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Here’s what you need to know
Are the Olympics still happening? There’s no decision yet, with organizers meeting today, but some Japanese officials are openly less optimistic the Games will take place.
Joe Biden signed antiracist executive orders. The US president told the justice department to limit the use of private prisons, and address housing discrimination.
There will soon be one Black woman running a Fortune 500 company. Walgreens’ incoming CEO Rosalind Brewer was formerly chief operating officer at Starbucks.
British lawmakers accused HSBC of “aiding and abetting” China. “I can’t cherry-pick which laws to follow,” said the bank’s CEO Noel Quinn, when asked about freezing accounts in Hong Kong.
The EU is forced to wait for vaccines. AstraZeneca has supply chain issues, is prioritizing its UK commitments, and blamed European procrastination over contracts for the delay.
India deployed more paramilitary forces in Delhi. The extra security measures followed the storming of the city’s historic Red Fort by protesters yesterday.
What to watch for
Microsoft beat earnings expectations yesterday, as it continues to reap benefits from working from home. Today, three more of the world’s biggest tech companies have a chance to prove themselves to investors:
📱Apple: Apple’s data will offer the first glimpse at how the company fared during a pandemic-tinged holiday shopping season. All eyes will be on sales numbers for the iPhone 12, launched last fall. The company has reportedly hiked production 30% to meet demand, suggesting that not even a pandemic can kill Apple’s product buzz.
💰Tesla: The electric car maker is riding a wave of stock market enthusiasm that pushed the company’s value up 700% and crowned its CEO the richest man on earth. Its latest earnings report will tell whether Tesla can live up to its own hype.
💆♀️Facebook: The social media giant has a chance to soothe investors’ nerves by releasing convincing user growth and revenue numbers. Facebook’s stock is down 2% this year amid fear of antitrust enforcement, a potential repeal of liability protections, and a backlash over its ban on the former US president.
Charting South Africa’s Covid battle
Covid isn’t slowing down, and vaccine rollouts show no sign of catching up. South Africa, where a more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus was recently discovered, is awaiting two deliveries of a combined 1.5 million doses to start its program to vaccinate 60 million people.
The new variant has driven the numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths to an all-time high, with hospitals overwhelmed. While South Africa’s government waits on the supply of vaccines to bring the pandemic under control, recent studies have confirmed that current vaccines are less efficient on the new variant.
BlackRock’s new request for potential investments
On Tuesday, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink dropped his annual letter to CEOs, and surprise surprise, it focused on climate. “Climate risk is investment risk,” Fink emphasized, but the transition also offers “a historic investment opportunity.”
BlackRock is now “asking” all public and large private companies to disclose their exposure to climate risk. Naturally, Fink said BlackRock will launch investment products offering explicit temperature goals and a pathway to net-zero emissions.
This is far from the first time Fink has led Wall Street on initiatives to address climate change: BlackRock announced in 2020 it would screen investments for sustainability criteria, divest from thermal coal producers, and vote against management failing to act on climate. With the pandemic accelerating the climate transition, “we need to move even faster,” Fink says.
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Surprising discoveries
Plastic surgery is getting a lift. Masks can keep faces hidden during recovery.
Some beetles can change how a corpse smells. To ward off hungry competition, they use microbes to change the odor during a process too gross for us to describe here.
An old star survived a black hole. The two are stuck in a delicate dance.
The first entirely private squad will head to the ISS. Three wealthy men will have one former astronaut to guide them.
iPhone 12s can screw up medical devices. Apple says the model contains so many magnets, it can mess with defibrillators and pacemakers.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, a Nokia 3210, and a ticket to the ISS 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 Hasit Shah, Jane Li, Tripti Lahiri, Nicolás Rivero, Susan Howson, and Jordan Lebeau.