What to watch for today
US auto sales may rev up. Demand for new vehicles has been flat, but May could see a rebound as lower gas prices encourage customers—particularly those looking to buy trucks and SUVs. Many Americans kept their cars during and after the financial crisis, bottling up demand.
The US Senate considers a new surveillance bill. A provision permitting the mass collection of phone records expired on Sunday night. Lawmakers will soon vote on a new bill, which is likely to pass, but due to complicated Senate rules, it may take a while (paywall).
EU and US officials talk in Riga. Officials, including US attorney general Loretta Lynch, will meet in the Latvian capital to talk about terrorism, migration, and information security—and perhaps FIFA, the target of a major corruption investigation by Lynch’s office.
A check-up on the Mexican economy. The country’s central bank releases a survey of economists on how they see future growth and inflation. The bank already cut its own growth forecasts for 2015 and 2016 after a decline in oil production.
Earnings: Dollar General, Medtronic, Cracker Barrel, and Guidewire Software all report quarterly results.
While you were sleeping
A Chinese ferry carrying 458 people sank in the Yangtze. A passenger ship full of elderly Chinese tourists sank in the Yanqgtze River on Monday night during a storm. Only about a dozen people have been rescued so far, including the ship’s captain.
A Canadian court ordered three tobacco firms to pay out C$15.5 billion ($12 billion) in damages. Quebec plaintiffs said the firms failed to warn them of the dangers of smoking. The damages payout is the biggest in Canada’s history.
Japan’s economy showed strength. Wages grew faster than inflation in April, for the first time in two years, and the benchmark Nikkei-225 stock index is nearing an 18-year high. Meanwhile, the yen broke through the 125-per-dollar barrier for the first time since 2002.
An ISIL “suicide tank” killed 38 Iraqi policemen. Islamic State militants drove a tank filled with explosives into a base near the city of Samarra in central Iraq, killing 38 and injuring 46. Iraqi forces captured the base from ISIL several days ago.
Charles Kennedy, the former leader of the UK Liberal Democrats, died at 55. Kennedy led the party from 1999 to 2006 but lost his seat at last month’s general election. Senior politicians from across the UK are mourning his loss.
Quartz obsession interlude
Oyindamola Olofinlua on how mobile internet killed off internet cafes in Nigeria. ”In most developed countries cyber cafes were a blip in history as most people soon had relatively satisfactory internet connections in the privacy of their homes. In many Nigerian cities these were much more important as they opened the rest of the world to us in a way that even satellite television was unable to do.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Education by itself is not a growth strategy. Investment in education is unlikely to deliver much if other factors are missing.
The ”population bomb” prediction was wrong… Paul Elrich did get some things right, though.
…but Europe’s population is getting old too fast. Soon, there will not be enough young people to look after the elderly.
Evolution is telling you to get off Facebook. Humans are social beings, not socially-networked beings.
Bollywood is becoming less male-dominated. The first film in 2015 to gross more than $16 million has a female lead.
Surprising discoveries
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have been convicted of war crimes. They were tried in absentia in Malaysia.
Turkey’s president was accused of having a golden toilet. Recep Tayyip Erdogan refuted the claim of an opposition leader.
Some animals that normally produce by mating can become pregnant alone. So-called “virgin births” just need the right conditions.
Not all rare bourbon is delicious. The tick-borne Bourbon virus can cause fever, acute muscle and joint pain, and other nasty symptoms.
Bangladesh wants its “third gender” to serve as traffic police. Transsexuals have been recognized as a separate gender since 2013.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, golden toilets, and gold, frankincense, and myrrh for virgin-born animals to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day.