Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Lenovo launches a new smartphone in India. The new Z2 Plus is reportedly a very similar model to the low-cost Zuk Z2 unveiled in China earlier this year, which had 6 million pre-registrations within three days of becoming available.
South Korea’s nuclear envoy makes an appeal to Beijing. The head of the country’s delegation to the Six-Party Talks is looking for stronger Chinese sanctions against North Korea, in the wake of Pyongyang’s recent nuclear weapons test. A ban on overland transportation to North Korea already sounds like a nonstarter.
Mark Carney talks climate change in Berlin. The Bank of England governor, who last year dubbed climate change “the tragedy of the horizon,” will discuss its risks for financial market stability.
While you were sleeping
The Fed left rates unchanged. And Wall Street had a good day. But the US central bank gave strong signs that it could still tighten monetary policy by the end of the year. Traders are putting their money on a December rate increase of 25 basis points.
Europe enjoyed the Bank of Japan’s latest experiment. European markets finished up, after BOJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda continued his surge to drag Japan out of its decades-long slumber. The bank has promised to cap 10-year bond yields at 0% and said it will deliberately overshoot its 2% inflation target.
Apple was reported to have put out feelers to buy McLaren. The tech giant seems serious about shaking up the automobile world. It’s spent the last couple of years working on a secretive self-driving car project, and teaming up with supercar-maker McLaren could speed up that process. The British auto company, perhaps best known for its Formula One team, has been valued at £1 billion to £1.5 billion.
Dozens of migrants drowned off the coast of Egypt. A boat carrying 600 people capsized on the way to southern Italy. Authorities said at least 43 people died and 154 people have been rescued, according to a state news agency. The EU border agency warned earlier this month that the route from Egypt has become increasingly popular.
Rome axed its 2024 Olympics bid. It is the third city to back out, with only Paris, Los Angeles, and Budapest left in the running. Rome’s populist new mayor, Virginia Raggi, who has had a chaotic first three months in office, took a stand against Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, saying the city didn’t want to pay for “cathedrals in the desert for years to come.”
Quartz obsession interlude
Jenny Anderson on the US’s lagging early-childhood education problem. ”Quality clearly matters, as does design: Young children need constant access to a secure attachment figure, and care centers that are not chaotic. Also, it is more developmentally appropriate for kids to play than to face a barrage of flash cards or reading tests.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Renaming places is never politically innocent. Geography, anti-colonial sentiment, and now even alphabetization are fronts to forward the interest of nationalism or multiculturalism.
Ethnic-sounding names have a disadvantage. Changing names for those experiencing prejudice is a means of escape from being discredited or stigmatized.
“The other woman” is always the problem. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s divorce has people looking for a woman to shame rather than holding a married man accountable for going astray.
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Surprising discoveries
The FBI helped a child pornography site gain popularity. When it ran the site “Playpen” for a two-week crackdown, the dark website’s membership grew by 30%.
North Korea has only 28 websites. All domains are owned by domestic bodies, including cultural committees, maritime agencies, state media, and the state-owned airline.
Small drones helped uncover ancient Roman ruins. Exploring the rugged terrain, which is hard to navigate by foot and dangerous to venture into with planes, revealed its dense nature.
An Ottoman-era fisherman’s house was unearthed in Israel. The three room-house included hints like fishhooks, lead fishing weights, a stone anchor, and a bronze bell.
Tardigrade cells can be adapted to protect humans from radiation. Tinging human cells with the microscopic water bear’s protein, Dsup, reduced X-ray-induced damage by 40%.
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