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The World
Britain fought back against “irresponsible” global criticism of its rapid approval of a coronavirus vaccine as the government tries to prevent damage to public confidence. It began as Dr. Fauci said the UK is “not as careful” as the U.S., adding that Britain’s fast vaccine approval could make people reluctant to get vaccinated — and later apologized. The EU joined in criticizing the UK’s 'hasty' vaccine approval. In the U.S., Presidents Obama, Clinton and Bush pledged to take the vaccine on TV to show its safety — President-elect Biden said he’d join, and added he will ask Americans to wear masks for “just 100 days.” Meanwhile, Spain asked citizens to stay home for Christmas, allowing inter-regional travel only to see family and close friends. In California, Gov. Newsom ordered new limits on businesses and activities, restricting outings in regions where ICU capacity is strained. Illinois’ COVID-19 death toll in the last seven days is highest in nation. (The Times, The Guardian, New York Times, Reuters, El Pais, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune)
The U.S. blacklisted top China chipmaker SMIC and oil giant CNOOC, seeking to block investments that might benefit Beijing's military. Simultaneously, the U.S. DOJ is discussing a deal with Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou to return home to China from Canada in exchange for admitting wrongdoing. Meng reportedly has resisted the proposal because she believes she has done nothing wrong. Meanwhile, the government-backed newspaper China Daily said U.S. actions against China are shifting ties to a "dangerous path." In Europe, the Brexit deal appears to be hanging in balance, as French President Macron holds firm on fishing and state aid issues. (Nikkei Asia , Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, Reuters, Financial Times)
Mosques and prayer halls across France have been raided by police as part of what the government has called a crackdown on political Islam. All 2,600 places of Muslim worship nationwide are due to be inspected with plans to close dozens of them. Meanwhile, Macron’s parliamentary allies were forced to backtrack this week over a controversial bill that sparked mass protests across the country. The proposed security law carried a provision that would ban recording police on active duty. The concession was prompted by hundreds of thousands of protestors defying pandemic-mandated restrictions in dozens of cities and towns. (The Times, Washington Post)
Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer threw support behind a bipartisan $908 billion outline as a baseline for restarting aid bill negotiations. The plan would provide aid through March; Biden said he feels it should pass. Meanwhile, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, a former U.S. surgeon general, will reprise the role in an expanded version in the Biden administration. Dr. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, will serve as a chief medical adviser to Biden and help with the administration’s coronavirus response plan. (New York Times, Washington Post)
Fire continues to rapidly jump through Orange County canyons, forcing evacuations, as power shut was off to over 50,000 amid dangerous winds in Southern California. Texas Gov. Abbott said he is considering putting the state in charge of policing a large area in the middle of Austin, including downtown, the Texas Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin. (Los Angeles Times, Texas Tribune)
Scientists successfully restored vision in mice by turning back the clock on aged eye cells in the retina to recapture youthful gene function. The work represents the first demonstration that it may be possible to safely reprogram complex tissues, such as the nerve cells of the eye, to an earlier age. In addition to resetting the cells’ aging clock, the researchers successfully reversed vision loss in animals with a condition mimicking human glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness around the world. The achievement represents the first successful attempt to reverse glaucoma-induced vision loss, rather than merely stem its progression. “It is a major landmark,” says Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a developmental biologist at the Salk Institute, who was not involved in the study. (Harvard Gazette, Nature)
Weekend read: Developing Covid-19 vaccines in record time is an eye-watering accomplishment — but it’s still just the beginning. Hospitals and health workers — who are, in some places, overwhelmed and exhausted — are needed to administer them. Pregnant and breastfeeding women, who make up a significant chunk of health-care and care-home workers, have been left out of clinical trials. Similarly, there are no data on how the front-running vaccines affect children under 12. STAT explores the challenges that must be overcome to make the most of the spectacular scientific achievements of vaccine-makers. (STAT News)
Economy
Covid is shrinking the labor market, pushing out women and baby boomers: The U.S. labor force is 2.2% smaller than in February, a loss of 3.7 million workers. The labor-force participation rate, or the share of Americans 16 years and over working or seeking work, was 61.7% in October, down from 63.4% in February. Though up from April’s trough, that is near its lowest since the 1970s, when far fewer women were in the workforce. (Wall Street Journal)
The share of Americans unable to pay their households’ basic expenses for a full month increased in November for the third consecutive month to 25% of all Americans. In fact, for the week ending Nov. 28, 11.9% of Americans living in households with annual incomes over $100,000 lost pay or income during the prior week, up from 8.8% at the end of October. (Morning Consult)
Private equity remains resilient in the face of pandemic-induced volatility: Factors include: 2020 results, private credit, the U.S. election, carve-outs, creative solutions, and trade. Meanwhile, PE and VC funds’ AUM are forecasted to more than double from $4.41tn at the end of 2020 to $9.11tn in 2025, with a global growth rate of 15.6%, as institutional investors continue to turn away from actively managed public equity funds. Further, PE management fee discounts are disappearing, as the number of funds coming to market openly offering discounts for early bird commitments or big ticket sizes drops. (2021 Global Private Equity Outlook, Preqin, Private Equity International)
U.S. November bankruptcy filings hit a 14-year low, driven by a decline in individuals filing. The data, however, showed a large divergence between commercial and personal filings: Commercial chapter 11 filings for November were up 40% compared with the same period in 2019. Meanwhile, corporate America’s cash burn problem is getting worse: In 3Q20, the number of junk-rated corporations with negative Ebitda reached an eye-popping 47 — nearly double the level in 2Q20, out of a universe of about 600 borrowers (Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg)
FedEx Gears Up for All-Out War With Amazon: In August 2019, FedEx made an announcement that puzzled anyone who hadn’t been keeping a close eye on the tick-tock of the shipping industry: The company would no longer deliver packages for Amazon. Why would a business entirely built around prompt package delivery go out of its way to fire the single largest customer that ships more time-sensitive packages than any company in history? The breakup, it turns out, had been the culmination of years of a combative and eroding relationship between the two giants. The pandemic turbo-charged e-commerce — now the two giants are battling over the future of shipping. (Marker)
The pandemic has put supply chain and logistics technologies into the public eye, from shortages at grocery stores to planning for the distribution of a vaccine. However, just as the industry has taken on a higher profile, venture investment seems to have hit a low ebb. (Crunchbase)
Technology
Warner Bros.’ entire 2021 slate — a list of films that includes “The Matrix 4,” Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” remake, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical adaptation of “In the Heights,” “Sopranos” prequel “The Many Saints of Newark” and “The Suicide Squad” — will debut both on HBO Max and in theaters on their respective release dates. The shocking move to simultaneously release movies day-and-date underscores the crisis facing movie theaters and the rising importance of streaming services in the wake of a global health crisis that’s decimated the film exhibition community. Meanwhile, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar doesn’t think he just destroyed the movie theater industry: “Everyone should take a breather.” (Variety, CNBC)
Facebook could face an antitrust lawsuit from at least 20 states as soon as next week. State attorneys general are preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook amid separate reports the FTC is likely to file its own antitrust lawsuit. Meanwhile, the Trump administration sued Facebook, accusing the social-media company of illegally reserving high-paying jobs for immigrant workers it was sponsoring for permanent residence, rather than searching adequately for available U.S. workers who could fill the positions. (CNBC, Wall Street Journal)
Big Boss is watching: Microsoft's Productivity Score isn't an entirely new feature, but it's been under new scrutiny. MPS takes information — like how people use attachments, how their meetings are run, whether they're using shared workspaces, if their software is up-to-date — and puts it all into one score. Microsoft always framed it as a way for IT departments to make sure they're getting the most out of 365 (and not still sending files via email attachments). But the glass-half-empty version of the story looks a lot like bosses grading their employees' every move, which is particularly problematic in our current work environment. (Source Code)
Uber’s Image Maker Emerges as Key Power Player: At Uber, Snap and Google, Jill Hazelbaker has raised eyebrows by speaking her mind. Now, after rebuffing a top job at Apple, she—as much as any executive—is defining Uber’s next act: “Minutes after Dara Khosrowshahi learned from a news report that he would be the next CEO of Uber, his phone rang. It was Uber’s head of communications, Jill Hazelbaker, who said “‘Welcome on board. Let’s get to work,’ he recalls. Her next piece of advice was also very direct: ‘Get yourself a board of directors that will stand beside you and the company.’” (The Information)
More than 400 lawmakers from 34 countries are backing a 'Make Amazon Pay' campaign. (Reuters)
Smart Links
50 Zoom backgrounds from 50 states. (The Discoverer)
Can employers require a Covid vaccine? (CNBC)
Mysteries of Covid smell loss finally yield some answers: Explanations arise at the molecular level. (Scientific American)
SXSW 2021 likely to go virtual. (Austin American-Statesman)
El Paso's Sun Bowl college football game canceled for the first time in 85 years. (Texas Tribune)
Japan is about to bring back samples of an asteroid 180 million miles away. (MIT Technology Review)
Half of school districts lack connectivity needed for widespread videoconferencing, device usage. (Education Week)
Minnesota nice, indeed: Driver hit by plane landing on I-35W says pilot was apologetic. (Star Tribune)
Learn More (Today, 2 pm ET): Bridging the Broadband Gap, featuring John Stankey, AT&T CEO. (Washington Post)