Monday’s CGI highlights, plus more explosive devices found and gridlock hits Manhattan
Good morning, attendees!
Welcome to the 2016 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting, the 12th and final edition of the event. This year’s theme is “Partnering for Global Prosperity,” with a focus on addressing poverty and environmental sustainability.
You’re reading a special version of the morning email from Quartz designed to provide a valuable briefing on the topics and events of the meeting, as well as global news that happened while you were sleeping. We’ll send this each morning through Wednesday, and encourage you to sign up for our popular year-round Daily Brief email if you like it.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS AT CGI
Opening plenary session. Former US president Bill Clinton leads a discussion with London mayor Sadiq Khan, Argentine president Mauricio Macri, Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, and former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. A former human-rights lawyer, Khan is among the mayors calling for urgent action on climate change. Renzi was in the news this weekend for his criticism of a European Union summit that he said didn’t go far enough on the economy or immigration. Macri has been pushing to get Argentina’s economy back on track, amid inflation expected to top 40% this year. Okonjo-Iweala now chairs Gavi, an alliance of organizations increasing global access to vaccines.
Succeeding in the world’s toughest places. From refugee camps to remote regions, millions of people are living in places where it’s hard to prosper. During the 2pm plenary session, speakers and panelists including International Rescue Committee head David Miliband, Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek, Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven, Raj Panjabi of Last Mile Health, and Muzoon Almellehan of the Malala Fund will discuss strategies that work and how to ensure that everyone leads productive lives.
Clinton Global Citizen Awards. Rockstar Jon Bon Jovi and Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos Calderón are among the honorees at this evening’s gala, which will also feature appearances by tenor Andrea Bocelli, model Iman, and the Voices of Haiti choir. In anticipation, here’s a video of Bon Jovi from his acid-washed, late-Eighties heyday and here’s Bocelli singing in Times Square to start off your morning.
Need more CGI? You can review the full annual meeting agenda here (pdf), follow tweets about it here, see photos throughout the event here, and follow a live videostream here. (Here’s a look behind the scenes with a photo from rehearsals yesterday.)
WHAT EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT AT CGI
A bomb blast in Manhattan has the city on even-higher alert. We’re still waiting for more news about who’s behind the explosion on 23rd street on Saturday night that injured 29 people, and a second explosive device found nearby. Five people have been detained (paywall). Authorities also found five more explosive devices near a train station in New Jersey, including one that blew up.
And you might want to leave extra travel time for getting around Manhattan. With the United Nations General Assembly also meeting, the city’s gridlock is traditionally much worse than usual this week. Taxis traveled at speeds averaging only between 6.9 and 9.2 miles per hour in midtown and downtown Manhattan from 6am to 6pm during this week in the past. (The average human walking speed is 3.1 miles per hour.)
Today’s forecast is for a high of 75 °F (24 °C) and rain throughout the day.
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WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE REST OF THE WORLD
France holds a day of tribute for terrorism victims. President François Hollande will give a speech in Paris in the nation’s first major memorial event (link in French) honoring those lost in attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, Bastille Day festivities in Nice, and Charlie Hebdo magazine.
Twitter allows longer tweets. If all goes to plan, starting today the social media service will stop counting ancillary items—including photos, GIFs, user handles, and more—as part of its 140-character limit.
MATTERS OF DEBATE
China and the US need a new plan for North Korea. Current strategies for dealing with the country’s nuclear threats are clearly not working.
Behind the debate over presidential health lies a real problem. Rich white people are still invariably healthier than low-income minorities.
Robots will eventually do all our jobs. It could be utopia or it could be hell.
SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
Never have so many Americans been so rich. The number of US households with more than $5 million in investable assets just crossed the 1 million mark.
Music makes beer taste better. A new study confirms what pubs and concert venues have perhaps always known.
More people in the UK are being rescued by the fire services as they are too fat to move on their own. “Bariatric” rescues have increased by a third in the past three years.
A goldfish got a life-saving surgery. An Australian woman paid $500 to have a pebble removed from the fish’s throat.
One in five CEOs are psychopaths, a study says. Key characteristics include an inability to empathize, superficiality, and insincerity.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, and ideas to [email protected]. You can download the Quartz iPhone app or follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day.If you enjoyed this, sign up to receive the Quartz Daily Brief every morning by clicking here.