Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
EU leaders gather in Brussels to discuss top jobs. Over an informal dinner, all 28 leaders of the bloc will kick off the first round of the nomination process for the heads of EU institutions in what is expected to be a long, contentious battle that could be stuck in stalemate.
Michael Gove promises free UK citizenship for 3 million EU nationals. The environment secretary and a leading Brexiteer will announce his pledge as he jockeys to become prime minister after Theresa May announced her plans to resign last week.
Austria’s parliament appoints an interim government. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his government lost a no-confidence vote yesterday following a corruption scandal prompted by the release of a secretly filmed video, toppling his governing coalition. The temporary administration will run the government until a national election in September.
While you were sleeping
A knifeman killed two and injured more than a dozen in Japan. The rare mass stabbing took place in Kawasaki, a city south of Tokyo this morning. Among the injured were 13 primary schoolchildren. A schoolgirl was confirmed dead and the suspected attacker also died after turning the knife on himself, according to Japanese media.
Huawei said it was reviewing its relationship with FedEx. The Chinese telecoms giant told Reuters that FedEx rerouted at least four packages sent from Japan and Vietnam to Huawei offices in Asia, sending them first through the US. The packages, at least one of which contained urgent documents, were diverted due to an undisclosed “delivery exception.”
Alibaba is reportedly planning a $20 billion secondary listing in Hong Kong. The e-commerce giant, which listed in New York for a record $25 billion in 2014, is looking to fill its war chest (paywall) so it can continue investing in technology. It could file an application confidentially as soon as the second half of this year.
Maduro pledged “good faith” ahead of talks with the opposition. Representatives of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro will meet with those of the opposition leader Juan Guaidó this week in Norway, marking the first face-to-face discussions between the two sides. Some 50 countries have recognized Guaidó as the interim president.
At least 40 inmates were strangled to death in separate prisons in Brazil. The deaths come after 15 inmates were killed yesterday in gang clashes in Amazonas state, and officials said they have sent a task force to control the disturbances. Severe overcrowding in Brazilian prisons has fueled fights and riots, and rebellions in 2017 claimed 199 lives.
Quartz Obsession
Nothing tastes better than food on a stick. According to one long-time vendor at the Iowa State Fair, simply sliding a spear into a culinary concoction is practically guaranteed to increase sales by at least 30%. That must be why everything from bananas to poutine to veal cubes has been properly skewered.
Matters of debate
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We have too much stuff. Online shopping is to blame for choice fatigue.
Baldness is this year’s hottest cultural trend. As John Travolta put it last week after shaving his head, “It’s so much easier.“
Long live the mommy blog. So many companies build their business models on women; why shouldn’t mothers build businesses on themselves?
Surprising discoveries
An albino giant panda was caught on camera for the first time. The big white bear was captured by an infrared camera while roaming a Chinese forest.
Toe wrestling has two new world champions. Alan ‘Nasty’ Nash, from England, successfully defended his title over the weekend, while Lisa ‘Twinkletoes’ Shenton claimed the women’s crown.
The US Navy has spotted unidentified flying objects. The Department of Defense insists there’s no reason to believe (paywall) the objects, seen in 2014, were extraterrestrial.
Leonardo da Vinci may have had ADHD. Researchers are undecided on whether the condition helped or harmed his art.
Florida banned the dumping of blood to attract sharks. The process of “chumming” is used to lure the ocean’s top predators to baited hooks.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, albino pandas, and shark-bait blood 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.