Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Venezuela knocks zeroes off its banknotes. The new currency, known as the sovereign bolivar, will be anchored to Venezuela’s cryptocurrency, the petro. That implies a devaluation of more than 90%, and comes amid desperate moves to shore up the country’s shattered economy, including a 3,000% minimum-wage hike.
Estée Lauder reports earnings. The cosmetics giant is expected to post a rise in its latest quarterly sales, powered by online retail and shoppers in the Asia-Pacific. Investors will be looking for intel on what effects the company expects from the US-China trade war.
The Trump administration begins hearings on its China tariffs. Up to 370 representatives of US companies are expected to testify on the toll that an additional $200 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods would take on business. Levies on $34 billion of imports from China went into effect in early July.
Over the weekend
Pepsi agreed to buy SodaStream for a sparkly $3.2 billion. The acquisition of the Israeli do-it-yourself seltzer maker fits well with Pepsi’s strategy of “making more nutritious products while limiting our environmental footprint,” according to outgoing Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi.
Greece finally exited its eight-year bailout. The eurozone’s rescue fund said the country had successfully exited its final, three-year bailout program. Greece has received more than $340 billion in total from European lenders, but it still faces severe economic challenges (paywall).
Kofi Annan died at age 80. The former United Nations secretary-general and Nobel peace prize winner died Saturday after a short illness. His legacy includes the creation of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, which aimed to eradicate extreme poverty, combat malaria and HIV/AIDS, reduce child mortality, and improve maternal health by 2015.
Italy held a state funeral for 19 of the 43 people who died in the Genoa bridge collapse. The families of some victims refused to attend the Saturday service, saying that the Italian government had failed to act on prior safety concerns that might have prevented the collapse.
Monsoon rains finally eased in Kerala. Authorities said some 22,000 people have been rescued from the southern Indian state. With thousands more still waiting for help, helicopters were finally able to reach places cut off by weeks of rain.
Crazy Rich Asians dominated the US box office. The first Hollywood film with an all-Asian cast in 25 years raked in $34 million over its first five days—the best opening for any romantic comedy in several years and a huge victory for representation in Hollywood. Kevin Spacey’s latest movie, Billionaire Boys Club, was not so lucky—the film grossed $126 (not a typo) across 10 theaters on Friday.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Thu-Huong Ha on how to relax with summer-holiday reading. “Productivity-focused approaches to reading—gunning for 52 books in a year, or listening to audiobooks on triple speed—rely upon shame and panic as a prompt to pick up a book. This is a form of motivation that can certainly work, but it rewards speed, brevity, and completion, rather than curiosity, diversity of ideas, and depth of engagement.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
We aren’t living in a grim new post-truth world. It’s the same multi-truth one we’ve always been in.
Turkey’s currency crisis reflects a bigger problem for emerging markets. Turkey, like Argentina, relies heavily on the dollar—and that makes the countries vulnerable as the Federal Reserve hikes US rates.
Tourists are killing the cities they love. It’s time for people to think harder about how and why they travel.
Surprising discoveries
Giphy is launching a film festival for the age of micro attention spans. The winner of the Nov. 8 awards will get a comparatively macro-sized $10,000.
Many people in the Middle Ages believed lambs grew on trees. The mythical “lamb-tree” puzzled scientists and philosophers alike for centuries.
Investors love Skechers. Uncool as the brand is, its stock returned over 800% (paywall) over a five-year period—far outperforming both Nike and Adidas.
Americans flush as much as 10 metric tons of contact lenses down the drain each year. These can wind up hurting fish and other ocean life.
Stacking concrete blocks is an efficient way of storing energy. A Swiss startup believes it has a cheap alternative to batteries.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, award-winning gifs, and uncool sneakers 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 Jill Petzinger and edited by Sarah Todd.