Amazon announced Wednesday that it plans to acquire Wondery. The startup will be a part of Amazon‘s subscription music service, Amazon Music.
Why it matters: The move reaffirms Amazon’s growing ambitions to get into the podcasting space. Podcasts are a natural fit for the company, which already has a subscription music business, an audiobook business, and owns a sizable chunk of the smart speaker market in the U.S.
For the first time, the highly influential dietary guidelines from the federal government feature recommendations for babies and toddlers
Why it matters: "The dietary guidelines, which are updated every five years ... shape school lunch programs, mold state and local health-promotion efforts, and influence what food companies produce," the Wall Street Journal notes.
The European Union on Wednesday finalized an agreement in principle on a long-delayed investment deal with China, appearing to defy resistance from within the EU and a request for consultations about "common concerns" from the incoming Biden administration.
Why it matters: The deal will open up both markets to investment and commit Beijing to ending certain unfair trading practices, strengthening economic ties between the EU and its second-largest trading partner.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Tuesday the second round of coronavirus relief stimulus payments were being sent to millions of Americans.
The big picture: As President Trump and others continue to press Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who blocked Democrats' request to hold a vote on a House measure to boost the size of the checks to $2,000 per person, Mnuchin tweeted that the $600 payments "may begin to arrive in some accounts by direct deposit as early as tonight" and that paper checks would begin to be mailed Wednesday.
American Airlines on Tuesday flew Boeing's 737 MAX for the first time in nearly two years, having been grounded since March 2019 after a pair of crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people just months apart, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: The fatal crashes led to huge damage to Boeing's reputation and billions of dollars in costs.
Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) on Tuesday both came out in favor of increasing direct payments in the coronavirus relief package from $600 to $2,000 per person.
Why it matters: The two Republican senators are on the ballot in a pair of runoffs in Georgia next week that will determine control of the Senate.
The Wall Street Journal published an editorial on Monday effectively accusing President Trump of sabotaging Republicans' chances of winning the Georgia Senate runoffs with his push for $2,000 stimulus checks, calling it an "in-kind contribution to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden."
Why it matters: It's another sharp criticism from a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch — co-chair of Fox Corp. and executive chair of News Corp — that comes one day after the New York Post said Trump is "cheering for an undemocratic coup" with his efforts to overturn the election he lost.
China will end this year as the only major country in the world to see its economy grow rather than shrink.
Why it matters: China is operating from a position of great strength, with an economy expected to grow by 8.4% in 2021. If President-elect Joe Biden views China as a "serious competitor," then the competition will be fiercer during his presidency than at any point in history.
