Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - ‘Stench’ of politics

Access to abortion as America currently knows it seems likely to shrink next year as six Republican-appointed members of the U.S. Supreme Court expressed a willingness to narrow or jettison 49 years of precedent. During oral arguments Wednesday, they appeared ready to uphold Mississippi’s restrictions on a woman’s ability to end a pregnancy. Should the court go further and explicitly overrule Roe v. Wade, a dozen states are set to automatically outlaw almost all abortions. Today’s case was arguably the culmination of decades of Republican efforts to shift control of the court further to the right, and the latest flashpoint in an ever-more deeply divided U.S. With its approval rating already at a record low, the high court is seen as potentially facing a crisis of legitimacy since most Americans support a woman’s right to choose. Also, there’s the issue of how the 6-3 majority was built. Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch was nominated by Donald Trump in 2017 only after Senator Mitch McConnell refused to hold hearings on Barack Obama’s nominee for eight months. And Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett was installed just days before Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Sonia Sotomayor, one of the court’s three Democratic-appointed justices, acidly noted the possible consequences for the third branch of government: “Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” —David E. Rovella

Bloomberg is tracking the coronavirus pandemic and the progress of global vaccination efforts.

The World Health Organization said vaccines will likely protect against severe cases of the new omicron variant of Covid-19. As the mutation pops up in locations from the U.K. and Switzerland to Brazil, countries are readying tighter travel curbs. On Wednesday the first confirmed omicron case was recorded in the U.S. The Biden administration plans to require all air travelers be tested within a day of their departure to the U.S. regardless of vaccination status and is seeking information on people who have visited southern Africa. The potential severity of omicron, however, is still largely an unknown. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

Stocks suffered their worst back-to-back selloff since October 2020 as traders assessed the latest developments on the global spread of the omicron strain. Here’s your markets wrap.

Biden said he has begun to alleviate supply-chain disruptions and that higher inflation is a “natural byproduct” of the global economy’s recovery from the pandemic.

The risk of a U.S. government shutdown over the weekend rose Wednesday with congressional Republicans and Democrats split over a short-term spending bill needed to keep agencies running. GOP lawmakers are threatening a holdup to protest Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

The whistleblower who revealed thousands of internal Facebook documents urged Congress to change social media’s business incentives so platforms are forced to consider long-term harms to users and society, rather than just short-term profits. 

Frances Haugen speaks during a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing in Washington on Dec. 1. Haugen is renewing her call for regulation of a social-media business model that she says puts profits over the health of its users and global democracies. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Crypto.com, which has been grabbing headlines lately with its naming-rights deals, is expanding its footprint in another way: Buying two exchanges from financial services firm IG Group Holdings.

While larger space agencies and billionaire entrepreneurs make headlines closer to home, the Japan Aerospace Exploration agency—or JAXA—has become the global expert at going out and getting small pieces of asteroids. It turns out those little pieces of gravel hold the key to the future of human space exploration.

• These countries are slapping the unvaccinated with fines and bans.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Powell’s “transitory” retreat is just the start.
• Retail traders stick to dip-buying ways with record purchases.
• Capital One becomes largest bank yet to ditch overdraft fees.
• China to close loophole used by tech firms for foreign IPOs.
• Bloomberg Businessweek: 50 people who defined business in 2021.
• These are the world’s most expensive cities to live in right now.

All the cliches you’ve heard about the Maldives are true. Its waters really do glisten cyan, postcard-perfect beaches are everywhere and its unrivaled seclusion offers worthy hideouts to the most paparazzi-prone stars. But with so many stellar venues, where should you go? 

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