Congress grills tech giants, Theranos folds, ruby slippers recovered

Good morning, Quartz readers!

What to watch for today

Congress grills tech giants. 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.

How big is the US trade deficit? The Commerce Department releases its July data today, which is expected to show that the US trade deficit grew to $50.3 billion in July, up from $46.3 billion in June.

Mike Pompeo meets Pakistan’s foreign minister. The secretary of state will meet with Shah Mehmood Qureshi as Washington withholds military funding to the cash-strapped South Asian nation. The US has accused Pakistan of providing safe havens for insurgents.

While you were sleeping

Theranos said it’s shutting down. The blood-testing company that’s become a cautionary tale for blind Silicon Valley exuberance told shareholders it was closing shop. Founder Elizabeth Holmes and former president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani face criminal charges (paywall) for defrauding investors.

The Syrian military began an assault on rebel-stronghold Idlib. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said shelling by pro-government forces began overnight. Trump on Sunday had warned Syria against committing a “grave humanitarian mistake,” while Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said bombing the area would cause a “massacre.”

Donald Trump condemned Bob Woodward’s new book. The president slammed the renowned Watergate journalist’s book on the inner workings of the White House as a “con on the public.” The book quotes senior aides as calling Trump an “idiot” and a “liar.”

Toyota issued a recall for over 1 million cars. The Japanese carmaker said it was recalling Prius and C-HR compact crossover vehicles globally due to the risk of fire (paywall). Some 554,000 cars will be affected in Japan along with 192,000 in the US.

Bayer posted lower profits after completing the Monsanto takeover. Despite boosting revenue, the German agrichemical giant reported a 35% dip in profits compared to the same period a year ago. Its $63 billion takeover of US seed giant Monsanto helped mitigate weak consumer health-care sales.

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 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.

Don’t get too excited about Amazon breaching $1 trillion. It’s a largely psychological milestone.

Surprising discoveries

The FBI finally found the million-dollar ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. Judy Garland’s famous shoes were stolen in 2005 from a Minnesota museum.

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.

Russia says someone tried to drill a hole in the International Space Station. There’s an investigation underway into whether an air leak was a sabotage attempt or a production mishap.

Uber will block passengers with low ratings in Australia and New Zealand. If you’ve got four stars or less, you’ll be banned for six months.

Monkeys reject malesplaining. Even when male monkeys demonstrate useful knowledge, females would rather trust community-centric females.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, ruby slippers, 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 by Jill Petzinger and edited by Sarah Todd.