After Phase 3 trials showed that its coronavirus vaccine is 94.1% effective, Moderna said that it will apply for U.S. and EU emergency authorization today. The Cambridge, Massachusetts company said that its vaccine has no major side effects and is 100% effective at preventing serious COVID-19 cases. The most common side effects reported by participants included fatigue, headache, and body aches, which were short-lived, as well as some flu-like symptoms.
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- Half of the 30,000 people that took part in the trial received the vaccine and the other half were injected with a placebo.
- The company reported 185 COVID-19 cases among those taking a placebo, including about 30 people who suffered serious symptoms and one person who died from the disease.
- 11 people who received the vaccine contracted the virus, but only experienced mild symptoms.
- Moderna said it will be able to produce 20 million doses of its vaccine for the U.S. market this year, enough to inoculate 10 million people.
- Pfizer and BioNtech applied for emergency FDA approval for their vaccine last week. Both Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines rely on a novel technology called synthetic messenger RNA (mRNA).
- FDA advisers will meet on Dec. 10 and Dec. 17 to review Pfizer's and Moderna's trial data, respectively.
REUTERS
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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the city's public elementary schools will restart in-person teaching on Dec. 7. The city restarted in-person teaching in all its public schools in October but shut them down again earlier this month because the seven-day test positivity rate increased over 3%. But, the move sparked protests from parents, who said that the 3% threshold set by de Blasio was too rigorous – data indicated that the school reopening had not led to a significant increase in coronavirus cases. More than 190,000 children in pre-K, kindergarten, and grades 1 through 5 are eligible to return to classes next week. Middle and high schools will remain closed for now. With approximately 1.1 million children, New York City's public school system is the largest in the country.
More coronavirus updates:
- U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations reached a record high of 93,219 on Sunday.
- 155,596 new cases and 1,189 deaths new cases were reported on Sunday.
- The White House coronavirus taskforce said that people who joined family gatherings during the Thanksgiving holiday should get tested within the next five to 10 days.
NEW YORK TIMES
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A top Iranian official has accused Israel of using "electronic devices" to remotely kill a leading nuclear scientist. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed when the car he was driving was sprayed with bullets on Friday. Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, told a state-controlled TV network that Fakhrizadeh's assassination was carried out remotely, and not by gunmen, as it was previously reported. He accused Israel's intelligence service, the Mossad, and Iran's opposition groups of orchestrating the attack. Local media reports claimed, without producing evidence, that weapons found at the site bore "the logo and specifications of the Israeli military industry" and were "controlled by satellite."
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- Fakhrizadeh headed a nuclear program that Israel and some western agencies said was a pretext to build nuclear weapons.
- According to the International Atomic Energy Agency and U.S. intelligence agencies, the program ended in 2003.
- Iran has long argued that its nuclear program was solely aimed at producing energy.
- Israel, which has previously been accused of killing Iranian scientists, has not commented on the attack.
- Iran has vowed to retaliate for Fakhrizadeh's killing.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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GOOD NEWS: The "world’s loneliest elephant" has been moved from Pakistan to an animal sanctuary in Cambodia. Kaavan, a 36-year-old bull elephant, made headlines in recent months due to the conditions in which he lived. Activists say that he was being kept in a dilapidated pen in a zoo in Islamabad, where he was being chained and exposed to extreme heat during the summer. Kaavan's plight made headlines thanks to Cher, whose charity Free the Wild has campaigned for the elephant to be relocated for the past five years. "We have been counting down to this moment and dreaming of it for so long and to finally see Kaavan transported out of [the Islamabad] zoo will remain with us forever," said the singer and actor, who visited Kaavan before and after the transfer.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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Tens of thousands of French demonstrators took to the streets over the weekend to protest police brutality following the beating of a Black man by police earlier this month. The Nov. 21 beating became public after an online media outlet named Loopsider published CCTV footage showing the incident. Protesters also demanded that the lawmakers shelve a bill that would restrict people from sharing images of police officers on duty. According to the government, the bill is designed to protect police officers from abuse, but activists said that it will dissuade people and journalists from recording and broadcasting images showing police brutality. The demonstrations were mostly peaceful but some protesters clashed with police, smashed windows, and set cars on fire.
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- The video showing the beating of Michel Zecler has been viewed more than 24 million times – we're refraining from posting a link here because the video contains disturbing images.
- French President Emmanuel Macron said the incident was "unacceptable." "France must never allow hatred or racism to flourish," he tweeted.
- Prosecutors have filed charges against the four officers involved in the incident. Three of them have been detained while a fourth one, who arrived at the scene after the incident occurred, will be conditionally released.
NPR
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General Motors has scrapped plans to buy an 11% stake in electric vehicle company Nikola. Shortly after the carmakers signed a wide-ranging collaboration agreement in September, a company named Hindenburg Research published a report accusing Nikola of deceiving investors by overstating the progress it had made in the development of its vehicles. Under the agreement, the companies were going to jointly develop an electric and hydrogen-powered pickup truck named Badger. Nikola on Monday said that it no longer plans to develop the Badger but it will continue working on heavy trucks.
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- Under the terms of a revamped agreement announced on Monday, GM and Nikola will collaborate to develop the trucks, which will use GM's Hydrotec fuel-cell system.
- Nikola shares dropped 21% in early trading.
- The Hindenburg report claimed that a prototype of Nikola's hydrogen fuel-cell semi-truck was rolled down a hill to give the impression that the vehicle was being powered by its own engine.
- The report said that the company falsely claimed that the truck shown off during a 2016 event was equipped with an operational hydrogen fuel-cell engine, when in fact it had a turbine designed to be powered by natural gas.
- Nikola denied most of the allegations.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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The mysterious metal monolith that was recently discovered in Utah has disappeared. The Utah Bureau of Land Management said that it had received "credible reports" that the triangular pillar, which measured about 12 feet, had been removed "by an unknown party." The object was first spotted on Nov. 18 by officials who were surveying bighorn sheep from a helicopter. Although they did not reveal the monolith's location for fears that people may get lost while looking for it, sightseers tracked it down after an internet sleuth was able to pinpoint its location by cross-referencing Google Earth images with the flight path of the helicopter.
More:
- Reddit user Tim Slane said that Google Earth photos showed that the monolith was not at the site between 2013 and mid-2015, but it was clearly visible by October 2016.
- It is not known who placed the monolith. Several media outlets have speculated that it could be the work of John McCracken, an artist who died in 2011.
- In a statement posted on Facebook, the San Juan County Sheriff's Office said that it lacks the resources to investigate who might have taken the monolith.
NPR
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QUICK HITS
- During this holiday season, find out how SimpliSafe is protecting over 3 million homes with less markup and more security.*
- President-elect Joe Biden suffered hairline fractures in his right foot while playing with one of his dogs and will need to wear a walking boot over the next several weeks, his doctor said.
- Women will lead Biden's communications team. Kate Bedingfield, who has led the communications team of Biden's campaign, will serve as White House communications director, and longtime Democratic spokeswoman Jen Psaki will be press secretary.
- Sheriff's deputies in New York shut down a party with hundreds of guests over the weekend because it contravened the city's coronavirus restrictions. Sheriff Joseph Fucito said that his deputies have broken up similar gatherings at least twice a week over the past few months.
- Adobe Analytics estimates that Cyber Monday will be the biggest online sales day ever, with spending of $10.8B to $12.7B.
- President Trump has lost 133,902 Twitter followers since Nov. 17, whereas Biden has gained 1,156,610.
- Revtown’s changing the denim game by applying the best parts of workout clothes—comfort, flexibility & durability—to jeans.*
* This is sponsored content.
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Written and curated by Eduardo Garcia in New York. Eduardo is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade.
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Editor
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Jonathan Harris is a writer for Inside.com. Previously, he wrote for The Huffington Post, TakePart.com, and the YouTube channel What’s Trending.
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