Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The 2024 Olympics is expected to be awarded to Paris. The decision will be officially unveiled in Lima, Peru. The French capital will celebrate the announcement with a big party near the Eiffel Tower. The International Olympic Committee will also announce the host for the 2028 games, which is expected to be Los Angeles.
The UN Security Council discusses the Myanmar Rohingya crisis. Sweden and Britain requested a private meeting to address the humanitarian crisis facing the persecuted Muslim minority group, but state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi canceled her trip to the United Nations. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda warned that Myanmar would face “punishment” for its treatment of the Rohingya.
Japan’s Shinzo Abe meets Narendra Modi in India. The leaders meet in Gujarat for a two-day summit that will mark the launch of a $17 billion bullet train project, the first in India. India-Japan ties have warmed as the countries try to counter China’s growing influence in in South Asia and beyond.
While you were sleeping
Bill and Melinda Gates warned that the world will miss its development goals. The Gates Foundation said that even under optimistic scenarios, incidences of poverty, maternal and child mortality, child underdevelopment, HIV, and tuberculosis will exceed the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals targets in 2030. Melinda Gates said she was particularly worried about US president Donald Trump’s proposed cuts of US funding for global family-planning programs.
The EU delivered its State of the Union address. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker struck a decidedly upbeat and determined tone in the speech, where he pushed for free-trade pacts with Australia and New Zealand and invited more countries to join the euro zone, but ruled out EU membership for Turkey “in the foreseeable future.” Juncker also told the UK that it would “regret” Brexit “soon.”
Israel became the first country to support an independent Kurdish state. Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said it considers the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) a terrorist organization, but that Israel “supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to attain a state of its own.” Iraqi Kurds will hold a referendum on independence on Sept. 25.
Toshiba said it’s mulling a sale of its chip unit to a Bain Capital-led consortium. The Japanese company signed a memorandum of understanding to accelerate discussions of the sale with a group that includes Apple and South Korean chip maker SK Hynix. Toshiba has so far failed three times to sell its $18 billion chip business.
Quartz obsession interlude
Tripti Lahiri on Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee challenge. “The flood of refugees into Bangladesh is a huge challenge for a country with a GDP of just $220 billion and an average annual income of $1,300—one that already hosts tens of thousands of Rohingya fleeing earlier waves of persecution. Even so, could Bangladesh be doing more for the Rohingya?” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The sense of economic calm in China is a mirage. Xi Jinping has to do everything in his power (paywall) to soothe economic turmoil ahead of an important Communist Party meeting.
Helicopter parenting is bad for college kids. But a little light hovering is just right.
Bitcoin is a fraud. That’s according to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who says the cryptocurrency is the 21st-century version of tulip mania.
Surprising discoveries
Low-level criminals make around $900 a week. It’s painfully easy to see why some people risk working on the wrong side of the law.
The Nova Victoria is the ugliest building in the UK. The mixed-use building won the annual Carbuncle Cup, which is named for a boil on the skin’s surface.
Only one female exec took to the stage at Apple’s keynote. Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of retail, gave a presentation—though another woman did dial in from a paddle board.
A monstrous fatberg is blocking a London sewer. At 130 metric tons (143 tons), the mass of congealed fat, oil, wipes, and other debris is as heavy as a blue whale.
Indians are marking the country’s biggest tax reform by naming their babies after it. One baby born shortly after midnight of July 1—when the goods and services tax reform went into effect—was named GST.
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