Here are some of today’s top headlines.
Analysis: William Barr breaks with Trump’s election fantasy
Attorney General William Barr just dealt the most credible blow to Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen election, precisely because he previously often came across more as the President’s personal lawyer than a neutral arbiter of justice.
Analysis: Now we have proof that kids are paying the price of Covid
Nine months into the pandemic, the US still has not figured out how to get all of its kids safely back into classrooms, and now we are starting to see the cost of the cumulative individual and policy decisions that have made opening schools so hard.
Trump talks of ‘another four years’ during White House Christmas reception
President Donald Trump talked during a Christmas reception at the White House on Tuesday about spending four more years in office — whether that starts in January 2021 or January 2025, according to a source familiar with his comments.
Obama cautions activists against using ‘defund the police’ slogan
Former President Barack Obama cautioned young activists against using the slogan “defund the police” to achieve changes in policing practices, instead urging them in a new interview to have a more inclusive discussion to better enact changes.
Instagram influencer Alexis Sharkey was found dead near a Houston interstate, police say
Alexis Robinault, a 26-year-old Instagram influencer who used the name “Alexis Sharkey” online, was found dead off a Houston interstate last week, police said.
Bodybuilder Rene Campbell wants to change the view of what women should look like
Counterpointed by a number of striking tattoos, it’s a body defined by muscle. It’s a body that embodies power and strength.
Humanity is waging a ‘suicidal’ war on nature, UN chief warns
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued a searing indictment of humanity’s “war” on the environment Wednesday, in a speech on the state of the planet in which he urged everyone to prioritize “making peace with nature.”
2020 set to be one of three hottest years on record despite La Niña’s cooling effect, report says
Record wildfires. A deadly hurricane season. Arctic sea ice at its lowest ever. Drought. Floods. Heatwaves. The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) annual climate report, released on Wednesday, reads like a long list of extreme weather and natural disasters.
‘Juno’ star Elliot Page shares transgender identity
Meet Elliot Page. On Tuesday, the Oscar-nominated star of movies like “Juno” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” shared with fans that they are transgender and identify as non-binary, a term used to describe a person whose gender identity is neither man nor woman.
UK approves Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for use ‘from next week’
Drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have been granted temporary authorization for emergency use of their Covid-19 vaccine in the UK, the companies announced.
UK approves Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine for mass roll out
They will receive the first stocks of the vaccine – some before Christmas. Mass immunisation of everyone over 50, as well as younger people with pre-existing health conditions, can happen as more stocks become available in 2021. It is given as two injections, 21 days apart, with the second dose being a booster.
Conception boat fire: Captain charged with 34 deaths
Nick Hanna, US attorney for the central district of California, said in a statement: “As a result of the alleged failures of Captain Boylan to follow well-established safety rules, a pleasant holiday dive trip turned into a hellish nightmare as passengers and one crew member found themselves trapped in a fiery bunkroom with no means of escape.”
Schumacher to join Haas for 2021
The US-based team said the 21-year-old had signed a “multi-year contract”. He will partner Russian Nikita Mazepin German Schumacher said the move was “a dream come true, a dream I have been chasing since I was three years old”.
Slack sold to business software giant for $27.7bn
Salesforce has agreed to buy workplace messaging app Slack for $27.7bn (£20bn) in what would be one of the biggest tech mergers in recent years. Marc Benioff, boss of the business software giant, called the deal a “match made in heaven”. He has been pushing to expand the company’s software offerings and fend off rivals such as Microsoft.
Singapore approves lab-grown ‘chicken’ meat
“The first-in-the-world regulatory allowance of real, high-quality meat created directly from animal cells for safe human consumption paves the way for a forthcoming small-scale commercial launch in Singapore,” Eat Just said.
This is probably the scariest iPhone hack ever
Most smartphone hacks these days, even the most dangerous ones, require some sort of user interaction – tapping on a link, opening a message, installing an app – for the hacker to gain control of the device.
Reddit finally shares how many daily users it has
The inner workings of Reddit just became slightly less mysterious. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal , Reddit shared that 52 million people visit the site every day. This is a stat called “daily active users” that other social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter, share in company updates.
Amazon announces new employee tracking tech, and customers are lining up
Amazon-powered employee tracking is coming to a warehouse, and possibly a store, near you. The ecommerce, logistics, and (among other things) cloud computing giant quietly previewed Tuesday new hardware and software development kits (SDK) which add machine learning and computer vision capabilities to companies’ existing surveillance camera networks.
Facebook’s Oversight Board takes on one U.S. case
Facebook’s long-awaited Oversight Board, which has the power to make rulings about Facebook’s content decisions, and, based on its findings, recommend removed content be reinstated, has announced its first slate of appeals from the social networking giant’s users. Among this historic first? Just one U.S. case. That’s right.
After all his ‘bogus’ talk, Elon Musk actually did have COVID-19
” Space Karen” confirmed he had COVID-19 Tuesday while receiving an award (at a mostly mask-less in-person event) for a lifetime of accomplishments. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, was in Berlin as the recipient for this year’s Axel Springer Award from the German publisher.
‘Umbrella Academy’ star Elliot Page announces he is transgender in moving letter
Congratulations to non-binary, trans Hollywood icon Elliot Page. On Tuesday, fans and allies everywhere celebrated the Umbrella Academy star’sannouncement that he is transgender (using the pronouns he/him and they/them). In a post shared to their social media accounts, Page wrote: “Hi friends, I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot.
