Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Uber is to merge with its biggest rival in China. Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing will acquire all of Uber China, and invest $1 billion in Uber’s global business. Investors in Uber China will get a 20% stake in Didi. Bloomberg estimates the combined company will have a market valuation of $35 billion.
Don’t mess with Texas university students today. The state’s controversial new “campus carry” law goes into effect, allowing for the carrying of concealed handguns at public universities. Today also marks the 50th anniversary of America’s first mass murder on a university campus, carried out by a gunman from a tower at the University of Texas at Austin.
Russia hosts the International Army Games. More than 3,000 military personnel from 20 countries will compete Olympics-style in military drills. The games run through Aug. 15, concluding with a ”tank biathlon.” Greece, the only NATO member participating, will compete in the sniper competition.
Over the weekend
Qatar Airways upped its stake in British Airways’ owner. The state-owned flag carrier took advantage of the weak pound and drop in IAG’s share price in the wake of the Brexit vote, saying “the recent market valuation… has provided what we believe is an attractive opportunity.” It will now own 20% of the airline group, up from 15.7%.
A huge pro-Erdogan rally was held in Cologne. The German Constitutional Court banned Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan from addressing the 35,000-strong crowd via video link for fear of further stoking tensions among the huge Turkish community in Germany, many of whom want to show their support for the president in the wake of the failed coup. Turkey condemned the court’s decision.
Tokyo elected its first female governor. Former defense minister Yuriko Koike is a member of prime minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic party, but ran as an independent. She won by a large margin and will now will lead the city’s preparation for the 2020 Olympic Games.
Porsche’s profit went downhill. The German car company reported a 41% drop in net profit in the first half of the year, mostly down to the ongoing problems at Volkswagen. The Porsche holding company—controlled by the powerful Piech and Porsche families—is the main shareholder in VW.
GSK and Google’s owner teamed up. The UK’s largest drugs company is creating a joint venture, called Galvani Bioelectronics, together with Alphabet’s life sciences unit. Both partners will contribute around $715 million to the venture, which will develop medicines that target electrical signals in the body to fight diseases.
Quartz obsession interlude
John Dennehy on how Nepalese villagers store wealth. “The nearest bank is a three-hour hike away; while most villagers have a drawer or plastic bag filled with badly worn rupees, few bother making routine deposits or withdrawals. So when a family finds themselves with a little extra money, or in need of some, they look to their rooftops, where the Kagbeni version of a savings account is neatly stacked.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
These are all the things that went wrong for Uber in China. Even by 2014, it was already too late.
Russia will keep getting away with hacking America. There’s little consensus on how to respond.
Men should embrace shorts. It’s time to shed puritanical policing of male bodies, too.
Surprising discoveries
There’s no Pokémon Go in Rio. Olympic athletes aren’t happy.
Thousands of neuroscience studies have a deep flaw. But neuroscientists aren’t freaking out.
An American jumped out of a plane at 25,000 ft without a parachute. Luke Aikins reached a speed of 120 mph and landed in a huge net.
Israel desalinates more freshwater than it can use. One of the driest countries in the world is setting an example for its arid neighbors.
Argentina has the highest number of psychologists per capita in the world. Psychoanalysis is the go-to mental-health treatment for kids.
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