Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Brexit returns. As parliament comes back from recess, prime minister Theresa May is set to restart talks with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to find a way to break the Brexit impasse. Meanwhile, May faces mounting pressure from disgruntled Conservatives for her to step down.
The third stage of India’s election begins. Citizens across 14 states and union territories will vote for 115 parliamentary seats, the largest stage of the weeks-long election. The most eye-catching of these seats is Wayanad in Kerala, which is being contested by opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, while prime minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat also goes to the polls.
Malawi begins testing a landmark malaria vaccine. The African nation will begin a pilot program for the world’s first vaccine giving children partial protection from the disease. The RTS,S vaccine, produced by British pharmaceutical giant GSK, trains the immune system to attack the malaria parasite. Kenya and Ghana will also trial the vaccine later.
The US could derail a UN vote on rape. The Guardian reported that the US plans to veto a resolution on combating rape as a weapon of war being brought to the Security Council because of language in the document that it says hints at support for abortion. The UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict said it’s unclear whether the vote will even take place at all because of the US veto threat.
A big day for earnings. Coca-Cola, Verizon, and Procter & Gamble are expected to deliver solid results, while embattled social platforms Snap and Twitter could have less positive reports. Harley-Davidson and United Technologies will likely be hindered again by US tariffs, while the closure of Toys R Us is sure to drag on Hasbro.
While you were sleeping
Sri Lanka began a national day of mourning. Following the deadly blasts on Easter Sunday, citizens observed three minutes of silence this morning, although trading will resume on the Colombo Stock Exchange and parliament will meet to allow prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to make a statement. The government also invoked emergency powers, while the blanket ban on social media remains in force. The death toll rose to 310.
Two Reuters journalists lost their appeals in Myanmar’s highest court. The Supreme Court upheld the verdict for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were sentenced in September to seven years in prison on espionage charges following their investigation into the 2017 murder of 10 Rohingya Muslims.
North Korea confirmed an upcoming summit with Russia. State media Korean Central News Agency said that leader Kim Jong Un would meet with president Vladimir Putin “soon,” after the Kremlin said earlier that the two countries would meet by the end of the month. The meeting is widely believed to be taking place in Vladivostok.
The New IRA admitted to killing a journalist in Northern Ireland. The organization, a collection of armed groups opposed to the peace process, apologized to the family of Lyra Mckee in a statement. It said it had mobilized its members to “engage” in response to actions by British forces which it deemed provocative ahead of the anniversary of the Easter Rising.
Google employees who organized a walkout said they are facing retaliation. Meredith Whittaker, who leads Google’s Open Research, said in an internal message that she was told to give up her work researching AI ethics at New York University in order to stay at the company, while Claire Stapleton, a 12-year Google veteran, was demoted from her role as YouTube marketing manager. The two were part of a group of employees who organized a large walkout in November in protest of Google’s handling of sexual harassment complaints.
China’s Starbucks imitator filed for a US IPO. Beijing-based Luckin Coffee said in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans to raise around $100 million. The filing comes just days after BlackRock invested $125 million into the company in a Series B funding round, valuing Luckin at about $2.9 billion.
Membership
The rise of gene readers. We dive into direct-to-consumer genetic-testing kits, a growing business which promises to enhance knowledge of our health and our heritage, but is based on less-than-stringent claims of efficacy and accuracy. And in the latest episode of our new members-only video series Because China, we look at Chinese students in America, the largest group of international students from any one country ever.
Quartz Obsession
Bricks: There’s more than meets the eye to the ubiquitous, rectangular building material. To an international fandom of enthusiasts, the 9,000-year-old technology can be a historical artifact or a piece of design inspiration. Explore the many layers of brick collecting in our Quartz Obsession.
Matters of debate
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The media is dangerously quiet about climate change. The amount of coverage around the planet’s dire situation is not at all proportional to the severity of the threat.
Editing is the new coding. As the market becomes saturated with content-heavy platforms, the most promising careers are in storytelling.
Plant-based meat companies have an identity crisis on their hands. They’re staring down the possibility they won’t be able to use the word “meat” on their products at all.
Surprising discoveries
A new treatment allows Parkinson’s sufferers to walk again. A breakthrough treatment by Canadian researchers delivers electrical stimulation to the spine, partially restoring mobility.
Otters are wildly popular in Asia. More and more people from Japan to Indonesia want them as pets, fueling an illicit trade (paywall) in the animal.
Botanists rediscovered a rare Hawaiian flower thought to be extinct with a drone. The Hibiscadelphus woodii, a relative of the hibiscus, was seen for the first time since 2009 on a sheer cliff face in Kauai.
“Ashley” is an inordinately popular password. It was the highest-ranked name on a UK list of hacked passwords.
The official PDF of the Mueller report was updated in a subtle but important way. A layer of data makes it finally possible to access the underlying text of the document.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, safe passwords, and Hawaiian flowers 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 Isabella Steger and edited by Tripti Lahiri.