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What to watch for today
Iran meets Japan. Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrives in Yokohama for a one-on-one with his counterpart Taro Kono, before possibly meeting with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe tomorrow in Tokyo. US president Donald Trump has called on allies to close ranks against Iran as tensions rise in the Persian Gulf, but Japan has remained noncommittal.
P. Chidambaram makes a plea. India’s supreme court will hear from the country’s former finance minister in the next episode of the highly publicized INX Media money laundering case. Chidambaram is also expected to challenge a Delhi high court’s bail denial.
Italy has decisions to make. With the Five Star Movement and the Partito Democratico struggling to determine a new leader after the resignation of prime minister Giuseppe Conte, Italian president Sergio Mattarella has given the two parties until today to work it out. If they fail to do so, Mattarella will likely appoint a caretaker government until the nation can vote.
While you were sleeping
A US judge ruled on a landmark opioid case. The Oklahoma judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay the state $572 million for its role in creating an addiction epidemic. Though it’s the first US ruling to shift accountability to drugmakers, the fine is much lower than the penalty prosecutors asked for, and shares of J&J and other manufacturers rose on the news.
World leaders got stingy about saving the Amazon. G7 nations underwhelmingly agreed to donate $22 million to help put out the fires ravaging Brazil’s rainforests, a paltry sum compared to the $945 million raised within a day of the Notre Dame cathedral fire. It’s not clear where that money will go—as of right now, Brazil won’t accept it.
Trump played nice at the G7 summit. The US president told reporters that he thinks the US and China will reach a trade deal and called Xi Jinping a “great leader,” just days after he escalated tariffs on China and branded Xi an “enemy.” Trump also signaled his openness to meeting with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani to discuss the country’s nuclear program.
Indonesia unveiled the site of its new capital. Jakarta, the current seat, is choked with air pollution, mired in traffic, and quickly sinking into the sea. The government will spend $34 billion over 10 years to build itself a new home in what’s currently a jungle area outside Borneo, pending parliament’s approval.
A US space plane completed a record-setting flight. The secretive plane, built by Boeing for the American military, spent 719 days in orbit—one more than its previous record. The US Air Force revealed few details about the experiments the spacecraft was running.
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Matters of debate
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Bigger portions aren’t always a better value. A new nutritional group is trying to convince Americans that ordering extra large isn’t an economic imperative.
Fight climate change, not capitalism. Using energy more efficiently is good business and good praxis.
The G7 is pointless now. International cooperation and multilateral diplomacy belong to a bygone era.
Surprising discoveries
Trump wants to nuke hurricanes. He asked advisors if that would stop storms from hitting the US. They said they’d look into it.
Fried chicken goes above and beyond. KFC partnered with Beyond Meat to debut the plant-based alternative in Atlanta this week.
Baidu surpassed Google in smart speaker sales. The Chinese company’s sales ballooned 3,700% in the most recent quarter.
Baseball nicknames are in a slump. Gone are the days of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson; this year, five guys named Smith called themselves “Smitty.”
A dead white rhino may become a father. Conservationists collected eggs from the last female northern white rhinos in Kenya to fertilize them with sperm from the late last male.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, creative nicknames, and heaping portions of meatless fried chicken to hi@qz.com. Join the next chapter of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Susan Howson and Nicolás Rivero.