Atlanta mass shooting, vaccine diplomacy in Africa, fashion’s diversity

Plus: The Fed updates its economic projections [Quartz]( Good morning, Quartz readers! Here’s what you need to know Six Asian women were shot dead in Atlanta. Police arrested Robert Aaron Long, 21, on suspicion of a total of [eight murders in three incidents]( last night. Uber drivers in the UK are now employees. Following [a court ruling]( last month, they [will be entitled to paid vacation]( minimum wage, and a pension. Europe’s drugs regulator insists the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe. More than a dozen countries [suspended its use]( with [politics at play]( but some of the reported side effects [are ridiculous](. LeBron James became a partner in Fenway Sports Group. The [basketball superstar invested]( in the Boston-based company, which owns the Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club. Leading designers of social housing won architecture’s biggest prize. French duo Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal [took home the Pritzker]( for their work in redefining low-income homes. What to watch for When the US Federal Reserve [updates its economic projections today]( policy makers are expected to be more upbeat than they were in December. Since then, John Detrixhe says, vaccine rollout has quickened, and Congress has passed president Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. As the economy revs up, investors are on the outlook for inflation that could reach, or exceed, the Fed’s 2% goal faster than expected. [A chart showing US gross domestic product dipping in 2020 and then rising again nearly to pre-pandemic levels.] Even so, most experts think the Fed, seeking to enable a sustained recovery and keep interest rates low, will continue to step firmly on the gas pedal. Or, as Sebastien Galy, strategist at Nordea Asset Management, puts it: “The Federal Reserve is widely expected to stay on hold and to fight against the perception that it would tighten early monetary policy.” Mapping China’s vaccine diplomacy in Africa China is donating thousands of its vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, including in Africa, in what is [viewed as a soft-power push]( to bolster its global influence. [A map showing the few countries in Africa to whom China has donated vaccines.] The number of vaccine doses that China has donated is relatively low—the most doses given freely to an African country are 300,000 to Egypt. Still, as Eric Olander, co-founder and managing editor of the China Africa Project, told Quartz’s Carlos Mureithi, China is owning the narrative of vaccine diplomacy by using “powerful” images to get headlines “on the cheap.” Checking in on fashion’s diversity efforts At the end of May last year, as antiracism protests exploded, numerous fashion and beauty companies went online to post their messages of support for the Black community and the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as to pledge their own commitments to change. In [an eye-opening interactive piece]( Quartz’s Amanda Shendruk and Marc Bain analyzed 27,000 images from [the feeds of 34 fashion and beauty brands]( to see if they’d made any progress besides that initial Blackout Tuesday posting. Their findings, we’re sorry to say, were disappointing. ✦ Read more about [why so many diversity initiatives fail]( as part of our field guide on [how to be an anti-racist company](. You’ll need a membership, but we’ve got you covered. [Try one out for a week, free](. Handpicked Quartz 💃 [Walmart is hiring a favorite designer of Lady Gaga to boost its fashion cred]( 🎯 [After cracking down on Alibaba, Beijing could target rival Tencent]( 😬 [The UK’s Integrated Review predicts at least one major successful terrorist attack by 2030]( 🔍 [An abandoned car, a suspended cop, and a murder: The mystery of a bomb scare at the Ambani residence]( 📅 [Simple tweaks to your calendar apps and email can help fight burnout]( Quartz announcement 📢 LAST CALL to nominate your organization as a Best Company for Remote Workers! [Submit your company]( before March 18—it only takes a few minutes and it's the first global ranking of its kind. The complete list will be published later this year on Quartz at Work and it’s a great opportunity to promote your company. Please share [this link]( with your Peoples department. Surprising discoveries Thousands of bitcoin ATMs have been installed in the US. 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