Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
London starts penalizing drivers of old, polluting cars. On top of its existing congesting charge, the city will introduce a new toxicity charge, in effect on weekdays from 7am to 6pm, to improve air quality. The fine is £10 ($13) a day and applies mainly to diesel and petrol cars registered before 2006. Critics say 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 he pleaded guilty to desertion, and could face life in prison.
A slew of third-quarter earnings. Consumer goods giant Kimberly-Clark, toymaker Hasbro, and oilfield service provider Halliburton will kick off a big week of earnings reports.
Over the weekend
Tesla struck a deal to build its own factory in China. The e-car company will build a wholly owned factory (paywall) in Shanghai’s free-trade zone—a first-of-its-kind arrangement for a foreign carmaker, as usually a local partner is required. The move would allow for lower production costs, but Tesla could still be subject to China’s steep import tariffs.
Shinzo Abe sailed to victory in Japan. Typhoon Lan, which battered Japan and claimed at least three lives, didn’t dent election turnout for the parliamentary vote on Sunday. The prime minister’s Liberal Democratic Party will retain a two-thirds “super majority.” Abe will continue to push his “Abenomics” policies and his plans to revise the country’s post-war, pacifist constitution.
Cisco closed in on BroadSoft. The world’s biggest networking gear maker is close to finalizing a $2 billion deal to buy US telecom software company BroadSoft, Reuters reported. The acquisition of BroadSoft, which provides cloud services to businesses all over the world, could help Cisco shift away from its stagnating hardware business.
The World Health Organization changed its mind about Robert Mugabe. The WHO withdrew its appointment of Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador just days after making the announcement, following fierce backlash from critics of the Zimbabwean president’s human rights record.
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 was required by the 1992 Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act. Some government agencies reportedly requested to withhold some documents, but Trump tweeted on Saturday that he’d do nothing to stop it.
Spain told Catalonia 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 need to do more data collection. As agencies and NGOs become more beholden to data, funding recipients must 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.
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