Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
China protests a British auction of an ancient artifact. A UK auction house is selling a water vessel known as a Tiger Ying, made between 1100 and 771 BC, which was seized by a British soldier from Beijing’s Imperial Gardens during the Second Opium War. It has an estimated value of up to $226,000.
Azerbaijan goes to the polls. President Ilham Aliyev, who has been in power since 2003, is expected to win a fourth consecutive term, in an election that critics say is stacked in his favor. Opposition parties are boycotting the election.
Mark Zuckerberg faces a second day of congressional grilling. The Facebook CEO will testify before the House energy and commerce committee where he will read from a seven-page prepared testimony.
While you were sleeping
Zuckerberg was grilled by Congress for almost five hours… He confirmed that Facebook is working with Robert Mueller in his Russia investigation, and said that in five to 10 years AI could be used to detect hate speech. Zuckerberg also said that Facebook is beefing up its defenses in preparation for elections in India in 2019.
…And Reddit banned Russian troll accounts. During Zuckerberg’s testimony, the company said in its transparency report for 2017 that it had found and banned 944 suspicious accounts associated with Russia’s Internet Research Agency.
Five athletes from Cameroon went missing in Australia. They failed to show up to their events at the Commonwealth Games being held in Brisbane and have disappeared from the athletes’ village. After the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, 26 athletes and officials from African countries sought asylum in Australia.
At least 20 died in a prison-break attempt in Brazil. Inmates at a prison in Belem were helped by an armed group that used explosives to destroy the prison walls. Last year, 56 people died in another attempted breakout in the Amazonian city of Manaus.
Quartz obsession interlude
Gwynn Guilford on the cranberry’s improbable path to global domination. “In the 1990s, a little shape-shifting allowed dried cranberries to infiltrate baked goods and trail mixes. And in recent years, it crept its cranberry creep over to China, nestling into the palms of health-conscious young people across the Middle Kingdom. And now, the bitter red bog-berry finds itself in the midst of the burgeoning US-China trade war.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Fake video will destroy our concept of reality. “Deepfaking” will expand far beyond porn to create a new world in which we’re all being manipulated.
Full employment is not the only way a society can succeed. Having a job isn’t necessarily an unqualified good.
The problem isn’t Facebook—it’s us. We’re so addicted to technology that privacy has become an afterthought.
Surprising discoveries
Kim Jong-un needs a new plane. The North Korean leader is starting to travel internationally, but he lacks an aircraft that can fly long distances (paywall).
Eyebrows are an evolutionary win. The heavy brows of Homo sapiens flattened out as communication became more important to survival.
Lionel Messi creates literal shockwaves. When the Barcelona soccer star scores a goal, seismometers pick up tremors from fans jumping up and down in the Camp Nou stadium.
China’s nouveau riche are getting into hunting. They’re flocking to places like Texas, Russia, and Canada—where visitors can pay up to $50,000 to kill polars bears.
Tanzanian bloggers have to pay the government $900 a year. And applications can still be denied if their writing “causes annoyance.”
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Messi seismographs, and cranberries to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android. Today’s Daily Brief was written and edited by Isabella Steger and Steve Mollman.