Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Mike Pompeo heads to China. The US secretary of state will meet with senior Chinese officials to discuss next steps in the denuclearization process, sanction relief between the nations, and a peace agreement for the Korean peninsula.
The World Cup kicks off in Moscow. The 21st FIFA World Cup will open with a match between Russia and Saudi Arabia, the two worst-ranked teams in the tournament (paywall). Football’s biggest event will see 32 teams competing in 64 games over 32 days.
Argentina votes to change its restrictive abortion laws. Currently, women can be imprisoned up to four years for having the procedure. The bill, which would legalize abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, will have to pass in the country’s more conservative senate before going into effect.
While you were sleeping
Comcast made a $65 billion bid for Fox. Disney already offered 21st Century Fox a $52.4 billion all-stock package, but Comcast upped the ante with $35 per share, in cash. With AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner legally approved earlier this week, analysts expect mergers to start piling up.
Germany fined Volkswagen €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) over dieselgate. The fine was imposed for “breaches of supervision” in the automaker’s engine department, which led to the diesel-emission manipulation of almost 11 million cars in 2015. VW won’t appeal the fine, saying in a statement that it’s “committed to its responsibility for the diesel crisis.”
The Fed raised interest rates. In its second hike this year, the US Federal Reserve nudged the federal funds rate to a 1.75% to 2% range, following low unemployment numbers. The Fed also indicated that it would raise funds four times in 2018, not three, as previously expected.
ZTE plunged 40% on the US ban. The electronics-maker saw billions wiped from its market value after it resumed trading in Shenzhen on Wednesday. It had been suspended for the past two months after the US prohibited its firms from selling parts or providing services to the company.
Guess’s co-founder will resign on sexual misconduct claims. Paul Marciano will step down as the company’s executive chairman following allegations that he acted inappropriately towards models, including Kate Upton, who says he forcibly groped and kissed her. He will, however, remain chief creative officer through January 2019, when his contract expires.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Akshat Rathi on how billionaires betting on energy storage could help the world achieve climate goals: “Energy storage can overcome the biggest limitation of modern renewable power: Solar panels and wind turbines can only generate energy when the sun is out or the wind is blowing. With better storage technology, that zero-carbon energy could be stored for cloudy or windless days.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The oil industry should accept its decline. Once demand starts decreasing oil should stop reinvesting and focus on returning cash (paywall).
Trump was right to insist on a NAFTA sunset clause. Letting the treaty exist indefinitely would imperil democracy.
Wireless earbuds signal a new era. They merge human with machine and isolate people from one another.
Surprising discoveries
Chimpanzees and humans fight over similar things. The bloodiest chimp war ever seen was fought to establish a dominant male.
Domino’s is fixing US infrastructure. The company’s “Paving for Pizza” campaign pays local construction crews to mend damaged roads.
People are kicking robots in California. Starship Enterprise’s food delivery bots are getting bullied by humans.
Coca-Cola joined the booze business. The company recently debuted three new lemon-flavored alcopop drinks in Japan.
The axolotl is on the brink of extinction. Climate change is close to pushing these strange, self-healing salamanders out of their natural habitat.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, battered bots, and alcopops to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android. Today’s Daily Brief was written by David Wexner and Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz and edited by Susan Howson.