Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
London starts penalizing old, polluting cars. Today it will introduce a toxicity charge, in effect on weekdays from 7am to 6pm, to improve air quality in the city. The fine is £10 ($13) a day and applies mainly to diesel and petrol vehicles registered before 2006. Critics contend the penalty will disproportionately hurt the city’s poorest drivers.
The sentencing hearing for US Army sergeant Bowe Bergdahl begins. After deserting his post in Afghanistan in 2009, Bergdahl was captured by Taliban forces and held for five years. Last week Bergdahl pleaded guilty to desertion, and now he could face life in prison. While running for president Donald Trump called Bergdahl a “dirty, rotten traitor” and tweeted he should face the death penalty.
The start of a slew of third-quarter earnings. Consumer goods giant Kimberly-Clark, health-tech conglomerate Philips, and oilfield service provider Halliburton, among others, will report on their numbers to kick off a week heavy with earnings reports.
Over the weekend
Shinzo Abe’s snap election in Japan succeeded. Exit polls and early returns from Sunday’s parliamentary election showed the prime minister’s Liberal Democratic Party will retain a two-thirds “super majority” with its partner Komeito. Abe will keep pushing for pro-military constitutional revisions and “Abenomics” policies aimed at curbing decades of deflation.
Tesla reached a deal to build a factory in China. The company will build a wholly owned factory in Shanghai’s free-trade zone, in a first-of-its-kind arrangement for a foreign carmaker, reported the Wall Street Journal (paywall). Usually a local partner is required. The move would allow for lower production costs, but Tesla would likely still face a steep import tariff.
Trump will allow the release of classified JFK documents. The US government is slated to make public 3,000 documents this week relating to the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. The release wasn’t Trump’s decision—it’s required by the 1992 Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act—but he tweeted on Saturday he’d do nothing to stop it.
The World Health Organization changed its mind about Robert Mugabe. The WHO withdrew its appointment of Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador just days after announcing it, following fierce backlash from critics of the Zimbabwean president’s human rights record.
Typhoon Lan made landfall in Japan. Though it largely spared Tokyo, the rapidly weakening storm lashed a wide swath of Japan with torrential rain and wind, setting off landslides, flooding, and cancellations of train and plane services. It resulted in at least three deaths and dozens of injuries.
Spain told Catalonians to fall in line. The country has threatened to suspend the regional government, which Catalonian parliamentary speaker Carme Forcadell said amounts to a coup. On Sunday, the Spanish government urged Catalonian citizens to ignore secessionist leaders and accept authority from Madrid.
Quartz obsession interlude
Tim Fernholz on the financial system’s dangerous dependence on GPS. “Some of the earliest clues to the vulnerability of the Global Navigation Satellite System came from rebellion against The Man. As drivers began using GNSS to plot their routes through traffic, their employers realized they had an easy way to keep an eye on workers and company cars. Employees did not exactly like entering this panopticon, and the tech savvy among them discovered something interesting: It’s relatively easy to jam a GNSS signal.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Developing countries should focus on data collection. As agencies and NGOs become more beholden to data, funding recipients will need to prioritize gathering it.
Nostalgia can be a problematic emotion. When our history is sold back to us in an idealized form, we end up overlooking the hard lessons of the past.
Russian trolls would love the US government’s plan to foil them. Superficial regulations like the Honest Ads Act help malicious actors structure their work such that no rules are formally violated.
Surprising discoveries
Artificial intelligence is binge-watching human behavior. Google is using a new dataset of YouTube clips to teach machines how humans move, from hugging to cooking to fighting.
Mount Rushmore’s chief carver is being recognized 76 years after its completion. The family of Luigi Del Bianco spent decades gathering evidence to prove his role in shaping the American landmark.
Robot women in Asia now have human stylists. Breathable fabrics and a place for the power cord to emerge can be important considerations.
The huddle is disappearing from American football. This season, some offenses have gone nearly half a game (paywall) without stopping to huddle.
A Berlin zoo hopes sex will cure a panda’s rebellious backwards walk. Zookeepers think a romance could keep Meng Meng from acting out.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, panda sex cures, and reminders of the good old days to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android.