Good morning, Quartz readers!
WHAT TO WATCH FOR TODAY
Japan’s opposition Democratic Party elects its new leader.Renho Murata, a half-Taiwanese former model known to most Japanese simply as “Renho,” is expected to win. Her victory would mark Japan’s third appointment of a woman to a top political position in three months.
China launches its second small space station. The Tiangong-2, an orbiting space lab, will allow astronauts to remain on board for 30 days at a time. Two astronauts will be sent to the lab in October for the station’s first mission.
BRICS national security advisors meet in New Delhi. Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are meeting to discuss issues like security, terrorism, and immigration.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
The White House softened its position on Myanmar. During Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to the White House, president Barack Obama said the US would revoke most of its remaining trade sanctions against the country thanks to its progress toward democratization. Human rights watchers criticized the move, arguing Suu Kyi, the nation’s de facto leader, will lose leverage (paywall) against the anti-reformist military.
Brazilian prosecutors went after Lula. Federal prosecutors have charged former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with “passive corruption,” implicating him in a broader corruption scheme involving $26 million in bribes and favors. The allegations come weeks after Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s protege and successor, was ousted from office.
Mainland Chinese authorities detained five Hong Kong journalists. The reporters were visiting Wukan village in China’s Guangdong province, where years-long disputes over land ownership have culminated in violence. Town authorities have reportedly placed bounties of 20,000 yuan (about $3,000) for every foreign journalist residents turn in.
Hackers released more medical records from Olympic athletes. The group calling itself “Fancy Bears,” allegedly from Russia, shared medical certificates of athletes from eight countries granting them permission to take banned substances. One document revealed that Tour de France winner Dan Froome took a forbidden steroid to ail him of chills.
Typhoon Meranti struck Taiwan and southeastern China. At wind speeds of 370 km/h, the storm caused at least one death as it charged through the city of Kaohsiung in Taiwan and Xiamen in mainland China. It arrived just as residents prepare to travel back home to celebrate the mid-autumn festival.
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QUARTZ MARKETS HAIKU
Volume’s up, shares down
We’re all getting antsy
waiting on the Fed
QUARTZ OBSESSION INTERLUDE
Alison Griswold and Mike Murphy on why we haven’t quite reached the driverless era. “Are Uber’s cars ready for the road? When we rode in one this week, the trip was relatively uneventful. But Uber also explained that engineers had meticulously mapped the roads we traversed. That’s not something you can easily scale. To work safely everywhere, the car needs to be able to react like a human to an oncoming truck, rather than passively responding to preprogramed situations.” Read more here.
MATTERS OF DEBATE
Language impacts our sense of morality. Our moral compasses fluctuate depending on whether we weigh ethical dilemmas in our native tongue or a foreign one.
We need to be more humble. Having access to lots of information has made us overconfident, with little knowledge or wisdom.
Having fewer children will save the environment. One less baby is one less consumer of all the products and services that emit greenhouse gases.
SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
You might not own your tattoo. Celebrities, athletes, and coffee shops are starting to sue people who steal their ink designs.
The horseshoe crab lived through five mass extinctions. Sadly, the tough Japanese species may have finally met its match in mankind.
Binge-watching “Game of Thrones” keeps relationships healthy. Bonding over characters creates the same sense of belonging as gossiping about friends.
Malawi is moving tranquilized elephants across the country on cranes. The species’ overpopulation of the south is forcing national park authorities to relocate them.
Hawaiian crows are tool masters. The island-dwelling birds havefigured out how to use sticks to dig out food from hard-to-reach places.
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