Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
Lebanon holds its first general election in nine years. More than 3.6 million voters will go to the polls on Sunday for the 128 parliamentary seats up for grabs. Lebanese nationals living abroad can also cast their ballots—a historic first for a country that’s been in a state of political turmoil for nearly a decade.
Alibaba reports earnings. The Chinese e-commerce giant will reveal numbers on its fiscal fourth quarter and full year. Analysts predict its core revenue remained strong but that recent acquisitions and an expansion into brick-and-mortar retail will affect earnings.
Warren Buffett makes his annual speech. Berkshire Hathaway’s 2018 shareholders meeting will stream live to the public on Saturday. Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger will unveil Berkshire’s 10 largest holdings, which may include Apple after they bought 75 million shares in the first quarter—adding to the 165 million Berkshire already owns
While you were sleeping
The US ordered China to reduce its trade surplus immediately. According to a document seen by a Wall Street Journal reporter, China has been asked to cut its bilateral trade imbalance by $200 billion by 2020 and stop subsidizing advanced technology. The US trade delegation is expected to wrap up its talks in Beijing today.
The Swedish Academy won’t award a Literature Nobel this year. Amid a scandal over sexual assault allegations against the husband of a member, the academy said there was a lack of public confidence. It will postpone this year’s Literature award until next year, and award 2018 and 2019 together.
Hawaii evacuated residents after the Mount Kilauea volcano erupted. Around 1,700 people were ordered to leave their homes on Thursday evening, after lava from the volcano poured into a residential neighborhood on Hawaii’s Big Island. Governor David Ige has engaged the National Guard to help with evacuations.
The Xerox CEO is not leaving after all. On Wednesday, the printer maker said Jeff Jacobson and most of the board would step down as part of an agreement with activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, who want to block Fujifilm’s $6.1 billion takeover of Xerox. Now the group says Jacobson is staying (paywall), because its agreement with the dissenting investors had expired.
Trump ordered the Pentagon to look at reducing US troops in South Korea. Officials told the New York Times (paywall) that a reduction in troop levels was not meant to be a bargaining chip in negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. A Trump-Kim summit will likely be held this month or next.
Quartz obsession interlude
Chase Purdy on the “clean meat” debate. “When ranching groups talk about clean meat publicly, they… seek to transmit a sense that [it’s] a weird technology, so many steps removed from the natural world that people should be concerned. But while most people don’t consider technology when sipping wine or biting into a banana, to suggest that food and tech are mutually exclusive is dishonest.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Hollywood’s best sci-fi stories are being told by black actors. From Black Panther to Get Out, black protagonists’ roles are enhanced by the constant struggle for the right to exist.
Biology’s next big leap will mirror the computer industry. Crispr gene editing is letting scientists reprogram the very building blocks of life, and will inspire an era of incredible breakthroughs.
Google and Amazon are helping repressive regimes by blocking “domain fronting.” Cutting off developers’ ability to circumvent internet censorship ultimately hurts the public.
Surprising discoveries
China is paying for Karl Marx’s birthday party in Germany. The philosopher’s birthplace Trier will unveil a statue of the Communist Manifesto author, which was designed and funded by Beijing.
Australian millennials want weaker beer. They fear embarrassing photos of themselves drunk appearing on social media, and brewers are responding with watered-down booze.
The failed search for MH370 turned up some 19th century shipwrecks. Researchers believe the two ships discovered off Western Australia were coal-carrying British vessels.
Mindfulness is a decades-old management technique. A French oil executive pioneered “scenario planning” in the 1970s.
In the world’s largest drone performance, some machines went rogue. Signal interference from 100,000 spectators’ mobile devices could be to blame.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, watery beer, and copies of “Das Kapital” 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 by Jill Petzinger and edited by Lianna Brinded.