Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
Hungary holds an anti-refugee referendum on Sunday. The referendum asks whether the EU should be able to mandate the obligatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens to Hungary even without the approval of the National Assembly. Voters are expected to answer no, providing a boost to prime minister Viktor Orban.
World leaders attend the funeral of Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. A long list of dignitaries will pay their respects to the former Israeli president and prime minister, including US president Barack Obama, Prince Charles, Bill Clinton, and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas reportedly sent a letter of condolence to the Peres family, for which he was castigated by Hamas.
The UK releases data service sector data. The country’s Office for National Statistics will publish reports showing how the Brexit referendum impacted this sector—the largest slice of the UK economy.
While you were sleeping
Qualcomm is in talks to buy NXP Semiconductors for about $30 billion. The US chipmaker is in early talks with the Dutch company, the Wall Street Journal reported (paywall). The semiconductor industry has seen increasing consolidation of late. Recently Japan’s SoftBank Group spent $32 billion acquiring UK’s ARM Holdings.
Japan released mixed economic data for August. Compared to a year ago, industrial production rose 1.5%, household spending dropped 4.6%, and consumer prices fell 0.5%. The sixth straight month of falling consumer prices was unwelcome news for the Bank of Japan as it continues in its struggle against deflation.
Britain signed its first nuclear deal in a generation. The Hinkley Point project to build a new nuclear power station in Britain was put on hold when prime minister Theresa May unexpectedly took office in July. Representatives from China and France, which both support the project, finally met with their counterparts in London to finalize the plans.
A commuter train crashed into a station in New Jersey. The train was derailed and caused massive damage, including over 100 injuries and at least one death. Service in and out of the station in Hoboken—a major transportation hub for the New York metropolitan area—was suspended.
Quartz obsession interlude
Akshat Rathi on the global health threat of illegally traded wild animal meat: ”In 2015, the World Health Organization published a list of the top emerging diseases that are ‘likely to cause severe outbreaks in the near future.’ It’s no coincidence that all the diseases on the list are zoonotic diseases caused by RNA viruses, which turn animals—mostly wild ones—into reservoirs to hide in.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Pop culture demeans women by silencing them. Women in the public eye are constantly punished for raising their voices against the status quo.
Expensive meal services are bad for public health. They’re an unsustainable substitute for a society that understands healthy, environmentally conscious food.
The “private” vs. “public” school debate misses the point. A pragmatic approach to education reform would mean embracing a combination of the two school models.
Surprising discoveries
Clinical trials in China cannot be trusted… A recent government investigation found that 80% of them are fabricated.
…and neither can official Chinese oil reserve estimates. New satellite data shows that possible oil reserves are much greater than official numbers.
Teenagers who take dumb risks can’t help themselves. Their judgment may be affected by imbalanced neuron activity during adolescence.
A lack of clean air can impact your productivity. When air pollution rises, office workers automatically slow down.
Wearing body cameras can drastically change cop behavior. Police forces in the US and UK that adopted them saw a 98% drop in complaints the following year.
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