Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
UK local election results continue to come in. The Conservative and Labour parties are facing a backlash at the ballot box over Brexit in polls seen as an important litmus test for public sentiment toward them.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn formally takes the throne. Thailand’s king will be officially coronated in an elaborate three-day ceremony starting tomorrow in Bangkok. The 66-year-old cuts an unorthodox figure, and surprised everyone this week by announcing that he had married his royal bodyguard and declared her queen.
The US releases its April jobs report. Employment growth averaged an unspectacular 180,000 per month in the first quarter. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 3.8%, suggesting a tighter labor market that can lift wages and slow hiring.
North Macedonia’s presidential vote heads to a runoff. Deep divisions over a change of the country’s name under a deal with Greece eclipsed all other issues during the first round of the elections last month. On Sunday, pro-Western candidate Stevo Pendarovski and his main rival Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova will face off in a tie-breaker.
While you were sleeping
The last Kim Jong Nam assassination suspect was freed. Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese woman accused of assassinating the North Korean leader’s half-brother, was released after accepting a deal with Malaysian prosecutors and pleading guilty to a lesser charge of “causing injury.” The other suspect in the case, an Indonesian woman named Siti Aisyah, was freed in March after her murder charge was withdrawn.
Cyclone Fani made landfall in India’s Odisha state. With wind speeds of up to 185 km/h (115 mph), Fani is one of the fiercest storms to hit the Indian subcontinent in decades and threatens to affect tens of millions of people. More than a million have already been evacuated from the nation’s eastern coast.
Uber was hit with a huge class action lawsuit in Australia. More than 6,000 taxi and car-hire drivers have sued the ride-share giant for operating illegally and destroying their livelihoods. The suit could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars and comes ahead of Uber’s public listing in the US this month.
Facebook and Instagram banned far-right extremists. Figures including Alex Jones and Milo Yiannopoulos were deemed dangerous and removed for disseminating content that promotes violence and hate. The company also banned Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, known for making anti-Semitic statements.
The actor who played Chewbacca died in Texas. Peter Mayhew, the 7-foot-2 actor who played the beloved Star Wars character, was 74. He is survived by his wife Angie, and three children.
Donald Trump withdrew his Federal Reserve pick. Stephen Moore, who had come under fire for a series of sexist and racist opinion columns, insisted he was “all in” on the nomination just hours before Trump made his announcement via Twitter. Another Trump Fed pick, former presidential candidate Herman Cain, also withdrew himself from consideration.
Membership
Silicon Valley can escape regulation from Washington—but not from the world. The tech industry is now a symbol of what’s wrong in America for liberals and conservatives alike—though legislation to seriously curb Google and Facebook still looks like a longshot. But if DC dallies, plenty of other governments are ready to lead the charge.
Matters of debate
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Knowing your colleague’s salary may not be a good thing. Full transparency can increase dissatisfaction and lead to wage cuts.
We should weaponize ACs to fight climate change. It might be possible to use air-conditioning units to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Location is as important as quantity in college binge-drinking. Where students drink, rather than how much, may be better predictors of sexual assault.
Surprising discoveries
A Canadian Hamburglar is hacking the McDonald’s app… The mysterious fraudster is ordering meals on unsuspecting customers’ accounts and racking up thousands of dollars in charges.
…and Burger King introduced moody meals. A new menu of “pissed,” “blue,” “salty,” “yaaas,” and “DGAF” options reminds people that they don’t have to be happy all the time.
Lesbian potlucks fed the LGBTQ movement. The humble collective meal has radical roots and nourished a vision of a more equal world.
The Russian spy whale wants to defect. A suspected Kremlin-trained beluga (paywall) is refusing to leave Norway.
Warren Buffett treated a $2 billion college endowment like a trust fund. The billionaire trustee says he made “outrageous” investments (paywall) on behalf of Grinnell College.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, turncoat whales, and stolen hamburgers to hi@qz.com. Join the next chapter of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Mary Hui and edited by Isabella Steger.