Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
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 at the Atlantik Brücke’s Arthur Burns memorial lecture.
South Korea’s nuclear envoy makes an appeal to Beijing. Seoul 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.
New data on US home sales. The National Association of Realtors will release new data on sales of previously owned homes at 10am ET. Sales figures are projected to rise in August for the sixth time in the last seven months.
While you were sleeping
A state of emergency was declared in Charlotte, North Carolina. The state’s National Guard was deployed after a prayer vigil honoring Keith Lamont Scott, the black man fatally shot this week by police, turned violent and a civilian was critically injured. His family says he was reading a book at the time; police say he pulled a gun.
The US Senate OK’d a $1.15 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia. It voted 71 to 27 to kill legislation that would have stopped the sale, which features General Dynamics as the main contractor. Some lawmakers argued it would fuel a regional arms race and expressed concerns about Saudi Arabia’s role in the war in Yemen.
Mylan’s CEO defended the price of EpiPens. Congress summoned Heather Bresch to a hearing over the dramatic price hike (paywall) in its allergy treatment. She argued that the company didn’t make a lot of profit on the pens (a mere $100 on a $600 two-pack) and pointed out that Mylan was getting ready to sell a half-priced generic version.
A.P Moeller-Maersk decided to split in two. The Danish conglomerate will group its oil interests into an energy division and its Maersk Line will form a new transport arm, in the hopes of better weathering tough times in both oil and shipping sectors. Stakeholders liked the sound of that—shares rose by more than 4% in Copenhagen on Thursday morning.
Hanjin Shipping was thrown a lifeline. Korean Airlines, its biggest shareholder, approved a $54 million loan to try and rescue the bankrupt shipping giant. Shares in Hanjin shot up by around 28% in South Korea on the news. The company’s former chairwoman is now under investigation for insider trading—she offloaded all her stock (paywall) in Hanjin just as it began to go under.
The US military investigated a possible chemical weapons attack against its troops in Iraq. It said a ISIL rocket that landed close to US troops at the Qayara air base near Mosul might have contained mustard gas. If so, it would be the first chemical weapons attack on coalition forces, which are preparing to retake (paywall) Mosul from ISIL.
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. They are usually fronts to forward the interests 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.
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Surprising discoveries
The FBI is good at running child pornography sites. When it ran “Playpen” during a two-week sting operation, the website’s membership grew by 30%.
The West’s latest solution to the refugee crisis? Build factories in Ethiopia for them to work in so they don’t come to Europe.
The “world’s saddest polar bear” is just one of thousands of Arctic animals living in Chinese malls. Beluga whales, Arctic wolves, and walruses are kept in enclosures to attract visitors.
Old folks in New Zealand are building their own coffins. It saves money and lets them socialize with others.
Tardigrade cells can protect humans from radiation. Tinging human cells with protein from the microscopic water bears reduced X-ray-induced damage by 40%.
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