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US investors aren’t feeling optimistic. Stocks plunged as reports surfaced that House speaker Nancy Pelosi and treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin may not reach a compromise on a congressional stimulus package anytime soon. China, however, has the economy—and maybe even the vaccine—everyone envies at the moment.
Thai and Hong Kong protesters are teaming up. The Milk Tea Alliance brewing between the two groups has led to Thai protesters recently stepping up their efforts using tactics proven by their counterparts in Hong Kong. Heckling of a royal motorcade on Monday night showed that young Thai activists are willing to break the culture’s long-held reverence for the monarchy.
Russians tried to hack the Olympics. According to UK intelligence, the Russian military intelligence group GRU attempted cyber-attacks on various officials involved with the Tokyo games, before their postponement to 2021. The US has also charged six GRU officers with attempts to disrupt the 2018 games, the 2017 French presidential election, and Ukraine’s power grid.
The moon is getting 4G. NASA announced that it was giving Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia $14.1 million to establish a mobile network on the moon. The network, which will ultimately transition to 5G (though we’ve all heard that line before), will pave the way for astronauts to return to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis project.
Japan’s box office broke records. Demon Slayer, an anime film based on a popular comic series, shattered the record for the biggest opening weekend in Japanese history. Across the Pacific, Hollywood is still struggling with closed theaters and a surge in Covid-19 cases that could keep people out of the open ones.
Learning to live with Covid-19
As the world nears the anniversary of the first reported cases of Covid-19, humans are adapting to their new realities. Here are some of the transitions we’re tracking:
- 🍽 Restaurants are paying to boost the air change rate in their space.
- đź“Ş US post office workers are filing more than 500 workplace complaints per day.
- 👴🏼 Alzheimer’s and dementia patients have seen more indirect deaths than we thought.
For everything you need to know about how the world is managing the pandemic, sign up for our Coronavirus: Need to Know email below:
Charting Elon Musk’s charity
Tesla’s CEO spent more than $80 billion to roll out the electric carmaker’s first three models, according to public financial filings. But when it comes to giving money away, the billionaire and head of the Musk Foundation is in a bit less of a hurry.
Quartz assembled nearly two decades of the foundation’s IRS filings to find that, so far, Musk has handed at least $257 million to the foundation, most of it in Tesla stock. Between 2016 and 2018, the Musk Foundation distributed $65 million, somewhat more than the minimum the foundation must disburse annually to avoid IRS penalties.
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Making it work in India
It’s almost like the Covid-19 lockdown never happened for Flock, an office team communication software firm in Bangalore. During a time when most businesses struggled to cope with shutdowns, Flock’s revenue grew 40% for three consecutive quarters.
While India’s economy plummeted to record lows during lockdowns, stars still shine in the country’s bright startup space. Four Indian tech startups became unicorns, or private companies valued at over $1 billion, in the middle of the pandemic. Still, more than half of Indian startups are struggling to raise funds.
Visit Quartz India for more daily coverage of the country for India and its far-flung diaspora.
ALL PRAISE THE HUMBLE RSS FEED
Many tech enthusiasts were first introduced to the word “podcast” in 2005 when Steve Jobs enthusiastically welcomed the medium into the Apple universe.
But to understand podcasting today, you have to start further back, with the technology used to get the shows onto devices: the RSS feed. Very much a product of the pro-decentralization late 1990s, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, or Rich Site Summary, depending on whom you ask. It’s a type of file websites used to automatically transmit updates to their audience. Users subscribe to feeds and receive the latest information delivered through an RSS reader tool.
Social media has more or less replaced the RSS feed—except for podcasting. Find out why, and how it’s informing the podcast business today, in our latest field guide.
✦ The best way to really simply sign up for a Quartz membership today is with the promo code QZTWENTY to unlock a 20% discount.
Surprising discoveries
Apple just invented MTV. If history is any guide, we’ve got about 15 years until the 24-hour music video stream on Apple TV turns into nonstop reality programming for teens.
What goes on inside your head? Dutch doctors discovered another pair of salivary glands whose existence could explain certain things.
Foster parents are planning to unionize. A Massachusetts group says resources have become too strained during the pandemic.
It’s up to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. If Facebook and Google limit services based on upcoming laws, the ABC is offering to step in with its own social network.
Awkward seating arrangements could slow viral spread. A supercomputer simulation found that sitting diagonally from your fellow diner exposes you to 75% less gross droplets.
Correction: The What to Watch For section in Monday’s Quartz Daily Brief mistakenly said that the UK Parliament would be voting on plant-based meat branding on Wednesday. The vote will be held in the European Parliament. We regret the error.Â
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Kurt Loder’s email address, and diagonal dating tips to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Jackie Bischof, Michael Coren Susan Howson, and Max Lockie.