Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Donald Trump visits Texas. The US president will avoid the areas hardest hit by tropical storm Harvey, which could leave 30,000 people temporarily homeless. The worst storm to hit the US in a decade has caused catastrophic flooding that will likely get worse as an additional two feet of rain is forecast.
Emmanuel Macron fleshes out his plans for Europe. The French president, who is facing sliding approval ratings, will lay out his foreign policy priorities at the annual meeting of France’s ambassadors.
Chinese airlines will report profits. Three major carriers are expected to report higher earnings because of foreign exchange gains, but lower profits because tensions with North Korea have slashed lucrative routes to South Korea.
While you were sleeping
Amazon made its presence felt at Whole Foods. The internet giant, which bought the chain for $13.7 billion, marked its first day in the brick-and-mortar grocery industry by slashing prices up to 43% and putting its electronic assistant, the Amazon Echo, on the shelves.
A Trump associate bragged about a Russian business deal that could “get Donald elected.” In emails from 2015, a developer suggested building a Trump Tower in Moscow (paywall) could make him president. The revelation highlights that early in the campaign, Trump’s associates saw ties with Russia as politically valuable.
Drugmaker Gilead is buying cell therapy startup Kite Pharma for $11 billion. The industry leader is willing to pay a 29% premium (paywall) for the California-based biotech firm’s cutting-edge technology, which could harness the body’s own immune system to fight lymphoma and other blood cancers.
Islamic State fighters surrendered their enclave on the Lebanon-Syria border. The Syrian military escorted fighters to eastern Syria, the first time the Islamic State has publicly conceded to leave territory it held in Syria. The move ends any insurgent presence on the border, an important goal for Lebanon and Hezbollah.
Apple scheduled a long-awaited new product announcement. The company is expected (paywall) to unveil three new iPhones on September 12. These presumably include the much-speculated about iPhone 8, which is expected to be pricey and boast facial-recognition technology, plus updates to the iPhone 7.
Quartz obsession interlude
Lila MacLellan on the “dark side” of the smiley face emoji: “76% of Americans say that emoji have become part of the lexicon in their professional communication. And in offices where they’re the norm, to never use them would essentially label you a sociopath.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Tech CEOs are monopolizing the AI conversation. Elon Musk’s doomsday stance on killer robots and Mark Zuckerberg’s unflappable optimism fail to create productive dialogue.
Playing board games makes people nicer. They allow us to enter a controlled state of conflict, where we are forced to reflect on “turn-taking and rules and fairness.”
There’s no such thing as a free exchange. But economists struggle (paywall) to know what people are getting when they trade their data and attention for digital services.
Surprising discoveries
Every year, three ewes visit a Manhattan church to “lamb-scape.” They were hired after the human who used to cut the grass retired (paywall).
If the rainfall in Texas were snow, it would top 200 inches. On Sunday, George Bush airport had 16.07 inches of rain, double the previous record set in 1945.
More people went to the movies after JFK’s assassination than last weekend. The US-Canada box office marked its slowest weekend since World War II.
A smartphone app uses selfies to screen for pancreatic cancer. It checks the eyes for jaundice, one of the disease’s earliest symptoms.
The National Rifle Association had a fashion show. America’s most powerful pro-gun organization highlighted holsters and carry purses at a Wisconsin event.
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