Belarus hijacking, Zitti e Buoni, sanitizer glut

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Here’s what you need to know

Belarus diverted a Ryanair plane to seize a dissident. A fighter jet forced the Lithuania-bound plane to land in Minsk, where authorities detained journalist Roman Protasevich. European Union officials have called it a hijacking, and will discuss sanctions today.

The ceasefire in Gaza is holding. Mediators have been working to try and cement the pause in fighting, as humanitarian aid rolled into Palestine.

The British Black Lives Matter activist Sasha Johnson was shot in the head. She is in critical condition after being attacked in London. Her political party, Taking the Initiative, said she had received numerous death threats.

China’s top diplomat heads to Russia for security talks. Yang Jiechi’s trip comes as both countries are increasingly coordinating efforts to counterbalance the US. He will also visit Croatia and Slovenia.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Nyiragongo volcano erupted. The flowing lava prompted evacuations in the city of Goma, and some residents fled over the nearby Rwandan border.

Coronavirus vaccines prevent nearly 100% of Covid-19 deaths. The preprint study looked at eight vaccines, and also found them effective against new variants. Another UK study found the Pfizer and AstraZeneca shots to be highly effective against the variant first found in India.

The World Health Organization’s annual assembly kicks off. The gathering, to which Taiwan has again been denied an invitation, will focus on how to prevent the next pandemic.

Italy won Eurovision. The rock band Måneskin, whose lead singer shouted “rock and roll never dies” on accepting the prize, won with the song “Zitti e Buoni.” Nearly 25,000 tests were carried out on performers, crew, and the 3,500 fans who were able to attend the finale in person.

What to watch for

The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo is slated to begin in two months. Opinion polls show that the Japanese population and major Japanese firms and investors including Masayoshi Son largely favor postponing or canceling the games. Organizers are steadily announcing decisions on Covid-19 testing, spectators, and protocols. But no amount of planning can reduce Covid-19 risk to zero.

Less than 5% of people in Japan have received a first vaccine dose. Many parts of the country, including host city Tokyo, are under a state of emergency as cases have risen in recent weeks.

Being vaccinated is not a requirement for athletes, though countries are prioritizing jabs for Olympic participants.

It is unclear how widely the local organizers will be vaccinated. They’ll be the people interacting with the international arrivals.

Only the International Olympic Committee can cancel the games. But the local authorities still get left with the tab.

Charting the ways Uber benefits from giving free rides for vaccines

Starting today, Uber will provide free rides to anyone in the US going to and from Covid-19 vaccination sites. The ride-hailing company is providing 20,000 free vaccine-appointment rides to the elderly in certain cities in Japan. And, in a partnership with UNESCO, Uber will provide 1 million free rides to teachers around the world.

Anyone without reliable transportation stands to benefit, but Uber has a lot to gain as well:

• It can help it recover old customers. Riders who have avoided Uber trips during the pandemic could be coaxed back into the habit.
• It can help it gain new customers. Once new users download the Uber app, it makes them more likely to consider using the service in the future.
• It will boost its usage figures. The company lost half its customers from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2020 and is still about 130 million users off its peak.
• It’s good PR. Uber is seen as the less socially-responsible ride-hailing company compared to its rival Lyft. It continues to face criticism from labor advocates and policymakers.

Who owns the Arctic?

The Arctic is bordered by eight independent countries—Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, the US, China, Iceland, and Greenland. Each is able to claim the waters off its coasts and the resources beneath. Everything else is covered by a patchwork of regulations, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Companies are eyeing the Arctic as a place to extract natural resources like rare earth metals, oil, and natural gas. Many of these companies are so large, and so often state-owned, that they serve as proxies for their governments, their narrow industrial interests providing a cover for their states’ projections of power.

Read more here.

✦ Figuring out the Arctic is a billion-dollar question, but trying out a Quartz membership is free. Gain access to all the stories, presentations, field guides, workshops, and more available exclusively to Quartz members.

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Surprising discoveries

A South African university determined a Rembrandt was a fake. A painstaking investigation led to the discovery of pigments that couldn’t have been in a work by the Dutch master.

Sweden is building a space complex. It will be Europe’s first orbital launch site for satellites, and the reindeer are not happy.

Tardigrades—a.k.a. “water bears”—can survive impacts at up to 1,845 miles per hour. Scientists fired the famously tough creatures out of a gun to simulate the crash of a space landing.

US retailers have too much hand sanitizer. Demand has plummeted, and stores are taking extreme measures to offload their stock.

Cocaine is washing up in the Florida Keys. For weeks now residents have been finding wrapped bundles of the drug.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, fake Rembrandts, and arctic space facilities 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, Marc Bain, Michelle Cheng, Tripti Lahiri, Leslie Nguyen-Okwu, Alexandra Ossola, Annabelle Timsit, and David Yanofsky.