Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The next move for Tesla’s Saudi investor. The kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, which holds 5% of the electric-car company, is reportedly looking at ways to expand its share following Elon Musk’s tweet saying he had funding secured to go private.
Angola hosts southern African leaders. The presidents of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of the Congo, South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, and Gabon are preparing to meet to discuss violence in the region and upcoming DRC elections, now that Joseph Kabila says he will step down.
Wildfires ignite record losses. The Mariposa Grove at Yosemite National Park is set to re-open as firefighters in California appear to be making progress. Nearby businesses have lost an estimated $6.3 million in three weeks. The state expects more than $12 billion in fire-related damage this year. Meanwhile, blazes and drought have cost the EU nearly €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion).
Britain will learn more about the state of its economy. This week, information on growth, inflation, the cost of living, and unemployment will be released. These numbers will help set the tone for ongoing Brexit negotiations.
Paul Manafort’s trial nears an end. Prosecutors are expected to rest their case as soon as today against Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman. He faces bank fraud and money-laundering charges that came amid Robert Mueller’s probe of Team Trump connections to Russia. A conviction could boost support for the special prosecutor’s investigation.
Over the weekend
A cargo ship trying to avoid new Beijing tariffs finally docked. After more than a month at anchor, a ship carrying $20 million in US soybeans put in at the port of Dalian. The Peak Pegasus delayed docking after China imposed 25% import duties as a part of its trade war with Washington.
NASA launched a craft to explore the sun. The Parker Solar Probe departed Cape Canaveral at 3:31 am local time Sunday. A complicated trajectory will bring it within 4 million miles of the sun to collect data on how solar activity affects space weather. Along the way, it’ll reach the fastest speed of any object launched into space—around 430,000 miles per hour (692,017 kph).
Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan resolved a decades-old conflict over the Caspian Sea. The five nations certified that the world’s largest inland body of water is indeed a sea, not a lake—allowing them to define rules for fishing and shipping. Now it’s on to oil rights.
Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul died at 85 in London. Born in Trinidad to parents of Indian descent, the author of “The Enigma of Arrival” won the literature prize in 2001. Celebrated as one of the greatest novelists in English, he infamously asserted that no woman could match his talent.
A US airport employee’s suicide flight exposed security cracks. Richard Russell, who worked at the Seattle-Tacoma airport in Washington state, did stunts in a stolen Horizon Air turboprop (paywall) before crashing into an island in Puget Sound. His ability to access the plane, which was scheduled to receive maintenance, raises questions about the efficacy of security.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Michael Coren on how Tesla’s plan to go private embodies the tech ethos. “The real argument, it seems, is Silicon Valley’s belief that the most radical innovation can’t happen in the glare of the public eye. That’s right in line with venture capitalists who see Musk as the right kind of crazy. Who else would take on the car industry and NASA at the same time?” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Long summer school breaks make inequality worse. With limited access to museums, educational camps, and books, children from low-income families worldwide fall behind between academic years.
Inducing labor at 39 weeks may reduce the need for Cesareans. But that doesn’t mean induction should become common practice for all hospital births.
“Snapchat dysmorphia” is more than a beauty trend. Millennials accustomed to the way they look in filtered photos are losing touch with reality when they seek out procedures to change their features permanently.
Surprising discoveries
The US Air Force’s largest plane can carry six Apache helicopters. The mighty C-5 was used to transport an ultra-secure military satellite from California to Florida, part of a cargo package worth $1.3 billion.
A mountain city in Albania produces much of Italy’s underwear. Women in Shkodra make some 16 million bras annually, enough to almost entirely support Italy’s female population.
Newly resurfaced footage shows Louis Armstrong playing an open-air concert in 1956 Ghana. The legendary jazz great’s wife, Lucille, and a Ghanaian elder were the first to hit the dance floor.
There’s a simple way to reduce opioid prescriptions. When doctors receive letters informing them of former patients’ overdose deaths, they prescribe fewer of the painkillers.
A French park has recruited crows for garbage pickup. The clever rooks have been trained to pick up litter and move it to a receptacle in exchange for a treat.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Albanian bras, and massive military cargo planes 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 Katherine Ellen Foley and edited by John Mancini.