Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
World Cup celebrations erupt in Paris or Zagreb. The capital of either France or Croatia, respectively, will be swarmed by revelers rejoicing their team’s victory in the World Cup final, to be held in Moscow at 6pm local time. With France celebrating Bastille Day tomorrow, and its team the favorite, Paris is deploying 12,000 police officers for the weekend.
Protestors rally against Trump’s visit in Scotland. Demonstrations are expected in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dundee, as well as outside Trump’s historical Turnberry golf resort, where he plans to stay. The US president has been unpopular among Scots for years, partly because of his contentious moves as a property developer.
North Korea offers a DMZ meeting raincheck. On Thursday officials stood up US representatives who were planning to discuss repatriating the remains of American soldiers killed in the Korean War. North Korea has rescheduled for Sunday, but some see the earlier no-show as a definite snub.
While you were sleeping
Trump praised Boris Johnson. He said the UK’s former foreign secretary would make great prime minister, in an interview with the Sun published just as a dinner for Trump hosted by current prime minister Theresa May wrapped up. This week Johnson resigned in opposition to May’s “soft” Brexit plans, which Trump suggested would hamper a new trade deal with the US.
The US called out China and Russia for violating oil sanctions against North Korea. The Trump administration, seeking to maintain pressure on the Kim regime, asked a United Nations panel to ban all oil-product sales to North Korea (paywall) for the rest of the year. It claimed that Chinese and Russian sales to the nation have exceeded UN-mandated caps.
China issued a 1,300-word rebuttal to the latest US tariffs list… That followed the US saying it was considering tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, which Beijing said would “seriously worsen” the global trade environment and hurt multinationals and average customers around the world.
…while its trade surplus with the United States hit a record high. The nation’s exports accelerated in June, rising 11.3% from a year earlier and beating forecasts of a 10% increase. The commerce ministry said last month that exporters were front-loading shipments to the US to get ahead of expected tariffs.
The AT&T–Time Warner deal hit a snag. The US Justice Department belatedly appealed a June 12 ruling that the $85.4 billion deal wouldn’t be detrimental to consumers. The department objected to the verdict at the time, but didn’t appeal or block it before the deal went through. AT&T shares dropped 1% on the news, but executives are confident they’ll still prevail.
Netflix swept the Emmy Awards with 112 nominations. The streaming service narrowly beat HBO’s total of 108, making it the first time HBO hasn’t led Emmy nominations in 17 years. Netflix’s nominations have grown exponentially in recent years as the company invests billions into original content. The awards will be announced in mid-September.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Aisha Hassan on reading between the lines of queuing. “According to University of Melbourne psychology professor Nick Haslam, queuing is a social norm that exists because of an imbalance between supply and demand—when demand exceeds supply, lining up efficiently promotes equality.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The biggest meme is the word “meme” itself. The term, which describes a container for an idea, has connected a global culture.
Amazon Alexa is a terrible doctor. The virtual assistant has the potential to help users, but will need major structural changes to do so.
Women’s workplace contributions aren’t just overlooked—they’re erased. A sexist blunder by NPR shows that female voices are still being ignored.
Surprising discoveries
You can inherit Facebook content like a letter or a diary. At least you can in Germany, per a ruling yesterday by its highest court.
An out-of-print finance book sold for $3,000. Bootleg copies of billionaire Seth Klarman’s investing manifesto have gained a cult following.
When Twitter weeded out spam bots, its own execs’ accounts were hardest hit. Turns out a lot of their followers weren’t human.
Riders ignore Lin-Manuel Miranda when he sings on the subway. The Grammy winner has been posting videos of his unappreciated performances.
Humans left Africa earlier than we thought. Our ancestors’ trek across the globe began an estimated 2.1 million years ago.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, subway singers, and family heirloom Facebook posts 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 Steve Mollman and edited by Tripti Lahiri.