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Here’s what you need to know
Boeing’s 737 Max returned to the air. The American Airlines flight from Miami to New York was the aircraft’s first since being grounded in 2019, after its second deadly crash.
US Senate Republicans blocked $2,000 stimulus checks. Majority leader Mitch McConnell thwarted Democrats’ attempt to push through the increased direct relief payments, then tied the issue with unrelated White House demands.
Argentina legalized abortion. The historic decision makes it the largest Latin American country—and only the third country in South America—to allow elective abortions.
The UK approved a second vaccine… The addition of easy-to-store the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine comes amid surging case numbers as a result of the new, more transmissible virus variant, which has now made its way to the US.
…as its parliament votes on the post-Brexit EU trade deal. Prime minister Boris Johnson will urge lawmakers to back the agreement in order to “open a new chapter” in the nation’s history.
China is dealing with new Covid-19 clusters. One year to the day since doctor Li Wenliang warned people of mysterious SARS-type lung infections, authorities are scrambling to control new hot spots ahead of the Lunar New Year in February. Meanwhile, Chinese state-owned Sinopharm says its Covid-19 vaccine is nearly 80% effective, but has offered few other details.
What to watch for
It’s the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, which means that in China, it’s time for the flurry of annual sentences of dissidents.
On Monday, a court in Shanghai issued its first sentence of a citizen journalist who reported from Wuhan in the early days of the pandemic. And another in Shenzhen today handed down jail sentences of up to three years to 10 Hong Kong activists who tried to flee the city for Taiwan by boat in August, only to be intercepted by Chinese authorities and taken to the mainland to face a closed trial.
It was the prospect of being prosecuted in China under a proposed extradition law that sparked last year’s protests in Hong Kong. But despite that public opposition, as Mary Hui writes, the national security law imposed on the city this year managed to breach the firewall between the mainland’s opaque legal system and Hong Kong’s common law judiciary, now the last bastion of autonomy in a city where the executive and legislature are firmly with Beijing. The pressure on Hong Kong’s courts is mounting, with the first prosecutions under the new law set to unfold next year.
Charting the cost of natural disasters
According to an analysis by the reinsurance giant Swiss Re, global economic losses from natural disasters amounted to $175 billion in 2020. Of that, $76 billion were insured, the fifth-highest total since 1970.
While the geophysical impacts of climate change are widely distributed among rich and poor countries, the economic toll is felt most acutely in the latter, where disaster insurance is still a rarity. According to Munich Re, almost three-quarters of the $5.2 trillion in global natural disaster damages since 1980 were uninsured.
Ticket to ride
We’re in a new era of the haves and the have-nots: Those who’ve gotten a complete Covid-19 vaccine, and those who are still waiting. Digital vaccine passports could make it easier to keep track of who’s got antibody protection—but would they work for everyone?
Quartz’s Tim McDonnell and Katherine Ellen Foley break down common questions about potential vaccine passports: how they’ll work, who’s making them, and—perhaps most importantly—who they’ll exclude.
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Surprising discoveries
A German pilot took a syringe-shaped flight. He made the 200-km (125-mile) journey to celebrate the rollout of Europe’s Covid-19 vaccine campaign.
Chinese millennials are slacking off at work as a subtle form of protest. Tactics include getting up every 50 minutes to get a glass of water.
Japan is hoping to leave no trace in space. Researchers are working on wooden satellites to cut down on the debris orbiting Earth.
Not the plot of the next Marvel movie (or is it?). Dark matter could come from primordial black holes formed by collapsing “baby universes” in the early multiverse.
We know it feels like Brexit negotiations dragged on for decades… but references to 1990s technology like Netscape Communicator are probably just a bad copy-paste job.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, creative flight paths, and retro tech 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 Mary Hui, Tripti Lahiri, Jordan Lebeau, and Liz Webber.