Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
US tech giants are grilled by Congress. Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will testify about their attempts to fight misinformation that could influence US elections. The Senate Intelligence Committee rejected Google chief legal officer Kent Walker as a witness, saying he was not sufficiently senior.
Mike Pompeo meets Pakistan’s foreign minister. The US secretary of state will meet with Shah Mehmood Qureshi as Washington withholds military funding to the cash-strapped South Asian nation. The US believes the country is providing safe havens for insurgents, while Pakistan says it has to be reimbursed for money already spent supporting US troops against the Taliban.
UK homebuilders release earnings. Barratt Developments and Berkeley will release quarterly results, as analysts look for the impact of Brexit (paywall). Meanwhile, German pharmaceuticals and chemicals group Bayer will report second-quarter earnings that will include its acquisition of Monsanto.
While you were sleeping
The first day of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings ended in chaos. The Supreme Court nominee’s appearance before Congress saw interruptions from Handmaid’s Tale-dressed protesters, many of whom were arrested. But the most memorable image of the day appeared to show him snubbing the father of a student killed in the Parkland, Florida high school shooting.
Theranos will cease to exist. The Silicon Valley blood-testing company that’s become a cautionary tale for blind Silicon Valley exuberance told shareholders it was shutting down. Founder Elizabeth Holmes and former president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani face criminal charges (paywall) for defrauding investors.
South Korean envoys are in North Korea to prep for another summit. The meeting, slated for later this month, would be the third this year between South Korean president Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Seoul still hopes to see a declaration of the end of the Korean war this year.
A Chinese tech mogul is being investigated for rape. Minnesota police had arrested Richard Liu, CEO of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, on Friday night over what they earlier called an allegation of “criminal sexual misconduct.” A lawyer for Liu, who was in the US on a business course for Chinese captains of industry (paywall) but is now back in China, believes no charges will be brought.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Marc Bain on how a boycott over Nike isn’t likely to hurt the swoosh. “Nike, of course, is also a global brand; while the US is its biggest and most important market, it makes up less than half of total sales, meaning most Nike customers probably don’t have strong feelings about Kaepernick either way.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
China’s economy will be hamstrung by demographics. The full effects of the one-child policy will cause the economy to collapse (paywall) not long after it overtakes that of the US.
Fandom is a hotter commodity than music. The recording industry capitalizes on engagement and spectacle rather than tunes—or even the artists themselves.
Don’t get too excited about Amazon breaching $1 trillion. Reaching a market cap of $1 trillion, while impressive, is a largely psychological milestone.
Surprising discoveries
Gig economy. Even the incoming CEO of Goldman Sachs has a side gig—”DJ Sol” was spinning a Sunday afternoon set (paywall) this weekend.
Amazon hopes to put stars in the cloud. Chile’s vast trove of astrodata could boost the company’s cloud-computing business and change data mining as we know it.
Monkeys reject malesplaining. Even when male monkeys demonstrate useful knowledge, females would rather trust other community-centric females.
Click three times and wish. The FBI has finally found a pair of million-dollar ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz—stolen in 2005 from a Minnesota museum.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, executive side gigs, and monkey know-how 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 Tripti Lahiri and Alice Truong.