Good morning. On today’s docket:

• ⚖️ The abortion pill debate is headed to the Supreme Court
• 🚗 Tesla is recalling nearly all of its US vehicles
• ✂️ Interest rate cuts are likely coming next year

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.90-minute read.

P.S. First time reading? Subscribe here for free.

“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.”

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to hear a case challenging whether the FDA improperly expanded access to the abortion pill mifepristone, marking the Court’s first abortion case since it overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.

Background: Mifepristone, alongside the drug misoprostol, is typically taken during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy in order to induce an abortion. More than 5 million women have used mifepristone since it was first approved by the FDA at the start of this century.

• Its popularity accelerated in 2016, when the FDA repealed laws that required three doctors’ visits to obtain mifepristone, limited the drug’s use to the earliest weeks of pregnancy, and banned mailing pills to patients.
• By 2022, the mifepristone/misoprostol combination accounted for over half of all abortions performed in the US (54%).

But a pending lawsuit could soon reverse that trend. In April, a federal judge ruled that the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone and the more recent 2016 regulations were both invalid, saying the agency improperly used a pathway intended for drugs to treat serious illnesses and failed to adequately consider safety concerns.

• Upon the Biden admin’s appeal, the Fifth Circuit Court reinstated the 2000 approval but struck down the more recent FDA rules, prompting further appeals to the Supreme Court.

👀 Looking ahead… SCOTUS will hear the White House’s appeal to reinstate the post-2016 mifepristone regulations sometime next year, with a final decision expected before July. The Court also declined to hear a separate appeal from a conservative advocacy group seeking to strike down mifepristone’s initial 2000 approval.

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🌎 Countries at COP28 agreed to the first global pact to move away from fossil fuels. Following two weeks of negotiations in Dubai, diplomats from all 193 UN member-states reached a non-binding deal that involves “transitioning away” from fossil fuels, tripling installed renewable energy worldwide by 2030, and slashing methane emissions. Each nation is expected to submit a formal plan over the next two years for how it intends to curb emissions through 2035.

💥 Israel-Hamas war update: Israeli and Palestinian officials have both reported heavy losses in recent days, as part of close-combat fighting in the Gaza Strip. An average of 280 Palestinians are dying in Gaza daily, according to Palestinian authorities – who don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants – while 115 Israeli soldiers have died since the war began on October 7, including 10 troops on Tuesday. Earlier this week, Israel’s military reportedly began pumping seawater into Hamas’ complex of tunnels underneath Gaza in an attempt to destroy the militant group’s infrastructure.

🇺🇸🇬🇹 The US imposed visa restrictions on Guatemalan lawmakers and others for attempting a coup. The visa limitations on nearly 300 lawmakers, private sector leaders, and their families came after President-elect Bernardo Arévalo and his Seed Movement party were subject to arrest warrants and raids following his election in August. Guatemala’s Congress also approved a resolution removing the immunity of judges accused of certifying fraudulent election results to prevent Arévalo from taking office this upcoming January.

Someone at Tesla HQ better be ironically watching Total Recall – because the automaker is recalling more than 2 million vehicles across Models 3, S, X, and Y in response to a two-year federal investigation of crashes involving the company’s self-driving Autopilot feature.

To carry out the recall, its fourth since 2021, Tesla is offering owners a free software update. It adds more alerts and controls encouraging drivers to remain attentive when using the built-in Autopilot feature, which provides semi-autonomous driving capabilities like lane centering and traffic-aware cruise control.

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it initiated the recall after its ongoing investigation uncovered nearly 1,000 vehicle crashes since 2015 where Autopilot was said to have been used.
• Forensic data available for 11 of the crashes showed drivers with Autopilot engaged failed to take evasive action in the two to five seconds before the collision, according to the agency.

Tesla’s recall isn’t the only major self-driving snafu in recent months. GM-owned Cruise paused all fully-autonomous vehicle operations nationwide in October, after its license to operate self-driving taxis in California was suspended due to an accident involving a pedestrian. The company’s CEO resigned one month later.

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Excited to finally watch Barbie on your cross-country flight home for the holidays? Airlines are betting on it.

The global airline industry currently spends ~$500 million per year on movies, TV shows, live TV, podcasts, and music, per a new report from the WSJ – and that number is only expected to go up.

• United Airlines is in the process of outfitting all of its planes with seat-back screens.
• Delta already has seat-back screens on most of its planes, just like JetBlue, which built a business around screens at every seat when it began flying in 2000.
• Southwest has no screens, and American only has them on long-haul flights; though both still offer entertainment options tied to travelers’ own devices.

These in-flight entertainment investments are meant to boost ticket sales. To quote United CEO Scott Kirby: “[screens will make passengers] pick United more, and more often.”

But the process isn’t as simple as just adding screens and then you’re good to go – the content that makes it onto these screens is also important. Delta, for example, relies on a team of six people to choose its content, then relies on technicians to board each plane in the company’s fleet every 30 days (when the content library gets refreshed) to reinstall devices preloaded with new content.

👀 Looking ahead… The global in-flight entertainment and connectivity market was $5.96 billion last year, and is projected to reach $11.79 billion in 2030.

💬 Quoted… “[A] savory nacho cheese-imbued beverage experience that smells and tastes just like the real thing.”

• If you’ve always wanted to drink nacho cheese, here’s your chance. This week, Doritos unveiled a collab with flavor company Empirical to bring Doritos Nacho Cheese-flavored liquor to the people. And it’s about as close to the real thing as you can get, per the companies – the creation process involves using real Doritos chips and retaining their essence through vacuum distillation. Not sold yet? The liquor, which has a suggested retail price of $65 as well as 42% alcohol by volume, will “bring a moment of ‘WTF!?’ to anyone who tries it,” according to Empirical. (Which, coincidentally, is also the reaction we had reading this news.)

⭐📈 Stat of the Day: Can a stock be truly magnificent? If you ask Wall Street, the answer is yes. The so-called “Magnificent Seven” – Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Nvidia, Meta, Microsoft, and Tesla – have been responsible for nearly all of the S&P 500’s gains this year. The index is up 21% in 2023, while the Magnificent Seven are up ~70%. If they were removed from the S&P, the index would only be up ~6% this year.

🤔 Did You Know?... There's a special airline just for horses called Tex Sutton Equine Air Transportation, which flies the animals from Point A to Point B on a modified Boeing 727 cargo plane named "Air Horse One."

📰 Worth a Read: What's the point of giving gifts? An anthropologist explains this ancient part of being human → (The Conversation)

• 👆 The chairman of West Ham Football Club is listing a centuries-old London home for ~$95 million after he spent the past seven years and $63 million on an extensive renovation.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Coop

• 💰 US markets rose across the board (S&P: +1.4%; Dow: +1.4%; Nasdaq: +1.4%); the Dow closed at a record high.
• 🏦 The Fed kept interest rates steady for the third straight time and also signaled three rate cuts are coming next year; the Fed committee’s “dot plot” of individual members’ expectations indicates another four cuts in 2025 and three more in 2026.
• 🚀 SpaceX is set to sell insider shares at $97 apiece, which translates to a valuation of ~$180 billion.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🤖📰 OpenAI reached a deal with news publishing giant Axel Springer that allows ChatGPT to summarize stories from media brands like Politico and Business Insider; Axel Springer will also provide content to train OpenAI’s large language models. | 📲 Apple unveiled a new Stolen Device Protection setting that restricts certain security controls when the device is in an unfamiliar location.
• 🏈 The New England Patriots have reportedly decided to part ways with head coach Bill Belichick, who won six Super Bowls since taking the job in 2000, at the end of this season.
• 🙏 Andre Braugher, an Emmy-winning actor known for playing Captain Holt on Brooklyn 99, passed away at 61.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with INVRS

• 🫄 Morning sickness, aka nausea and vomiting often experienced in the first trimester of pregnancy, is primarily caused by a single hormone produced by the fetus, per a new study published in Nature; the discovery could lead to new treatments or cures for the condition.
• 🤖👓 Meta is rolling out a new AI assistant for its Ray-Ban smart glasses that can see and hear through its camera and microphones; the AI is able to identify objects, take photos, translate languages, and more.
• 🐈 Cat ownership in childhood is associated with schizophrenia-related disorders, per a new peer-reviewed meta-analysis; evidence suggests infection from a parasite found in cat feces is the culprit.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🇦🇷📉 Argentina's new government announced a 54% devaluation of its currency in a bid to tame inflation, which rose at an annual rate of 143% in October.
• ⚖️ A federal judge agreed to pause proceedings in former President Trump's 2020 election subversion case while he appeals a decision rejecting his claims of presidential immunity.
• 🏛️ The House voted 221-212 along party lines to officially authorize a GOP-led impeachment probe into President Biden over whether had ties to his son Hunter’s overseas business dealings. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right) | 🏛️ Hunter Biden defied a congressional subpoena to appear for a private deposition before GOP lawmakers investigating his business dealings, saying he wants to testify in a public hearing; GOP lawmakers said they’d look at moving forward with contempt of Congress proceedings.

CLICKBAIT

• 🤔🔮 What does 16th-century astrologer Nostradamus predict for 2024?

Yesterday, we covered Epic Games’ legal victory over Google in a federal jury ruling that found the tech giant’s Android operating system runs its app store as an illegal monopoly.

❓ Our question to you: Do you agree with the federal jury’s decision that found Google’s Play Store represents an illegal monopoly?

• 👍 Yes: 54%
• 👎 No: 21%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 25%

Click here to read the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 6,192 votes and 361 longform responses.

We bring you the most unusual, off-the-wall and occasionally laugh-out-loud headlines from this week.

• Dolphin With Thumbs Spotted Off Coast of Greece → (The Inertia)
• Man charged after flying from Denmark to LA with no passport or ticket → (The Guardian)
• Bangkok Airport Busts Passenger Smuggling Two Otters & A Prairie Dog In His Underwear → (Simple Flying)
• South Korean robot dog breaks speed record → (UPI)
• Menu signed by Mao Zedong brings a quarter million dollars at auction → (Associated Press)

This year, like every year, the White family went to pick out their perfect Christmas tree. 

• “[We go] every year, said Michele White. "Love it. We pick it out as a family.”

🦉 Unexpected visitor... The family had their tree for four full days before the carpet cleaner realized they had accidentally taken a visitor home with them: nuzzled among the branches was a perfectly camouflaged baby owl.

The family was absolutely shocked. “I have three dogs,” Michele said. “We use this room non-stop: watch TV; the kitchen’s right here; no indication.”

🤪 Pun incoming: The baby owl was rescued and safely released in the White's backyard. Seems like a Happy Howliday for everyone😉.

The Blue Lagoon, pictured above, is a geothermally heated spa located in which country?

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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Iceland