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The World
The House impeached President Trump for an unprecedented second time. What’s next? (New York Times)
How can the Senate hold a trial if Trump is gone? There is no precedent for the Senate holding an impeachment trial after a president has left office, but it has done so for other government officials.
Would impeaching Trump disqualify him from holding office again? Conviction in an impeachment trial would not automatically disqualify Trump from future public office. But if the Senate were to convict him, the Constitution allows a subsequent vote to bar an official from holding “any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.” That vote would require only a simple majority of senators.
Republicans are siding with President Trump over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — big time. A majority of Republicans still think Trump was right to challenge his election loss, support him, don’t blame him for the Capitol mob and want him to be the Republican nominee in 2024. (Axios)
In first video since second impeachment, Trump condemned violence without mentioning his indictment. Biden urged the Senate to not let the impeachment trial impede other work, while Pelosi announced fines for lawmakers who refuse to walk through metal detectors installed after Capitol riots. Airbnb canceled all D.C. reservations for Inauguration Week. (Washington Post, CityLab)
The National Guard plan for inauguration expanded to at least 20,000 troops in D.C. Meanwhile, throngs of armed, camouflage fatigue-clad members of the National Guard ringed the Capitol and lined its halls weapons, helmets and backpacks stacked seemingly in every corner of the complex. Separately, audio and chat logs reveal that at least two insurrectionists who broke into the Capitol used Zello, a social media walkie-talkie app that critics say has largely ignored a growing far-right user base. (Washington Post, New York Times, The Guardian)
Real estate giant Cushman & Wakefield will no longer work with the Trump Organization. The company has handled an array of business for Trump for many years, including office leasing at Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street, and retail leasing in Chicago. “Cushman & Wakefield has made the decision to no longer do business with The Trump Organization,” the company said in a statement. (Washington Post)
In a lengthy philosophical tweetstorm, Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey said he took no pride in the decision to remove President Trump’s account from the service last week, describing the decision as a “failure” to ultimately create a service that could sustain civil discourse and healthy conversations. Snapchat will permanently ban President Trump's account on Jan. 20, after locking it indefinitely last week following the Capitol siege. Parler CEO John Matze said says the social media app may never get back online. (Washington Post, Axios, Reuters, @Jack)
The U.S. reported more than 4,200 Covid deaths Tuesday, a single-day high, as the country may face a rapidly closing window to bring a suspected extra-contagious variant of covid-19 under control. If the variant strain is as infectious as some suspect (British scientists estimate it’s 50% to 74% more transmissible), it could dominate U.S. case numbers by March, send covid-19 deaths to unprecedented levels, and collide with the rollout of vaccines. One of the world’s leading infectious disease experts warned that more infectious coronavirus variants will emerge. Meanwhile, the U.S. plan to expand access to the vaccine likely sets up new debacles. (MIT Technology Review, Financial Times, STAT News)
Israel will provide Covid vaccines for Holocaust survivors around the world. Japan has halted business travel and threatened to deport quarantine violators, as foreigners face loss of resident status if they do not follow tightened controls. Ontario declared an emergency after the latest modelling put Canada’s most populous province on track to have more than 20,000 new Covid-19 cases a day by the middle of February – a nearly tenfold increase from the current count. China placed more than 22 million people on lockdown, as the country experiences its worst flare-up since last summer. (Jerusalem Post, Nikkei Asian Review, The Guardian, New York Times)
Brazilian health officials say a Chinese vaccine has demonstrated an overall efficacy rate of 50%, far lower than originally indicated in a blow to one of the Latin American nation’s hopes for defeating the pandemic. Meanwhile, Iran and Cuba have begun trials of a joint Covid-19 vaccine, as Tehran fights the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East while pledging not to use vaccines from the U.S. and U.K. (Financial Times, Wall Street Journal)
The Trump administration declassified its strategy to ensure continued dominance over China, which focuses on accelerating India’s rise as a counterweight to Beijing and the ability to defend Taiwan against an attack. The “United States Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” provided the “overarching strategic guidance” for U.S. actions the past three years. (Bloomberg, U.S. Strategic Framework)
Britain’s Boris Johnson warns against ‘unthinking sinophobia’ in China ties. The prime minister’s comments come amid heightened tensions with Beijing over its Hong Kong crackdown, forced labour in Xinjiang and the UK’s Huawei ban. Johnson says ‘calling out human rights abuses’ should not stop the countries from having a ‘productive relationship.’ Meanwhile, Hong Kong police arrest 11 on suspicion of aiding activists' escape attempt. (South China Morning Post, Reuters)
The Italian government was plunged into crisis after the resignation of three ministers from the ruling coalition put the future of prime minister Giuseppe Conte in doubt. The departures came as Matteo Renzi, the former prime minister and leader of the small Italia Viva party, pulled his support from Conte’s coalition, following weeks of sustained criticism of the government’s economic response to the pandemic. (Financial Times)
SolarWinds said a computer breach tied to Russia-linked hackers who accessed U.S. government systems and corporate networks after manipulating some of the software provider’s code began at least a month earlier than first disclosed. Hackers were accessing its systems in early September 2019. (Wall Street Journal)
The healthcare industry is sitting on ticking time bomb of web application attacks: Web application cyberattacks in the healthcare industry increased 51% in December, as COVID-19 vaccine distribution began. Healthcare organizations, on average, were hit by nearly 500 web application attacks every month in 2020, a 10% year-over-year increase. (HealthcareDive)
University students report worse educations during pandemic: 57% of college students said their ability to learn suffered during the pandemic, compared to 19% who said it improved. In addition, 60% of students reported declines in their social lives, compared to 17% who reported improvement. More than half said their mental health was worse, and evaluations of job preparedness and the overall value of education were also rated lower. (EdScoop)
The pandemic brought 2020 emissions 10.3% below 2019 levels. That’s the lowest level since 1990, when consistent record-keeping on US emissions began, and a steeper drop than seen during the 2009 recession. The dip brings the US within striking distance of its commitment at the Paris climate summit to bring emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025. But a closer look shows that the gains are unlikely to stick once Covid-19 vaccines become widespread and the global economy recovers. (Quartz, Rhodium Group)
Economy
The number of help-wanted ads increased more slowly in December, evidence the labor market is losing momentum amid rising coronavirus cases. Available jobs posted online were down 10.6% at the end of December from a year earlier. Postings rose from the end of November, when the number of available jobs were 11.8% below 2019’s trend. (Wall Street Journal)
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is above 20% for the lowest-paid workers, Fed’s Brainard says. (CNBC)
Dropbox says it will cut about 11% of its global workforce, affecting about 315 employees, and COO Olivia Nottebohm will leave on February 5. (CNBC)
In the fiscal year that ended in July, L.A. County had by far the greatest net loss due to migration of any California county — more than 74,000 people, according to state demographers. Some moved to nearby areas with lower costs of living; others ventured farther or left the state altogether. (Los Angeles Times)
China’s export surge continued in December, pushing its surplus to a record high. Exports grew by 18.1% in December from a year earlier, down from 21.1% growth in November. Imports grew by 6.5% in December from a year earlier, up from 4.5% in November. (South China Morning Post)
Global startup funding rose in 2020: Startups and unicorns closed out 2020 in a much stronger position than the one they started the year in, with global venture funding up 4 percent year over year to around $300 billion. While investors backed fewer companies, average deal size rose significantly, lifting the totals. (Crunchbase)
British stocks have enjoyed a world-beating rally since the start of December, with international investors beginning to buy back into one of their least-loved countries. The U.K. benchmark, the FTSE 100, is up nearly 8% since Dec. 1 in dollar terms. That puts it well ahead of the S&P 500, the MSCI World and the Euro Stoxx indexes, despite the U.K. being among the hardest hit by the pandemic. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Over the past week, tens of millions of people have downloaded Signal and Telegram, making them the two hottest apps in the world. Signal allows messages to be sent with “end-to-end encryption,” meaning no one but the sender and receiver can read its contents. Telegram offers some encrypted messaging options, but is largely popular for its group-based chat rooms where people can discuss a variety of subjects. Their sudden jump in popularity was spurred by a series of events last week that stoked growing anxiety over some of the big tech companies and their communication apps. (New York Times)
Telegram founder in talks to raise debt amid the app’s explosive growth: The Dubai-based startup, which has yet to generate revenue and has been mostly funded to date by co-founder Pavel Durov’s personal fortune, has discussed with banks and investors raising hundreds of millions of dollars in debt that would convert to shares in an eventual public offering, said two people familiar with Durov’s thinking. One of the people said the funding could top $1 billion but cautioned that plans could change. (The Information)
WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and iMessage: Choosing a Private Encrypted Chat App. (Wall Street Journal)
Chinese tech giant Tencent is planning a big new push into consumer lending in China just as its archrival, Alibaba affiliate Ant Group, is reeling from a regulatory crackdown. Tencent, already a force in payments through its hugely popular WeChat messaging app, is working with a consortium of investors to form a consumer finance company. The previously unreported plans call for Tencent to invest nearly $230 million in the venture. (The Information)
Apple announces new projects related to its $100 million pledge for racial equity and justice. Following last summer’s protests, Apple pledged $100 million toward education initiatives, economic empowerment, and criminal justice reform. Efforts include work with Historically Black Colleges and Universities as a founding partner and $25 million financial backer of the new Propel Center in Atlanta. In Detroit, Apple will be launching an Apple Developer Academy in collaboration with Michigan State University, which will include both a 30-day introductory program for the uninitiated and a months-long intensive boot camp for would-be developers. (Fast Company, TechCrunch)
As the competition in the streaming wars intensifies, Disney+ is gaining ground on Netflix. Meanwhile, more than eight-in-ten Americans get news from digital devices. (Los Angeles Times, Pew Research Center)
Smart Links
Gov. Cuomo: Empty offices should become housing. (Fast Company)
High-end single-family home sales rise 13% in London. (Mansion Global)
Tesla asked to recall 158,000 cars for failing displays. (The Verge)
Harvard study: Unexpected exercise advice for the super busy — ditch the rigid routine. (Harvard Business School)
Ring adds end-to-end encryption to protect video streams. (The Verge)
How Parler could come back. (Recode)
The best places to work in 2021. (Glassdoor)