Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
London may elect its first Muslim mayor. Sadiq Khan is expected to win the city, replacing Boris Johnson, in what may be the only bright spot for Labour Party in this round of elections.
Vladimir Putin hosts Shinzo Abe. The two leaders will meet in Sochi to revive negotiations (paywall) on a long-standing territorial dispute. If all goes well, the countries may eventually sign a treaty ending World War 2.
North Korea convenes its first congress in 36 years. Delegates at the Workers’ Party convention in Pyongyang will choose the Politburo and the party’s top boss. Spoiler alert: It will be supreme leader Kim Jong-un (paywall), who will promote his byungjin policy of rebuilding the economy while expanding his nuclear arsenal.
The first black superhero makes his big screen debut. The Black Panther, created in 1966, is featured in this weekend’s Captain America: Civil War, ahead of his own standalone Marvel film in 2018. The character predates the US Black Panther party by several weeks.
While you were sleeping
Apple and SAP agreed to cooperate on workplace apps. Germany’s software giant will develop custom business applications for iPhones and iPads. Apple, which has seen a decline in iPhone shipments, hopes the partnership will help it boost corporate sales.
Wildfires intensified in Canada. A devastating inferno forced the evacuation of 88,000 people in Fort McMurray, Alberta, in the heart of the country’s oil sands region. The blaze is already the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history, and fire experts have deemed it “out of control.”
Square reported wider losses. The payment processing company missed expectations in the face of higher operating expenses. CEO Jack Dorsey insisted “the core business is really strong” and the company raised its 2016 guidance, but shares fell 13%.
Japan’s services sector slowed. In a sign the economy might be losing momentum, last month activity in the nation’s services sector contracted at the fastest pace in two years, according to the Markit/Nikkei Japan Services Purchasing Managers Index.
Investors turned on Tesla. The company’s shares initially surged when CEO Elon Musk announced an ambitious new electric car production schedule. Then they plummeted after he revealed the cost: $750 million over two years, which may require the company to raise additional funding.
Quartz markets haiku
The market went down
Though oil prices did rally
Jobs report today
Quartz obsession interlude
Jenny Anderson on the key to understanding teenage girls. “[T]hey stop listening when grown-ups lecture, use a suspicious tone, level moral judgements, and overstate risks. In other words, they have great bullshit detectors.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The painkiller Oxycontin is “the perfect recipe for addiction.” And the drug company that invented it ignored worrying clinical data.
Consumer satisfaction surveys are less than satisfactory. The questionnaires are exhausting and annoying for consumers.
Zika is in the United States to stay. The virus will become a perennial risk that will wax and wane.
Surprising discoveries
The New York Times wants to sell you dinner. It’s going to offer ready-to-cook ingredients to readers of its popular food section.
The United Arab Emirates imports huge amounts of sand. Its own wind-formed desert sand is too smooth to use for construction.
Zimbabwe is printing its own version of US dollars. Some $200 million in “bond notes” may ease the country’s cash crunch.
Scientists set a new record growing human embryos in the lab. The two-week-old cells were then destroyed due to ethics concerns.
Chilean brewers are harvesting fog for beer. Capturing the morning mist is crucial in the driest region on Earth.
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