Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Ecuador’s presidential election results. Voters in the Andean country headed to the polls Sunday in a tight election pitting leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno against conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso. Lasso, who has vowed to turn around Ecuador’s flagging economy, also promised to remove Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from Ecuador’s embassy in London.
America’s H1B visa applications open. A popular visa for US tech workers, the permit for skilled US jobs hit its 85,000 cap in less than a week after last year’s application process began. This year, amid immigration tensions, the option to expedite your application for a $1,225 fee has been frozen.
French food safety ratings go online. For the first time, France’s government is putting the results of its sanitation ratings on the internet, including for restaurants, supermarkets, markets, and farms.
While you were sleeping
The Trump administration confirmed it’s the wealthiest in modern US history. Personal financial disclosures released by the White House reveal US president Donald Trump’s senior staff members have a combined net worth of over $12 billion. The filings include the income and assets of Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, chief strategist Steve Bannon, and chief of staff Reince Priebus.
A massive landslide in Colombia killed more than 200 people. The disaster caused by heavy rain has left at least 400 injured and 200 missing from the city of Mocoa. A senior UN official blamed the incident on climate change.
Brexit sparked talk of war with Spain. In the latest EU exit spat, Scotland’s threat of a national independence referendum prompted Spain to say it would not veto an independent Scotland’s bid to join the EU. Senior British politicians then stoked the flame, asserting that Britain would go to war to defend the disputed territory of Gibraltar against Spanish aggression.
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi held on in by-elections. The legislative elections were a litmus test for the de-facto leader’s popularity after her pro-democracy party overtook military rule in 2015. The governing National League for Democracy party took 8 out of 12 seats for the combined upper houses of the national parliament, but just 1 out of 7 in state assemblies.
Facebook mandated more diversity from its legal help. Legal teams representing the social media mogul must now consist (paywall) of at least 33% women and ethnic minorities. The company has struggled to diversify its own board and workforce, but it’s following corporate America’s lead in requiring diverse legal representation.
Quartz obsession interlude
Oliver Staley on the coach who turned tiny Gonzaga into a US college basketball giant: “[Mark] Few is justifiably celebrated as one of the game’s great coaches for taking a small and obscure Catholic college from sleepy Spokane, Washington (population: 211,000) and turning it into a college basketball powerhouse. […] Less well known is that it was Few’s predecessor, Dan Monson, that started Gonzaga’s run of greatness.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Democrats can work with Donald Trump. They share economic populist values that would help (paywall) the US economy and the Democratic party.
Baseball isn’t boring. As the slowest of American sports, its highs and lows can be as satisfying (paywall) as a great novel.
Silicon Valley is addicted to ”bro CEOs.” We’re giving young jerks (paywall) limitless money and power to create doomed corporate frat houses.
Surprising discoveries
Snapchat is turning into a search engine. The fleeting photo-sharing service launched a search function for its stories, paving the way for more ads.
The extinct Tasmanian tiger was spotted in Australia. Scientists plan to erect 50 camera traps in Queensland to get a glimpse of the mysterious creature.
A retired mathematician solved a decades-old math proof while brushing his teeth. The proof went unnoticed because he wrote it on Microsoft Word, instead of today’s specialized math software.
The live shareholder meeting is dead. More US companies are opting for (paywall) online annual shareholders’ meetings, to the chagrin of traditionalists.
Britain is self-conscious about its passport color. It may return from burgundy to navy blue, which MP Andrew Rosindell said would end ”the humiliation of having a pink European Union passport.”
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Tasmanian tiger sightings, and bro CEOs to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android.