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US and China trade negotiators had a phone call. Vice premier Liu He chatted with trade representative Robert Lighthizer and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin to discuss phase one of the trade deal. Separately, the US is expected to report a further loss of over 21 million jobs when it releases its April jobs figures today.
75th anniversary of the end of World War II. Berlin will mark the occasion with an unprecedented public holiday, and German chancellor Angela Merkel and president Frank-Walter Steinmeier will lay wreaths at the city’s memorial. Queen Elizabeth will address the UK.
The US justice department dropped criminal charges against Michael Flynn. It’s a stunning reversal in the case involving president Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, who had admitted to lying to the FBI about contacts with the Russian ambassador to the US.
The UK lays out next steps in lockdown easing. Downing Street will unveil a roadmap on Sunday, which foreign secretary Dominic Raab said would entail “modest, small, incremental and carefully monitored” changes. Meanwhile, Australia today laid out its three-step roadmap to re-starting the economy, re-opening cafes and restaurants.
Get ready for storytime. Gollum actor Andy Serkis will perform a continuous live reading of The Hobbit for charity, starting at 9am GMT today. More of a Harry Potter fan? Check out this chapter narration by actor Daniel Radcliffe.
Crypto comes out of the cold
The price of bitcoin has doubled since mid-March, reaching $10,000 this week for the first time since February. With world governments breaking the bank to support economies under lockdown, some major investors are now investing in Bitcoin as an inflation hedge (even though the value bitcoin miners receive is about to be reduced by half) and much-maligned offerings of new cryptocurrency tokens are heating up again. Even Libra, Facebook’s attempt at digital money, is getting its swagger back after a rocky start with a newly hired CEO.
Poll: Is it time to give cryptocurrency another look?
🧐You had my attention, now you have my interest.
🚮No thanks. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…
💰I’ve never lost the faith. HODL!
Charting the future of tourism spending
Long after “stay home” measures are gone, we probably won’t stray too far from our backyards. This summer’s travel, if it happens, will be mostly local, or at the very least domestic. But a huge boom in domestic travel won’t affect every country evenly. A report from Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke, which he cautions is more a “thought exercise” than a forecast, looks at which nations stand to benefit, or suffer, “if international travel demand was redirected domestically.”
For Quartz members
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✦ There’s a lot going on right now. So we made one page to help Quartz members get a full sense of the pandemic’s effects. We call it the coronavirus living briefing. Check for updates every business day.
✦ Can the US safely borrow all the money it needs without risking adverse consequences? We break down how much the US can afford to spend, and indeed must—at least for now.
✦ LinkedIn’s top people scientist explains how to lead in a crisis. Reflect. Connect. Prioritize. And keep checking in—mindfully, mind you.
We’re obsessed with Animal Crossing
The release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons could not have been better timed. More copies of the game sold in its first week than the combined launch sales of all previous installments in the series—a pace that may be an issue for the company going forward. But the game isn’t just a stand-in for leaving the house without fear; it’s a world in which the stakes are low and delight is high. Come visit our island with the Quartz Daily Obsession.
Surprising discoveries
Startups all seem to have speedy names these days. There are at least 120 startups whose names echo the sound “zoom.”
Facebook asked a woman for her dog’s driving license. She got locked out of her pet’s account, and the company is asking for identity verification.
A vicious undersea attack was frozen in time for 200 million years. Palaeontologists discovered a fossil showing an ancient squid entangled with its prey.
The erotic hero in the bestselling novel Happy Ending was inspired by Anthony Fauci. The author Sally Quinn revealed the backstory in an interview, adding more star power to the top US infectious diseases expert.
A way to stop malaria transmission. Kenyan-British researchers pinpointed the microbe that lets mosquitoes pass along malaria to humans.
You asked about billionaires
How much are the world’s wealthiest donating to help? – Anne
What good is having all that money if you can’t lend a helping hand? Forbes has done a good job tracking billionaire philanthropy geared toward the coronavirus from Bernard Arnault to Mark Zuckerberg. However, with coronavirus spending securing Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person and government bailouts raising concerns of new monopoly formation, billionaires still stand to gain from the pandemic.
In fact, the entire premise of philanthropy is being re-examined like never before with even Bill Gates admitting that the steps needed to overcome coronavirus are ones only a government can make.
✉️ Do you have a burning question about how coronavirus is changing the world?
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, speedy names, and driving licenses for dogs to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app on iOS or Android and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Mary Hui and edited by Amanat Khullar.