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Japan is set to expand travel restrictions. The government will most likely refuse entry to all foreigners who have traveled to the US, China, South Korea, and most of Europe within 14 days of reaching Japan. Meanwhile, Toyota said it would temporarily shut all plants in Europe and Russia.
Oil fell back below $20 per barrel. As talks between the US, OPEC, and Russia over potential production cuts have evaporated, oil has plunged to fresh 18-year lows.
China and Huawei proposed an internet “shut up command.” The protocol, called New IP, would allow for greater efficiency in network management, but also involves a killswitch of sorts that would let the government restrict the flow of data to and from specific IP addresses, in addition to possibly creating links between internet users and real names.
Two countries collided in the East China Sea. A Japanese warship hit a Chinese fishing vessel—or perhaps the other way around. The Japanese defense ministry is working on determining the specific movements around the collision, which injured no one but caused a puncture above the destroyer’s water line.
The age of workarounds
The US wants India to ease up on drug export restrictions. The former relies heavily on the latter for its pharmaceutical supply chain, but India—the largest generic drug supplier in the world—has clamped down on sending drug supplies elsewhere when they’re likely to be needed at home.
The G20 made more decisions on Zoom. Trade ministers dialed in to make promises to keep markets open, so that essential goods would remain flowing and manufacturers would be encouraged to keep cranking out medical equipment and drugs.
The Tokyo Olympics are rescheduled for July 23, 2021. Although the games have been pushed back exactly one year, the International Olympic Committee has decided to keep the name “Tokyo 2020.” Organizers are reconfiguring the rest of the year’s sports calendar to accommodate the new dates.
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The tech industry will recover faster than we do. As factories in China reopen, the biggest threat to global industries like consumer electronics is shifting from supply chain disruption to the coming recession.
Olympians are also working from home. Quartz checked in with six of them to see how their living rooms, balconies, and even family barns are now not-so-state-of-the-art training facilities.
Quartz daily obsession
The platypus is a true mishmash of species of the world. The mammals share genes with reptiles and birds, lay eggs, and sport venomous spurs. Their expansive and hybrid genetic makeup has astonished scientists for centuries, but climate change threatens the survival of the animal kingdom’s reigning weirdo. Be your own strange self with the Quartz Daily Obsession.
Matter of debate
Shutting down the economy may be the best way to protect it. Research shows that aggressive social distancing measures, while extremely disruptive to commerce in the near term, can result in faster economic growth when the disease subsides.
Surprising discoveries
Walmart is selling a lot more tops these days, but not pants. It might have something to do with the millions of people now working from home.
India’s idle trains could be used for patients. The huge rail network is shut down, and the carriages have plenty of space.
We’re one step closer to mind-reading machines. Scientists trained AI to convert brain activity into text with high accuracy—but only for a small set of pre-selected sentences.
Submarine crews likely still don’t know about the coronavirus pandemic. Any news that could hurt their morale is kept secret for the length of their 60-day deployment.
Thieves stole a van Gogh painting under cover of Covid. The piece vanished from a Dutch museum closed to prevent the outbreak’s spread.
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