Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The US Federal Reserve announces whether it will raise interest rates. Most Fed watchers think it wants more time to evaluate the economy and won’t increase rates before December. If so investors will look for hints as to when after December that might be.
The United Nations holds a conference on antimicrobial resistance. The General Assembly in New York will deliberate on the medical, economic, and security consequences of superbugs. The international body has convened on health issues only three times before: on the HIV crisis in 2011, chronic illnesses in 2011, and Ebola in 2014.
Samsung replaces its exploding phones. US users can either pick up a new Galaxy Note 7 or ask for a refund or a different device. The device was recalled because of its unfortunate tendency to catch fire.
While you were sleeping
Postal Savings Bank of China raised $7.4 billion after pricing its IPO at the low end. The state-owned bank originally sought to raise up to $8.1 billion in its Hong Kong IPO, but it had to pare back the size of the offering after some investors balked. Still, its offering is the world’s biggest since Alibaba’s in 2014.
The Bank of Japan kept its key interest rate at -0.1%, but overhauled some policies. It will set a “yield curve control,” under which it will buy long-term government bonds to keep 10-year bond yields at about 0%. That, it hopes, will help it better fight deflation.
Tesla updated its software after hackers remote-controlled a vehicle. Researchers in China remotely manipulated the brake system of a Model S while it was on the move, and also opened a car door without using a key. The hackers, from Keen Security Lab, shared their efforts on YouTube.
Google released an AI-centric messaging app. The much-anticipated Allo will compete against WhatsApp, Apple iMessage, and Facebook Messenger. Users can strike up a conversation with Google Assistant, an artificial-intelligence helper that, while still a work in progress, can solve math problems and translate phrases, among other tasks.
Quartz obsession interlude
Steve LeVine on the media calling Donald Trump out on his lies. “In a way, the media is atoning for the original sin of embracing Trump, who himself understood their ‘lust for riveting stories,’ as a report by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University put it. The industry embraced a similarly sudden change in tone during its reporting on the Vietnam War, when a tradition of accepting the US government’s point of view in conflict abroad gave way to an urgent skepticism, and in the throes of the Watergate scandal, when reporters piled on US president Richard Nixon, who ultimately resigned.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Private finance could save the planet. Former US treasury secretary Henry Paulson says we can unlock the $90 trillion (paywall) needed for green investment over the next 15 years by incentivizing the private sector to buy in.
The explosion in New York is a reminder not to exaggerate the threat of terrorism. The incompetence of the attack shows that violent extremism has become “the monopoly of the utterly unimpressive.”
The end of “Brangelina” is not a failure. Romantics may mourn the end of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s union, but the idea of lifelong marriage desperately needs an overhaul.
Surprising discoveries
Donald Trump Jr.’s comparison of refugees to Skittles wasn’t particularly original. It was a feminist meme in 2014, and may have originated with a Nazi who was hanged at Nuremberg.
Toyota is making clean energy from dirty sewage. The carmaker is converting human waste to hydrogen to fuel powerful zero emissions cars.
A feline thespian is on the loose in Moscow. A touring theater company has lost the “stunningly handsome” cat that plays a crucial cameo in their play. Let’s hope he’s just been out “gallivanting,” like the character he plays.
A skeleton sees the light after 2,100 years. Divers have found a human skeleton at the Antikythera shipwreck site off the coast of Greece.
California is regulating cow farts. The state’s dairy farmers have to lower methane emissions by 40% by 2030, under an anti-climate change measure.
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