Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The US reinstates sanctions against Iran. Many of the sanctions that were relaxed under Barack Obama will come back in full force following Donald Trump’s decision in May to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. European allies fear the move will increase regional instability.
German economic data. The closely watched construction purchasing managers’ index will indicate whether Germany’s booming property market was reflected in last month’s construction activity. Also due today are numbers for German factory orders in June.
Weight Watchers reports second-quarter earnings. Investors will be looking for good news from the company, which lifted its full-year earnings outlook in May. Weight Watchers’ stock has more than doubled this year.
Over the weekend
A senior Brexiteer said “no deal” looks likely. UK international trade secretary Liam Fox pegged Britain’s chances of crashing out of the EU at 60:40, blaming the “intransigence” of the European Commission. On Friday, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said the odds were “uncomfortably high.”
An earthquake in Indonesia killed over 90 people. The magnitude-7.0 quake struck Lombok, Bali, and other islands, injuring hundreds and damaging thousands of buildings. On July 29, another powerful quake killed 17 people on Lombok.
Donald Trump admitted his son met with Russians in 2016 to get information on Hillary Clinton. The US president tweeted that such meetings are “totally legal” and “done all the time in politics.” He also claimed he was unaware of the meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian attorney with close ties to the Kremlin.
TSMC said a computer virus would hurt its third-quarter performance. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company reported that the virus affected its fabrication tools, causing production and shipping delays. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is a major supplier for Apple’s iPhones.
Venezuela’s president accused Colombia of trying to kill him with drones. Nicolás Maduro was giving a live televised speech when an explosion took place that he attributed to weaponized drones. Officials claimed it was an accidental gas tank explosion. Six people have been arrested, and Maduro escaped the incident unharmed.
Steven Seagal was made a special US-Russia envoy. Russia’s foreign ministry said the actor and martial arts guru will help facilitate “relations between Russia and the United States in the humanitarian field.” Vladimir Putin first pitched Seagal for the role in 2013.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Ashley Rodriguez on the doomed economics of MoviePass. “Whatever its flaws, 30 or so movie tickets a month for less than the cost of one at most US theaters was too good a deal to walk away from. MoviePass was the first company to truly try to change the economics of the movie industry to make moviegoing more affordable again.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Apple’s $1 trillion market cap serves only Apple. Even a fraction of the money Apple is sitting on could improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers.
We’re all capable of doing something terrible. In fact, we’re biologically predisposed to it.
Learning French is not useless. Studying the world’s sixth most popular language teaches discipline and humility.
Surprising discoveries
China produces 50% of the world’s cannabis. Most of its crop is non-psychotropic hemp, used for fabrics, medicine, and recreation.
Thousands of people are watching a 66-year-old man sleep. Bob Pagani has been broadcasting his slumber on Periscope and Twitch since last year.
Even crab meat gets cut with cheaper crab meat. A US federal probe uncovered sales of about 400,000 lbs (181,437 kg) of Chesapeake blue crab that had been mixed with cut-rate crab from abroad.
Russians observe a moment of silence before travel. “Sidet’ na chemodanakh” or “sitting on suitcases,” is a custom connected to the symbolism of passing over a threshold.
Algae killed a shark. A dead whale shark tested positive (paywall) for brevetoxin, which is deadly to fish and created by algal bloom.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, sleep videos, and travel customs 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 Steve Mollman and edited by Tripti Lahiri.