Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Round six of the Brexit talks. Frustrations keep growing as negotiations can’t continue until the UK and the other 27 EU member states agree on how much Britain owes the bloc. Talks will remain at a standstill until this issue, the future rights of EU citizens in the UK, and the status of the UK-Ireland border are solved.
Disney reports earnings. Investors will watch the numbers closely after recent reports said that the company may be in talks to acquire the Hollywood studios of 21st Century Fox. Hurricanes during the last quarter forced the company to close parks in Florida and to change or cancel some Disney cruises in the Caribbean.
Equifax in the spotlight. The credit-monitoring bureau has until this afternoon to release quarterly earnings, the first since its huge breach exposed the data of 145 million Americans. On Wednesday, its interim CEO told a congressional hearing that he wasn’t sure (paywall) whether the company was encrypting consumer data.
While you were sleeping
Donald Trump waxed effusive about Xi Jinping. In Beijing, the president heaped praise on Xi (paywall), and even said that he doesn’t blame China “for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens” after raising the topic of intellectual-property theft. The two countries signed $250 billion in commercial deals.
Ridley Scott axed Kevin Spacey from a major movie. The director and Sony Pictures will reshoot Spacey’s scenes from the already-finished “All The Money In The World,” amid fears that the sexual harassment allegations against the actor might affect the film’s success. Christopher Plummer is set to replace Spacey in the role of J Paul Getty.
Burberry plans to be posher. The British purveyor of $1,800 trenchcoats will take the brand more upmarket, adding accessories and leather goods to try and boost its profit margins. Pre-tax profits rose by 24% in the first half but shares tanked by 14% as investors reacted to the new CEO Marco Gobbetti’s vague plans.
Adidas sped ahead in the US. The German sportswear company said Adidas and Reebok sales rose 23% in North America. While Nike still leads the US market, Adidas officially passed Nike’s Jordan brand to become the number two sneaker in September. Things were less rosy for Adidas in Russia, where store closures and negative consumer sentiment caused a double-digit sales drop.
The UN warned of a catastrophic famine in Yemen. Mark Lowcock, the UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, said that the Saudi Arabia-backed military coalition must allow humanitarian aid into the war-torn country to prevent “the largest famine the world has seen for many decades.”
Quartz obsession interlude
Zheping Huang on why Trump should get to know China’s “Steve Bannon,” Wang Huning. “In 1988, Wang spent six months in the US as a visiting scholar… Back from the trip, he wrote ‘America against America,’ a 400-page Tocqueville-style personal memoir of his impressions of American life, from the economy to politics to society. The idea, Wang wrote, was to compare the real America he saw against the imagined America that many Chinese have gone to extremes to either admire or despise.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Don’t try to compete with Facebook. The downward trend in Snap’s stock price since its IPO is a warning: If your startup has an idea that Facebook might want to copy, rethink your business plan.
The US is ceding ground to China in global leadership. If Trump’s retreat into nationalism, protectionism, and unilateralism, continues, China’s authoritarian model (paywall) could prevail.
Technology won’t solve India’s development problems. Simply giving laptops to students won’t overcome deeper infrastructure problems, like teacher shortages.
Surprising discoveries
A Brit set the first world speed record in a “jet engine power suit.” Richard Browning flew over a lake at 30mph.
The US just released an army of weaponized mosquitos. The EPA is allowing MosquitoMate to release its lab-grown, bacteria-carrying males to infect females and reduce populations.
Shinzo Abe and Trump’s meeting wasn’t perfect. The Japanese prime minister fell backwards into a bunker while they were playing golf and Trump didn’t seem to notice.
Facebook wants your “intimate photos.” The social media platform is testing a program that will, theoretically, stop image-based abuse by taking a digital fingerprint of your nude body.
Breathing Delhi’s air is the same as smoking 45 cigarettes a day. Air quality index readings in several parts of the city have hit the maximum of 999.
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