Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
A Brexit update from Theresa May. The British prime minister is due to update the House of Commons after returning from a meeting of European Union leaders. This comes after opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn bowed to pressure from his party and said he would back another referendum if lawmakers vote down May’s latest attempt to secure parliamentary approval.
Disputed election results in Nigeria and Senegal. In Nigeria, president Muhammadu Buhari took an early lead against challenger Atiku Abubakar, but the opposition is claiming fraud after election-day violence. In Senegal, incumbent president Macky Sall led in unofficial results, but two opposition candidates say the vote should go to a runoff.
Donald Trump arrives in Hanoi. The US president is flying in on Air Force One for a two-day summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who arrived in the Vietnamese capital this morning after taking the scenic route via armored train and limousine.
Congress votes to undo Trump’s border wall emergency. The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives is expected to easily pass a measure that would block the president’s access to $5.7 billion in spending for his long-promised border wall. The prospects of passage in the Senate are more difficult, though Democrats only need to win over two more Republican votes.
While you were sleeping
Iran’s foreign minister resigned in an Instagram post. Mohammad Javad Zarif, the architect of the nuclear deal from which the US withdrew last year, unexpectedly announced he was leaving his job but didn’t explain why. If his resignation is accepted by president Hassan Rouhani, the cleric will lose a key ally and face a harder task in negotiating with the West.
The SEC asked a judge to hold Elon Musk in contempt over a tweet. The US Securities and Exchange Commission said the Tesla CEO’s tweet last week about his company’s projected production was inaccurate and violated a settlement deal reached last year. Musk is supposed to get public statements material to investors vetted by company officials in advance.
An Australian cardinal was found guilty of child sexual abuse. Vatican treasurer George Pell was convicted of molesting two choir boys in the 1990s. He is the highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader ever found guilty of sexual abuse. The sealed verdict by an Australian court in December was made public today, on the heels of a Vatican conference (paywall) on clerical sexual abuse. He’ll be sentenced tomorrow.
The UN Security Council agreed to meet on Venezuela. The US government asked for the meeting after a weekend of deadly border clashes as the opposition tried to bring in humanitarian aid. Washington placed fresh sanctions on Venezuelan officials in the wake of the violence and urged Latin American allies to freeze the assets of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA.
India carried out an airstrike in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. An Indian minister said that fighter jets had conducted a strike on targets across the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing the disputed region. The raid comes after an attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed more than 40 security personnel. The Pakistan military said there were no casualties.
Cubans overwhelmingly approved a new constitution. Almost 87% of voters ratified a new constitution that recognizes private ownership of property and imposes term limits for the president, among other modest legal changes.
Quartz Obsession
536 AD. Did Twitter convince you that 2018 was the worst year ever? Maybe that’s because social media wasn’t around in 536. That’s the year that a volcanic eruption kicked off the Little (but not that little) Ice Age. Then came two more eruptions, a bubonic plague pandemic, falling empires, and more. Look back at the Quartz Obsession.
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Matters of debate
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Chinese footbinding was about work, not sex. The archaic practice became a way to control women’s sedentary labor.
Closing the mobile phone gender gap is a huge opportunity. An uptick in smartphone use among women in low and middle-income countries could be a $700 billion opportunity.
Concrete is the world’s most destructive material. The heavy, durable substance is the second most widely material on Earth, after water. But it also poses enormous environmental dangers.
Surprising discoveries
China is using facial recognition on pigs. Local tech firms are trying to help the nation keep track of livestock (paywall) to prevent a swine-flu epidemic.
Vietnam deported a Kim Jong Un impersonator. The Australian comedian named Howard X was in Hanoi ahead of the Trump-Kim summit.
Earth’s atmosphere is bigger than we thought. According to NASA and ESA data, our planet’s gaseous layer actually extends far past the moon.
Female serial killers have their own particular MO. Women, often well-educated caregivers, tend to kill acquaintances or people they see every day.
The veins in your hand can unlock a smartphone. LG’s new “Hand ID” technology can read the unique blueprint under your palm.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Kim Jong Un impressions, and vein passwords to hi@qz.com. Join the next chapter of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Mary Hui and edited by Tripti Lahiri.