POLITICS 🏛️

House overrides Trump veto of defense bill

• The House of Representatives voted to overrule Trump’s veto of the defense bill titled National Defense Authorization Act
• The bill previously passed both the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities
• The $740 billion bill calls for pay raises for American soldiers, equipment improvements, and greater scrutiny prior to troop withdrawals

WORLD 🌎

South Korea confirms first cases of COVID-19 variant

• South Korea has confirmed the first case of a more contagious Covid-19 variant originally discovered in the UK
• The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency stated that they have confirmed that the 3 cases are a family of 3 that arrived in South Korea on December 22
• They arrived in South Korea a day before air travel from Britain was stopped

BUSINESS 💰

U.S. stock futures rise

• US stock futures climbed Monday night following a rally during the day
• Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded 84 points higher and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively
• The gains were driven by President Trump signing a $900 billion coronavirus relief package into law

TECH 📱

Voat shuts down

• Voat, a smaller alternative to Reddit, shut down on December 25th citing a lack of funding
• Voat initially launched in 2014 as an alternative to Reddit dedicated to ‘free speech’, including explicit hate speech, extreme right-wing content, and racism
• It gained traction in 2015 following Reddit’s ban on several explicitly racist subreddits from its platform

US 🦅

Police officer who killed Andre Hill fired

• Adam Coy, the Columbus, Ohio, police officer who shot and killed Andre Hill has been fired
• Coy’s firing follows a disciplinary hearing that was help on Monday
• Coy shot and killed Andre Hill, a black man, last Tuesday within a few seconds of their encounter according to bodycam footage

CORONAVIRUS 😷

Russia acknowledges world's third-worst Covid-19 death toll

• Russia has confirmed that its death toll is more than three times higher than what was previously reported
• Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has boasted his country’s low fatality rate claiming that they had done a better job at managing the pandemic than other countries
• On Monday, Russian officials admitted to reports that claimed the government was down playing the country’s outbreak

EXTRA BLING ✨

• Coronavirus 😷.  Too rich or too poor for the covid-19 vaccine
• Celebrity ⭐. DC unveils plan for release of superhero movies
• Space 🌠. Japan developing wooden satellites to reduce space junk
• Uplifting 😊. Renewables account for 20% of US electricity generation
• Interesting 🔎. ‘Fauci Effect’ - Medical schools see an increase in applicants

Like what you see? 👍