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Here’s what you need to know
It’s everywhere you want to be—now including China. American Express won approval to process local transactions in China’s $27 trillion market, making it the first foreign payments company to do so. AmEx is required to start the service within six months.
A new coronavirus cluster sends Beijing into lockdown. Authorities say that 42 symptomatic and 48 asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 have been linked to the massive Xinfadi wholesale food market. Sporting events and tourist sites were shut on Saturday, and residents of eleven complexes near the market have been locked down.
New Zealand has fans in stadiums again. Following president Jacinda Ardem’s announcement that New Zealand has no known cases of Covid-19, 20,000 rugby fans packed into a Dunedin stadium for a Saturday match with no social distancing protocols. The Highlanders beat the Chiefs 28-27, and a streaker made an appearance on the field wearing nothing but shoes.
A gas tanker exploded in Zhejiang province. The truck carrying liquified natural gas exploded on a highway exit ramp in the coastal city of Wenling, killing at least 19 people, injuring 172, and flattening multiple buildings. More than 80 fire trucks and 450 rescue workers were deployed to the scene. The cause of the blast is still under investigation.
Tencent takes 10%. The Chinese conglomerate paid $200 million for eight million shares of Warner Music, which represents 10.4% of Warner’s publicly traded stock. Warner Music—home to artists including Cardi B, Bruno Mars, and Lizzo—debuted earlier this month on the NASDAQ, the biggest US listing so far in 2020.
Speaking of music, we’ll be randomly selecting one reader who refers a friend to the Daily Brief to receive a pair of Bose noise-canceling headphones. Referring readers to the Quartz Daily Brief helps support our journalism directly.
What to watch for
A verdict is expected today for Maria Ressa. The cofounder of the Philippines-based news site Rappler, which has reported critically on president Rodrigo Duterte’s regime, was charged with cyber-libel in 2018. The case hinges on a typo. The legislation under which Ressa was charged only became law after the 2012 story was originally published, but the Phillipines Department of Justice says a 2014 correction constitutes a republication.
Stores reopen and travel restrictions ease across Europe. Today, Germany lifts its travel warning for most European countries, Belgium reopens its borders to European travelers, and more of the UK’s nonessential retailers reopen.
Sports come back to Asia. The Japanese baseball season begins on Friday after a pandemic-caused delay. Chinese basketball resumes following a months-long hiatus.
JD.com hits the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. China’s second-largest online retailer debuts on Thursday after raising $3.9 billion in the offering. The company has traded on the Nasdaq since 2014 but conflicts between US and Chinese law might force Chinese companies off US exchanges.
Charting the rising popularity of RVing
Recreational vehicles—trailers (towed behind cars), campers, and motor homes—aren’t a necessity, and so they become more popular when people have more money to spend on discretionary purchases. In March’s market slide, the values of Thor and Winnebago, the two biggest publicly traded RV companies, cratered faster than the S&P 500 index.
But their stock prices have outpaced it since, and soared in late May as signs of a promising summer become clearer. Many people who may have been confined to their homes are turning to RVs as a way to travel with limited risk of infection.
For Members: Science’s great pandemic pivot
Quartz spoke with four major global institutions to highlight how scientists are pivoting to focus on Covid-19. Here are some of the changes they have had to make:
The Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Germany shifted from “generating mouse mutants” to testing for coronavirus, helping the city of Göttingen to reopen.
Scientists at the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases in Nigeria went from working on a rapid diagnostic kit that would test for malaria, Lassa fever, and Ebola all at once to coronavirus testing and sequencing
Israel’s Migal Galilee Research Institute went from working on a vaccine for chicken coronavirus to applying their knowledge to creating a vaccine for Covid-19.
The Jenner Institute at Oxford University in the UK dropped their work on more than 15 diseases, including MERS, HIV, Ebola, Zika, malaria, lung cancer, and prostate cancer, to focus on producing a potential coronavirus vaccine.
Read more about the work of these institutions in our field guide on science’s great pandemic pivot.
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Surprising Discoveries
North Korea is exporting sand. Two analysts used satellite imagery depicting clouds of sand beneath dredgers in North Korean waters to help uncover a $22 million “substantial sand-export operation,” which violates a United Nations sanction barring North Korea from exporting earth and stone. For more sandy trivia, see our Quartz Obsession on the topic.
Walking on, walking on broken glass. Russian prison guards took part in a “self-awareness course,” which included walking on broken glass as an exercise in “self-discovery.” “Walking on glass isn’t just a fun trick but a great way to go beyond your limitations, fears and insecurities,” according to the regional prison service.
Hey, the US could use that glass. The US government is spending millions to prevent a shortage of glass vials in the event of an approved Covid-19 vaccine causes demand to skyrocket.
The Covid-19 patient who lived to see his $1.1 million medical charges. Michael Flor survived a harrowing battle with coronavirus only to receive a 181-page enumeration of his treatment totalling $1,122,501.04. Flor’s room in the intensive-care unit alone cost $9,736 per day. Public and private insurance should cover most of the expenses.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, broken glass, and million-dollar medical treatments to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app on iOS or Android and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Jenni Avins, Jackie Bischof, Daniel Kopf, Alexandra Ossola, and David Yanofsky.