Let There Be Lights

🇮🇱🇲🇦 Israel & Morocco Normalize Relations

Israel and Morocco agreed to full diplomatic relations as part of a U.S.-brokered deal, President Trump announced yesterday. Morocco joins the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan as the fourth country to normalize relations with Israel in as many months.

More: The deal also includes official U.S. recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over the contested Western Sahara region.

💉 Federal Prisoner Executed

Death row inmate Brandon Bernard was put to death last night by lethal injection, the first in a series of five federal executions planned before Inauguration Day (Jan. 20). Bernard, now 40 years old, was sentenced to death after he and four other teens abducted, killed, and burned the bodies of an elderly couple in 1999 (when he was 18).

More: Bernard was the ninth federal inmate put to death since July when the Trump administration ended a 17-year hiatus in federal executions.

👍 Vaccine Recommended for FDA Authorization

The FDA’s vaccine advisory committee voted 17-4 on Thursday to recommend Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine be issued emergency use authorization. The FDA typically follows the committee’s recommendations, but is not required to do so.

More: The agency’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is composed of independent scientific and public health experts from around the country.

📈 Market Mania

🏘️ Airbnb stock debuted yesterday morning on the Nasdaq at $146 per share before closing at $144.71, valuing the company at ~$100B (+113% from its IPO valuation).

🐭 Disney stock hit an all-time high as it held its annual investor day yesterday. Among a slew of content announcements, the company revealed Disney+ now has 86.8M subscribers, up from 73M announced Nov. 12. The full list of announcements.

💼 Unemployment Claims Adjuster

Another 853k Americans filed for unemployment insurance last week, up from 716k new claims the week before. (Department of Labor)

Yes, but... A government watchdog report published last month found the Labor Department’s weekly claims data was flawed due to inconsistent state data reporting and incidents of fraud.

However… the Labor Department said the measurement of continuous unemployment claims, which increased to 5.8M as of Nov. 28, reflects “a good approximation” of the current number of insured unemployed workers filing for benefits.

🚁 Up In The Air

The U.S. Air Force offered a safety endorsement for CA aerospace startup Joby Aviation’s all-electric passenger aircraft on Thursday. With the endorsement, the Air Force pledged to conduct test flights and generally help vet Joby’s aircraft capabilities through direct and indirect funding to enhance American competitiveness in the overall industry.

More: The announcement comes two days after Joby Aviation agreed to buy Uber Elevate, Uber’s air taxi division, in a deal with undisclosed terms.

🏅 That’ll Teach ‘Em

Darrion Cockrell of St. Louis, MO, joined a gang before the age of ten. Shortly after, the troubled youth – who entered the foster care system at age six – was transferred to a boys’ home, where he met a series of role models who taught him how to balance his toughness with compassion.

Now, the former gang member is a beloved physical education teacher at Crestwood Elementary School in St. Louis and was named the 2021 Missouri Teacher of the Year.

👓 See For Yourself

In late November, ABC 7 Chicago news anchor Tanja Babich learned that her 10-year-old daughter – who had just started wearing glasses – was worried about what the other kids at school would say about her new specs.

Thus, Tanja wore a pair of glasses during television broadcasts all last week to boost her daughter’s confidence. She was joined by her colleagues, who also donned their eyewear.

“Just be yourself, authentically and unapologetically. The rest will work itself out,” Tanja told her viewers last Friday.

🍺 Spreading Christmas Cheers

Abra Shiner has happily run her bar, Swan Dive, in Toronto for the past five years. However, last month, with COVID-19 restrictions forcing her to dip deep into her savings, Abra worried that she would have to permanently shut down her bar. Feeling defeated, she put out a plea for help on Facebook.

Swan Dive’s loyal customers bought more than 90 cases of the bar’s stock beer in response, boosting sales enough to keep Abra’s business afloat until it can reopen safely in the spring.

Self-reflection just got social

Daily Haloha is a simple and uplifting daily routine, wrapped in a charming little app. It’s designed to help us all look inward and then share outward with others, positively and anonymously.

Say hello to your new daily routine

Each day the entire world gets a new thought-provoking fill-in-the-blank question. Then, all you have to do is open the app, and…

1: Check in with yourself

Take a moment to pause, reflect, and fill in the blanks with a little bit of “you”.

2: Connect with another

Then “swap” your Haloha with another random human somewhere in the world, anonymously and judgment-free.

3: Be a part of the bigger picture

Then browse the Haloha Wall to see how the world is feeling.

Be a part. Not apart.

The Daily Haloha app is free! Because of course, the best things in life usually are.