Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Brexit talks begin. Negotiations over how the United Kingdom will exit the European Union start in Brussels, complicated by electoral losses that have further weakened UK prime minister Theresa May’s political position. Business groups in the UK are desperate to preserve access to the European single market, but EU officials are still waiting for clarity from May’s negotiators.
Donald Trump meets Panama’s president. President Juan Carlos Varela will visit the White House a week after establishing new diplomatic ties with China. Trump has personal and business ties to Ricardo Martinelli, the previous Panamanian president, who fled his country after serious corruption charges and is now seeking asylum in the United States.
The Paris Air Show takes flight. Defense contractors will be seeking customers for their latest products, including drones that act as “wingmen” to piloted aircraft, and foreign companies will get a chance to see what Trump’s “America First” rhetoric means for weapons deals.
Over the weekend
A van rammed into worshippers leaving a London mosque. Ten people were hospitalized after the assault, which occurred just after midnight local time on Monday. One person died at the scene, but it’s not clear if he was hit by the attacker’s car. A 48-year-old man has been arrested, and home secretary Amber Rudd said police were treating the attack as a “terrorist incident.”
Seven sailors were killed in a US Navy accident. The USS Fitzgerald recovered the bodies of seven sailors from flooded berths after reaching port, following a collision with the Filipino-flagged container ship ACX Crystal. US and Japanese authorities are investigating the cause of the crash, which occurred in a busy shipping lane south of Tokyo in the early morning of June 17.
Emmanuel Macron marched to another victory. The French president’s La République en Marche party won a commanding majority in the National Assembly, routing the traditional socialist and conservative parties that have governed France since the end of World War II. This gives the young president a strong mandate to push through his pro-EU, pro-business reforms in parliament.
Delivery Hero priced its IPO. The Berlin-based online food delivery company will aim to raise over €900 million ($1 billion) when it goes public in Frankfurt on June 30. The IPO will boost investor Rocket Internet, which owns 35% of the company. Delivery Hero has been around since 2011 and it’s now present in 40-plus countries in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia.
Secret North Korea talks were revealed. The Wall Street Journal reported (paywall) on talks between US diplomats and North Korean insiders to free US prisoners and constrain the rogue state’s nuclear program. Discussions have been hindered by the recent return of a badly injured American detained there. Pyongyang accused US authorities of “literally mugging” its delegates to a UN conference at JFK airport on Friday, and wresting a diplomatic bag off them.
A new connection between Donald Trump and Russia emerged. Russia’s patent office extended six expiring trademarks owned by the US president, including four on election day in 2016. His attorney said the trademarks were renewed to prevent infringement.
Quartz obsession interlude
Zoë Schlanger on the high-stakes work of botanists fighting plant extinction. “Perlman deals exclusively in plants with 50 or fewer individuals left—in many cases, much fewer, maybe two or three. Of the 238 species currently on that list, 82 are on Kauai; Perlman literally hangs off cliffs and jumps from helicopters to reach them. Without him, rare Hawaiian plants die out forever. With him, they at least have a shot.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Hindu extremists turn to violence for the same reason as Islamist terrorists. Cattle-defending lynch mobs are just another sect imposing their views with violence when they can’t win over adherents.
Bill Cosby’s mistrial reveals the truth about power in America. Women in the US face the death-rattle of the last desperate bastions of masculine dominance.
German-style apprenticeships can’t be replicated in the US. The German system is rooted in a labor market that demands certification (paywall) for most job hires, while the US has largely abandoned vocational education.
Surprising discoveries
Power rots your brain. Neurological research offers a compelling explanation for why our leaders are so disappointing.
An Arab scholar invented economic theory 400 years before Adam Smith. Ibn Khaldun’s work outlined ideas strikingly similar to those presented by the “father of modern economics.”
Father’s Day was once marketed as “second Christmas.” How Big Necktie created the patriarchal holiday.
A rare movie of New York City in 1911 was discovered. The Swedish film travelogue has been restored and shared by New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Tweaking the DNA in gut-dwelling bacteria made worms live longer. Scientists wonder if it could do the same for humans.
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