Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
A top North Korean official lands in New York to revive peace talks. General Kim Yong Chol—the highest-ranking North Korean to visit the US since 2000—will meet with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo. Preparations for a June 12 summit that was nominally canceled by Trump are once again underway.
Martin Sorrell begins his comeback. The ousted CEO of ad giant WPP is expected to announce he’s taken over as executive chairman of Derriston Capital, a UK-listed shell company; he’ll reportedly try to build a “next-generation” advertising group. Forced to resign under mysterious circumstances last month, he’s still a major WPP shareholder.
Vietnam rules on its biggest-ever fraud case. A court will decide whether a VietinBank manager who stole $215 million—and is now serving life in prison—is responsible for the theft, or if the bank itself should reimburse victims. If not the latter, victims have scant hope of recovering their losses. Foreign investors will be watching the landmark ruling closely.
While you were sleeping
Bayer won conditional US approval for its $66 billion Monsanto acquisition. After two years of review, the German drug and chemical giant agreed to divest $9 billion in assets (paywall), including some seed units, due to competition concerns. Regulators feared the combined company would exert control over the prices of agricultural products.
ABC canceled a hit sitcom after its star’s racist tweet. Roseanne Barr called former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett the offspring of the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes, prompting the Disney-owned network to quickly pull the plug on her rebooted TV show, Roseanne. Disney CEO Bob Iger publicly backed the decision.
The US announced new limitations on visas given to Chinese citizens. To help counter the alleged theft of US intellectual property, authorities said they will limit the length of time granted to Chinese graduate students involved in fields including robotics, aviation, and high-tech manufacturing. The new measures will also apply to employees of specific companies.
A report on the “crimes against humanity” by Nicolas Maduro’s government was released. Commissioned by the Organization of American States, it documents thousands of extra-judicial killings and arbitrary detentions in Venezuela under the strongman’s rule. It was presented to the International Criminal Court, which announced a preliminary investigation.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Marc Bain on Balenciaga’s $1,290 “t-shirt shirt.” ”It doesn’t seem to be made of extraordinarily expensive materials, and it doesn’t look like it was an unusually complex garment to put together. For explanation, maybe it’s enough to know that Balenciaga’s artistic director, Demna Gvasalia, clearly enjoys toying with people’s notions of what fashion, luxury, and beauty should be.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Ethiopia is the China of Africa. The two ancient nation-states share a grand vision for the future (paywall).
Your multivitamins aren’t helping you live longer. For most people, there is no reason to take them.
Belief is not a right. Asserting belief in the face of contradicting facts rejects the pursuit of truth.
Surprising discoveries
A man fled Pompeii… only to be crushed. His skeleton was found pinned and decapitated by a stone block hurled skyward by the Vesuvius eruption.
Japan killed 120 pregnant whales for “research.” Gathering samples is a fishy business when you’re selling the whale meat.
A million French people quit smoking last year. An ad campaign caused a record-setting drop in daily cigarette smokers, to 12.2 million.
The first cyberattack used the telegraph. Shady bankers wired false information to get an upper hand in bond-market trading back in 1834.
Authorities warned against roasting marshmallows over Kilauea’s lava. It’s insanely dangerous—even with a very long stick—and would taste terrible anyway.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Victorian hackers, and lava-free marshmallows 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.