Good morning everyone! I wish you all a wonderful holiday break and hope you live somewhere that doesn’t currently have snow on the ground (like me, unfortunately). Just a heads up that there won’t be any newsletters next week and we will resume on Dec. 31st, or New Year’s Eve. Happy holidays!

Warning: Graphic content is featured in the post below.

International

Ukraine killed a senior Russian general in Moscow scooter bombing

Ukraine claimed responsibility for the unprecedented attack on Russian soil. On Tuesday, Ukraine's SBU intelligence service assassinated Igor Kirillov, a senior Russian general who was the head of the country’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, in Moscow.

Russia has promised to retaliate after the killing, which marked the highest-level assassination of a Russian military official in Russia since the war began in 2022.

Scooter bomb

At 6:12 am local time, Kirillov and his assistant were killed when a bomb hidden in a scooter exploded, breaking the windows of surrounding residential buildings (Graphic content warning; watch video here). The 54-year-old general was the head of Russia’s chemical and biological weapons defense program.

• Shortly after the attack, Ukraine acknowledged the killing, claiming responsibility.

• The previous day, Kirillov was indicted by Ukraine, linking him to more than 4,800 suspected instances of chemical weapons deployment in the nation's territory.

Due to the high-profile nature of the assassination, Kirillov’s death will likely force Russian authorities to reevaluate security measures for the army's highest-ranking officers.

Russia vows revenge

At a meeting shown on state television, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is currently a top Russian security official, declared that Moscow will exact revenge for what he described as a terrorist attack.

• On Wednesday, Russia detained a Usbek citizen who it believes planted the bomb that killed Kirillov and his aide, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee.

  • Reports say the 29-year-old was lured in by Ukrainian secret services with promises of $100,000 and EU travel.

State of the war: According to UK estimates, Russia lost more than 1,520 soldiers every day last month and is reportedly having trouble repopulating its forces. To combat Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk, Russia is partially depending on North Korean forces.

German government collapses as economy struggles

First France, and now Germany… I’m sensing a theme here. Following Chancellor Olaf Scholz's defeat in a vote of confidence, the German government collapsed earlier this week as the nation simultaneously deals with economic stagnation.

With emergency elections scheduled for February 23, a caretaker administration is now leading Europe's largest economy. Someone get Germany a beer.

How did this happen?

Last month, Scholz’s ruling coalition lost its majority after the pro-business party pulled out after arguments about issues like debt and immigration policy and the firing of his finance minister. Scholz was then pressured to call the no-confidence vote to rush the holding of new elections.

• According to some political analysts, the vote actually went as planned, leading to early elections that Scholz thinks will give his center-left Social Democratic Party a clear majority.

  • However, current polls indicate the center-right Christian Democratic Union is on pace for a victory, with the conservative populist Alternative for Germany coming in second.

As the new chancellor is now scheduled to be elected in February, Scholz will stay at the helm while candidates rush to win over financially conscious voters who are worried about Germany’s flailing economy.

Economic exasperbation

Currently, unemployment is at a four-year high of 6.1%, and the biggest economy in Europe is seeing its second consecutive year of economic stagnation. Rightly so, voters aren’t happy about it.

But how did it get to this point? Germany has had quite the past few years:

• Industrial production has had a massive fall off, dropping 20% from its highest point seven years ago, according to Deutsche Bank Research.

  • The bank’s chief economist, Robin Winkler, said it is “the steepest decline in the history of the Federal Republic” at least since, well, the end of the Second World War.

• After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and stopped exporting gas to Germany—which was once Russia's largest consumer of the fuel source—energy prices surged by up to 40%.

If that wasn’t enough, Germany’s key industries, which have driven growth for decades, are doing as well as a fish on dry land:

• In October, the nation’s third-largest company by value, Volkswagen, had to cut almost $4.5 billion in costs.

  • It then declared that it would fire tens of thousands of employees, reduce wages by 10%, and close three factories.

• Shortly after, ThyssenKrupp (which is the biggest steel company in Germany) then reported $1.5 billion in losses over the last year.

• Then, the largest car components supplier in the nation, Bosch, said last month it would fire 5,500 employees beginning in 2027.

Looking forward: The debate over what to do with Germany’s economic woes will play out in February’s snap elections, in which Scholz’s center-left party will have to win against six other parties who all have good odds of beating him.

Space

Astrophysicists found a pair of stars next to our galaxy’s black hole

I might be uneducated but isn’t a blackhole supposed to swallow everything? According to a study published on Tuesday, researchers have found the first-ever pair of binary stars near the Milky Way galaxy's black hole. Astrophysicists have described the discovery as “amazing”.

The phenomenon implies that black holes are not as destructive as previously thought and confirms a scientific theory that dates back to nearly a century ago.

Unpredictable pair

In the 1930s, scientists had already predicted the existence of a binary star system, or two stars gravitationally tied to each other around a shared center of gravity, in the area of Sagittarius A*, our galaxy's central black hole.

• The “young pair” of stars, named D9, are several million years old and are about 26,000 light-years from Earth.

• The binary star system was found using the European Southern Observatory's “Very Large Telescope” (yes, that’s the actual name), one of the most advanced optical telescopes in the world.

Researchers thought the black hole's strong gravitational pull would destroy any binary systems, despite decades of observations of single stars and clouds of gas and dust in the area known as the “S-cluster”.

Looking ahead (literally): The stars are expected by researchers to collide within a million years, merging to form one single star.

Grab Bag

Softbank is all in on America

With a new administration in the White House, SoftBank is looking to cash in. During a visit to President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home on Monday, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son announced a $100 billion investment in the US over the next four years.

The joint announcement should generate 100,000 jobs minimum over the next four years, which would mainly be focused on AI and tech infrastructure.

Doubling down

After Trump was elected president for the first time in 2016, he and his son made a similar announcement: SoftBank agreed to invest $50 billion in the United States with the goal of creating 50,000 jobs.

While the proposition seemed to have good intentions the first time, nearly half of the money went to WeWork, the infamous workspace provider that went from the US’s most valuable startup to bankrupt in a matter of years.

Son has had a history of making risky investments but has recently seemed to steer toward more safe avenues. According to the Wall Street Journal, Son plans to concentrate the majority of his US investments on AI-related infrastructure, like semiconductors and data centers.

Looking forward: Softbank recently poured $500 million into OpenAI’s latest funding round, showing its bullish position on the industry. Son also said last week that the company would give expedited shipping to anyone investing over $1 billion in the US.

Taco Bell is bringing your favorite item to the menu

It’s almost holiday break, so yes, I’m going to write about Taco Bell. The fast food chain that you habitually took late-night visits to in college just added a groundbreaking item to its menu for a limited time… chicken nuggets.

But it isn’t just chicken nuggets Taco Bell is betting on, they’re going all in on poultry.

Chicken chain

After marinating in a jalapeño buttermilk marinade, the nuggets are covered with a blend of tortilla chips and breadcrumbs (missed opportunity for Doritos Locos tacos crumbs) and served with three new sauces.

• The nuggets are a response to younger customers’ demand for, well, chicken nuggets.

However, this promotion isn’t all about the chicken nuggets, it’s about a broader move to poultry.

• Beef prices have risen enough for fast-food restaurants to count on chicken as a cheaper option.

  • According to market research firm Circana, the number of chicken products consumed at fast-food giants has increased by 11% since 2019.

Chicken cravings: Taco Bell has increasingly put more chicken items on its menu and people are eating it up. Almost 25% of all Taco Bell orders include an item from the chain’s “Chicken Cantina Menu” which debuted last year.

Fast Facts

Water Wishes: According to a new analysis, the interior of Venus is completely dry, ruling out theories it once had vast oceans capable of supporting life.

Cab Craniums: According to a new study by Stat News, only 1% of taxi drivers die from Alzheimer’s, compared to the general population’s 4%. Always important to exercise the brain.

Chatbot Call: Ever wanted to speak with OpenAI's chatbot over the phone? Dial 1-800-CHATGPT and you'll be able to. Callers can talk to the chatbot for 15 minutes a month for free.

Temu Time: This year, Temu earned the top spot for the most downloaded free app on the Apple App Store in the US. People really do love their child labor.

App Appeal: The SCOTUS will hear TikTok’s challenge to a US law that will ban the platform unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells it to a US firm. Arguments are set for January 10th, just nine days before the potential ban.