Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi meets Chinese leaders. During a four-day trip, the state counselor and foreign minister will discuss Myanmar’s “policy toward Beijing, trade, and other forms of economic cooperation.” Suu Kyi’s party, the ruling National League for Democracy, hopes to gain China’s support for a peace conference slated to begin at the end of the month.
Industrial megamerger. Despite tough new US Treasury Department rules on corporate inversions, shareholders of Milwaukee-based conglomerate Johnson Controls and Ireland’s Tyco will vote on a $16 billion partnership. The deal would create one of the largest industrial companies in the US by market capitalization.
Fed minutes fears. Low interest rates, and the expectation that they will continue, have helped stocks perform well so far this year, but the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq took hits on Tuesday ahead of the release of the Fed’s July meeting minutes. Analysts will look for hints of a rate increase, which could come as early as September.
While you were sleeping
Russia launched air strikes on Syria, via Iran… For the first time since Moscow started helping Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last year, Russian bombers took off from a base in western Iran to attack militants in Syria. The development signifies friendlier ties between Iran and Russia, Assad’s two closest allies.
…as Iran arrested a dual citizen for alleged espionage. The unnamed Iranian-British citizen is in trouble for communicating with British intelligence, according to Tehran’s prosecutor general (paywall). At least six other Iranians with dual citizenship have been arrested on similar charges this year.
A UK preacher was convicted of encouraging support for ISIL. A London jury found Anjem Choudary guilty of “inviting support for a banned organization“ (paywall). Choudary, a 49-year-old lawyer and Islamic preacher, has been sounding off on British airwaves and generating controversy with his comments for years.
Another French city banned beach “burqinis.” Sisco, on the island of Corsica, is now the third locale in France to ban the full-body swimming outfit favored by Muslim women. The decision comes after a year of terrorist attacks in the country, and five years after France banned face veils.
Google launched a creepy alternative to FaceTime. Duo, which works across Android and iOS devices, lets you see live video of your caller before you answer (which doesn’t sound so great, actually). Otherwise, little else distinguishes Duo from FaceTime, Microsoft’s Skype, or Google’s own Hangouts.
Quartz markets haiku
“Will they or won’t they?”
Fed rate hike speculation,
adds to our torpor
Quartz obsession interlude
Oliver Staley advocates for a one-mile Olympic race. “While the 1,500 meters takes three-and-three-quarter laps of a standard 400-meter track, the mile is run in just a shade more than four laps. The symmetry of the four laps makes the mile easy to follow, and is particularly useful when watching elite runners capable of challenging the four-minute mile. Cheering athletes against the clock, knowing each lap has to be run in under a minute, is one of the great spectacles in track, a sport that has far too few of them.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Brexit is an opportunity to re-shape the concept of citizenship. Let’s stop treating it as a birthright, and make it more democratic.
Apple’s squirt gun emoji infantilizes users. Apple might support gun control, but it shouldn’t mess with people’s ability to express their views on digital platforms.
You can tell a lot about a company by its motto. Too many words, too much complexity, and too little substance are sure signs of trouble.
Surprising discoveries
The 1980 winter games’ Olympic Village was turned into a prison. The facility in upstate New York was intentionally built to house inmates after the games ended.
Keanu Reeves is building $78,000 motorcycles. Buying a custom-made Keanu bike involves multiple measurement sessions.
A rare Afghani deer was spotted for the first time in 45 years. The Bactrian deer, which scientists thought was locally extinct, has survived two huge wars.
Bahrain’s track-and-field team is made up almost entirely of Africans. Athletes switch allegiances for better pay or better training programs.
Scientists found several specimens of a “living fossil”—the world’s most secretive mammal. The lineage of the Zenkerella goes back 50 million years.
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