Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The US and China resume trade talks in Beijing. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said the countries are in their “final laps” with negotiations over enforcement mechanisms. Outstanding topics include intellectual property, technology transfers, agriculture, and services.
Facebook kicks off its annual developers conference. The company will reveal its latest work on VR, blockchain, and tweaks to its newsfeed during the two-day event. Mark Zuckerberg is also expected to outline Facebook’s shift towards messaging over the next five years.
Earnings galore. Apple releases quarterly figures today, with falling iPhone sales expected to weigh on the tech giant. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies Merck, Pfizer, and Eli Lilly report, as does GE, GM, Mondelez, and Mastercard.
While you were sleeping
Trump put pressure on banks and asylum seekers. The US president, his family, and the Trump Organization, sued Deutsche Bank and Capital One to stop them from complying with subpoenas demanding that they hand over financial records to Congress. Separately, Trump ordered officials to charge asylum seekers application fees, as part of a crackdown on the asylum process.
The US deputy attorney general resigned. Rod Rosenstein had a fraught two-year relationship with the president, who accused him on Twitter of treason and resented his decision to appoint special counsel Robert Mueller to head the investigation into Russian interference in the US election.
Japan moved towards a new era. Emperor Akihito began the formal process of abdication, the first monarch to voluntarily do so in 200 years. Crown prince Naruhito’s ascension takes place tomorrow, though new empress Masako will not be allowed to watch (paywall).
The aviation sector had a turbulent morning… Airbus saw first-quarter profits plunge 86% from the same period last year, in part over the now-discontinued and loss-making Airbus A380 super jumbo jet. Meanwhile, Lufthansa posted a hefty €342 million ($383 million) first-quarter loss due to higher fuel costs and fierce competition.
…while other companies also delivered bumpy reports. Samsung posted a first-quarter profit of $5.33 billion, down 60% from a year earlier, due to weaker results in its display and memory chip businesses. Danske Bank’s shares dove after the lender, Denmark’s biggest bank, missed expectations; while oil giant BP’s earnings came in below the previous year, though in line with estimates.
Membership
Silicon Valley’s executives kept a low profile in politics until Donald Trump arrived in the White House. Since then, employees, customers, and sometimes their own beliefs have demanded they take a stand. If you want to follow how Silicon Valley is getting involved, start with these five people. You’ll hear more from them soon.
Quartz Obsession
The clique of mechanical keyboards. As laptop keyboards get ever thinner (and in Apple’s butterfly case, buggier), many heavy typers have been drawn back to the stout, chunky, spring-loaded technology of computing’s early era, with tactile and sonic feedback that reduces typos and increases happiness. Click to learn more at the Quartz Obsession.
Matters of debate
Join the conversation with the new Quartz app!
TikTok is the first consumer-grade AI app. It’s like TV, minus the remote control—and people love it.
The US-China trade dispute is a battle in a larger war. Many fights will remain even after the tariff spat is resolved.
Journalists could change the way people think about vaccines. It could be as simple as using photos that depict happy, healthy kids.
Surprising discoveries
Sports Illustrated will feature its first hijab- and burkini-clad model. Somali-American Halima Aden will make history in the magazine’s upcoming swimsuit issue.
Communications jobs are booming as newspapers die off. There are now six PR specialists (paywall) for every reporter.
A Chinese company took out billboards to complain about faulty Teslas. iUNICORN spent $1 million on a Times Square smear campaign.
A whale, possibly Russia-trained, showed up in Norway. The beluga was wearing a harness imprinted with “Equipment of St. Petersburg.”
New Zealand has a slushy fund. Its corrections department spent more than NZ$1 million ($666,700) on 193 frozen-drink machines to keep staff and prisoners cool.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, trained belugas, and free slushies 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 Adam Rasmi and edited by Jackie Bischof.