Good morning, it's Thursday, Dec. 10. Hanukkah begins tonight—best wishes to those celebrating the Festival of Lights! Have feedback? Let us know at hello@join1440.com.

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NEED TO KNOW

Decision Day for Pfizer

The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech shortly after a key advisory panel meets today to evaluate the drug. The group released documents Tuesday supporting the two-dose treatment, which has shown 95% efficacy 28 days after the first dose. Officials expect to have "shots in arms" by Monday.

The panel will also discuss an interesting but tricky ethical question: Should trial volunteers who unknowingly received a placebo be notified—at the expense of the study's data integrity—so they can be immunized? Stream the advisory meeting live here (9am ET). 

In related news, Canada granted approval for the Pfizer vaccine yesterday, with widespread immunization to begin by next week. The country expects enough doses to treat 125,000 people by the year's end. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom—which began administering doses of the same drug earlier this week—is probing adverse reactions in two people with histories of serious allergic reactions. Volunteers with such histories were omitted from Pfizer's clinical trials.  

Separately, a Chinese-developed vaccine was found to be 86% effective in trials carried out in the United Arab Emirates—though few details of the study were provided.

Momentum on a vaccine comes as the US passed 3,000 daily deaths for the first time during the pandemic, with a new analysis showing counties around the country nearing ICU bed capacity.

Facebook Faces Antitrust Suits

Facebook was hit with two separate sweeping lawsuits yesterday, both accusing the social media giant of illegally smothering competition via a "copy, acquire, kill" strategy. The first suit was brought by the Federal Trade Commission, while the second was brought by 48 attorneys general—46 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam.  

Both suits call out the company's 2012 purchase of Instagram and its 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp, both of which experienced explosive early growth but were ultimately integrated into Facebook. The FTC cleared the deals at the time—some argue current antimonopoly rules don't work for the attention economy ($$, WashPo)—but internal documents revealed since suggest a deliberate intention to squash competitors. Facebook has also been accused of copying core features of Snapchat after a failed purchase in 2013.

The suits call for both Instagram and WhatsApp to be unwound from Facebook, who said it was reviewing the charges. 

Brexit Deadline Looms

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson flew to Belgium last night to meet with European Union leaders in an attempt to resolve deadlocked trade negotiations ahead of a looming Dec. 31 deadline. The UK formally exited the 27-member block in January (after a tortured four-year journey), but agreed to leave existing regulations and laws in place for 11 months while both sides hammered out a framework governing trade, immigration, travel, and more. 

Major disagreements still exist, though Johnson arrives having already made a concession, agreeing to drop legislation that would've raised the possibility of a hard border between Ireland (the EU) and Northern Ireland (the UK). In the absence of an agreement, the two will resort to basic terms set by the World Trade Organization. 

The outcome of talks—whether a deal is reached or not—is expected to affect relations between the UK and the rest of Europe for decades. 

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> AT&T sells its Crunchyroll anime business to Sony for $1.2B; Crunchyroll is one of the world’s largest Japanese animation streaming services with 90 million users (More)

> Broadway and TikTok team up for “Ratatouille” musical fundraiser benefiting the Actors Fund after fan-made videos of the 2007 Pixar film go viral (More)

> Ray Perkins, former head football coach of University of Alabama and the New York Giants, dies at 79 (More) | Big Ten changes minimum-game requirement rule to allow Ohio State to compete against Northwestern in conference championship game (More)

Science & Technology

> NASA names 18 astronauts to form its Artemis program, which aims to return Americans to the moon by 2024 (More) | Watch SpaceX's Starship prototype explode on landing after its first successful high-altitude flight (More)

> New immunotherapy approach demonstrated in six different types of tumors, with potential universal application to solid tumors (More) | What is immunotherapy? (More)

> Astronomers discover massive X-ray bubbles extending from the center of the Milky Way; 100-light-year-long feature likely arose from matter falling into the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center (More)

Business & Markets

Brought to you by The Ascent

> US stock markets down (S&P 500 -0.8%, Dow -0.4%, Nasdaq -1.9%) as stimulus progress stalls (More)

> Airbnb prices IPO at $68 per share, representing a $47B valuation; will start trading today on Nasdaq (More) | Food delivery giant DoorDash surges 85% in its first day trading as a public company (More)

> Starbucks names mutual fund executive Mellody Hobson chairwoman, becoming the only Black woman to chair a Fortune 500 firm (More)

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Politics & World Affairs

> Minneapolis city council shifts $8M from police budget amid calls for reform following the death of George Floyd; roughly 4% of the proposed policing budget, the move comes as violent crimes in the city hit a five-year high, with homicides up 50% since last year (More)

> Medical officials find elevated levels of nickel and lead in the blood of patients stricken by mystery illness in southern India; still unexplained ailment caused epilepsy-like symptoms in roughly 500 people (More)

> Hunter Biden, son of President-elect Joe Biden, says federal attorneys are investigating his taxes, linked to Chinese business dealings (More) | Seventeen states join a Texas suit asking the Supreme Court to overturn swing-state election results (More) | Case overview here (More)

IN-DEPTH

The Skeletons at the Lake

New Yorker | Douglas Preston. In 1942, a ranger came across hundreds of skeletons at a remote Himalayan lake—many with flesh still clinging to their bones. A new genetic analysis has only raised more questions than answers. (Read, $$)

A Chinese Spy in California

Axios | Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, Zach Dorfman. A yearlong investigation uncovers how a Chinese spy infiltrated California's political circles, revealing the extent of the country's political intelligence operation in the US. (Read)

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ETCETERA

The world's 100 most powerful women.

Is it Hanukkah or Chanukah? Here's a breakdown.

A visual breakdown of the "12 Days of Christmas."

The year in review—as seen by Reddit.

Gauge how biased your (other) favorite media outlets are.

Here's what it takes to get that six-figure smile.

Ultimate Gray and Illuminating named colors of 2021.

Rats overrun a New York City Chipotle, attacking staff and eating avocados.

Clickbait: Please let us know if you've seen a stranger advertisement.

Historybook: Poet Emily Dickinson born (1830); Spanish-American War ends (1898); First Nobel Prize ceremony held (1901); RIP comedian Richard Pryor (2005); Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet dies (2006).

"Forever—is composed of Nows."

- Emily Dickinson

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