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What to watch for today
Sixty heads of state speak at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. UN secretary general António Guterres has told them to leave the “beautiful speeches” at home, and come with concrete plans. The gathering, which comes ahead of tomorrow’s UN General Assembly kickoff, follows the release of concerning data on sea-rise acceleration. (Sign up for our free daily email roundups from UNGA this week here.)
Britain’s opposition votes on Brexit policies. The Labour party will decide today between two motions: whether to campaign to remain in the EU at a second referendum, or to delay a decision on what stance to take until after an election. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will not rule on prime minister Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament, but will give an update on timing.
Israel’s president decides on who gets to form the next government. Reuven Rivlin is to pick between former army chief Benny Gantz and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, neither of whom won a majority in the Sept. 17 elections. A coalition of predominantly Arab parties, has thrown its weight behind Gantz.
An attempt to un-seat WeWork’s CEO. A group of directors at the co-working startup, including those tied to Japan’s SoftBank, want to make Adam Neumann nonexecutive chairman and install a new CEO. The company’s board is scheduled to meet today to discuss Neumann’s potential removal.
Over the weekend
Indonesian investigators pinpointed causes of the 737 Max crash. Design flaws in the Boeing jet flown by Lion Air and oversight lapses were key factors in the fatal crash of a jet that killed all 189 people onboard last October, according to draft conclusions of a report from Indonesia (paywall). The Boeing 737 Max has been grounded since March after two fatal crashes in five months.
UK tour operator Thomas Cook collapsed. The 178-year-old company is no more, after the breakdown of last-minute negotiations with its biggest shareholder, China’s Fosun Group, and creditors to avoid insolvency. Some 600,000 tourists are potentially stranded as a result.
Donald Trump and Narendra Modi hit it off at their Texas lovefest. At the “Howdy, Modi!” mass rally—a rare reception for a foreign leader—the Indian prime minister proclaimed “everything is great in India” despite a debilitating economic slowdown, while the US president courted Indian American voters, saying India “never had a better friend as president.”
Trump said a phone conversation with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky was appropriate. However, he didn’t directly address news reports that he pressed Zelensky to investigate former vice president Joe Biden on corruption charges. The allegations that Trump abused US diplomatic clout to target a domestic political rival has renewed calls for his impeachment.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said he walked away from acquiring Twitter a few years ago because of “nastiness.” In a New York Times interview ahead of the release of his memoir, Iger said he dropped the deal at the last minute because of concerns about the nature of postings on Twitter.
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Matters of debate
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Personality tests are corporate astrology. Neither your star sign nor your Myers-Briggs result says very much about you.
Companies only care about shareholders. Despite the Business Roundtable’s redefinition of corporations’ purpose, it’s back to business as usual.
Governments and central banks should team up. Coordinating monetary and fiscal policy may be the only way to head off the next recession.
Surprising discoveries
AI repainted a lost Picasso. A century after the artist painted over an old piece, a neural network reconstructed what the original might have looked like.
One US importer requested 10,000 tariff exemptions. The company, which relies heavily on Chinese parts, has filed the lion’s share of American businesses’ 16,000 pleas for tariff relief (paywall).
The CEO of Goldman Sachs launched a record label. David Solomon, aka DJ D-Sol, will donate all profits to fighting the opioid crisis.
Google hit a quantum-computing milestone. Its quantum processor solved a problem in 3 minutes and 20 seconds that would take the fastest supercomputer 10,000 years.
Tinder made a post-apocalyptic video game. The matchmaker hopes episodes of the interactive series will give its users something to talk about.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, psychometric tests, and apocalyptic-yet-romantic video games 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 Mary Hui and edited by Isabella Steger.