Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
SpaceX aims to return to space. Elon Musk’s rocket-maker will use a new “Block 5” Falcon 9 rocket to launch a communications satellite at Cape Canaveral, Florida that will orbit high above Asia and Oceania, providing broadband connections to a variety of customers. It’s the company’s first flight since Aug. 5, the longest break between launches this year.
The southeastern US coast prepares for a powerful hurricane. Tropical storm Florence is expected to become a Category 1 hurricane today, as it prepares to make landfall somewhere in the US later in the week. North and South Carolina announced states of emergency over the weekend.
Volkswagen stands trial in Germany. Investors are suing for 9.2 billion euros ($10.7 billion) in damages as they argue the company failed to inform them before regulators did about the scope of its illegal-emissions scandal.
Over the weekend
Jack Ma stepped down… Alibaba said its 54-year-old founder and chairman would hand over the reins to CEO Daniel Zhang in a year’s time. Zhang is credited for being the brains behind Singles’ Day, the annual online shopping extravaganza. Ma said he would remain on the board of directors until 2020, and that he would spend more time on philanthropy.
…While CBS’s Les Moonves resigned after sexual-misconduct allegations. The US media company said Moonves would step down as president, chairman, and CEO shortly, after six more women came forward with allegations of sexual harassment. Moonves, who has denied wrongdoing, will make donations supporting the #MeToo movement, CBS said.
The US Open ended, but not without controversy. Novak Djokovic beat Juan Martin del Potro to take the men’s singles title, and Japanese-Haitian Naomi Osaka triumphed over Serena Williams to win the women’s title. That match, however, was overshadowed by criticisms of sexist treatment after an umpire penalized Williams heavily during the match, with the player ultimately fined $17,000 for her misconduct.
Nationalists fell short of expected gains in Swedish voting. Sunday’s parliamentary election remained too close to call, with the center-left Social Democrats in the lead. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats appeared to have won about 18% of the vote, less than they’d polled in recent years (paywall).
North Korea kept its most-threatening missiles hidden. The hermit kingdom’s display of military might was more understated this year as it celebrated its 70th birthday with a parade where long-range missiles were conspicuously absent.
Quartz Obsession interlude
Nikhil Sonnad on the genius of the world’s most difficult text editor. “The new cult of simple software is making us less productive. Simple tools get in the way of our thinking by making assumptions about what we want to do, and by putting the ease of getting going ahead of optimizing productivity. By contrast, using a tool like Vim makes me more expressive. It reduces the friction between what’s in my head and what I can make happen on the computer.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Low-emission vehicles should get conspicuous green license plates. Giving electric and hydrogen cars bright green plates—as Norway, Canada, and China already do—spurs their adoption.
Schools fail children because they’re designed for jobs created by the Industrial Revolution. Neuroatypical students especially (paywall) struggle with the structure and method of modern education.
Female athletes are treated differently than males. When women react adversely (paywall) to a heated professional situation, they’re often labeled hysterical.
Surprising discoveries
Heat days are the new snow days. Extreme temperatures mean that schools are cancelling classes and student activities (paywall).
Tesla short sellers are finally making money. Having notched more than $1 billion in losses in 2018, they made a profit last week.
Americans can barely buy a coffee with what they spend per year on public media. The US spent $3 per capita on public broadcasting in 2014, compared with an average of $86 in European countries.
A surfing legend is endorsing artificial waves. A World Championship Tour competition was held at a wave pool, built by Kelly Slater, for the first time in California.
Homicide is the third-leading cause of workplace deaths. Some experts say murder in an attempt to cover up fraudulent activity is more prevalent than we imagine.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, colorful license plates, and donations to public media 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 Isabella Steger and edited by Alice Truong.