Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
France braces for Euro 2016. The month-long soccer tournament kicks off today in Paris. More than two million people are traveling to France, though travel may be hampered by a four-day Air France pilots’ strike and threats of more industrial action. Fears of terror attacks (paywall) at the matches also remain.
Muhammed Ali’s funeral in Louisville. Tens of thousands are expected to line the funeral procession route today to say goodbye to the boxing legend, who died last Friday. Former president Bill Clinton will deliver one of the eulogies, and Will Smith—who played Ali in the film of his life—will be a pallbearer.
US consumer confidence is expected to stay strong. With the healthy performance of the real estate and stock markets, economists expect consumer sentiment to remain high (paywall) in the University of Michigan’s preliminary June readings.
While you were sleeping
Elizabeth Warren endorsed Hillary Clinton. Hours after president Barack Obama endorsed her, the Massachusetts senator, a popular figure with the liberal wing of the Democratic party, also threw her weight behind Clinton’s bid for the White House. Warren also said she’d be open to becoming Clinton’s running mate.
Line announced a July IPO. The Japanese messaging app plans to list its shares in Tokyo and New York, hoping to raise just over $1 billion (paywall). This would value the firm at more than $5 billion, which could make it the world’s biggest tech IPO so far this year.
The US said it will broaden its military remit in Afghanistan. The Obama administration approved giving the military greater ability to accompany and enable Afghan forces battling the Taliban insurgency, according to a US official who spoke to Reuters.
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski won the presidential vote in Peru. The former investment banker beat his opponent Keiko Fujimori by a slim margin—50.12% of the votes against her 49.88%. But thousands of disputed ballots are still to be counted, and Fujimori hasn’t yet conceded defeat.
Twitter locked accounts with exposed passwords. Following reports that 32 million Twitter passwords were leaked on the dark web, the company announced it’s locking some accounts, with affected users being notified they need to reset their passwords—and claims its servers were not hacked.
Quartz obsession interlude
Corinne Purtill on why every baby you know chews on the same giraffe. “In less than a decade Sophie’s gone from being a virtual unknown in the US to the go-to baby gift for the upper-middle class. The giraffe’s rise to fame is a starlet’s tale of obscure rural beginnings, an LA discovery, and a few lucky breaks.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Uber and strippers have the same problem. The gig economy complicates the question of who is an independent contractor vs. an employee.
You don’t have to love your job to be good at it. Employees’ attitude to coworkers and clients might be a better predictor of productivity.
Taking children to aquariums teaches them that cruelty is acceptable. Watching a documentary about marine wildlife is a much better lesson.
Surprising discoveries
The Republican Party’s website home page doesn’t mention Donald Trump. You have to run a search to find him on the site.
Scientists have turned CO2 into stone. They pumped carbon dioxide underground into volcanic rock, and reactions with minerals convert it to a chalky solid.
A Spanish leftist party disguised its manifesto as an Ikea catalog. Anything to get people to actually read it.
China is planning a “space station” for the sea. The manned platform would be 10,000 feet underwater and be used to search for minerals in the South China Sea.
You can live for a year without a heart. A special backpack carrying an external artificial heart could be transformative for people waiting for a transplant.
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