Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Tesla reports third-quarter earnings. Between the mass-market Model 3’s troubled production schedule and CEO Elon Musk’s divided attention, analysts aren’t sure which way the numbers will go.
Japan’s eight-day special legislative session begins. The Diet will officially re-elect prime minister Shinzo Abe after his convincing victory in a snap election last week. He is expected to leave his cabinet largely unchanged, and will give lawmakers only a limited period to discuss policy issues and political scandals.
New Indian Assurance Company launches a $1.48 billion IPO. India’s largest general insurance company will have the second-largest IPO in the industry’s history, after a successful offering earlier by the General Insurance Corporation of India.
While you were sleeping
A man in a truck plowed through a bike lane in New York City, killing at least eight people. The unidentified driver exited the vehicle with an “imitation firearm,” yelling “God is great” in Arabic before he was shot by police, who took him into custody. Mayor Bill de Blasio described the incident, which also wounded more than 12 people, as an “act of terror.”
US lawmakers grilled Facebook, Google, and Twitter. On the first day of a series of hearings, executives were questioned about attempts by Russia to sow division and influence the 2016 election, which the firms had been slow to acknowledge. Google tried to distance itself from Facebook and Twitter, arguing that its services were fundamentally different than the social media platforms.
CME announced plans for a bitcoin futures market. The world’s biggest derivative exchange’s offering could give mainstream investors a chance to invest in the volatile cryptocurrency. Bitcoin climbed to a record high on the news.
Apple iPhone rumors dented Qualcomm’s shares. Amid legal wrangling between the companies, Apple is reportedly developing a version of its smartphone that doesn’t use any Qualcomm components. Shares in the chipmaker fell by more than 6%.
Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont fled to Belgium. He insisted the visit was merely a chance to “speak freely” rather than an attempt to seek asylum. Puigdemont was removed from office by the Spanish government last month for his attempts to seek independence for the renegade region.
Quartz obsession interlude
Dave Gershgorn on the emerging era of easily faked, AI-generated photos: “Nvidia’s results look so realistic because the company compiled a new library of 30,000 images of celebrities, which … gave each algorithm enough to data to not only understand what a human face looks like, but also how details like beards and jewelry make a ‘believable’ face.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
There are too many restaurants because of Wall Street. Investments in big national brands (paywall) give customers too much choice and are hurting small businesses.
The “mobile internet” is now just the internet. We spend 70% of our online time on our phones.
Killing every terrorist is not a strategy. New US counterterrorism guidelines that loosen the rules for deadly force will have disastrous consequences.
Surprising discoveries
No creature who encounters pizza remains unchanged. City mice genes show the effects of eating a lot of fatty acids, which are prevalent in fast food.
Black licorice can kill you. It contains a chemical compound called glycyrrhizin, which can cause potentially dangerous heartbeat irregularities.
AIs can be trained to detect suicidal tendencies. Researchers developed an algorithm to spot fMRI scans of people who are at risk of self-harm.
Martin Luther changed the way beer is made. His protest movement against the Catholic Church also spurred the inclusion of hops, which became a symbol of the rebellion.
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