Good morning, Quartz readers!
Last night we sent you the Asia Daily Brief by mistake. Our apologies!
What to watch for today
The People’s Republic of China turns 70. The celebrations include a grand military parade—15,000 troops, 160 warplanes, 580 tanks—and a massive fireworks display. President Xi Jinping declared that “no force” can stop China from forging ahead. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, police reportedly shot a protester with a live round, for the first in months of demonstrations.
The IMF gets a new chief. Kristalina Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist with a strong track record at the World Bank and the European Commission, says she’s “sleeves rolled, ready to work.” The first IMF head from an emerging economy, her job won’t be easy.
US manufacturing sentiment may be improving. The purchasing managers’ index, calculated from more than 300 buyers across the US, is expected to rise to 50—the cutoff between expansion and contraction—after slipping to 49.1 in August, for the first time in three years. The figures will be released at 10 am EST.
While you were sleeping
Political drama erupted in Peru. President Martín Vizcarra dissolved Congress to push through his anti-graft reforms, and vowed to call new elections, triggering the country’s worst political crisis in two decades. Some opposition lawmakers refused to leave the chamber.
Trump and Barr sought foreign assistance. The US president allegedly pressed prime minister Scott Morrison in a recent call to help attorney general William Barr gather evidence to discredit the Russia probe, while Barrr also reportedly sought help from foreign intelligence officials during private meetings abroad, according to the Washington Post. Following the Ukraine scandal, it’s seen as another case of Trump apparently using diplomacy for personal gain.
Credit Suisse CEO was cleared. The Swiss bank’s chief operating officer, Pierre-Olivier Bouee resigned after an internal investigation found that he, not chief executive Tidjane Thiam, ordered an investigation into the company’s wealth management head, Iqbal Khan. Khan starts at rival UBS today.
A San Francisco tour guide was charged with spying for China. A 56-year-old ethnic Chinese, naturalized American had been allegedly passing classified information on US national security to China. The FBI tracked the man for four years.
Japan’s sales tax went into effect. An increase from 8% to 10% on a wide swath of goods and services will either support prime minister Shinzo Abe’s claim that the revenues will help Japan’s economy, or, as some analysts fear, throw it into a recession as consumers spend less.
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One of the world’s most global industries is finding itself at the mercy of global economic, demographic, and technological trends; now, disruption seems inevitable. Every aspect of the passenger airline business will need to change, in ways large and small, from how they fly to the nature of the aircraft itself to how many pilots are in the cockpit. Quartz tourism reporter Natasha Frost’s state of play explores the turbulent skies of air travel as this week’s field guide takes off.
Quartz Obsession
Hangovers are the worst. It’s safe to assume that humans have been experiencing morning-after malaise for about as long as we’ve been producing alcohol, which is around 9,000 years. While the only surefire solution is to let your liver finish breaking alcohol down into carbon dioxide and water, the quest for a hangover cure continues. The Quartz Obsession raises a glass.
Matters of debate
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Forget the trolley problem. The classic ethical dilemma has nothing to do with designing “good” self-driving AI.
Not all millennials are woke. In Europe, young people’s political views have shifted right instead of left.
Startups should update their design template. Modeling self-contained campuses after their parents’ garages cuts tech workers off from the real world.
Surprising discoveries
Advice against red meat is based on flimsy evidence. Researchers said the science just wasn’t good enough to tell people to take beef off the menu.
Elon Musk roasted NASA’s administrator. The pair have been in a snippy tit-for-tat over delayed rocket designs.
Beware Trojan Horse iPhone cables. The mass-produced cables look legit but allow hackers to take over your computer.
Theresa May is mulling a murder mystery. The former UK prime minister said she’d rather write a novel about an ill-fated Alps expedition than a political memoir.
There might be a black hole in our solar system. And that’s not even the weirdest explanation for the gravitational disturbances in our cosmic neighborhood.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, thrilling Alpine storylines, and hangover remedies 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 Jenny Anderson and Rashmee Roshan Lall.