PRIMERAS PLANAS INTERNACIONALES
EL PERIÓDICO GLOBAL
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MARTES 15 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2020 | Año XLV | Número 15.857 | EDICIÓN MADRID | Precio: 1,70 euros
Tres restaurantes más con dos estrellas en España P38 GUÍA MICHELIN
El regreso de Neymar al Camp Nou, en los cruces de octavos P39 41
CHAMPIONS
A
LA SEGUNDA OLA DE LA PANDEMIA DEL CORONAVIRUS
ALEXÉI NAVALNI
El cierre de tiendas y colegios se extiende en Europa por Navidad
“No he sido el primero ni seré el último envenenado por Putin”
El Reino Unido, Francia, Alemania y Holanda imponen restricciones más duras. España sufre un repunte de los casos tras cinco semanas a la baja E. G. SEVILLANO / P. LINDE, Madrid La segunda ola del coronavirus, y el temor a una tercera después de Navidad, está llevando a grandes países de Europa a endurecer las restricciones a la vida social o a dar marcha atrás en la
desescalada prevista. Después de que Alemania ordenara el cierre anticipado de colegios y de comercios no esenciales hasta el 10 de enero, Países Bajos adoptó una medida similar por un plazo aún mayor, hasta el 19 de enero.
Londres y otras zonas de Inglaterra entraron en el nivel máximo de restricciones. En Francia habrá toque de queda desde las ocho de la tarde y cierre de museos, cines y teatros. En Italia se esperan medidas más restricti-
vas, incluido un confinamiento domiciliario. En España, el Ministerio de Sanidad informó ayer de un aumento de los casos registrados durante el fin de semana, 21.309, la primera alza desde el 2 de noviembre. PÁGINAS 26 Y 27
Líder opositor ruso
JOAQUÍN GIL, Madrid El opositor ruso Alexéi Navalni responsabiliza a Vladímir Putin del envenenamiento que sufrió el 20 de agosto con el agente nervioso Novichok. En una entrevista con EL PAÍS, Navalni afirma desde Alemania: “No tengo ninguna duda desde que salí del hospital de que fue ordenado por Putin. Mi envenenamiento no es el primero ni será el último. Putin cree que puede hacer lo que quiera”. Ayer se supo que una unidad de élite del servicio de seguridad ruso viajó a la ciudad siberiana de Tomsk el día que Navalni fue envenenado allí, según una investigación de Bellingcat. PÁGINAS 2 Y 3
El exjefe de la Policía señala en el ‘caso Kitchen’ a la cúpula del PP
COMIENZA LA VACUNACIÓN EN EE UU. Las primeras inmunizaciones de Pfizer en el país se suministran desde ayer a personal sanitario y personas vulnerables. En la foto, el médico Yves Duroseau recibe la inyección, ante las cámaras, en Nueva York. / JUSTIN LANE (EFE) PÁGINA 28
El apagón de Google revela la dependencia de los gigantes digitales ISABEL RUBIO, Madrid Una caída global de servicios de Google afectó ayer a millones de usuarios y empresas que dependen de las herramientas del gigante digital para su trabajo y su vida personal. Durante 45 minutos (entre las 12.47 y las 13.32, hora peninsular española), se interrumpió el funcionamiento de aplicaciones de uso muy extendi-
do como Gmail, YouTube, Maps o Drive; también la domótica de Nest o los televisores inteligentes con Chromecast o Android. La compañía atribuyó el fallo a un problema del sistema de autentificación. Una caída similar registrada en agosto duró 13 horas. El impacto del incidente es mayor por el aumento del teletrabajo. PÁGINA 45
Para encontrar soluciones Suscríbete a los hechos
ÓSCAR L. FONSECA, Madrid Eugenio Pino, exdirector adjunto operativo de la Policía, imputado en el caso Kitchen, el espionaje ilegal al extesorero del PP Luis Bárcenas pagado con fondos reservados, declaró ayer al juez que parte de la cúpula de la formación conservadora conocía la operación. Señaló al exdirector general de la Policía Ignacio Cosidó, quien luego fue portavoz popular en el Senado, y habló de la ex secretaria general del PP Dolores de Cospedal. PÁGINA 16
El juicio por el que Otegi cumplió cárcel se debe repetir J. J. GÁLVEZ, Madrid El Supremo ordenó ayer la repetición del juicio por el que Arnaldo Otegi, líder de EH Bildu, fue condenado a seis años y medio de cárcel. Otegi cumplió la condena por el intento de reconstrucción de Batasuna, supuestamente ordenado por ETA. La falta de imparcialidad de una juez que formó parte del tribunal sentenciador provoca ahora la repetición del juicio. PÁGINA 17
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latimes.com
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2020
State enters hopeful phase of pandemic Manuel Balce Ceneta Pool Photo
Jae C. Hong Associated Press
Five health workers in L.A. are among first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as California battles its worst wave. By Colleen Shalby, Luke Money, Hailey Branson-Potts and Rong-Gong Lin II
Bob Self Florida Times-Union
Lynne Sladky Associated Press
HEALTHCARE WORKERS and acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, top right, receive the Pfizer-
BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Monday at hospitals in Los Angeles, Florida and Maryland. At top left, ICU nurse Helen Cordova gets her dose and a round of cheers at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center.
■ ■■ ELECTION 2020 ■ ■ ■
Delegates cement Biden’s win With unusual drama, and despite Trump’s efforts, the electoral college does its job. By Evan Halper and Chris Megerian WASHINGTON — The electoral college made official on Monday the victory that voters gave to Joe Biden weeks ago — with the California delegation’s 55 votes clinching it — after the typi-
cally little-noted event became a source of yet more anxiety and drama because of President Trump’s desperate efforts to cling to power. The president failed to hijack the constitutionally required convening in all 50 states’ capitals, which for more than a century stood out only for how little attention or controversy it drew. He couldn’t stop Hillary and Bill Clinton, designated electors in New York, from delivering ballots certifying the Biden win there, nor
could he persuade Republican-controlled legislatures in half a dozen states that voted for Biden to block the certification. In a televised speech Monday evening, Biden marked the occasion as a symbolic win for democracy and a sign that the nation had rejected Trump’s efforts to undermine the election results. “In America, politicians don’t take power — the people grant it to them,” Biden said. “The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a
With cameras clicking and Gov. Gavin Newsom standing beside her wearing a surgical mask, intensive care nurse Helen Cordova rolled up the sleeve of her blue scrubs Monday afternoon and became one of the first Californians to get a coronavirus vaccine. “Protect me,” she said with a laugh, just before nurse Marilyn Lansangan jabbed her right deltoid. Cheers broke out from the small, masked crowd of doctors, nurses and elected officials before the syringe was even out of Cordova’s arm. The inoculation in a conference room at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center ushered in a hopeful new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, which
has sickened more than 1.6 million Californians and killed more than 21,000. Cordova and four other healthcare workers were the first people in Los Angeles County outside a clinical trial to get the shots made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech, marking the start of what will be a long campaign to vaccinate California. But while the vaccine offers promise, it comes as the U.S. is facing the darkest moment of the coronavirus crisis. On Monday, the U.S. death toll topped 300,000, and California, like much of the nation, is in the throes of the worst wave of the disease. Record numbers of people are being infected and hospitalized with COVID-19, and space in intensive care units across the state has shrunk to dangerous lows. The situation is especially dire in the San Joaquin Valley, where the availability of intensive care beds this week is zero. After watching the first vaccinations in Los Angeles, Newsom said he was “enthusiastic that there is light at the end of the tunnel, but mindful that we’re still in the tunnel.” [See Vaccine, A7]
long time ago. And we now know that nothing — not even a pandemic, or an abuse of power — can extinguish that flame.” More than any time to date, the president-elect directly attacked Trump and his allies — including Republican state attorneys general and members of Congress — for their groundless assaults on the result, and for going all the way to the Supreme Court to “wipe out the votes of more than 20 million Americans” [See Electors, A6]
A sense of relief, but not yet for all
Amid tension, Barr is stepping down
It was a day America had been waiting for, a moment touted as the beginning of the end of a pandemic that has divided our politics, battered our economy, roused our culture wars and left us one of the most infected countries on the planet. At Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, news cameras whirred as critical-care nurse Sandra Lindsay sat with her hands in her lap and received an injection in her left arm. “I feel like healing is coming,” she said. The months of pain and loss were evident hours after she received her shot — the first known U.S. inoculation against COVID-19 since the Food and Drug Administration authorized a vaccine — when the nation’s death toll
With his departure, Trump loses an ardent and powerful ally. By Del Quentin Wilber and Eli Stokols
As U.S. begins rollout of vaccine nationwide, its distribution is an exercise in triage. By Emily Baumgaertner and Molly Hennessy-Fiske
surpassed 300,000. Throughout the pandemic, Lindsay had cared for its victims, despite the risk of becoming infected herself. Now she would be able to worry less. The most ambitious vaccine rollout in American history promises to end a crisis that has jammed hospitals, overwhelmed funeral homes and brought much of the nation to a standstill. But a return to some semblance of normality remains many months away. Most Americans won’t be eligible for a vaccine until the spring at the earliest, and even with widespread inoculations, many pandemic-era public health measures will remain in place. Experts say American individualism and a lack of leadership made the coronavirus catastrophe worse than it had to be. The inaugural vaccinations are a snapshot of another quintessential America: a nation that leverages technological prowess to escape dire situations. The vaccine, developed by Pfizer with the German com[See Distribution, A7]
Al Seib Los Angeles Times
PRINCIPAL MYLENE KEIPP, right, interacts virtually with students in Arlene
Alpuerto’s sports medicine class at Eagle Rock Jr./Sr. High in August.
L.A. Unified won’t give Fs this semester — just mercy ‘No fail’ extension offers pupils chance to pass By Howard Blume Citing pandemic hardships, Los Angeles school officials on Monday deferred any failing grades from this semester until at least Jan. 29, giving students additional time to avoid receiving an F in their classes. The move is the latest effort by the nation’s secondlargest school district to avoid penalizing students under increasing strain during the surging coronavirus emergency that continues to upend their education and worsen family hardships. Compared with last year,
grades have dramatically deteriorated, especially for Latino and Black students, English learners, students with disabilities, foster youth and those experiencing homelessness, according to a directive sent to secondary school principals Monday and obtained by The Times. The move extends a modified version of the district’s “no fail” policy of the spring semester, when campuses first shut down at the onset of the pandemic. Monday’s decision won praise from Elmer Roldan, executive director of the advocacy group Communities in Schools of
Los Angeles. Given the limitations of distance learning, “failing kids is sending the wrong message and further increasing their chances of being pushed out of school,” Roldan said. “This is not the time to castigate students when their families are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.” The teachers union leadership said it supports “humane grading policies” but is concerned about the timing of the announcement — four days before the end of the semester — and a lack of [See Grades, A12]
WASHINGTON — U.S. Atty. Gen. William Barr, one of President Trump’s staunchest allies, is resigning amid lingering tension with the president over baseless claims of election fraud and the investigation into President-elect Joe Biden’s son. Barr went to the White House on Monday, where Trump announced on Twitter that the attorney general had submitted his letter of resignation. “As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” Trump tweeted — just minutes after the electoral college certified Biden as the winner of the November election. Trump has publicly expressed anger about Barr’s assertion this month that the Justice Department had found no widespread fraud that would have changed the outcome of the election. The president has also been upset that the Justice Department did not publicly announce it was investigating Hunter Biden ahead of [See Barr, A6]
Ben Gray Associated Press
VOTING BEGINS IN GEORGIA There are few long lines at the start of in-person balloting in crucial Senate runoffs. NATION, A4
New opponent for USC football Trojans will play Oregon instead of Washington in Pac-12 title game because of Huskies’ virus outbreak. SPORTS, B6
Weather Mostly sunny. L.A. Basin: 68/47. B10
BUSINESS INSIDE: Trump’s Space Force was launched. But will it go anywhere? A8
Nxxx,2020-12-15,A,001,Bs-4C,E2
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Late Edition Today, sunny to partly cloudy, high 39. Tonight, partly cloudy, low 27. Tomorrow, cloudy, increasing winds, snow late in the afternoon, high 32. Weather map appears on Page B12.
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‘HEALING IS COMING’: U.S. VACCINATIONS BEGIN Dread Persists as Death Toll Tops 300,000
ELECTORS AFFIRM BIDEN’S VICTORY; VOTE IS SMOOTH
This article is by Campbell Robertson, Amy Harmon and Mitch Smith.
‘Time to Turn the Page,’ Winner Says By NICK CORASANITI and JIM RUTENBERG
It began at 10 a.m. in New Hampshire, where electors met in a statehouse chamber festooned with holiday decorations and gave their four votes to Joseph R. Biden Jr. By noon on Monday, the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, ground zero for many of President Trump’s fruitless lawsuits, had backed Mr. Biden too. In New York, Bill and Hillary Clinton voted for Mr. Biden along with 27 other electors. And when California cast its 55 votes for Mr. Biden around 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, it pushed him past the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency, putting the official seal on his victory after weeks of efforts by Mr. Trump to use legal challenges and political pressure to overturn the results. With the Electoral College vote behind him, Mr. Biden called for unity while forcefully denouncing
the president and his allies for their assault on the nation’s voting system. In an address in Wilmington, Del., Monday night, he said the Republican efforts to get the Supreme Court to undo the result represented a “position so extreme we’ve never seen it before,” and called the attacks on election officials at the local level “unconscionable.’’ Mr. Biden and that “it is time to turn the page” on the election. Praising officials who stood up for the integrity of the system, he added: “It was honest, it was free and it was fair. They saw it with their own eyes. And they wouldn’t be bullied into saying anything different.” [Page A19.] For all of the turmoil that Mr. Trump had stirred with his conspiracy theories, lawsuits and baseless claims of fraud, the Electoral College vote that sealed Mr. Biden’s victory was mostly a staid, formal affair, devoid of drama. As it always is. Though supporters of Mr. Trump had promised to mount protests outside the statehouses in battlegrounds that the president had lost, Monday’s voting went largely smoothly; there were no demonstrations that disrupted the proceedings, and in some states, police presence outnumbered protesters. After Hawaii cast its four votes for Mr. Biden, he finished with 306 Electoral College votes, with no electors defecting from the slate. The vote follows six weeks of unprecedented efforts by Mr. Trump to intervene in the electorContinued on Page A20
Barr to Quit Next Week
ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Joseph R. Biden Jr. said on Monday the election “was honest, it was free and it was fair.”
POOL PHOTO BY MARK LENNIHAN
Attorney General William P. Barr lost favor after long bolstering President Trump. Page A25.
SCOTT M cINTYRE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
KRISTIAN THACKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Sandra Lindsay, top, the director of critical care nursing at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, was among the first health workers on Monday to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. Workers in Pittsburgh, left, and Miramar, Fla., were also part of the inoculation effort.
Agencies Race to Assess Damage Hope at Last for Those in the Medical Trenches workers. After Being Hacked by Russia Even as doctors and nurses This article is by Jack Healy, Lucy Tompkins and Audra D. S. Burch.
This article is by David E. Sanger, Nicole Perlroth and Eric Schmitt.
WASHINGTON — The scope of a hack engineered by one of Russia’s premier intelligence agencies became clearer on Monday, when the Trump administration acknowledged that other federal agencies — the Department of Homeland Security and parts of the Pentagon — had been compromised. Investigators were struggling to determine the extent to
WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES
The Department of Homeland Security was compromised.
which the military, intelligence community and nuclear laboratories were affected by the highly sophisticated attack. United States officials did not detect the attack until recent weeks, and then only when a private cybersecurity firm, FireEye, alerted American intelligence that the hackers had evaded layers of defenses. It was evident that the Treasury and Commerce Departments, the first agencies reported to be breached, were only part of a far larger operation whose sophistication stunned even experts who have been following a quarter-century of Russian hacks on the Pentagon and American civilian agencies. About 18,000 private and government users downloaded a Russian tainted software update — a Trojan horse of sorts — that gave its hackers a foothold into victims’ systems, according to SolarWinds, the company whose software was compromised. Among those who use SolarWinds software are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the State Department, the Justice Department, parts of the Pentagon and a number of utility companies. While the presence of the software is not by itself eviContinued on Page A23
FARGO, N.D. — As Dr. Rishi Seth rolled up his left sleeve on Monday to receive one of the United States’ first Covid-19 vaccines, he thought of his patients back in the Special Care Unit. There was the Uber driver who had walked out of the hospital after being on a ventilator. The dying father who said goodbye to his two college-age daughters on a video chat. The four coronavirus patients Dr. Seth had treated just on Monday morning, checking their oxygen levels and reviewing treatment plans before he stripped off his protective gear and joined a first wave of health care workers to be vaccinated in
Getting Shots, but Not Relief From Stress and Suffering
hospitals across the country. “That’s why today is so emotional,” said Dr. Seth, an internalmedicine physician with Sanford Health in North Dakota, a state that has been ravaged by the virus. “You’re still fighting a battle, but you’re starting to see the horizon.” Monday’s vaccinations, the first in a staggeringly complicated national campaign, were a moment infused with hope and pain for hundreds of America’s health care
lined up for the first shots, cheered on their colleagues and joked about barely feeling the prick of the syringe, they also reflected on their grueling months in the trenches of the country’s coronavirus nightmare. They have scrounged for protective gear and tried treatment after treatment. They have coordinated final phone calls and held patients’ hands when families could not visit. They have come running when alarms warned that a patient was on the edge of dying. “This is really for all of those patients that unfortunately didn’t make it, all those patients still coming through the doors,” Mona Continued on Page A7
FIRST SHOT A nurse at a Queens
hospital wanted to lead by example and persuade others. PAGE A8 MANDATE Businesses are reluc-
tant to require the vaccine, but they might have to. PAGE B6
It’s a Made-in-China Holiday Season for Cooped-Up Americans By ANA SWANSON
WASHINGTON — American imports from China are surging as the year draws to a close, fueled by stay-at-home shoppers who are snapping up Chinese-made furniture and appliances, along with Barbie Dream Houses and bicycles for the holidays. The surge in imports is another byproduct of the coronavirus, with Americans channeling
money they might have spent on vacations, movies and restaurant dining to household items like new lighting for home offices, workout equipment for basement gyms, and toys to keep their children entertained. That has been a boon for China, the world’s largest manufacturer of many of those goods. In November, China reported a record trade surplus of $75.43 billion, propelled by an unexpected 21.1 percent surge in exports compared with
Pandemic, Expected to Cut Trade, Boosts It the same month last year. Leading the jump were exports to the United States, which climbed 46.1 percent to $51.98 billion, also a record. That surge has defied the expectations of American politicians
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-11
BUSINESS B1-6
Setback for Restaurants
CNN and MSNBC, Post-Trump
A Gift to Dementia Studies
Everything seemed to conspire against New York City’s food and drink businesses. Now, indoor dining has been taken away again. PAGE A4
Ratings have hit new highs, but executives and journalists at both cable news outlets are uneasy about what the next year will bring. PAGE B1
Alzheimer’s researchers are hoping to better understand the disease by studying a Colombian woman who had a rare genetic mutation, and who donated her brain to science. PAGE D1
NATIONAL A18-25
PITTSBURGH — Some of the very medical centers that have endured the worst of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States found the gloom that has long filled their corridors replaced by elation and hope on Monday as health care workers became the first to take part in a mass vaccination campaign aimed at ending the pandemic. Hundreds of those who have been on the front lines of fighting Covid-19 — a nurse from an intensive care unit in New York, an emergency room doctor from Ohio, a hospital housekeeper in Iowa — received inoculations in emotional ceremonies watched by people around the country. “I feel like healing is coming,” said Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care nurse who was among the first health care workers to be vaccinated on Monday morning, at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, an early center of the virus. But the vaccinations came as the nation surpassed 300,000 coronavirus deaths, a toll larger than any other country. Even as applause rang out at hospitals nationwide, many intensive care units remained near capacity and public health experts warned that life would not return to normal until well into next year. Plunking down in wooden chairs and rolling up their sleeves were physicians, nurses, aides, cleaners and at least one chief executive who said he was getting the vaccine early to encourage everyone on his staff to do the same. Dr. Jason Smith, the first Kentuckian to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, showed off the smileyface Band-Aid a health care worker applied to his arm. “Didn’t even feel it,” he said. A group of nuns in Sioux Falls, S.D., blessed the vaccine as it arrived, before it was whisked into a freezer. Seth Jackson, a nurse in Iowa City, found himself crying on the way to the hospital to get his shot. Robin Mercier, a Rhode Island nurse, rejoiced in feeling one step closer to being able to kiss her grandchild. “This is the marking of getting back to normal,” said Angela Mattingly, a housekeeper at the University of Iowa Hospital, who was fifth in line as shots were dispensed on the 12th floor. One of those who had spent months studying the safety of the vaccine was herself vaccinated. “This is the culmination of a lot of hard work in our clinical trials,’’ said Dr. Patricia Winokur, 61, the principal investigator of the clinical trial of the vaccine and a professor at the University of Iowa. Continued on Page A6
INTERNATIONAL A12-17
A Legacy of the Trump Voter
Losing Caffeine and Friendship
A growing and broadly held distrust of the electoral system has important implications for democracy. PAGE A18
Regulars at Turkey’s coffeehouses fear losing “our jokes, our laughter” as pandemic restrictions linger. PAGE A12
When the Checks Run Out Millions face a steep and immediate drop in spending power when federal jobless benefits end this month. PAGE B1 SPORTSTUESDAY B7-9
Favorite for E.P.A. Hits a Wall
Report Links Spies to Navalny
A $3 Million Error Made Right
Objections to her policies’ effects on minorities may derail Mary D. Nichols, an expected Biden pick. PAGE A25
An investigative group provided evidence of Moscow’s role in the poisoning of Russia’s opposition leader. PAGE A16
The agent Bill Duffy paid back his client Anthony Carter over 17 years after costing him an N.B.A. contract. PAGE B8
of both parties, who earlier this year predicted that the pandemic, which began in China, would be a moment for reducing trade with that country and finally bringing factories back to the United States. “The global pandemic has proven once and for all that to be a strong nation, America must be a manufacturing nation,” President Trump said in May. “We’re bring-
Continued on Page A23
SCIENCE TIMES D1-8
What to Know About Testing Long lines, slow results and inconsistent advice have left many confused about when and how to get tested for Covid. We talked to the experts to answer your questions. PAGE D4 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27
Bret Stephens
PAGE A26
ARTS C1-6
Charley Pride’s Legacy The singer put himself on the line as country music’s first Black superstar. He died after performing at a largely mask-free awards ceremony. PAGE C1
U(D54G1D)y+,!=!$!$!z
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DJIA 29861.55 g 184.82 0.6%
NASDAQ 12440.04 À 0.5%
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2020 ~ VOL. CCLXXVI NO. 141 STOXX 600 391.85 À 0.4%
10-YR. TREAS. unch , yield 0.891%
OIL $46.99 À $0.42
Business & Finance
T
Boeing expanded inspections of newly produced 787 Dreamliners after finding a previously disclosed defect in sections of the jet where it hadn’t first been detected. B1 The Nasdaq rose 0.5% as tech stocks extended a 2020 rally. The Dow and S&P 500 fell, closing down 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively. B10 Exxon pledged to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from its operations over the next five years and eliminate routine flaring of methane by 2030. B1 Unilever said it would become the first major company to voluntarily give shareholders a vote on its efforts to reduce carbon emissions. B6 Blackstone raised its bet on life-sciences real estate, agreeing to pay $3.45 billion for a portfolio of buildings primarily in the active Cambridge, Mass., market. B6 Pinterest agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle claims of gender discrimination and retaliation by its former chief operating officer. B2 Reddit said it bought video-sharing app Dubsmash to expand its presence in user-created video. B3
World-Wide The Electoral College formalized Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election, affirming that the Democrat had amassed more than the 270 votes needed for him to take office in January. A1 The Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a Trump campaign lawsuit seeking to reverse Biden’s victory. A4 The first U.S. Covid-19 vaccinations outside of clinical trials began, kicking off an urgent mass immunization campaign as the U.S. death toll from the disease exceeded 300,000. A1, A6, A7 Barr will resign just before Christmas, Trump said, ending a tenure during which the attorney general marshaled the Justice Department to the president’s personal and political agenda before falling afoul of him in recent months. A1 A bipartisan group failed to reach a compromise on Covid-19 liability protections, increasing the chances Congress will need to narrow the scope of talks to reach a deal on an aid bill this week. A3 A suspected Russian hack of U.S. agencies and private businesses around the world went largely undetected for months. A3 The U.S. imposed sanctions against a Turkish defense-industry agency and one of its executives over Ankara’s installation of a Russian air-defense system. A8 A boat loaded with explosives attacked an oil tanker docked at the Saudi port city of Jeddah in what the authorities there called an act of terrorism. A8 CONTENTS Arts in Review... A15 Business News.. B3,6 Capital Journal...... A4 Crossword.............. A15 Heard on Street.. B11 Markets................... B10
Opinion.............. A17-19 Personal Journal A13-14 Sports........................ A16 Technology............... B4 U.S. News............. A2-7 Weather................... A15 World News....... A8-9
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Health workers given the first of millions of doses as virus’s death toll passes 300,000
FROM TOP: MARK LENNIHAN/PRESS POOL; ADAM CAIRNS/THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH/ASSOCIATED PRESS; JAE C. HONG/ASSOCIATED PRESS
More than a dozen Google services, including Gmail and YouTube, were offline in swaths of the globe Monday, interrupting access for individuals and businesses. B1
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Coronavirus Vaccinations Begin in U.S.
What’s News he Justice Department reached a civil settlement with the UAW, marking a major turning point in a multiyear corruption probe that has sent several former labor leaders to prison. A1
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BY PETER LOFTUS AND MELANIE GRAYCE WEST The first U.S. Covid-19 vaccinations outside of clinical trials began Monday, kicking off the most urgent mass immunization campaign since polio shots were rolled out in the 1950s. A nurse in New York was among the first to receive the shot, and health workers throughout the U.S. were also set to receive the newly authorized vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE. Pfizer shipped vaccine vials out Sunday, and hospitals and health departments across the country received them early Monday. A total of 55 sites nationwide had received vaccine shipments by around noon on Monday, said Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operation officer for Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government’s coronavirus-response program. He said at a news conference that plans remain on track for a total of 636 locations to receive vaccines by Wednesday and an additional 581 between Thurs-
Health-care workers on Monday began receiving Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, including, from top, Sandra Lindsay, a nurse in Queens, N.Y.; George Biddle, an emergency-room nurse in Columbus, Ohio; and respiratory-care practitioner Raul Aguilar in Los Angeles.
Biden’s Victory Is Affirmed by Electoral College BY JOHN MCCORMICK AND ALEXA CORSE The Electoral College formalized Joe Biden’s victory in last month’s presidential election, as meetings in state capitals across the nation affirmed that the Democrat had amassed more than the 270 votes needed for him to take office in a little more than a month. The outcome came as President Trump—with the backing of many Republicans—has continued to protest results showing him losing to his challenger, 306 electoral votes to 232 votes. Mr. Trump’s allies have
filed unsuccessful legal challenges to the election results, attempting in many cases to overturn the will of the voters in states where Mr. Biden won by sizable margins. Monday’s voting prompted some congressional Republicans, many of whom had for weeks resisted recognizing Mr. Biden’s win, to acknowledge that the Democrat would be the next president. Mr. Biden, speaking Monday evening in Wilmington, Del., Please turn to page A4 Gerald F. Seib: Hard numbers tell story behind election.... A4
Auto Workers Settle Corruption Inquiry
BY BEN FOLDY AND NORA NAUGHTON
The Justice Department reached a civil settlement with the United Auto Workers union, marking a major turning point in a multiyear corruption investigation that has sent several former labor leaders to prison. The sprawling probe, led by the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit, has penetrated the UAW’s top ranks and exposed what
federal prosecutors described as a culture of corruption among its leadership built around kickback schemes, embezzlement and other illicit activities. It has led to 15 convictions and some union members say the charges and indictments have dented trust in the UAW’s leadership. The proposed settlement includes a six-year period of independent oversight by a courtappointed monitor and requires Please turn to page A2
Deadliest Outbreaks Hit Veterans Homes State facilities struggled to combat Covid-19 BY ELIZABETH KOH During the pandemic, one of the worst places to be was in a nursing home. Among nursing homes, one of the worst places to be was a state-run facility for retired servicemen and women. Of the nation’s 150 such homes, thousands of residents have caught the virus. Hundreds have died. Family and staff members tell of mis-
communication and neglect. At the 150-bed Bill Nichols State Veterans Home, one of Alabama’s largest individual hot spots, 96 residents have tested positive for coronavirus and 46 deaths have been attributed to Covid-19. In New York, a government-run veterans home had the third deadliest reported outbreak in the state, with 72 confirmed and probable Please turn to page A12
day and Sunday, completing distribution of an initial 2.9 million doses. The vaccines are given in two doses several weeks apart. The Covid-19 effort “will be logistically and socially and medically the largest unfolding of a vaccination program ever conducted,” said Dr. Howard Markel, professor of medical history at the University of Michigan. “We’ve never had such a massive campaign in the middle of a pandemic.” The largest past immunization campaigns in the U.S. were launched during smaller outbreaks or as preventive measures over many years to try to eradicate a persistent pathogen. Public-health officials have been counting on a vaccine’s arrival to help bring an end to the pandemic, as its death toll surpassed 300,000 people in the U.S. on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The average number of daily deaths over a seven-day period has grown from 824 on Nov. 1 to over 2,400 as of Sunday, prompting new restricPlease turn to page A6 Liability issues trip up Covid19 relief talks............................. A3 Variant of the virus identified in the U.K..................................... A7 An uncertain timeline for shots for children.................. A13
Attorney General Barr to Depart After Trump Clash Over Probes BY SADIE GURMAN WASHINGTON—Attorney General William Barr will resign just before Christmas, President Trump said, ending a tenure during which Mr. Barr long marshaled the Justice Department to the president’s personal and political agenda before falling afoul of him in recent months. In his two-page resignation
letter, Mr. Barr said he would depart Dec. 23 and praised Mr. Trump for what he described as his historic accomplishments “in the face of relentless, implacable resistance,” and a “partisan onslaught…in which no tactic, no matter how abusive and deceitful, was out of bounds.” Mr. Trump said on Twitter that he met with Mr. Barr on Monday at the White House.
Net interest margin, quarterly
Asset growth rate*
Community banks
3.75%
Community banks
3.50
10.0%
3.25
7.5
3.00
5.0 All commercial banks
2.75
“Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job!” the president tweeted, saying the attorney general was leaving to “spend the holidays with his family.” The resignation comes after the disclosure of the extensive efforts the nation’s top lawenforcement official made for months to shield federal investigations into Hunter Biden, Please turn to page A6
Small Banks’ Assets Grow
All commercial banks
2.5
2.50
0 2010
’20
’15
*Rates are for 12 months ending Sept. 30.
2015
’20
2015
’20
Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Stimulus checks for account holders gave a boost to small lenders, helping them survive the pandemic better than they had expected. B1
A Hands-Off Approach— To Your Face i
i
i
People turn to perfume, wrist buzzers, hypnosis BY ELLEN BYRON Nine months into a pandemic and you’re still touching your face? Wearable devices, meditations, athletic gear and tchotchkes want to help you kick the habit. Nose itching, coughing, nail biting, mustache twirling, eye rubbing and hair flipping are among the reasons people touch their faces, often without realizing it. One study from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, published in 2015, found participants touched their faces an average of 23 times per hour. No matter how many times doctors remind us to keep our Please turn to page A14
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