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What to watch for today
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan talks trade in China. The Turkish president visits Beijing for a meeting with president Xi Jinping to continue a discussion begun in June at a summit in Tajikistan. Erdoğan is expected to consult Xi on managing a struggling economy amid trade tensions with the US, and perhaps strike up an economic partnership.
INTERPOL hosts a cybersecurity conference in Singapore. The three-day gathering of the world’s police comes at a time when Russian trolls are meddling in foreign elections, American hackers are accused of attacking Iran’s security infrastructure, and Chinese companies may use new tech for espionage.
The European Parliament tries again. After the EU’s longest-ever summit ended with top positions still open, European leaders will have to face each other in Brussels for another round of debates. German chancellor Angela Merkel will decide whether to attempt to outvote, and possibly alienate, the eastern European “Visegrád” countries, who strongly oppose her pick for European Commission president.
While you were sleeping
Hong Kong protesters stormed the Legislative Council. Hundreds broke off from the main rally to smash through a glass wall and deface the inside of the building. Fearing widespread bloodshed, other protesters forcibly removed the invaders before the police arrived, and chief executive Carrie Lam publicly denounced the LegCo intruders’ “extreme use of violence.”
Iran broke its 2015 nuclear deal. Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced that his country had blown past the deal’s limit of 660 pounds of low-enriched uranium in retaliation for renewed US sanctions. Iran vowed to upgrade its uranium stockpile to weapons-grade level by July 7 if Europe doesn’t lift its trade embargo.
A shootout followed an Afghanistan bombing. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the explosion of a truck bomb near the Afghan Defense Ministry in Kabul, injuring 105—nearly half were children from a nearby school—and killing four civilians. Two police officers and five attackers died in an ensuing seven-hour gunfight.
Wall Street settled down. Markets soared at the news that the US and China might be patching up their trade differences, but the biggest June jump since 1938 cooled down in the afternoon. Tech companies and chipmakers with ties to China made the most progress.
Kim Kardashian dropped “Kimono”. After online backlash against what was seen as cultural appropriation, as well as a plea from the mayor of Kyoto, the reality TV star announced that she will not be naming her shapewear line as originally planned.
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Today we feature Occidental Petroleum’s Vicki Hollub, the only female CEO of a major international oil company. Hollub is harnessing the oil industry’s superior knowledge of geology to produce “carbon-negative oil.” In our members-only video offerings, Quartz editor-in-chief Kevin Delaney talks to IMF managing director Christine Lagarde; and we travel to Brazil, where China’s taste for meat is reshaping that country’s economy and environment.
Quartz Obsession
Armyworms have invaded China. And India, and Taiwan, and the Philippines. It’s bad news, and the name is no exaggeration: since the inch-long worm made it to Africa in 2016, it’s done billions of dollars in damage to crops. Now it’s knocking on the door of the North China Plain, the country’s top grain-producing region. Worm your way over to the Quartz Obsession for more.
Matters of debate
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Gender fluidity is cool; Facebook is not. 1,800 teens and 20-somethings have spoken.
US women’s soccer destroys every justification for pay inequality. The team is more successful and generates more revenue than their better-paid male counterparts.
Boeing has more to worry about than the 737 MAX. The company enjoyed market gains even after two aircraft crashes, but slowing air travel could pose a real problem.
Surprising discoveries
The UFO above the Korean DMZ has been identified. A flock of 20 birds flying during Donald Trump’s visit set security officials and the media aflutter.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft is about to have a really bad day. Engineers will simulate a midair explosion, ejecting the rocket’s crew capsule six miles (9.5 km) above the ground.
“Cable bacteria” form electric wires with their bodies. The earth is covered with chains of cells thousands-strong that band together to share electrons.
A summer hailstorm buried Guadalajara in six feet (1.5 m) of ice. The freak weather incident left at least 200 buildings damaged and two residents with hypothermia.
Wasp “super nests” are on the rise in Alabama. The colonies can grow to the size of a car and contain 15,000 angry stinging insects.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, electric bacteria, and 30% of male soccer players’ paychecks to hi@qz.com. Join the next chapter of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written and edited by Susan Howson and Nicolás Rivero.