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Here’s what you need to know
The UK and Europe push for observers in Myanmar. A special session of the UN human rights council will consider a resolution to demand access for monitors and “strongly deplore” the military coup.
The UK’s quarantine hotel booking system crashed. Due to “a minor technical issue,” the site for reserving the stays required for certain UK arrivals was taken down within minutes of its launch.
China banned the BBC. After the UK’s ban of the overseas arm of China’s state network, and a series of BBC reports on abuses of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Beijing alleged the British public broadcaster “undermined China’s national interests and ethnic solidarity.”
The Tokyo Olympics is losing its chief. Yoshiro Mori, a former prime minister, is expected to resign today after recent sexist remarks spurred a swift backlash.
India faces off with US social media. Its tech minister warned that US online platforms are welcome only if they follow Indian law, after Twitter rejected some of the government’s demands to block accounts.
Investors are in love with Bumble. The dating app where women have to make the first move soared more than 63% in its trading debut yesterday, adding its founder to the small club of self-made female billionaires.
Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team is scrambling. He is apparently furious about the disorganization of his defense lawyers, who will follow a prosecution that depicted the former president as an ongoing threat to American democracy.
What to watch for
🐂 It’s the Year of the Ox. Today is the Lunar New Year, which kicks off celebratory periods of varying lengths in different countries, with China’s culminating in the lantern festival on Feb. 26. But, as with everything these days, it won’t be quite the same.
Here’s what many Lunar New Year revelers will have to go without:
Travel: It’s the second Spring Festival that Covid-19 has ruined, though last year China waited until the last minute to begin lockdowns, leaving many stranded. This year, the government has imposed testing and observation periods on domestic travel to discourage movement between cities.
Lobster: The crustacean—largely shipped from the US—is especially popular during Lunar New Year for its auspicious color. But just as the Chinese and US governments had reached an agreement that would undo some of the damage the trade war did to the industry, Covid-19 prompted Beijing to restrict imports.
Cash: The traditional money-bearing red envelopes will be a lot slimmer this year, as many gift-givers opt to avoid piles of cash touched by other people and instead pull out the old checkbook.
Charting Robinhood’s surging valuation
Robinhood shares saw 50% growth last month as investors dashed to claim a piece of the brokerage app behind the GameStop saga. According to data from Rainmaker Securities, secondary market bids for Robinhood shares equate to a $40 billion valuation, nearly double its proposed IPO value.
Judging by Robinhood’s growth, despite missteps like its self-inflicted black eye after delisting lottery stocks, investors seem to believe the app is impervious to everything from worries over the sustainability of its business model to hefty regulatory fines.
Clubhouse shows how not to run a meeting
Clubhouse, the buzzy new app exploding in popularity, essentially facilitates conference calls among internet strangers. We know the amateur moderators are doing their best, but the chaos of the app’s rooms just so happens to put on spectacular display many of the common pitfalls of running a meeting. If your goal is the worst meeting ever, follow Clubhouse’s lead:
📝 Set no agenda. Agendas keep meetings focused on the core issues that everyone showed up to discuss.
📣 Let men steamroll women. You won’t need much help on this one—it’s a universal phenomenon.
🤓 Don’t do your homework. Whether you’re hosting a Clubhouse room, a business meeting, or a conference panel, nothing sets participants up for failure faster than not knowing exactly who they are.
Jokes aside, Quartz’s field guides on the digital workplace and remote teams can help make any virtual interactions run smoothly, on Clubhouse or elsewhere.
You asked about variants and vaccines
Will vaccines work against the new Covid-19 variants?
For the most part, mutations don’t make the SARS-CoV-2 virus that different from previous strains, which means most vaccines should be somewhat protective against them. Even if a vaccine can’t protect against all cases, the initial immune response should be enough to tame would-be severe ones. And so far, there is limited evidence that any of these variants make Covid-19 infections more severe.
That said, South Africa halted deployment of the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this week after a preliminary study showed it to be less effective against the B.1.351 variant first identified in that country. Janssen and Novavax also reported their respective vaccines prevented fewer cases in South Africa than elsewhere. There’s no data on whether the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will work well against this variant yet—they were tested before it was prevalent—but Moderna has said it’s testing boosters for it presently.
All that uncertainty highlights why it’s still best to avoid getting Covid-19 at all, which means staying vigilant with the same old pandemic precautions: hand-washing, physical distancing, and wearing a mask (or two) when inside public spaces.
Surprising discoveries
Inadequate healthcare has killed more Americans than Covid-19. A study found there were 461,000 excess deaths in the US in 2018.
The US ambassador to Vietnam dropped a Lunar New Year rap. The music video features Vietnamese rapper Wowy.
Why does this flower photo get 78 million hits a day? It appears to be an unintended consequence of India’s TikTok ban.
Social media influencers can now join a union. Yes, really—go talk to the US Screen Actors Guild. (Flowers likely excluded.)
Six 18th-century pirate skeletons were found in a wreck near Massachusetts. Researchers hope one of them belongs to legendary captain Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy.
Yesterday, we told you to watch out for Bumble’s earnings announcement. In fact, the dating app company’s market debut was Thursday. We hope you’ll still swipe right on the Quartz Daily Brief!
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Clubhouse etiquette tips, and floral influencers 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 Tripti Lahiri, Mary Hui, Nicolás Rivero, Katherine Ellen Foley, Jordan Lebeau, Liz Webber, and Susan Howson.