Alleged CEO Assassin Captured

Good Tuesday morning! Google has created a quantum computing chip that needs five minutes to solve problems that would take supercomputers ten septillion years to complete. Yes, that is apparently a real number. Have a great day!

In Today’s Brief

• Daniel Penny: Not guilty

• Syria: Amnesty grant

• Senate: New members

• Mondelez: Hershey interest

• Bill Belichick: UNC intrigue

... and more

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Top Tips

1) Search ends

A health insurance CEO's apparent assassin was arrested in western Pennsylvania yesterday.

• The news: Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate originally from Maryland, was apprehended in Altoona. Mangione was spotted at a McDonald's after exiting a Greyhound bus in the city, which sits between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. A witness recognized him from photos of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's killer circulated by police. 

• Key findings: Mangione physically resembles the images previously released by the NYPD. Cops found a ghost gun and suppressor consistent with the weapon used to kill Thompson on Mangione. He also had multiple fake IDs on him, including the one he allegedly used to check into a Manhattan hostel before the slaying, and a handwritten manifesto.

• Big picture: Mangione was initially charged on a gun offense before being charged in Thompson's murder late last night. Cops believe the UPenn alum has anti-corporate beliefs and may have had a vendetta against the health insurance industry.

2) Mystery plague

An African country continues to be confounded by an unknown disease that has killed dozens.

• Catch up: At least 71 people, mostly severely malnourished young children, have died in a remote part of the Democratic Republic of Congo due to an mysterious illness. About 400 people in total have become sick in the Panzi region, which sits hundreds of miles from Kinshasa. Some local reports put the death toll over 140.

• The news: A United Nations health team has been dispatched to the country. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said "Disease X" presents like a respiratory infection while the World Health Organization is working to identify the cause of the outbreak and determine a suitable response.

• Big picture: Officials stress the disease could prove to be a known contagion, like COVID-19 or malaria, or could be exacerbated by one. But the frequent interaction between humans and wildlife in the region has sparked concerns about community spread.

3) Star nods

Nominations for the 82nd Golden Globes were announced yesterday.

• Leading the way: Emilia Perez topped all films with 10 nominations, followed by The Brutalist with seven and Conclavewith six. The Bear led television shows with five nominations. Only Murders in the Building and Shogun followed with four.

• Multiple nods: Sebastian Stan earned Best Actor nominations in both comedy and drama, including one for playing President-elect Donald Trump in The Apprentice. Actresses Selena Gomez and Kate Winslet also picked up two acting nominations each.

• The details: Comedian Nikki Glaser will host the show after previous host Jo Koy's widely panned performance last year. The Golden Globes will be held Sunday, Jan. 5 in Los Angeles and will be broadcast by CBS.

Quick Tips

U.S. News

• Daniel Penny was acquitted of negligent homicide in a high-profile incident on the New York City subway. The former Marine put a late homeless man in a chokehold after he allegedly threatened passengers; prosecutors dropped a manslaughter charge last week after the jury was deadlocked (More)

• The Environmental Protection Agency banned two cancer-causing solvents after decades of activist pleas. Trichloroethylene is common in manufacturing; perchloroethylene is often used in dry cleaning (More)

• The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Boston parents protesting a temporary admissions policy for elite high schools in the city. The plaintiffs argued the schools discriminated against Asian and white students; the rules were driven by the pandemic and have since been discontinued (More)

World News

• Syrian opposition leaders have granted amnesty to fallen dictator Bashar al-Assad's soldiers. Former Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali is expected to oversee government institutions until a transitionary council is established (More)

• Ghana has returned its former president to power. John Dramani Mahama was re-elected amid economic struggles in the African nation; he was president from 2012-17 after ascending to the position following the death of John Attya Mills (More)

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested his country could host foreign troops as part of a diplomatic ceasefire with Russia if it is not in NATO. The comments come after reports President-elect Trump may propose European peacekeeping forces maintain a buffer zone between the countries (More)

Political News

• Two new U.S. Senators were sworn in. California's Adam Schiff and New Jersey's Andy Kim, both Democrats, will finish expiring terms before beginning the six-year terms they were elected to last month (More)

• Lara Trump plans to resign as Republican National Committee Co-Chairwoman. The move comes amid speculation President-elect Trump's daughter-in-law could be appointed to fill Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's seat if he is approved as Secretary of State (More)

• A bill proposing 18-year non-renewable Supreme Court terms has been introduced in the Senate. The measure, which would require a constitutional amendment, would have turnover on the high court every two years (More)

Business & Markets

• Major indexes closed lower yesterday. Nvidia's share price slid almost 3% on reports the artificial intelligence giant is being investigated by Chinese anti-monopoly regulators (Dow -0.54%, Nasdaq -0.62%, S&P 500 -0.61% | More)

• Mondelez International is exploring an acquisition of Hershey, which would form one of the world's biggest confectioners. The Cadbury parent company made a $23B bid to buy its chocolate rival in 2016, but it was rebuffed (More)

• TikTok has asked for an emergency injunction to avoid a Jan. 19 ban in the U.S. on national security grounds. The social media platform, which is owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, said creators and small businesses would lose $1.3B in the first month of a prohibition (More | More)

Entertainment & Sports

• Bill Belichick confirmed he is in talks to become North Carolina's head football coach. The nine-time Super Bowl champion has never coached at the college level; he needs 15 more NFL victories to become the winningest coach in league history (More)

• Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is headed to Broadway. She will have a one-night role in the Dec. 14 showing of & Juliet and then lead a talkback session after the performance, fulfilling a dream she discussed in her memoir (More)

• Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter blasted a lawsuit alleging he raped an underage woman with Sean "Diddy" Combs in 2000. The hip-hop mogul has filed to dismiss the "cynical and calculated" claim and alleges it is blackmail; he wants the accuser named publicly (More)

Quick Hitters

• Fun Stuff: Phone scams often target elderly people. Enter Daisy, an artificial intelligence-generated grandmother who excels at wasting fraudsters' time.

• Take Note: No one likes having a cold. But do home remedies like chicken soup actually do any good?

• Go Deep: Some consider the failed martial law decree in South Korea is the latest instance of a concerning international trend -- the self-coup. Here is an in-depth look at the concept and how it has played out globally.

• History Lesson: The National Archive has digitized a series of unseen photos depicting makeshift windmills in Nebraska right before the start of the 20th century. It's pretty amazing to see what people came up with.

• Life Hack: Breathing, drinking water and sleeping seem like simple tasks. But an expert claims most people are not effectively executing these daily routines.

Watch This

America has finally built a beautiful airport.

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Looking Ahead …

There will be a lot going on in the skies next year. Here is a look at several must-see celestial events for 2025, including a partial solar eclipse.

Question of the Day

Yesterday’s results:

Sparkling or still water?

• Still (74%)

• Sparkling (26%)