Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
Elon Musk shares his plan to colonize Mars. The SpaceX CEO will be giving a “major” update on Friday to audiences at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia. Analysts think Musk may announce a smaller version of the Interplanetary Transport System, and he also teased that “certain aspects of the new design and its applications will be unexpected.”
Catalans vote for independence. The Catalonia government will press ahead with an independence referendum on Sunday, despite its constitutional illegality. The Spanish government has tried to shut down (paywall) the vote through various means, such as raiding ballot-printing offices, detaining regional government officials, and promising to punish anyone involved in organizing the referendum.
A big EU meeting takes place in Tallinn, Estonia. Leaders of European Union member states—including Theresa May, who was shut out of a shindig in Bratislava last year—will convene to discuss Brexit, Emmanuel Macron’s plan for bolstering European power, along with new taxes on internet giants. Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy will skip the event as he deals with the Catalan referendum at home.
While you were sleeping
Twitter was grilled about Russia propaganda. The social network told US lawmakers that it identified at least 200 Russia-linked accounts that also bought political ads on Facebook. Senator Mark Warner said it was “deeply disappointing” that Twitter did not seek out fake news stories on its own.
The UN ramped up pressure on Myanmar. The US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley called on countries to suspend military assistance to Myanmar until its government takes action to address the Rohingya crisis. She called Myanmar’s actions against the Muslim minority a “brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority.”
South Korea banned initial coin offerings. The country’s financial regulator became the latest government after China to ban fundraising through ICOs, amid fears of a surge of speculative capital flowing into cryptocurrencies, raising the risk of financial scams.
Two conveyor-belt-sushi giants will merge. Japan’s biggest conveyor-belt-sushi chain, Akindo Sushiro, and the fifth-biggest, Genki Sushi, will combine to form a company with 30% of the Japanese market, according to Japanese media (paywall). British private-equity firm Permira is an investor in Akindo Sushiro, and will cash out of its shares in the company.
Jon Huntsman was confirmed as US ambassador to Russia. The senate confirmed the former Utah governor and ambassador to China as the country’s envoy in Moscow. Huntsman had previously said that there was “no question” that Russia meddled in last year’s US presidential election.
Quartz obsession interlude
Mike Murphy on a startup building eyes for robot cars. “No fully autonomous systems have yet proven themselves consistently in the vast majority of normal driving situations, and some semi-autonomous systems have been partly connected to deaths when they couldn’t fully understand what was ahead of them on the road. The self-driving cars of tomorrow will need to be able to perceive the world with about as much information and as easily as we do or they’re not likely to revolutionize how we get around.” Read more here.
Markets haiku
Stocks up, dollar down / The less we know on tax cuts / The better they sound
Matters of debate
The future of transportation may be about sharing batteries, not vehicles. A Taiwanese startup uses swappable battery packs for its scooters.
Hugh Hefner embodied the contradiction at the heart of the American dream. The late Playboy founder championed both equality and the objectification of women.
There are too many H&M stores. With over 4,000 stores worldwide, the company has been left behind in the e-commerce game.
Surprising discoveries
A Saudi workplace messaging app has gone viral in the US. Teens use Sarahah to send each other anonymous notes (paywall).
Aston Martin designed a futuristic submarine. The sports-car-inspired design is fit for James Bond.
You can now see colors that once didn’t exist. Industrialization changed the world’s palette, adding an array of synthetic hues.
China is obsessed with drinking hot water. An ancient tactic to stay warm morphed into a belief that it has beneficial health effects.
Elon Musk’s mother can’t jump the line to get a Tesla. She’s at “around 300,000” on the Model 3 waiting list.
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