Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
Theresa May visits French president Emmanuel Macron. The UK prime minister will try to convince Macron to show greater flexibility in the deadlocked Brexit talks. Various ministers from her cabinet met with their French counterparts earlier this week, as the UK tries to go around the European Commission and engage with national leaders directly.
Berkshire Hathaway reports its second-quarter earnings. Operating profits hit a record last quarter as economic growth boosted its railroad, industrial, and consumer businesses. This time around they may show scars (pdf) from the US government’s disputes with its trading partners. The conglomerate’s hefty stake in Apple, meanwhile, is paying off nicely.
The US reports jobs data. Analysts predict nonfarm payrolls likely rose by 190,000 jobs in July after increasing by 213,000 in June. The labor market is viewed as being near or at full employment.
While you were sleeping
Heineken agreed to sell its China operations in a $3.1 billion deal. The Dutch brewer will get a 40% stake (paywall) in the parent company of China Resources Beer—maker of the nation’s best-selling Snow beer—while handing over three breweries and other assets. Each company will be able to leverage the other’s distribution networks.
Apple became America’s first $1 trillion company. Shares of the iPhone maker rose above $207.05, pushing its market capitalization past the historic milestone. Chinese oil giant PetroChina reached $1 trillion in market cap in 2007, and Saudi oil firm Aramco is valued at $2 trillion, but is not yet public.
Emmerson Mnangagwa won Zimbabwe’s election—barely. While his Zanu-PF party won the parliamentary poll by a comfortable margin, his own win was less impressive, as he barely passed the threshold for a first-round victory of 50%. His rival, Nelson Chamisa, got 44.3% of the vote, but rejected the results and declared himself the winner.
Trump’s aides warned that Russia is still meddling in US elections. Intelligence chief Dan Coats and security adviser John Bolton said the Kremlin is behind “pervasive” attempts to “drive a wedge” between Americans and “undermine our democratic values” through social media, cyber attacks against voting systems, and other means.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Chase Purdy on the future of sugar. “A relatively new startup headquartered near Tel Aviv, Israel has developed a super-tiny method that may have cracked what has been an impossible code. In doing so, it sits on the cusp of changing the landscape of food manufacturing by making sugar so efficient that food companies can use 40% less while keeping tastes the same.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Japan is more at ease with robots than the West. Thanks to the indigenous Shinto religion, it’s easy to see them as having their own spirits.
Trump should restore US newspapers, not steelmakers. It would create far more jobs.
TV reboots have gone too far. The 1980s show Alf is being resurrected. Seriously.
Surprising discoveries
“Orange” wasn’t always a color. England stuck to variant descriptions like “yellow-red” until the fruit itself became more common.
A Japanese med school lowered women’s test scores because it was a “necessary evil.” It deliberately kept admissions of women low because they thought women would drop out of the workforce later.
Hawaii’s coastline is one mile longer. Constant lava flow from Kīlauea is adding between 50 to 150 cubic meters of land every second.
West Virginia is testing blockchain ballots. The option gives out-of-state citizens a safe way to cast their vote (paywall) via smartphone.
Alaskan government workers went back to typewriters. Most of the Matanuska-Susitna department’s 500 computers and 120 servers were compromised in a malware attack.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, orange synonyms, and typewriter ribbons 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 Steve Mollman and edited by Isabella Steger.