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What to watch for today
Elections in Canada. Polls suggest the leading contenders—prime minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative leader Andrew Scheer—are still neck and neck, as they have been through much of the uncharacteristically nasty (for Canada) campaigning.
Prudential spins off M&G. The insurance giant will be divided into two FTSE 100 firms, with their shares trading separately starting today. Prudential will focus on Asia while M&G will scale up its operations in Europe and look to expand in the US and Asia.
Boeing’s board gathers in Texas. The two-day meeting, which began yesterday, comes ahead of this week’s earnings report and congressional testimony by CEO Dennis Muilenburg about the grounded 737 Max. Topics likely include possible layoffs and recently revealed pilot communications about problems with the plane.
Over the weekend
Chaos in Hong Kong continued. An unauthorized pro-democracy rally led to scenes of chaos, with protestors setting up roadblocks and hurling firebombs at shops with mainland Chinese ties. Police reportedly sprayed demonstrators with a stinging blue-dyed liquid shot from water cannons.
Details of the US-North Korea denuclearization negotiations emerged. In Stockholm earlier this month, the American side shared a plan to help build up a tourist zone in North Korea, reported a South Korean newspaper. Last year Donald Trump marveled at the country’s real estate potential.
Boris Johnson suffered another setback. The UK prime minister had secured a new Brexit deal with the EU and seemed to have a shot at winning Parliament’s backing for it Saturday. Instead lawmakers approved an amendment that ultimately forced Johnson to request an extension.
Cost-of-living protests in Chile intensified. Three people died in a Santiago supermarket fire, the first deaths since demonstrations started a week ago over a proposal to hike the price of Metro tickets. That plan, said president Sebastián Piñera, will be suspended.
Japan fell to South Africa in the Rugby World Cup. The host nation’s team had been on an exhilarating run, winning all its group stage games. It was overpowered, however, by a physical South African side that will next face Wales in the semi-finals.
Quartz Obsession
Space suits are Earth’s highest fashion. But they’re getting pretty dated. The designs go back years and they’re extremely expensive to make from scratch. NASA’s low stocks even meant that the first all-female spacewalk had to be delayed. But with a return to the moon (and maybe a trip to Mars) on the future itinerary, they’re finally getting a refresh. Slip into something more comfortable at the Quartz Obsession.
Matters of debate
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China’s slowing economy is good news. The focus on short-term GDP growth was misguided.
Downtown is no place for a car. The benefits of banning private vehicles from major roads outweigh the inconveniences suffered by motorists.
Pinterest users would miss the ads. They actually enjoy curating brand-produced Pins on their personal boards.
Surprising discoveries
In the eye of the storm. The White House garden tour offers the best respite from politics in Washington, DC.
“The mole” gets going. A slight change in strategy means the NASA digging probe will finally start making progress on Mars.
A treasure of death. Egyptian authorities found 30 ancient coffins containing mummies in the country’s most significant antiquities discovery in more than a century.
The US Army signed a rockstar. It inked a cooperative research deal with a UFO-investigating group created by former Blink-182 frontman Tom DeLonge.
You can’t read Karl Ove Knausgaard’s latest work. He’s contributed it to the Future Library, which commissions works to be left unread until 2114.
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