Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The European Commission proposes targets on greenhouse gas emissions for each EU nation. The national targets have been a long time coming. In 2014 EU leaders pledged to cut overall emissions by 40% by 2030 (from 1990 levels), but until now they haven’t set national targets. Complicating matters is Brexit, and questions on whether the UK will continue to participate in the bloc’s climate policies.
The latest provocation in the South China Sea comes from Taiwan. Lawmakers and fishermen are visiting the disputed Taiping Island (also called Itu Aba) to promote their claim of sovereignty and protest a recent international ruling. A major sore point: The ruling held that Taiping is not enough of an island to generate an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles.
Intel’s cloud business could grow. The chipmaker’s quarterly revenue is expected to dip to $13.5 billion, from $13.7 billion a year ago, but it could still exceed expectations if restructuring efforts offset the effect of shrinking PC sales. Qualcomm and Morgan Stanley also report quarterly results.
While you were sleeping
Fox News CEO Roger Ailes is resigning amid claims he sexually harassed female employees. He’s negotiating an exit agreement, according to one of his lawyers. Earlier this month news anchor Gretchen Carlson sued him for sexual harassment, and after that other women came forward with similar claims.
Labour rebels united behind Owen Smith. British member of parliament Angela Eagle dropped out of leadership contention and gave her support to Smith, who is now the sole challenger to embattled party boss Jeremy Corbyn. Their contest is expected to intensify ahead of a Sept. 21 voting deadline.
Turkey tried to convince the US to extradite Fethullah Gulen. Presidents Erdogan and Obama talked on the phone, and Obama promised to help investigate last week’s attempted coup. The White House said it is still examining documents from Turkey that make the case for giving up Gulen—a Pennsylvania-based cleric who’s accused of orchestrating the coup attempt.
Microsoft got a boost from the cloud. The software giant reported strong growth in its cloud computing business in the latest quarter, and its revenue of $22.6 billion, up 2% from a year ago, beat analysts’ expectations. CEO Satya Nadella prioritized the cloud upon becoming CEO in early 2014.
Pokemon Go’s launch in Japan got postponed. After reports the game would launch in its home country today, leaked emails from McDonald’s Japan, one of the game’s sponsors, showed it has been delayed due to fears of server overload. Nintendo’s share price broke its days-long rally.
Quartz markets haiku
Netflix got hammered
As a price increase dented
Subscriber growth. Ouch
Quartz obsession interlude
Allison Schrager on how sex workers keep people honest online: “Once the bill comes, clients might turn violent, or turn out to be cops. That means trust commands a large premium and that’s the centerpiece of Rita’s business model: watertight background checks on would-be johns.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Workers displaced by robots deserve compensation. French philosopher Bernard Stiegler believes that “time saved through automation must be granted to the people.”
Beijing can save face in the South China Sea via a marine park. Covering the contested Spratly Islands, the proposed international maritime reserve would also combat severe overfishing (especially by China).
There’s good news to be found in the global economy, if you know where to look. About 1.5 billion people are no longer living in extreme poverty.
Surprising discoveries
It’s hard to be diplomatic around Boris Johnson. US secretary of state John Kerry couldn’t suppress a smile as a reporter listed some of BoJo’s most outrageous lines.
Malawi mounted an enormous operation to relocate 500 elephants. Helicopters, trucks, and cranes were used to move them to a park with more space.
The Republican National Convention is making people sick. About a dozen delegates are infected with a suspected norovirus that causes intense vomiting.
The New York Public Library has a “human Google” phone service. Call 917-ASK-NYPL and a librarian will answer questions using 120 years worth of archives.
Sandals with socks are in this year. The longstanding fashion taboo is being violated in this summer’s menswear shows.
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