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The World
Congress certified the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. early Thursday, hours after a mob of loyalists urged on by President Trump stormed and occupied the Capitol, disrupting the final electoral count in a shocking display of violence that shook the core of American democracy. Trump, who spent months stoking the anger of his supporters with false claims that the election was stolen and refused to condemn the violent protests on Wednesday, said early Thursday that there would be an orderly presidential transition this month. (New York Times, Washington Post)
Democracies around the world expressed horror at images of a mob storming the US Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden as the next US president:
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the scenes as “disgraceful,” tweeting “the United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.” (Financial Times)
Germany Foreign Minister Heiko Maas: “From inflammatory words come violent actions — on the steps of the Reichstag and now in the Capitol.” (Financial Times)
Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his fellow citizens were “disturbed and saddened by the attack on democracy in the United States, our closest ally and neighbor.” (Financial Times)
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven: "President Trump and many members of Congress bear significant responsibility for what's now taking place.” (Deutsche Welle)
Democrats swept Georgia’s two U.S. Senate runoffs to flip control of the chamber, pulling off stunning victories that will shape President-elect Joe Biden’s administration and transform the state’s political landscape. Meanwhile, Biden will nominate federal judge Merrick B. Garland as attorney general. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Washington Post)
California hit 2.5 million coronavirus cases, adding 1 million in less than a month. Meanwhile, the state has ordered hospitals with room to accept patients from others that are out of intensive care beds. Florida reported 17,783 new cases, its highest single-day number, and 129 deaths. In Tennessee, more than 16,000 educators have had Covid. (Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Miami Herald, Chalkbeat)
Trump administration officials auctioned off oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday, capping Republicans’ decades-long quest to drill in one of the nation’s most vast unspoiled wild places. But with lackluster oil prices and an increasing number of banks saying they would not finance Arctic energy projects, major oil companies did not try to buy the leases. That left the state agency, Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, as the main bidder. The sale of 11 tracts on just over 550,000 acres netted $14.4 million, a tiny fraction of what Republicans initially predicted it would yield. (Washington Post)
Singapore police will be able to use data obtained by its coronavirus contact-tracing technology for criminal investigations, contradicts the privacy policy originally outlined when the government launched its TraceTogether app in March 2020. The technology is being used by nearly 80% of the population, after its use became compulsory in places such as shopping malls. ( The Guardian, MIT Technology Review)
Hong Kong leaders must tackle students’ pent-up resentment against the government and frustration over the coronavirus pandemic, experts have said, warning that anger could explode again into social unrest. They raised the alarm after an unpublished survey by two universities found that nearly 90% of students had no confidence in the government, and described their simmering grievances as a “powder keg waiting to go off.” (South China Morning Post)
The Marine Corps is stepping up training in Japan for island-based conflict in the Western Pacific, putting it at the leading edge of a pivot by the U.S. to face the military challenge from China. The exercises reflect a new emphasis on small, dispersed troop units and command centers, which are intended to be harder to locate and destroy, as China’s emergence as a military force has brought a new focus at the Pentagon on updating strategies and training plans. Meanwhile, it was learned that President Trump directed the acting Secretary of Defense to reverse course and order a U.S. aircraft carrier to return to the Middle East following a White House meeting Sunday. This decision overturned Miller's previous order. (Wall Street Journal, CNN)
A global investment firm purchased a 99-year lease on an office building in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District for about $230 million in one of the few office-building deals in New York City since the pandemic hit. (Wall Street Journal)
Economy
The prospect of Biden launching a big stimulus package after the Democrats secured a “clean sweep” of Congress and the White House led to big gains for financial markets. Investors piled into shares of economically sensitive companies and dumped big technology stocks and U.S. Treasurys, betting on a big boost in government spending under a Democratic-controlled Senate. The FTSE 100 rose by 3.5 per cent, or 229.61 points, to 6,841.86 for its largest one-day percentage gain since Nov. 9. (The Times, Wall Street Journal)
Earnings growth in Asia will bounce back this year and could jump by more than 20% as the regional economy recovers, according to top wealth managers UBS Global and Goldman Sachs. (CNBC)
U.S. officials are considering prohibiting Americans from investing in Alibaba and Tencent, a potential escalation of the outgoing Trump administration’s efforts to unwind U.S. investors’ holdings in major Chinese companies. State and Defense Department officials in recent weeks have discussed expanding a blacklist of companies prohibited to U.S. investments over alleged ties to China’s military and security services. (Wall Street Journal)
Overcoming distrust of vaccines is a major obstacle to persuading enough people to get vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. Employers, working in concert with federal and state health agencies, can help tackle this problem. Here is a five-part plan for doing that. (Harvard Business Review)
Technology
Apple App Store customers spent a record amount throughout the holiday season. App Store customers spent $1.8 billion on digital goods and services over the week between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. On New Year’s Day, Apple says that customers spent a record of $540 million in the App Store. (9to5Mac)
User-generated game platform Roblox raised $520 million in a new round of funding, and it will still go public through a direct listing where the company’s existing shareholders directly sell shares to investors. The private funding deal values Roblox at $29.5 billion. The direct listing offering, or DPO, circumvents the usual IPO process. (VentureBeat)
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security tested technology that can recognize masked faces. (VentureBeat)
Smart Links
For $25, Amazon turns your selfie into a custom T-shirt. (Washington Post)
The case for large cities in a post-pandemic world. (Vox)
Why TV advertising won’t recover what it lost in 2020. (The Information)
Forgetting is a feature, not a bug: How the brain “grasps” new concepts. (EdSurge podcast)
UC-San Diego installs vending machines for Covid-19 tests. (Chronicle of Higher Ed)
Civilian workers spent an average of 57.3% of the workday standing in 2020. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)