chinese iPhone users can’t use the Taiwanese flag emoji. It’s one of many concessions Apple’s made to Beijing, including blocking VPN apps and moving data to local servers.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, 🇹🇼, and billion-dollar checks 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 Jill Petzinger and edited by Jason Karaian.