Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The US Senate holds a confirmation hearing for defense secretary. Mark Esper, a veteran, former defense industry lobbyist, and secretary of the Army, has been acting defense secretary since June 24, and is widely expected to be confirmed. There has been no defense secretary since Jim Mattis’s resignation in December, the longest stretch in US history.
Facebook defends Libra to the US Congress. In prepared testimony released before his Senate appearance, David Marcus, head of the social media giant’s blockchain subsidiary, Calibra, said that the planned cryptocurrency will be regulated by the Swiss government, but will comply with US tax laws.
The 50th anniversary of the moon landing. The US kicks off a week-long celebration of NASA’s successful Apollo 11 mission, which launched 50 years ago today, with events including a concert by Duran Duran at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and an attempt to launch a record-setting 5,000 model rockets from the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
A flurry of earnings. Major US banks reporting today include JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo. Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson is expected to post a rise in profits, but may be weighed down by lawsuits over the opioid crisis; while Domino’s Pizza looks set to deliver strong earnings growth.
While you were sleeping
Congressional Democrats responded to Donald Trump’s racist attacks. House speaker Nancy Policy said the party would move to formally censure the president for doubling down on remarks that four of its members—all US citizens—“go back” to the countries they “originally came from.”
The White House projected a soaring 2019 deficit. It will pass the $1 trillion mark, the Office of Management and Budget said, for the first time since the years following the 2008 global recession. Data earlier this year also showed a record trade deficit in 2018.
New abortion restrictions took effect in the US. Under a Trump administration push, family planning clinics that are taxpayer funded can no longer refer women for abortions. The rule has been criticized by medical and women’s rights groups.
Ryanair may shut some bases… The low-cost European airline said it may be forced to reduce flights and other services due to a delay in the delivery of 135 Boeing 737 Max planes, which have been grounded globally since March.
…while Pakistan reopened its airspace. Its civilian airspace has been shut since February amid tensions with neighboring India over the contested territory of Kashmir. The airspace closure has cost Indian airlines an estimated $80 million.
Vale said it would compensate workers for a dam disaster. The Brazilian mining giant will pay 400 million reais ($107 million) to employees affected by the deadly rupture of a dam in Minas Gerais that killed nearly 250 people.
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We continue this week’s look into how global philanthropy is changing in an interview with David Miliband, who left UK politics six years ago to head up the International Rescue Committee. Miliband discusses why philanthropists need to be prepared to take on risk, what government inaction means for philanthropy, and why we all have a responsibility to think globally when it comes to charitable giving.
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Is the end truly nigh? Climate collapsers have united in communities preoccupied with climate eschatology—the idea that a warming Earth will radically change life as we know it. They’re different from apocalyptic groups or doomsday cults. Their concerns are based on scientific evidence (even if their predictions are speculative), and they’re working to avoid the end, not reveling in its approach. Get to know them (before it’s too late) with the Quartz Obsession.
Matters of debate
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Cloudflare is a model for corporate transparency. The internet services provider openly admitted fault after a global outage across its network earlier this month.
Leave “Florida Man” alone. The state’s weirdest crime stories often punch down at the homeless and mentally ill.
You can cow your enemies with a head tilt. Angling your head down makes you seem more intimidating.
Surprising discoveries
NASA will grow chile peppers in space. The hardy plants will be the first fruit the agency has ever grown on the International Space Station.
New Zealand penguins are on a sushi roll. Little blue penguins returned to a sushi store in Wellington, despite being released back into the harbor after their first break-in.
Alan Turing will feature on the new £50 banknote. The British mathematician and codebreaker, now widely revered, suffered during his lifetime for being gay.
A Welsh street is the world’s steepest. Ffordd Pen Llech in the town of Harlech is officially steeper than Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Foam could be the key to life on Mars. Nicknamed “solid smoke,” silica aerogel could help warm the planet’s frozen soil enough to grow plants.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, space peppers, and sushi for penguins to hi@qz.com. Join the next chapter of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Adam Rasmi and edited by Jackie Bischof.