5 things you need to know before December 18: Covid-19, Cyber ​​Attack, Economy, Nigeria, Taliban

The FDA is on track to grant emergency approval for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, after the agency’s advisers voted yesterday to recommend it. If allowed, officials expect nearly 8 million additional doses of vaccine to reach US states next week. Vice President Mike Pence will receive a first shot of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine today, making him the most senior US official to have been vaccinated against the virus. Other countries prepare for their own vaccine rollouts: India prepares task forces pending emergency permission to use at least one candidate vaccine. South Korea plans to vaccinate more than 80% of the population – about 44 million people – by November. Meanwhile, Germany and Japan have reported new record numbers, and in the US, Covid-19 deaths have already reached more than 40,000 this month.

The Department of Homeland Security’s cyber arm has warned that the recent cyber attack affecting government agencies is much broader than officials had thought. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the compromised software program, SolarWinds, is not the only way hackers infiltrated networks and that those responsible may have “used tactics, techniques and procedures that have not yet been discovered.” This news only escalates growing concerns about the magnitude and magnitude of the breach, which the agency says poses “a serious risk” to the federal government and other areas of the public and private sectors. Questions also remain about how long the breach went unnoticed by the US administration and when President Trump, who has been silent about it, can do something about it.

There is more bad news in the field of jobs. Another 885,000 people filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, signaling an increase in claims well above what economists expected. Unemployment has been on the rise for weeks now, and about 14 million people rely on government coronavirus aid programs that expire at the end of the year unless Congress steps in. To make matters worse, it looks like Congress won’t get a single bill by the end of the week, meaning there could be a brief government shutdown this weekend, a GOP senator said. Remember, government funding and pandemic stimulus are linked, as Congress hopes the combination will perform two critical tasks simultaneously and increase the support of two parties. Until now … really not.

More than 300 boys kidnapped in an attack on a Nigerian school last week have been released, the country’s government said. Hundreds of students were feared missing after the attack, and the Nigerian army says it was able to rescue 344 of them. Some suspected the kidnappings were carried out by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, but the governor of Katsina state in Nigeria says they were actually bandits posing as members of the terrorist organization. Kidnapping for ransom has increased in Katsina state, but never on this scale. With hundreds of children involved, the incident recalls the brutal kidnapping of 276 girls from Chibok in 2014. More than 100 of those girls never returned home.

America’s most senior military officer met Taliban representatives in Qatar on an unannounced trip to the Middle East this week. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, discussed the need to reduce violence in the area, which was an important condition of the agreement signed between the US and the Taliban in February that would pave the way. could pave the way for ending America’s longest fought war. Still, the insurgents’ attacks against the Afghan government have continued, and US officials say they have not broken with Al Qaeda either – another key condition of the deal. All of this comes amid a continued reduction of US military forces in Afghanistan ordered by the Trump administration following the president’s electoral defeat.

No spoilers, but this celebrity revelation sure makes sense.

Really a gift for the person who has everything.

To be clear, it won’t SHOOT the vultures. That would be … an exaggeration. It just has to scare them.

Pizza: The Unofficial Food of Quarantine.

That’s the number of people executed by the US government this year, more than all 50 states combined. It is the highest number of federal executions since 1896.

Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor’s mother, in an open letter to President-elect Joe Biden. Taylor was killed by police in a botched raid in March, and Palmer calls on Biden to fulfill his promises to hold police accountable for their actions.

Let’s end the week with a Christmas carol – but not just any Christmas carol! This version of “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree”, performed by Seraphic Fire, is composed by British musician and writer Elizabeth Poston. Poston was an all-round Renaissance woman who is said to have worked as a secret agent during World War II. No matter where you are this December morning, it is wonderful to listen. (Click here to view.)