Here are the ten must-read stories from around the world:
1. ‘I Feel Sorry for Americans'. From Myanmar to Canada, people are asking: How did a superpower allow itself to be felled by a virus? And why won't the president commit to a peaceful transition of power? Hannah Beech's article for The New York Times.
2. Instead of optimizing work, technology has created a nonstop barrage of notifications and interactions. Six months into a pandemic, it's worse than ever. A WIRED article ponders how work became an inescapable hellhole.
3. With under 40 days now for the US presidential election, Vanity Fair's Caleb Ecarma asks the all-important question - can media and tech giants avoid becoming Russian tools?
4. In The Wall Street Journal, Timothy W. Martin and Dasl Yoon elaborate how South Korea successfully blended technology and testing like no one to manage coronavirus.
5. Leading philosophers and researchers are debating whether the events that occur in our century could shape the fate of our species over the next thousands if not millions of years. The “hinge of history” hypothesis proposes that we are, right now, at a turning point. Is this really plausible? BBC's Richard Fisher investigates.
6. It is not natural for us to be this sedentary. Travel is in our genes. It entails wishful thinking. It demands a leap of faith, and of imagination, to board a plane for some faraway land, hoping, wishing, for a taste of the ineffable. So go ahead and plan that trip. Plotting a trip is nearly as enjoyable as actually taking one, writes Eric Weiner for National Geographic.
7. Scroll's Anisha Sircar speaks to Vivek Bald, author of 'Bengali Harlem' to uncover this deeply fascinating story of how a secret wave of early South Asians found a home in America long before the H-1B immigrants.
8. Quartz India's Niharika Sharma follows the 120-year-old Indian business group with no place for women on its board as it heads for a legal battle on allegations of sexism within the family that has run it for five generations.
9. Through lockdown, balconies went from an often forgotten outdoor cupboard to a joyful escape pod for millions. The Guardian's Simon Usborne paints the larger story.
10. The failure of Mulan is further evidence that the pandemic is defeating blockbuster movies. That's bad news for Hollywood, writes David Sims for The Atlantic.
