Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Japan’s prime minister calls an election. Shinzo Abe is set to announce an election for Oct. 22, to take advantage of his recovering approval ratings amid tensions with North Korea, and the splintering main opposition party. But, 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 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 non-binding vote, despite pressure from Baghdad, regional powers, and the UN. Kurds make up about 15% to 20% of Iraq’s population.
Over the weekend
Angela Merkel won a fourth term as German chancellor. It was the worst result for her party in recent history, and Merkel now faces months of coalition talks. The big shock was the hard-right Alternative für Deutschland becoming Germany’s third-largest party. But AfD leader Frauke Petry said she wouldn’t be joining her party in parliament and stormed out of a press conference on Monday.
NFL players protested Donald Trump. Football players locked arms in opposition to Trump’s tweets demanding that they be fired by National Football League team owners for kneeling during the national anthem. It’s 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.
Trump extended his travel ban to more countries. The president added North Korea, Chad, and Venezuela to the list, and dropped Sudan. However, the Venezuela ban only applies to government officials and their families.
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 New Zealand First 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. Legal experts say it’s possible based on the grounds that it’s disrespectful behavior—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 broke rules to grow its market share in London, but it’s valuable to legions of users (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.
Surprising discoveries
If forced to survive on a single food, choose potatoes. Spuds contain all 20 amino acids essential to the body’s survival.
People in China paid $15 per question to ask a 65-year-old sexologist questions. Li Yinhe is known for her writings about BDSM.
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.
Plastic is not going away. Plastic production grew 20-fold in the last 50 years, and is expected to double again in the next 20.
Australia is finally getting a national space agency. It’s one of the only developed countries not have have its own agency.
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