The U.S. Senate voted 78-22 to confirm Antony Blinken as Secretary of State. Blinken is the fourth member of President Joe Biden's cabinet to be confirmed, following Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

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• During his confirmation hearing, Blinken said that the Biden administration plans to take a strong stance against China and Russia.
• He indicated that the U.S. will return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – which is commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal – if Iran resumes compliance.
• Blinken praised the diplomatic deals between Israel and Arab states that were brokered by the Trump administration. He vowed the U.S. would not close its embassy in Jerusalem.
• All 22 senators that voted against Blinken's confirmation were Republicans.
• Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate will next vote to confirm Pete Buttigieg as transportation secretary and Alejandro Mayorkas to oversee the Department of Homeland Security.

The U.K. surpassed 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday.  The U.K. has recorded more than 3.6 million confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.

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• The U.K. has the world's fifth-highest total case count.
• On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "deeply sorry" and took "full responsibility for everything the government has done."
• At least 6.8 million people in the U.K. have received the first dose of the vaccine, with 472,446 being fully immunized.

In the U.S.:

• The U.S. recorded at least 151,000 new COVID-19 cases on Monday. This marks the ninth straight day the nation saw less than 200,000 new cases.
• 109,936 people are currently hospitalized, the lowest total since Dec. 13, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
• According to the CDC, at least 23.5 million vaccines have been administered, and more than 44.3 million doses have been distributed.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are fighting publicly in front of the FCC over approval of SpaceX's addition of lower altitude satellites for its satellite internet. The two are competing for the future of space satellite internet with Musk's Starlink project and Amazon's Project Kuiper. 

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• Elon's SpaceX is trying to convince the FCC that it should be allowed to move some Starlink satellites to lower altitudes than had been first approved, but Amazon is objecting to it, as its own satellites are designed to operate in lower altitudes. 
• Musk claims that Amazon is objecting to the request to move satellites lower in order to stifle competition, as Amazon's satellites aren't yet ready. 
• Elon tweeted today that it doesn't serve the public for the FCC to hamstring his own Starlink project while waiting for Amazon's satellites to be built and finished, which could take years. 
• Amazon News, an official Amazon Twitter account, tweeted out that SpaceX was the company trying to stifle competition and that Amazon has designed its satellites to avoid interference with SpaceX's. An Amazon spokesperson also gave a statement to CNBC on the matter.
• Starlink is designed to connect about 12,000 satellites in space to deliver high-speed internet to anywhere on the planet. Amazon's competing Project Kuiper will put 3,236 internet satellites into low Earth orbit.
• The FCC authorized Amazon's Project Kuiper in January, and Amazon plans to invest $10B into the project. 

This story first appeared in Inside Amazon. 

U.S. housing prices in November 2020 rose 9.5% YoY despite the pandemic, per a report released by the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. These gains are amongst the largest in U.S. history. The increase is credited to a low supply of homes, with many unwilling to move, while demand grew as renters looked for bigger spaces outside cities. 

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• Phoenix saw the largest increase with an average of 13.8% YoY. This was followed by Seattle (12.7%) and San Diego (12.3%).
• Mortgage rates hitting a record low of 2.79% was also a significant factor in increasing homeownership. 
• Craig Lazzara, the Managing Director of Global Head of Index Instrument Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices, says that the trends observed this year may be short- or long-term. The pandemic has caused people to move out of urban areas, but more time is needed to determine if this is an acceleration of a future trend or a secular shift. 

A version of this story first appeared in Inside Business. You can read the full issue here. 

QUICK HITS:

• See how consumer electronics brand Nomad went headless with their existing Shopify store to increase their ecommerce conversion rate by 25%.*
• President Biden had his first call with Russian President Vladimir Putin since taking office. They discussed the arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the Solar Winds Hack, among other issues.
• Twitter permanently suspended My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell's account after he repeatedly spread election misinformation. Lindell is a staunch supporter of former President Trump.
• Johnson and Johnson will reveal the results of a clinical trial for its COVID-19 vaccine next week.
• What are the costs of inefficiencies in your product release cycle? Read how top companies save over $1M each year.*

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