Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🚗 Colorado’s technically free EVs
• 🇺🇦 Ukraine’s scooter assassination
• 🤔 What the NFL’s Cleveland Browns were named after

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.87-minute read (1,295 words).

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“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”

–Sun Tzu (544 BC – 496 BC)

The decades-long regime led by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was toppled early last week, ushering in a period of transition – and major uncertainty – in the country following nearly 14 straight years of civil war.

Some quick background: Syria's ongoing civil war began in 2011 with protests against Assad's regime, which quickly escalated into a complex conflict involving multiple factions, including opposition groups, Islamist militias, Kurdish forces, and foreign powers like Russia, Iran, Israel, and the US (each with differing reasons for involvement).

• A coalition of opposition groups headed by the Islamist faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham began a surprise offensive on November 27, quickly capturing three major cities before taking the capital of Damascus and overthrowing Assad’s government.

The latest info: Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israeli forces will continue to occupy the Golan Heights buffer zone in western Syria, in an attempt to disrupt Iran’s ability to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Some other major events from Syria over the past week:

• Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of Syria’s rebel coalition, vowed yesterday to dissolve all armed groups in the country, in an attempt to rebuild a functioning state.
• Former President Assad issued his first official statement since the fall of his regime on Monday, in which he blamed "terrorism" for his regime's collapse.
• A mass grave was discovered north of Damascus with the remains of 100,000+ people presumed killed by Assad’s regime, one of five such mass graves identified over the course of the civil war.

Looking ahead…Several countries have reached out to rebel leaders in Syria to support the establishment of a new government. Turkey and Qatar have reopened embassies in Damascus, while the US has made direct contact with Syrian rebel leaders and is pushing for an "inclusive and non-sectarian" government, per Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Meanwhile, UN officials warn the conflict “has not ended yet,” as fighting continues in the northeast and Israel keeps up its airstrikes and military occupation in the southwest.

📊 Flash poll: In general terms, how involved do you think the US government should be when it comes to the current Syria situation?

• Heavily involved
• Somewhat involved
• Loosely or not-at-all involved

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Little red Italian cars may soon start popping up more on the streets of Denver. A Fiat dealership in Colorado is offering a 27-month lease on a 2024 Fiat 500e for $0/month and no down payment.

There are some catches, however:

• Driving more than 10,000 miles/year will result in extra-mile fees (unless the car is bought out).
• The lessee is also on the hook for taxes (~$1,300), registration fees, and a $395 "disposition fee" once the 27 months are up (~$63/month all in).

Compliance > profit: Stellantis, Fiat's corporate parent, doesn't offer many EVs and likely needs to sell the vehicle to accumulate zero-emission vehicle credits, Axios reports. And Colorado, where the deal is being offered, also requires automakers to offer a minimum percentage of zero-emission vehicles for sale.

Not just Fiats: A Nissan dealer in Colorado is offering $5 leases on 2025 Leaf models.

🚘🔌 Zoom out: While EV and hybrid vehicle sales have been weaker than expected – leading automakers to increasingly scale back or delay their EV plans – they comprised a record 21% of all US car purchases in Q3. That figure is projected to increase to between 30%–39% by the end of the decade – though the incoming Trump administration plans to eliminate the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, which analysts say could negatively impact demand.

The days of playing hide-and-seek with Ticketmaster fees are at an end. Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission approved a new rule preventing hotels and ticket sellers from hiding extra fees associated with a purchase.

At issue: Service fees on concert tickets, for example, which can comprise anywhere from 20%-30% of the advertised ticket price – and typically aren’t shown until the checkout process begins.

The FTC’s new rule removes this junk from the trunk, so to speak. It doesn’t bar any particular fees, but rather requires the disclosure of the full price up front to customers who rent short-term lodging, such as hotels and vacation homes, along with consumers who buy tickets to concerts, sports, and other live events (though some ticketing sites are already doing this).

Per the agency, the rule is expected to save consumers as much as 53 million hours/year spent searching for the true cost of tickets and lodging.

And since time is money, all those extra seconds add up – to the equivalent of $11+ billion over the next decade, according to the agency’s announcement.

👀 Looking ahead…The rule will go into effect 120 days after it's published in the Federal Registrar.

Kyiv said yesterday that it had assassinated a top Russian general in Moscow.

How it happened: The killing of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, reportedly carried out by Ukraine's SBU intelligence service, was done by remotely detonating explosives hidden inside an electric scooter as Kirillov exited an apartment building with an aide.

Who is Igor Kirillov? The head of Russia’s radioactive, chemical, and biological defense forces. Kyiv has accused him of ordering the use of banned chemical weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.

• While other Russian generals have died in occupied Ukraine or near the front line, Kirillov is the highest-ranking military official to have been killed inside Russia since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the NY Times reports.

See the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine war here.

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Make it an extra tasty and happy holiday season with Nuts.com.

• ☝️ You’re looking at some of the best science images of 2024, as selected by the journal Nature’s visuals team.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Live It Up

• 📉 US markets fell across the board (S&P: -0.4%; Dow: -0.6%; Nasdaq: -0.3%). | 🛍️ US retail sales increased 0.7% in November, above both analysts' expectations (0.6%) and October's 0.5% rise.
• 📹 Walmart employees in some stores are now wearing body cameras; the tech, widely used in law enforcement, has been expanding into retail to help deter conflict and prevent theft.
• 💰 Databricks, a privately held data analytics firm, raised $10 billion in financing at a $62 billion valuation. | 🤝 Honda and Nissan are reportedly holding merger talks.

*From our partners: 🥦🙌 Optimize your nutrition with Super Greens from Live It Up… Only $1.33/serving, made with organic veggies + probiotics for gut health/immunity support. Voted best-tasting greens powder by Verywell Health. 97.3% of subscribers report feeling healthier overall. Save 10% with code DONUT10.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚽🏆 The Vermont Catamounts’ men’s soccer team won the school’s first-ever national championship game in any sport with a walk-off goal Monday evening. | 🥊 Conor McGregor will fight Jake Paul in a future boxing exhibition match in India.
• 🥇📲 Temu was the most downloaded free app on the App Store this year, per Apple.
• 🎖️ The US Navy awarded Tom Cruise its top civilian honor for “outstanding contributions” with his roles in Top Gun and other films. | 🐶🍿 Bluey is getting a feature film that’ll stream on Disney+ starting in 2027.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Commons

• 🐷🏥 An Alabama woman recently received the third-ever pig kidney transplant in the US, in a successful operation that freed her from eight years of dialysis.
• 🤖📹 Google's DeepMind unveiled Veo 2, the latest update to the company’s AI-generated video platform, which is aimed at competing with OpenAI’s Sora tool. | 🤖🌊 Militaries around the world are developing new unmanned underwater drones.
• 💊 US pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) received payments from drugmakers like Purdue Pharma in return for not restricting opioid painkiller prescriptions, per a New York Times investigation.

*From our partners: 🛒🌎 Ensure your purchases are powering a greener future… Commons independently evaluates brands to rate them on their sustainability. Simple 1-5 ranking, from harmful to best. They’ve just rated this season’s outdoor apparel brands. Make sustainable spending easy with Commons.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🏛️🚁 Four federal agencies – the Pentagon, FBI, DHS, and FAA – published a joint statement Monday night reiterating their stance that recent drone sightings across the Northeast don’t pose a security risk.
• 💰⚡ The Biden admin will provide a record $15 billion low-interest loan to California utility giant PG&E to support projects aimed at fighting climate change and improving the electrical grid. | ⚖️ A former FBI informant pleaded guilty to fabricating his claim that President Biden and his son Hunter accepted bribes from Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
• 🇩🇪 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in Germany’s parliament, prompting him to dissolve parliament and trigger early national elections (set for February).

CLICKBAIT

• 💡 The 50 greatest innovations of 2024.

🎭 Stat of the day: 20-year-old TikTok star Charli D’Amelio, the app’s second-most-popular personality with 155 million followers, made her Broadway debut in October as part of the ensemble of & Juliet. And while D’Amelio – who catapulted to fame for her dance videos – has no spoken lines or features in her new Broadway digs, her presence in the show is already boosting interest.

• Since her October 29th debut, average ticket prices to & Juliet have increased by ~17% compared to the daily average from the previous 10 months.
• The show’s TikTok and Instagram accounts each gained 17,000+ new followers after D’Amelio’s casting was announced, which typically translates to boosted ticket sales.

D’Amelio’s Broadway tenure is the latest example of an industry-wide trend. As ticket sales have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, many shows are embracing the idea of casting celebrities with built-in audiences to drive demand, with other recent examples including Little Shop of Horrors and Chicago.

🤔 Did You Know? The NFL’s Cleveland Browns are named after Paul Brown, the franchise’s original coach and general manager.

📰 Worth a Read: A desert festival where robots are the headliner → (NPR)

🥂 Cheers: To next week’s cocktail, the Jingle T*ts Spritz.

💪 Who’s the boss? Ranking the world’s 100 most powerful women.

For smarty👖 only: Mix up your holiday streaming and dive into Werner Herzog's Theater of Thought, a mind-expanding doc on the mysteries of the human brain. No tinsel, just neurons.

🧠 In the know: From Sam Altman vs. Elon Musk to President Trump vs. Jerome Powell – here are the feuds set to shape 2025.

📈 Investing, simplified: Join Simplify Wall Street, a community where 67% of members report being profitable. Get ideas, news, and setups – free! Ready to redefine your financial success? Subscribe now.*

💻 Read: TLDR is a perfect companion to The DONUT, offering bite-sized updates on startups, tech, and programming. Stay sharp, stay informed – subscribe free today.*

*A message from our partners.

Colette Baker, Finley Jarvis, and Zoey Pidgeon-Hampton all received the gift of a lifetime this year (just in time for Christmas) – their very own bionic arms. 

The amputees were granted these arms through the Big Hero 3 campaign, a fundraiser started by mom Sarah Lockey that helps families of children with missing limbs fundraise for bionic arms.

💪 Thanks to their new arms, Colette, Finley, and Zoey can now more easily complete simple tasks like tying their shoes, jumping rope, and zipping a zipper all on their own. 

Can you name the holiday movies associated with these poorly-explained plots?

1. Cousins and squirrels make for uninvited guests
2. Kid shoots out his eye
3. Guy falls off building, the end

Working your way towards a sweet tumbler? AirPods? The $100 gift card? Good news: Like those crazy cup competitions, prizes stack, so when you’re emailed to claim your prizes, you don’t have to wait. Just reply to this email for more info or with any questions🍩✌️.

1. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
2. A Christmas Story (1983)
3. Die Hard (1988)