Chinese officials notched another grim record Tuesday as single-day deaths from the outbreak reached triple digits. With a total of 1,016 now dead, President Xi Jinping is taking an increasingly visible role, appearing at a Beijing health center in a nationally broadcast visit. “We will most definitely win this people’s war,” he said. Meanwhile, several senior officials — mainly in the hard-hit Hubei province — have been sacked.

How bad could the outbreak get? One public health epidemiologist believes coronavirus could infect about two-thirds of the global population if it isn’t properly controlled.

Presidential hopefuls duked it out in the Granite State ahead of today’s primary, showcasing their range of ideological differences — but uniting to bash President Donald Trump. With former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren now pitching themselves as underdogs, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg are hoping to pull further away from the pack. Trump, meanwhile, is also in New Hampshire shoring up Republican support.

What’s different about this primary season? Besides Iowa’s technological snags, history may well be made if the top five candidates continue campaigning, as they’re expected to do, regardless of New Hampshire’s results.

Denying U.S. claims that it was behind a massive 2017 breach of the credit reporting agency, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman suggested Tuesday that his country is a victim of American cyber harassment. Yesterday the U.S. charged four members of the Chinese military with stealing data on 150 million Americans in the Equifax breach, which Attorney General William Barr called one of history’s biggest hack attacks.

Why would China want that information? Experts say machine learning and big data analytics, like the kind Beijing uses for both domestic and foreign intelligence purposes, require massive amounts of data to function effectively.

Check out OZY’s profile of India’s most powerful military boss in decades.

They’ve got a good connection. A U.S. district court judge is reportedly expected to bless the long-awaited union of the two mobile giants later today. If it goes ahead, the game-changing merger of the country’s third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers would be a major defeat for a group of attorneys general led by New York and California, who argued it would mean higher phone bills for customers. No further details were available.

What’s the bigger picture? A beefed-up T-Mobile means it’ll be one of only three companies, along with AT&T and Verizon, to dominate the U.S. mobile market while also developing 5G technology.

The Pentagon now says more than 100 U.S. troops were diagnosed with brain injuries in last month’s Iranian missile attack on an Iraqi base. Officials in Thailand are investigating how a military gunman was able to steal the weapons he used to kill 29 people in a weekend rampage. And the most high-ranking diplomat to have defected from North Korea is reportedly running for Parliament in South Korea.

#OZYfact: In 2018, roughly the same number of nuclear families existed as in 1984 — when America’s population was 27 percent smaller. Read more on OZY.

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It’s spy vs. spy in the skies. According to the commander of the new U.S. Space Force, two Russian spacecraft have been stalking an American spy satellite since its launch in November. At times, said Gen. John Raymond, they’ve ventured within 100 miles of the probe in “unusual and disturbing behavior” that could “create a dangerous situation.” The Russian Embassy hasn’t commented, though the Kremlin has previously claimed they’re harmless “inspector” satellites.

Why does it matter? It comes as the White House requested $15 billion to fund the Space Force, which represents a new U.S. defensive strategy in the cosmos — but one that critics have blasted as wasteful spending.

Plastics have long been considered a mortal enemy in the battle to save the planet, but Europe’s beginning to treat them more like an ally, OZY reports. Countries like the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, France and Germany are embracing chemical recycling methods that convert the synthetic material back into its building blocks. While forging a plastic-to-fuel technology market that could reach $2.3 billion by 2026, they’re also working toward the high-level EU priority of a circular economy.

Is it all blue skies ahead? Scaling up chemical recycling remains a challenge, since there’s currently no standardization among countries using different technologies and solvents.

They’re holding the line. The Canadian military is reportedly urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to keep the Chinese telecom giant away from next-generation wireless networks in the Great White North. Echoing their counterparts in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S., senior Canadian military officials say the supposedly government-connected company is a threat to national security.

What’s at stake? It’s a complicated decision for Ottawa, which is already locked in a costly diplomatic spat with China over Canada’s arrest — at America’s urging — of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.

Don’t miss OZY’s Special Briefing about the tech cold war.

BBC Studios announced yesterday that it’s planning a documentary series featuring the 17-year-old Swedish climate activist. But it won’t just be about her battle against global warming: The series, in which Thunberg will meet various climate experts, will also focus on “her own journey into adulthood” as she navigates “a teenage life like no other.” No release date has been announced for the still-untitled show.

Is Thunberg a screen star in the making? During her pretaped appearance at the Oscars Sunday night, she revealed her interest in documentaries — while Hulu is also working on its own film about her, called Greta.

Read this OZY profile of India’s own child climate activist.

Is he off-base? Claiming the tainted franchise cheated him of future potential, 32-year-old Mike Bolsinger sued the team in a Los Angeles court Monday. The former Blue Jays pitcher says Houston’s illegal sign-stealing techniques handed them an unfair 16-7 win over Toronto in August 2017, during which Bolsinger gave up four runs and walked four batters in just one-third of an inning. After that, he was bumped down to the minors and never played pro again.

What does Bolsinger want? He’s demanding the Astros forfeit $31.5 million of their 2017 World Series bonuses and funnel the cash to charities for youngsters and retired ballplayers.