5 things to know about December 24: pardons, veto, coronavirus, Brexit, police violence

In other news from the White House, Trump vetoed a broad defense bill that was recently passed in both chambers of Congress by a veto-proof majority. The measure establishes what could be the first annulment of his presidency’s veto. Trump has been threatening to veto the bill for a while because it does not include repealing Section 230, a law that protects internet companies from responsibility for what is posted on their websites – including companies that Trump believes are prejudiced against him. Republican lawmakers will now have to choose between their loyalty to the president and the legislation that defines the nation’s defense policy. The House is expected to act on Monday, and all eyes will be on the lookout for how many Republicans will maintain their previous support for the bill.

Here is a bright spot in what has otherwise been a pandemic filled with dismal numbers: over a million people in the United States have received their first injection of the Covid-19 vaccine – and that is an underestimate, given that the CDC is still need to count a few doses administered in the past few days. Still, US officials have promised that there will be enough doses to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of the year. So far, things are going more slowly than that. The Trump administration announced yesterday that it would buy 100 million additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine. At least 70 million doses would be delivered by June 30, and the rest would be delivered by July 31. But while we wait, the pandemic continues. California has exceeded more than 2 million infections, which is more cases than in almost all countries.

The United Kingdom and the European Union are approaching a post-Brexit trade deal after months of tense negotiations. An agreement is expected to be announced today. For months, negotiations were at an impasse after the two sides were unable to agree on things like fishing quotas, such as the United Kingdom would use state aid to support British post-Brexit companies and legal oversight of any closed deal. This deal would be a major step forward in the saga that began when the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016. But despite the importance of this development, the toxic political debate over the UK’s relationship with Europe is likely to continue.

The mayor of Columbus, Ohio, asked for a city policeman to be fired immediately after the policeman shot and killed Andre Maurice Hill, a 47-year-old black man, earlier this week. Hill was an expected guest at the house where he was shot and did not commit any crime, said the mayor. The police were responding to a non-emergency disturbance call nearby. The policeman, identified as Adam Coy, only turned on the body camera after the shooting. Coy was suspended pending an investigation. Columbus’s Director of Public Security, Ned Pettus, said that, by law, Coy is a civil servant and has the right to due process. Hill’s shooting comes after another black man was shot by a Columbus police officer earlier this month.

We hope everyone has done Christmas shopping earlier.

At the time of this writing, current conditions at the North Pole indicate good weather to fly.

Feast your eyes on these adorable photos of wombats, snails and ferrets.

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Because no one should have to choose between games and hot snacks.

This is how more Americans applied for unemployment insurance for the first time last week. It is a drop from the previous week, but almost four times the number of complaints filed during this period last year.

Bella, a sophomore at a college in Mombasa, Kenya, who became pregnant after being unable to continue her studies remotely during the pandemic. She is one of millions of girls who do not return to the classroom.