Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Japan’s prime minister will call an election. Shinzo Abe is expected to announce an election for Oct. 22, to take advantage of the opposition’s dysfunction and recovering approval ratings for his government amid tensions with North Korea. Fearing an excessive concentration of power in Abe’s hands, however, a majority of Japanese said in a poll they were opposed to Abe calling a snap election.
James Mattis visits India. The US defense secretary will meet with his counterpart, Nirmala Sitharaman, in New Delhi. It’s the first visit to the country by a high-ranking official since US president Donald Trump took office. Afghanistan’s security is among issues on the table.
Iraqi Kurds hold an independence referendum. Kurdish president Masoud Barzani is pressing on with the vote, despite pressure from Baghdad, regional and Western powers, as well as the United Nations. Kurds make up about 15% to 20% of Iraq’s population.
Over the weekend
Angela Merkel cruised to a fourth term as German chancellor. However, Alternative für Deutschland became the third-biggest party, putting a far-right party in the Bundestag for the first time since World War II. Merkel said she had hoped for a “better result.”
Donald Trump extended his travel ban to more countries. The US president added North Korea, Chad, and Venezuela to the list, and dropped Sudan. The ban on citizens from Venezuela entering the US applies only to government officials and their families.
NFL players brawled with Trump. Football players locked arms in opposition to Trump’s suggestion that they be fired by National Football League team owners for kneeling during the national anthem—a practice that began last year when quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeled to bring attention to police violence against black Americans. The president later backed off, saying locking arms is good and kneeling is bad.
There was no clear winner in New Zealand’s election. Both the ruling National party and Labour, the second-biggest party, failed to win enough votes to form a majority government, leaving populist politician Winston Peters from the New Zealand First party as kingmaker in the new coalition.
The US flew bombers off North Korea’s coast. In a “show of force,” the B-1 bombers and F-15 jets traveled the farthest north of the Demilitarized Zone that any US aircraft had in the 21st century.
Quartz obsession interlude
Mike Murphy on whether Apple has peaked. “The most impressive thing the company has shown off in 2017, the year that was supposed to be its most impressive in a decade, was a $5 billion campus. Much like everything else the company released this year, the campus seemed to favor form over functionality.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
NFL owners could fire players for public protests. Some legal experts say it’s possible based on the grounds that the behavior was disrespectful, just as Google was able to fire James Damore for suggesting women aren’t made for tech.
Breaking up Uber’s monopoly will hurt more than help. The ride-sharing app has broken rules to grow its market share in London, but it has given its customers extraordinary value (paywall).
Cosmopolitan’s Helen Gurley Brown taught women to prize skinniness above all else. The magazine’s former editor-in-chief celebrated never eating enough, artificial sweeteners, and weight-loss drugs.
Surprising discoveries
If forced to survive on a single food, choose potatoes. Spuds contain all the amino acids essential to the body—if you combine them with sweet potatoes, you can get needed vitamins too.
People in China paid $15 to ask a 65-year-old sexologist questions. Li Yinhe, known for her writings about BDSM, also charged one yuan on social network Weibo for people to read her answers.
The idea for lab-grown meat was born in a prisoner-of-war camp. Hampton Creek acquired some of its patents from a captured WWII soldier, who after his release enrolled in medical school and contemplated growing food from cells.
Plastic is nowhere near going away. Its production grew 20-fold in the last 50 years, and is expected to double again in the next 20.
Disney’s Queen of Katwe is an inspiration to Ugandan teens. Students who watched the biopic about a girl from the slums of Kampala turned world chess champion performed better on national exams.
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