Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
An update on China’s currency reserves. Analysts expect the stockpile to fall about 9% to $3.1 trillion. A bigger decline could signal that Beijing is being forced to aggressively defend the yuan (paywall), which has fallen against the dollar during the US-China trade war.
An expensive souvenir of corruption arrives in Malaysia. The Equanimity, a super-luxury yacht, was allegedly purchased with $250 million pilfered from the country’s 1MDB state development fund. Authorities said they plan to take inventory, open the vessel for public viewing, and sell it at the highest possible price.
India braces for a nationwide transport strike. Bus, truck, and taxi drivers—including some working for Uber and Ola—are planning a work stoppage to protest a new transit-regulation bill and the rising price of gasoline.
While you were sleeping
US “snapback” sanctions against Iran took effect. The sanctions target Iranian purchases of foreign currency and commodities, and ban US imports of pistachios and Persian rugs. The Trump administration urged Tehran to begin new talks, and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said he is willing to negotiate, but only if the US is “sincere.”
Rick Gates testified that he committed financial crimes with Paul Manafort. He said that, under the direction of Trump’s former campaign manager, he broke the law in various ways, including by filing false tax returns and not disclosing foreign bank accounts. He also admitted to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Manafort by filing false expense reports.
Japan’s wage growth hit a 21-year high. It surged 2.8% in June from a year earlier, thanks in part to higher summer bonuses. Household spending fell 1.2%, less than the forecast of 1.6%, and household income marked the fastest gain in three years.
A wildfire became the largest in California’s history. Dubbed the Mendocino Complex, it’s made up of two separate conflagrations that merged, covering 283,800 acres (114,800 hectares). It’s destroyed 75 homes and forced thousands to flee, and is threatening to spread, with more hot and dry weather expected.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Lily Zheng on the impossibility of curing implicit bias. “Bias isn’t like an upset stomach that an individual can take an antacid to fix; it’s a chronic issue that affects entire organizations, industries, and even societies… The outcome of any implicit bias training shouldn’t be to cure people’s bias or make them more objective—it should be to make people bias-aware.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Orcas and humans grieve in the same way. A “tour of grief” by a mother whale for her dead calf says a lot about our parent-child instincts.
Americans live in the ruins of the 2008 financial crisis. Prosperity is undercut by broken institutions, from health care to law enforcement.
Humans are a post-truth species. Homo sapiens have thrived by creating and sharing fake news to unite the collective.
Surprising discoveries
Negative power prices are on the rise. They’re most common when clean energy supplies spike at a time when demand is low—especially in Germany.
Happiness hangovers are an evolutionary trait. Hedonic hotspots in the brain release their own drug-like neurotransmitters.
A Chinese electric car startup that has delivered zero cars is now valued at $3.6 billion. Alibaba-backed Xiaopeng Motors was founded four years ago.
Dogs in Canada are overdosing on weed. Accidental cannabis consumption could worsen when Canada legalizes recreational marijuana this year.
Starbucks coffee has more caffeine per dollar than McDonald’s. 7-Eleven provides even more bang per buck, while Dunkin’ Donuts trails well behind.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, free power, and stoned dogs 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.