Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. We're covering a new spike in coronavirus cases, a Times investigation into U.S. airstrikes and last-minute gift ideas. |
 | | Lines for Covid-19 testing have circled the block in New York City as cases spike.Desiree Rios for The New York Times |
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1. Just days before Christmas, the U.S. is being hit by a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. |
 | | Filling out paperwork to receive the Sputnik vaccine in Moscow in July.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times |
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2. Most of the world's vaccines provide almost no defense against infection from Omicron, studies show. |
All vaccines still seem to provide a significant degree of protection against serious illness from Omicron, which is the most crucial goal. But only the Pfizer and Moderna shots, when reinforced with a booster, appear to have success at stopping infections, and these vaccines are unavailable in most of the world. |
 | | A relative looked at the damage after a U.S. drone strike killed 10 civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August.Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times |
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3. A five-year Times investigation found that the U.S. air wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan led to thousands of civilian deaths. |
Hidden Pentagon records show a pattern of failures in U.S. airstrikes — a sharp contrast to the American government's image of war waged by all-seeing drones and precision bombs. |
The military's own confidential assessments of over 1,300 reports of civilian casualties since 2014, obtained by The Times, lays bare how the air war has been marked by deeply flawed intelligence, rushed and often imprecise targeting and the deaths of thousands of civilians, many of them children. None of these failures resulted in a finding of wrongdoing. We are making these Pentagon records public. |
 | | In a moment of unity, lawmakers held a vigil honoring the 800,000 Americans who have died from Covid.Tom Brenner for The New York Times |
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4. Congress ended its session with divisions as bitter as ever. |
President Biden and Democrats can point to some major successes in 2021, including a $1.9 trillion pandemic aid plan with a $300-per-child income support that slashed poverty rates; a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law that had eluded the two previous presidents; the confirmation of 40 judges in Biden's first year, the most of any president since Ronald Reagan; and a House inquiry into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. |
But those achievements were overshadowed by legislative setbacks and a sense that Congress was not rising to meet a perilous moment in history. "It has been a horrible year, hasn't it?" asked Senator Lisa Murkowski. |
 | | Campaign posters greeted shoppers ahead of elections today.Billy H.C. Kwok for The New York Times |
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5. We're waiting for election results out of Hong Kong, but the writing is already on the wall. |
The election is the first since Beijing imposed a drastic overhaul of the political system to allow only "patriots" to run for office, tightening the Communist Party's grip over the territory. |
Candidates have been vetted by national security bodies, and the establishment's near-total control of the legislature is now guaranteed. The crackdown has driven most of the city's popular pro-democracy candidates either into police custody or exile. Officials urged the public to vote, but turnout was expected to be low. |
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, is the territory's most unpopular leader ever, polls show. Yet she now appears reinvigorated and ready for a second term, if Beijing allows her to stay. |
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 | | Robert Reives Sr., a county commissioner in Sanford, N.C., may lose his seat.Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times |
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6. Map by map, Republicans are chipping away at Black Democrats' power. |
In several states, a growing number of Black elected officials, from members of Congress to county commissioners, have been drawn out of their districts this year or face headwinds to hold onto their seats. Almost all of the affected lawmakers are Democrats. Most of the mapmakers are white Republicans. |
Because partisan gerrymandering has long been difficult to disentangle from racial gerrymandering, proving the motive can be troublesome. But the effect remains the same: less political power for communities of color. |
 | | Si Spiegel is one of the last living World War II bombers.Carly Zavala for The New York Times |
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Spiegel, 97, is one of the last bomber pilots of World War II still with us. He flew a B-17 on dozens of dangerous missions, saved his crew by belly-landing in a frozen potato field in Poland and then helped orchestrate a daring escape back out. But, like many other Jewish soldiers, he was denied promotion and, after the war, he was frozen out of aviation. |
Instead, Spiegel went to vocational school and found a job as a machinist at a brush manufacturer. His bosses decided to repurpose the brush machines to make Christmas trees. Spiegel would go on to perfect their design and retired from his own artificial tree company, American Tree and Wreath, in 1993 as a multimillionaire. And there's much more to his extraordinary life. |
 | | Matthew Grimes, 13, and his brother, David, 11, started participating in e-sports during the pandemic.Jake Dockins for The New York Times |
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8. Gen Z is moving away from basketball courts and soccer fields and toward PlayStations and Xboxes. The rise of e-sports is shaking up an entire industry. |
Participation in youth sports was declining even before Covid-19. Then, between at-home learning and the shutdown of youth sports, a high-tech generation found even more escape and engagement on its smartphones and consoles. Even the Y.M.C.A. is getting on board: In April, it began a national e-sports pilot program in 120 of its U.S. branches. |
 | | One person's trash is another's treasure.Laurent Allard |
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9. Need a last-minute gift that's both laziness- and supply chain-friendly? Look no further than your own things. |
Once deemed tacky, regifting is being recast as a more thoughtful and sustainable way to shop. (No one even needs to know.) We asked a group of creatives what they would regift from their collections, and the list included plant clippings, an Oprah 25th-anniversary coffee table book and crystals. |
 | | Chloe Kim is headed to the Winter Olympics to defend her 2018 gold medal.Alicia Afshar for The New York Times |
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10. And finally, catch up on our favorite stories of the week. |
A teen snowboarding sensation grows up. Tracing a sweater's journey from Mongolia to Madison Avenue. The 25 essential dishes to eat in New York City. We handpicked these stories and more for you in The Weekender. |
Have a safe and festive week. |
Shaminder Dulai compiled photos for this briefing. |
Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6:30 a.m. Eastern. |
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