Know someone who would like this newsletter? Forward it to them.
The World
How did President Trump relent on the coronavirus relief bill? Over many days, Sec. Mnuchin and House GOP Leader McCarthy and Sen. Lindsey Graham indulged the president's rants, told him there was great stuff in the bill, and gave him "wins" he could announce, even though they didn't change the bill. Meanwhile, Biden accused Trump and his political appointees of obstructing the transition of power to his incoming administration, particularly on national security issues, an escalation in tone. Biden specifically called out OMB and the Defense Department as agencies where his transition team had encountered “roadblocks” from political leadership. (Axios, Washington Post)
The House voted to increase stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000, acting swiftly after Trump demanded the larger payments last week. 44 Republicans joined Democrats to approve the bill 275-to-134. The move dares Senate Republicans to either approve the heftier sum or defy Trump. (Washington Post, New York Times)
The House also voted to override Trump’s military bill veto, 322-to-87, the first time a chamber of Congress has overridden a Trump vetoes. The Senate will take up the legislation later this week, but Sen. Bernie Sanders said he will filibuster unless the Senate holds a vote on providing $2,000 direct payments to Americans. (New York Times, Politico)
U.S. air travel hit a record high on Sunday, as TSA screened 1,284,599 people — the highest number since the pandemic began. Separately, a Biden Covid-19 advisory team member said Biden plans to invoke the Defense Production Act to boost vaccine production. Meanwhile, what went wrong in L.A.? County health officials warn of a new surge, as L.A. is careening toward catastrophe. Interviews with epidemiologists, health experts and public officials offer clues: L.A. was far more vulnerable to an extreme crisis than nearly anywhere else in the nation. (Axios, CNBC, Los Angeles Times)
Russia suddenly admitted to the world's third-worst Covid-19 death toll — more than 186,000 Russians have died, 3X more than previously reported. In the EU, vaccine deliveries are delayed as doses can’t be kept cold enough. In Texas, more people are hospitalized for Covid-19 than at any other time during the pandemic. (The Guardian, The Times, Texas Tribune)
China and the EU could reach a landmark investment deal this week, with the 27 European countries unanimously approving the agreement despite earlier reservations. The deal would give Beijing much-needed diplomatic breathing space as Biden prepares to forge stronger ties with European partners to confront growing Chinese assertiveness. Under the deal, European businesses would enjoy a more privileged investment environment in China than their American counterparts. Meanwhile, 70% of corporate Japan's leaders want Biden to ease China tensions, as Japanese stocks hit a 29-year high. (South China Morning Post, Financial Times, Nikkei Asian Review)
Learn More: Pushback on Xi’s vision for China is spreading beyond the U.S., as countries that once avoided upsetting Beijing are moving closer to Washington’s harder stance. (Wall Street Journal)
Are India and China on the brink of war? High in the Himalayas, Indian and Chinese forces have brought troop reinforcements, artillery and armor up to the border, involving more than 100,000 soldiers in their most dangerous confrontation for decades. With thousands of Chinese soldiers camped on Indian soil and negotiations deadlocked, the world’s two biggest militaries are squared off at altitudes above 5,000 metres as temperatures plunge to minus 40C. (The Times)
Russia’s prison service gave Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny an ultimatum: Fly back from Germany at once and report at a Moscow office early today, or be jailed if you return after that deadline. The Federal Prison Service accused Navalny of violating the terms of a suspended prison sentence he is serving out over a conviction dating from 2014, and of evading the supervision of Russia’s criminal inspection authority. (Reuters)
One of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent women’s rights activists, who campaigned for women’s right to drive, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison, though she could be released in March for time served. Loujain al-Hathloul has endured several stretches of solitary confinement since May 2018. Her imprisonment is a likely point of contention between the kingdom and Biden administration. (Associated Press)
AT&T says services have mostly recovered from the Nashville bombing that caused multi-state internet outages on Christmas. The explosion brought down networks across parts of TN, KY, and AL — disrupting cell service, some 911 networks, and communications at the Nashville International Airport, which briefly grounded flights. (The Verge)
New York, Illinois, California and Michigan saw the biggest population outflows in 2020, while the biggest winners were the sunbelt states Texas, Florida and Arizona. (Zero Hedge)
Meanwhile, accelerated growth is straining “Startup City” Austin, TX, as the arrival of Oracle, Apple, Tesla deal new challenges to city’s struggle to stay affordable—and “weird.” (Wall Street Journal)
Counterargument: There’s a narrative that tech workers and executives are moving en masse to Miami and Austin this year. That narrative is wrong. The story crumbles when placed next to new LinkedIn data showing where tech workers are actually moving in 2020. The key beneficiaries of this year’s tech migration are cities like Madison, WI; Richmond, VA; and Sacramento, CA. These places don’t get much play in the news, but they’re attracting tech talent at significantly higher rates than they were last year. Austin, conversely, is gaining tech workers more slowly. (Big Technology)
“The Plague Year”: If you want to know how 9/11 happened, you read Lawrence Wright’s extraordinary book, The Looming Tower (along with Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars). Now, The New Yorker devotes an entire double issue to Wright so he can explain how the Covid-19 catastrophe happened. As The Verge notes, the piece is “a sweeping, searing look at the country’s year spent fighting (and failing) … missteps and the many other mistakes made by officials that set us on a path towards hundreds of thousands of deaths from the disease.” (New Yorker)
Economy
Retailers are bracing for a flood of returns from online shopping. Shoppers are expected to return twice as many items as during last year’s holiday period. Meanwhile, hedge funds have placed a £1 billion bet that there is more trouble in store for UK retailers. (Los Angeles Times, The Times)
Private capital’s rush into sports: With new special purpose acquisition companies and specialized funds seeking to invest in leagues and teams, private money is reshaping sport business. Private equity groups are scrambling to get a stake in media rights for European football, while U.S. sport leagues are loosening bylaws to allow for new forms of investment. Underpinning the changes: Valuations for broadcast rights and individual franchises remain on an upward trajectory. (Financial Times)
Alibaba shares tumbled again after Beijing tightened the screws on Ant Group, slumping 8% and extending a Christmas Eve selloff as investors reassess China’s regulatory risks. (Wall Street Journal)
Private equity investment in India’s real estate sector is expected to bounce back to $6 billion, registering a growth of 30% YoY in 2021, led by improving economic sentiment supported by policy reforms and growth in key emerging sectors. The next wave of investments will be driven by growth in warehousing, affordable housing and data centers apart from the commercial office segment which will continue to see steady improvement. Warehouse leasing is expected to increase by 60% in 2021. (CNBCTV18)
Large asset managers boost staffing in EU by 38% since 2015. (Financial Times)
Technology
Videogames are a bigger industry than movies and North American sports combined, thanks to the pandemic. COVID-19 lockdowns expected to help global gaming sales rise 20% to nearly $180 billion in 2020, and experts don’t see growth taking a hit in 2021 after release of next-gen Playstation, Xbox. (MarketWatch)
The breakthrough list: 17 people in tech — operators, investors, strategists — who impacted 2020. The list provides an excellent (and quick) overview of the year’s key technologies — plus the important trends to know, including: Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom; Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX; Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase; Tim Stokely, founder of OnlyFans; and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal, policy and trust, Twitter. (Protocol)
Noubar Afeyan is a venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur who’s been building startups for more than three decades. And with the first doses of Moderna’s vaccine rolling out, it’s easy to forget: The company got its start less than a decade ago and went public only two years ago. Its founding principle—the notion that the human body could be harnessed to make its own medicine—was considered outlandishly futuristic at the time. In addition to Afeyan’s role as co-founder and chairman of Moderna, he is also founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, the Cambridge, MA, biotech venture firm that launched and funded the company in its early days. He discusses Moderna’s early days, its startup DNA, immigrant leadership, and more — including to what extent Moderna’s startup orientation helped in the vaccine development as well as how they launched a biotech startup in 2010 to 2011, when biotech investment was scarce and the economy was just beginning to recover from the financial crisis. (Crunchbase)
Podcasts are growing in China. And that’s attracting the attention of China’s censors. (South China Morning Post)
Volkswagen made a prototype of its electric vehicle charging robot concept. The prototype charging robot looks almost identical to the concept version, complete with blinking digital eyes and R2-D2 noises. When you park your electric vehicle in a parking garage, you (or your car) can request to have the battery topped up. The robot unmoors from its docking station, hooks up to one of a dozen or so mobile batteries, which it then drags to your car. The robot plugs the battery in to your car and then returns to its station, ready to field any other charging requests. (The Verge)
Smart Links
Amazon’s third-party sales rose more than 50% YoY globally. (GeekWire)
Manhattan luxury housing logged robust Christmas Week, as dealmaking for homes at $4 million or more was highest in 3 years. (Mansion Global)
Instacart looked like a savior. Now stores aren’t so sure. (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. to allow small drones to fly over people and at night. (Reuters)
Tesla to start India sales next year. (Nikkei Asian Review)
8 persistent Covid-19 myths and why people believe them. (Scientific American)
The making of a Zoom background for TV pundits: A service called “Books by the Foot.” (Politico)
How Covid-19 upended the design of fast food restaurants. (CNN)