Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Donald Trump makes a public pitch for a border wall. The US president will deliver a prime-time address at 9pm ET calling for for a multibillion-dollar wall along the border with Mexico. Democrats have refused to fund it, leading to a partial government shutdown now in its 18th day, and Trump has threatened to declare a state of emergency if he doesn’t get his way.
US-China trade talks are extended for a third day. The negotiations in Beijing, which follow a temporary trade war truce after the G20 summit last month, are going “very well,” Trump said on Twitter.
While you were sleeping
WeWork is renaming itself The We Company after a drastically reduced investment from SoftBank. CEO Adam Neumann says the new moniker will give his company more leeway to create new businesses like WeLive (a residential unit), and WeGrow (a unit focused on education).
A drone sighting halted flights at Heathrow for roughly an hour. The incident was the second unmanned aircraft to disrupt a London airport in the last month, after Gatwick flights were grounded for nearly three days. UK police were recently given permission to land, seize, and search drones.
Reuters found documents tying Huawei to businesses in Iran and Syria. The Chinese tech giant, accused of using front companies to evade US sanctions, reportedly placed its own employee in a senior management role at a controversial subsidiary. Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou is on parole in Canada while she fights extradition to the US.
US prosecutors charged a Russian lawyer with obstruction of justice… Natalia Veselnitskaya, an attendee of the notorious Trump Towers meeting with senior Trump presidential campaign officials, allegedly submitted “false and deceptive declarations” in federal court during a money laundering trial.
…And Paul Manafort accidentally disclosed crucial allegations by Robert Mueller. Attorneys for the former Trump campaign chairman, who also attended the meeting with Veselnitskaya, tried and failed to redact accusations that he shared polling data with a suspected Kremlin agent.
Quartz obsession interlude
The internet loves to freak out about Nutella. Though the classic Italian chocolate-hazelnut spread can be a great unifier, it can also be divisive—including a new hubbub about the seven-pound tubs on sale at Costco. Read the complete chocolatey history in the Quartz Obsession, then spread the word.
Matters of debate
Join the conversation with the new Quartz app!
The simple act of taking a bus can reveal class disparities. A ride to school shows many US kids how the other half lives.
Errands never end. The key to managing the eternal onslaught of menial tasks is to connect with your future self.
Facebook is like a cult. Some employees say they feel forced to put on a happy face and suppress dissent.
Quartz Membership
Goldman Sachs’ CEO David Solomon is the Big Kahuna: A savvy, street-smart former high-yield bond underwriter, and one of the very few outsiders to make it to the top of Goldman. But if his experiences at Bear Stearns, Salomon Brothers, and Drexel Burnham Lambert have taught him anything, it’s that Wall Street can indeed be a dangerous place.
Read more of the new Quartz membership report on what’s next for Goldman, which marks its 150th anniversary this year. You can sign up here for a 30-day free trial.
Surprising discoveries
For whom, the bell tolls. Grammar nerds may cringe at substituting “who,” but the English language is constantly evolving.
Even fatbergs need a holiday. A 209-foot (64-meter) mass of congealed fat, oil, and wet wipes has been discovered beneath an English seaside resort town.
Some Samsung users can’t delete Facebook. The pre-installed smartphone app can only be disabled (subscription).
A fake nude pic of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was debunked by foot fetishists. Users cross-referenced the image with other photos of the congresswoman’s feet.
The last living Hawaiian land snail has died. “George,” as he was known, was born about 14 years ago as part of an ultimately unsuccessful effort to revive the species.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, vacationing fatbergs, and baby snails to hi@qz.com. Join the next chapter of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written and edited by Adam Pasick and Holly Ojalvo.