Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Angela Merkel heads to China. The German chancellor will meet with president Xi Jinping and others to discuss the economy and international trade disputes. The trip comes amidst trade tensions between Beijing and the EU, as well as strained relations with Washington over the Iran deal.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launches his election campaign. Turkey’s president will speak in Ankara to formally begin his run for reelection, but traders will be looking for a comment on the lira (paywall). The currency is in crisis, having declined on all but three days this month.
Narendra Modi holds a summit with his Dutch counterpart. India’s prime minister will meet with prime minister Mark Rutte to discuss New Delhi’s economic and political relationship with the Netherlands.
While you were sleeping
Comcast is taking on Disney for Fox. The cable giant confirmed it was readying a higher, all-cash offer to buy up most of Fox, setting the stage for a bidding war with rival Disney, which already settled a $52 billion deal with the company.
The Federal Reserve may hike interest rates “soon.” Central bank officials said economic outlook warranted a rate hike, signaling that they may modestly overshoot their 2% inflation target for a temporary period.
The US Congress approved a Dodd-Frank rollback. Parts of the 2010 banking reform bill—which was introduced after risky lending maneuvers by financial institutions led to the financial crisis—will be repealed in a win for the Trump administration.
The US disinvited China to an international military exercise. The Pentagon rescinded Beijing’s invite to the US-led biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise (aka Rimpac), to signal its disapproval of China’s continued militarization of the South China Sea islands (paywall).
Ukraine paid Michael Cohen to arrange a meeting with Donald Trump. According to a BBC report, Kiev’s government paid the US president’s lawyer at least $400,000 for the meeting between its president Petro Poroshenko and Trump, without registering as lobbyists for a foreign government.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Brandon Keim on how it’s not necessarily a bad thing that alligators keep turning up in unexpected places: “They might represent an unexpected and possibly wonderful development: large predators rebounding from past persecution and recolonizing their ancestral habitats. So ancestral, in fact, that people don’t even realize they once lived there.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Bitcoin is bad for the planet. It wastes 0.1% of the planet’s energy, but bitcoin fans are spinning this news in a positive way.
Mobile payments in China are making western bankers nervous. Digital transactions through social media are handled entirely by big tech companies, not banks.
Companies aren’t ready for GDPR. They’ve been hoarding data for so long, becoming compliant has taken a lot more time than planned.
Surprising discoveries
Black Panther shirts as Ramadan garb. Wakandan wear looks a lot like traditional Indonesian koko shirts, so fans have merged the two.
Facebook wants nude photos from the US, Canada, and the UK. The pilot program that aims to crack down on “revenge porn” was judged successful in Australia.
Amazon’s just not fashionable. Millennials may have made it the second-biggest apparel retailer, but just for basic duds.
Fugitives keep getting caught at a Chinese singer’s concerts. Cameras using facial recognition technology flagged men at three different Jacky Cheung shows.
Sweet potatoes originated in Asia. Plant-fossil evidence debunked the mythology of the superfood being indigenous to North America.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, basics, and fully-clothed photos 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 Susan Howson and Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz.