Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The State of Mexico gets a new governor. The ruling PRI party has long controlled the country’s most populous state, but with counting still under way its candidate Alfredo del Mazo is barely in the lead. A win by challenger Delfina Gomez would boost the presidential ambitions of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the head of the leftist Morena party who would steer Mexico in a more nationalist direction.
Apple kicks off its annual developer conference in California. It might debut a Siri-powered competitor to the Amazon Echo and Google Home, which control internet-connected devices in the home. Updates to the iOS and macOS will likely be announced, and there could be a few surprises in store as well.
The US releases data on factory orders in April. Numbers from the Commerce Department are expected to show a slight dip from March (pdf). Also, the Conference Board will issue its Employment Trends Index for May.
Over the weekend
Seven people were killed by a terror attack in central London. Three attackers drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge and launched a knife attack in Borough Market. Police declared it a terrorist incident. The three suspected attackers were shot dead by police within eight minutes of the first call.
In Hong Kong, over 100,000 gathered to remember Tiananmen Square. An estimated 110,000 people met in Victoria Square to remember the Chinese Communist Party’s attack on pro-democracy student protesters in Beijing nearly 30 years ago. Meanwhile in China, an activist who tweeted a photo of herself from the square on June 4 was arrested, according to Amnesty International.
Wonder Woman was a heroine. It seems there is no glass ceiling for some female superheroes, at least. In its first weekend in movie theaters globally, Wonder Woman earned $223 million. In the US, it garnered $130.5 million—more than Iron Man, Doctor Strange, or Thor when they opened.
A billion people watched India play Pakistan in a cricket championship. India beat Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, a cricket competition held on June 4 in Birmingham, England. The game drew a billion television viewers, yet it was almost a sideshow to the politics, with tensions running high between the nations over the disputed region of Kashmir.
Explosions rocked a high-profile funeral in Kabul, Afghanistan. Three suicide bombers attacked the funeral of Salim Ezadyar, the son of a senior Afghan senator, reportedly killing at least 12 and wounding dozens. Ezadyar was killed at a protest the previous day, when police opened fire on demonstrators demanding better security following another bombing that killed more than 90 people in the capital last week.
Quartz obsession interlude
Lily Kuo on Kenya’s $3.2 billion rail line—and China’s role in it. “The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), built and funded by the Chinese, officially opened to the public on Madaraka Day, the anniversary of Kenya gaining the right of self-rule. In a ceremony attended by Kenyan and Chinese officials, a Kenyan orchestra performed Chinese patriotic songs underneath the gaze of a bronze statue of Zheng He, a Chinese admiral who led expeditions to Africa in the 15th century.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Algorithms should be regulated like cars, banks, and drugs. They’re deeply embedded in many aspects of our lives, and they sometimes make mistakes.
The rise of Chinese consumerism will reshape the world. Multinationals will orient their R&D more toward China’s market if that’s the largest source of their growth.
As terror attacks become less sophisticated, they are becoming more difficult to prevent. Vehicle ramming attacks are devastatingly simple.
Surprising discoveries
Pacemakers have thousands of vulnerabilities hackers can exploit. Settings could be adjusted to harm or kill the person with the implant.
Making clothes is just a marketing expense for luxury brands. The moneymakers these days are fragrances, handbags, shoes, and accessories.
A flying car may light the torch at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Toyota invested in a futuristic vehicle with wheels and propellors that just had a difficult test run.
Egyptian farmers are going back to school to study climate change. Growers along the Nile river are participating in a UN program that teaches them new techniques and expertise to deal with changing terrain.
Open-minded people have a different visual perception of reality. Personality affects our experience of the world in more ways than we realize.
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