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The World
The U.S. government is considering giving some people half the dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in order to speed vaccinations. (Reuters)
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Britain to prepare for what will in effect be a third national lockdown, including further school closures, while Germany is set to extend its nationwide lockdown until the end of January. In Japan, Prime Minister Suga is preparing to declare a state of emergency as early as this week for the Tokyo area in light of the “extremely severe” coronavirus situation. Norway introduced a nationwide ban on serving alcohol in restaurants and bars and not inviting guests home. India will not allow the export of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for several months, which means many developing nations may not get their first shots until March or April (Bloomberg, Financial Times, Nikkei Asian Review, Reuters, Associated Press)
‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’: In extraordinary hour-long call, President Trump pressured Georgia’s secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor, asking him to “find” enough votes to overturn the presidential election and vaguely threatening him with “a criminal offense” during an hourlong telephone call on Saturday. Throughout the call, Secretary Raffensperger and his office’s general counsel rejected Trump’s assertions, explaining that the president is relying on debunked conspiracy theories and that President-elect Joe Biden’s 11,779-vote victory in Georgia was fair and accurate. (Washington Post, New York Times)
The USS Nimitz will remain in the Middle East following Iranian threats against top U.S. officials, Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller said, reversing a decision four days ago to bring the ship home. (Stars and Stripes)
British residents flying home to Spain were prevented from boarding a joint BA-Iberia flight to Madrid because the airline claimed their pre-Brexit residency papers were no longer valid, while others were deported back to Britain from Barcelona for the same reason. (The Guardian)
Turkey, Iran and Pakistan will revive a transnational rail service linking Istanbul, Tehran and Islamabad in 2021 — offering “Oriental Express” service for the 21st century connecting West Asia to China and enhancing connectivity with China's Belt and Road Initiative. The immense route stretches 6,540 km — more than a sixth of the world's circumference. Some 1,950 km of track is in Turkey, 2,600 km in Iran, and another 1,990 km in Pakistan. The journey from Istanbul to Islamabad will take 10 days — much faster than the 21 days by sea between Turkey and Pakistan. (Nikkei Asian Review)
The Trump administration allowed 15 poultry plants to increase slaughter line speeds during the pandemic, an action that boosts production and makes it more difficult for workers to maintain space between one another. It also appears to have hastened the spread of the coronavirus. Now the outgoing administration is rushing to finalize a rule that would make the faster line speeds permanent and expand them to dozens of other poultry plants. (Washington Post)
Economy
The price of bitcoin continued its meteoric rise, surpassing $30,000 for the first time over the weekend. The digital currency breached the milestone on Saturday and peaked at a record $34,366.15 yesterday morning, before dropping below $34,000 last night. (The Times)
Profits at Chinese industrial firms in November grew 15.5% year-on-year to 729.32 billion yuan ($111.50 billion). That compared with a 28.2% surge in October, according to data from National Bureau of Statistics. The industrial profit data covers large firms with annual revenue of over 20 million yuan from their main operations. Singapore's GDP shrank a record 5.8% in 2020, as Q4 contraction slowed to 3.8%. (Reuters, Nikkei Asian Review)
Mary Meeker’s VC firm Bond invested in Ironclad at a nearly $1 billion valuation: Ironclad, which develops software that helps companies such as Dropbox and Mastercard create and manage business contracts, has raised at least $100 million in a Series D funding at a post-investment valuation of more than $950 million, or more than double its valuation from a year ago. Bond, the venture capital firm co-founded by Mary Meeker, led the investment. The new valuation amounts to about 50 times Ironclad’s projected annualized revenue for the current fiscal year. The valuation multiple reflects intense appetite among private tech investors for enterprise software startups. (The Information)
A CEO’s challenge to meet stratospheric demand: 3M’s Mike Roman acted quickly when his company’s N95 face masks became the world’s most in-demand item. (Financial Times)
Technology
Tech trends to watch in 2021: Better webcams, portable UV sanitizers, “assisted reality” glasses, more subscription services attached to hardware. Meanwhile, 30+ top experts, representing Eero, Microsoft 365, GitHub and more, gave their top tech trends of 2021 to Fast Company. Separately, Facebook says there were 1.4B+ voice and video calls on WhatsApp on NYE 2020 globally, up 50%+ YoY, and 55M+ live streams across Facebook and Instagram. (Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Facebook)
Tech legislation to watch in 2021 — Economic stimulus package: A new economic package will almost certainly include billions of dollars for internet access and affordability in an effort to get more people online during a pandemic that has highlighted the severity of the so-called digital divide. Federal privacy legislation: the Biden administration could usher in a new chapter in privacy talks, and Congress could at least inch closer toward passing a bipartisan privacy bill. Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (PACT) Act: The PACT Act would require online platforms including Facebook and Google to provide more transparency around their content moderation decisions and policies. Antitrust: The most bipartisan proposals on updating antitrust laws revolve around giving more resources to the FTC and DOJ, and it's going to be harder to get farther-reaching legislation through a Republican Senate. (Protocol)
Samsung will launch its newest Galaxy smartphones on Jan. 14, earlier than usual. (CNBC)
How Silicon Valley turned a doomsday scenario into the hottest year for deals: In June, Rahul Vohra was cooped up in his San Francisco apartment, finding it difficult to concentrate on work as he recovered from Covid-19. But through the delirium brought on by the virus, Vohra noticed that something big was changing. Some startups were actually expanding again and raising new funding. Tech stock prices, which had plunged four months earlier, were rebounding: “It was pretty obvious we were turning a corner.” (The Information)
Tesla struck a five-year deal worth as much as $880 million with a new Chinese battery supplier, China’s Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group Co Ltd. The deal underscores Tesla’s “huge demand” for battery-grade lithium hydroxide, “particularly in view of the ramp-up of Model Y production” in Shanghai. (Reuters)
Breakout year for creator economy: Cameo expects to make $100 million from video transactions this year, as over 1 million Cameo videos have been sold-to-date and tens of thousands of talent now use the app to sell videos; Substack has more than 250,000 paid subscribers; Patreon is now valued at $1.2 billion, after raising $90 million in September; OnlyFans will earn $300 million in profit this year; Twitch has doubled the number of streamers on its platform during the pandemic. (Axios)
Smart Links
WikiLeaks’ Assange to hear UK judge's ruling on extradition to U.S. today (Reuters)
More than 20 years of airline passenger traffic growth was erased in 2020. (CNBC)
The 10 biggest retail bankruptcies of 2020. (CNBC)
GoDaddy's new CEO on leadership now: 'Change is a tiger.' (Reuters)
Early humans may have survived the harsh winters by hibernating. (The Guardian, L’Anthropologie)
First peek inside Mars reveals a crust with cake-like layers. (Nature)
Amazon's AWS partners with space companies to streamline data collection. (Axios)
Learn More (Today, 12 pm): Top Risks 2021: Eurasia Group's Biggest Global Threats. (GZERO)