China GDP bounce, Jimmy Lai sentencing, human-monkey embryos

Good morning, Quartz readers!

Here’s what you need to know

China clocked 18.3% growth in the first quarter. The double-digit figure is because of a low base from the same period last year, when the coronavirus caused the economy to shrink. Compared with 2019, it’s still 10% growth.

A top Japanese official went off-message about the Tokyo Olympics. The secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said canceling the Olympics due to Covid-19 risks is “still an option.” Japan is likely to expand social restrictions to more areas today.

France redefined rape. In a win for its #MeToo movement, lawmakers approved a bill that sets 15 as the legal age of consent. It’s part of a larger moral reckoning spurred by a series of child sex allegations involving high-profile figures, most notably detailed in French author Vanessa Springora’s memoir Consent.

A Covid-19 variant first seen in India was detected in the UK. Scientists worry the variant, which contains two mutations in its spike protein, could be more infectious, but more research is needed. And Pfizer’s chief said people will likely need to take a third shot of the Covid-19 vaccine within a year.

Jeff Bezos’s successor showed Amazon is serious about India. Incoming CEO Andy Jassy made a last-minute appearance at the company’s annual India event, where he announced a $250 million venture fund.

Brazil cleared the way for Lula to run in 2022. The Supreme Court upheld a justice’s decision last month to quash former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s corruption convictions.

China’s Xi Jinping joins a climate change meeting with Germany and France. His attendance at the virtual discussion was announced after US climate envoy John Kerry arrived in China earlier this week.

What to watch for

Jimmy Lai will have a busy day in court today, illustrating the way Chinese authorities are using Hong Kong’s legal system to target political opponents. The 73-year-old Hong Kong media tycoon and owner of the city’s largest pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily has spent the past several months behind bars, having been denied bail on a national security charge of “colluding with foreign forces” and a separate fraud charge.

Lai was arrested last August on charges of collusion, one of the four new vaguely defined crimes in Beijing’s national security law, for allegedly calling for foreign sanctions on China. Writing from prison this month, he urged his newspaper staff to “stand tall,” even while acknowledging that defending free speech was now a “dangerous job” in Hong Kong.

Here are some key facts about the cases against him:

• Lai will be sentenced alongside six other pro-democracy veterans for an unlawful assembly charge related to a mass, peaceful protest on Aug. 18, 2019. All seven pleaded not guilty, but were convicted.
• He will also be sentenced together with two other activists for an unlawful assembly charge related to a peaceful protest on Aug. 31, 2019. All three have already pleaded guilty.
• His collusion and fraud charges will be mentioned in court. He faces up to life in prison if convicted of colluding with foreign forces.

Charting bitcoin’s latest surge

Following Coinbase’s $86 billion IPO, bitcoin climbed to a record of more than $64,000, up from about $7,000 a year ago, according to CoinDesk data.

The surge in prices shows the market is betting the Coinbase IPO “will pave the way for more investors to be involved in crypto assets,” said Gil Luria, director of research at investment firm D.A. Davidson. And soaring prices for digital assets is great news for Coinbase, which makes most of its money from transactions.

Breakfast at Mao’s

China banned the BBC and expelled at least 18 foreign reporters in the first half of last year, and a handful were forced to flee. The message behind the “great expulsion” is clear: foreign media spreading “rumors” and “smears” won’t be tolerated.

If foreign journalists want an example of how Beijing wishes to be covered, they can look to American journalist Edgar Snow, whose 1937 book Red Star Over China featured long interviews with Mao Zedong.

Snow played by China’s rules, remained uncritical of the government, and kept his messages positive at all times. In January of this year, the Chinese foreign ministry started its first presser of the year with praise for “good and true friends” Snow, Anna Louise Strong, and Agnes Smedley, two other 20th-century US journalists.

A flawed figure in the eyes of historians, Snow is an archetype in China.

✦ From policing the internet to cracking down in Hong Kong, read how Beijing’s actions have global impact with Quartz’s Because China obsession. Obsessed with Quartz but not yet ready to commit to a membership? Try it for free.

You asked about blood clots from the J&J vaccine

What’s going on with the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine?

On Tuesday, April 13, the US Food and Drug Administration and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that states pause vaccinations of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines. These recommendations came after six women, all between 18 and 60, developed serious, rare blood clots in their brains and low platelet counts. By the end of the day, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had paused their Johnson & Johnson vaccinations; most had replaced them with others.

At the time, there had been roughly 6.8 million Johnson & Johnson doses distributed. Normally, the type of blood clots these women experienced occur in about one person out of 1 million people annually. There’s no data to suggest that these vaccines caused the blood clots—no events like this happened in clinical trials—but the pause will allow regulatory authorities to completely rule it out.

On Wednesday, the CDC’s vaccination safety group recommended continuing the pause to take a closer look at the data. In the interim, it recommends that people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine within the last three weeks tell their doctor immediately if they have symptoms such as severe headache, stomach pain, or leg pain—all of which are symptoms of blood clots. (Feelings of fevers or body aches are the expected mild side effects of the vaccine, and should resolve in a few days.)

Handpicked Quartz

👀 The era of real-time emissions surveillance is upon us

🦺 Jeff Bezos says Amazon needs to change to be “Earth’s Best Employer”

🩺 Covid-19 showed the US how it could make universal healthcare work

🍞 Why is the price of US white bread up 13% during the pandemic?

✈️ What we can learn from the world’s first travel bubbles

🎙 The world’s biggest music companies are scrambling to sign African artists

Surprising discoveries

The best broadband in the US isn’t where you’d expect. It’s in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and it’s operated by the city, offering a possible template for the country.

Epic Games is building a metaverse to escape the drudgery of reality. The company secured $1 billion to help achieve its vision.

Spotify gave away its first device for free. A select group of subscribers quickly snatched up the Car Thing, which will cost everyone else $80.

Ethics questions abound over human-monkey embryos. The scientists that kept the chimeras alive for three weeks believe the breakthrough could help generate organs for transplant.

The BBC got more than 100,000 complaints for its Prince Philip coverage. It seems viewers were miffed about missing EastEnders.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Car Things, and the EastEnders episode we missed to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Tripti Lahiri, Leslie Nguyen-Okwu, Mary Hui, John Detrixhe, Katherine Ellen Foley, Jordan Lebeau, and Liz Webber.