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Here’s what you need to know
Negative economic data continues to sweep the globe. Brazil has entered a recession after its GDP dropped a record 9.7% in the second quarter, and tumbling consumer prices mean the euro zone is now experiencing deflation for the first time since 2016. The US offered a rare bright spot with manufacturing reaching a 19-month high in August.
India’s parliament questions Facebook. The social media giant is set to answer to accusations of favoring Narendra Modi’s right-of-center BJP party and spreading anti-Muslim hate speech at a committee hearing today. India’s IT minister also claimed Facebook suppressed the reach of pages with a right-of-center political leaning.
The next generation of phones takes shape. Bloomberg reports that Apple is prepping two high-end and two basic models of its 5G-enabled iPhone 12, due out this fall. Samsung revealed the specs for its folding Galaxy Z Fold 2 handset, including a more durable glass screen. And ZTE’s Axon 10 5G will be the first phone with a camera under the display.
The trial for accomplices in the Charlie Hebdo attack begins. Fourteen suspects face charges related to the 12 murders at the satirical newspaper’s Paris headquarters in 2015, as well as subsequent deadly attacks on police officers and a kosher supermarket. On Tuesday, Charlie Hebdo reprinted the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that sparked the attacks.
Netflix plans an adaptation of The Three-Body Problem. Game of Thrones’ showrunners are teaming up with Alex Woo, another HBO veteran, to turn Liu Cixin’s award-winning trilogy into a series for the streaming service.
Obsession interlude: Future of Finance
In the world’s most populated countries, the very highest earners are receiving an increasingly bigger piece of the pie. Between 1980 and 2015, the share of pre-tax income going to the top 1% more than doubled in China and India, and grew by 80% in the US.
This rise in inequality is largely the result of the highest educated workers making much more money. At the same time, working class power dissipated as unions became weaker. Potential strategies for narrowing this gap include broadening access to education and pushing laws—like the minimum wage or promoting union membership—to force employers to give the poorest a raise.
Efficiently allocate your time with our new Fixing Capitalism obsession here.
Charting coronavirus childbirths
Jobs are scarce, huge sections of the economy are shut down, and a deadly virus continues to spread around the world. Faced with these decidedly un-family-friendly conditions, American women are reconsidering their plans to have children.
About one third of women have decided to have fewer children or delay pregnancy because of coronavirus, according to a survey of more than 2,000 women. Those decisions follow a consistent pattern in US history: During times of economic stress, the birth rate drops. These changes of plan are also significantly more common among minority groups and the economically vulnerable.
For a calm, rational, even curious approach to the pandemic, sign up for the Coronavirus: Need to Know email below:
What’s Popping?
Wouldn’t it be nice to know if we are heading for a bubble before it pops?
The feedback loop between financial markets and bubbles is fiendishly difficult to unravel, which helps explain why the bookshelf of boom and bust literature gets heavier every year.
Our latest field guide lets you skip the history books, survey the current trading landscape, and unpack whether we’re headed for another financial bubble. We’ve assembled a list of the most influential and interesting writing, people, and research to keep you up to date: from the academic who coined the term “irrational exuberance” to a network of journalists covering global market structures.
✦ Stay ahead of the curve and outside the bubble with half off the first year of your Quartz membership. Simply sign up with promo code: SUMMERSALE.
Welcome to Green Haven
As climate change displaces people from their homes, cities are preparing for an influx of new residents. Quartz’s special project Welcome to Green Haven examines how governments and thinkers are anticipating mass migration’s effects on society, and planning to make our new climate havens more sustainable:
- 🏙 Climate-related displacement will eventually amount to one of the largest mass migrations in human history. Here’s how cities can prepare.
- 🚚 Fifteen years after Hurricane Katrina, a growing number of people in coastal Louisiana are migrating to higher ground.
- 🗺 In Miami, a city threatened by tropical storms, sea level rise, and heavy rainfall, city planners are creating a highly detailed map to help decide which neighborhoods get saved.
- 🔮 What might a climate haven look like? Take a visit to the fictional city of Leeside.
Surprising discoveries
Sip another joint? These rolling papers can be turned into a disposable straw.
This Belgium city’s got heart. More specifically, the heart of its first mayor, unearthed from the public fountain where it was entombed.
Gather ‘round the smartphone tree. Chicago-area Amazon drivers are stringing up their phones to beat out competitors for delivery jobs.
There was a George Jetson sighting at LAX. Not really, but pilots reported seeing a person in a jetpack above the airport as they were preparing to land.
A “singing” dog still exists in the wild. DNA evidence confirmed the first sightings of the New Guinea dogs, whose howls sound like whale songs, in 50 years.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, buried organs, and canine tunes to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app on iOS and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Liz Webber, Jackie Bischof, Olivia Goldhill, and Max Lockie