đ Youâre doinâ fine, India!
Good morning, Quartz readers!
Hereâs what you need to know
Indiaâs economy grew 7.8% between April and June. Good performances in its agriculture and finance sectors fueled the growth.
Video and voice calls are coming to X (formerly Twitter)⊠maybe. Elon Musk teased the features yesterday, but like many of his announcements, itâs not clear when theyâll actually come to fruition.
Hyundai and LG are funneling another $2 billion into their Georgia EV plant. The added investment in the US manufacturing hub, first announced three months ago, includes 400 more jobs.
Commercial whale hunting can resume in Iceland. The country had temporarily banned the practice in June, but now itâs resurfaced, with stricter rules and supervision that activists arenât impressed with.
Itâs not landscaping, its firescaping
When wildfires raged through Lahaina, Hawaii a few weeks ago, a lone home along Front Street remained intact. That building had a protective metal roof, but also another feature: landscaping that gave the house some added protection against fire
Residents in California are all too familiar with the need for âfirescaping,â which can be broken down into three zones:
đ«ž Reduced fuel zone: The area furthest from a home, where grass is no longer than 4 inches (10 cm), and distance is created between shrubs and trees
đł Lean, clean, and green zone: In this middle area, trees are pruned, and all dead and dry vegetation is removed
đ„ Ember-resistant zone: Closest to the home, this area has no vegetation, and ground cover like pebbles and gravel, or a patio, create a barrier against fire
Quartzâs Clarisa Diaz illustrated how this kind of firescaping is designedâtake a look.
Quotable: Modi has had little to say about Adani
âI donât understand why the prime minister is not forcing an investigation. Why is he quiet? Why doesnât he say that he is going to make sure that this issue is investigated and the people who are responsible are put behind bars? This is raising a very serious question on the Indian prime minister just before the G20 leaders come here.ââIndian Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Aug. 31.
Gandhi was speaking to new corruption allegations involving the Adani Group, Gautam Adaniâs massive conglomerate. The company has become one of Indiaâs largest and most powerful corporate forcesâbut, as Gandhi and others have argued, not without a bit of favoritism from the countryâs ruling party.
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đ€ Tech IPOs are returningâthis time with profits
Surprising discoveries
The next double feature to buy tickets for is⊠Exorswift! Taylor Swiftâs Eras Tour movie and the latest installment of The Exorcist both come out Oct. 13.
Seven new species of leaf insects were identified. What a pleasant scientific gift just in time for fall.
In other bug news: 5 million bees fell off a truck in Canada. The beekeeper called in to wrangle them described the swarm as âvery angry, confused, and homeless.â
A college volleyball match in the US broke a world record in womenâs sports attendance. More than 90,000 people packed into Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., for the event.
The James Webb Space Telescope snapped detailed pictures of a star that exploded in 1987. It looks like a cosmic strand of pearls.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, Exorswift memes, and leaf piles to [email protected]. Reader support makes Quartz available to allâbecome a member. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.