President Donald Trump backed away from a crisis of his own making by signing a pandemic relief bill Sunday night, but only after depriving millions of Americans of a week of unemployment aid and triggering an outcry from lawmakers in both political parties. U.S. stocks rallied on the news, with the S&P 500 Index hitting an all-time high. —Josh Petri

Bloomberg is tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines while mapping the pandemic globally and across America.

Here are today’s top stories

Trump got little if anything out of the delay. Instead, he created an opening for Democrats, allowing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to stage a roll-call vote on his demand for $2,000 stimulus checks, highlighting Republican opposition to the politically popular idea in the process.

China has sentenced a former lawyer to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” with her reports about the early coronavirus response in Wuhan, according to media reports. In the U.S., Covid-19 hospitalizations reached new highs this week, testing the nation’s health-care workers as the virus sidelines many just when they’re needed most.

Covid continues to cause severe economic distress, but natural disasters fueled by a warming planet also took their toll this year, causing record damage and displacing millions of people all over the world, according to two new assessments of insurance claims. The U.S. topped the list of countries financially impacted by the climate crisis, with $60 billion in damages.

A village is flooded after a dam broke following landfall of cyclone Amphan in Shyamnagar, Bangladesh, on May 21.

Photographer: Munir Uz Zaman//AFP

Alibaba led a second day of frenetic selling among China’s largest tech firms, driven by fears that antitrust scrutiny will spread beyond Jack Ma’s empire and engulf the country’s most powerful corporations. Alibaba and its three largest rivals have shed nearly $200 billion in Hong Kong trading since Dec. 24, when regulators revealed an investigation into alleged monopolistic practices at Ma’s signature company.

Carnival’s largest ship ever, replete with roller coaster, craft brewery and room for 6,500 passengers, is ready to set sail. Of course, it will be months before even the first traveler steps aboard. Questions abound as to when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will lift its no-sail orders and allow ships to resume—or in the case of the Mardi Gras, commence—operations.

Carnival’s Mardi Gras

“Wonder Woman 1984” exceeded box office forecasts and helped break usage records for streaming service HBO Max. The film took in an estimated $36.1 million globally this weekend, a strong enough response that Warner Bros. announced it would fast-track the trilogy’s third installment.

Trump’s continued effort to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory—the latest long-shot involves a Republican congressman suing Vice President Mike Pence—got a front-page rebuke from one his most loyal backers: the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

Bitcoin hit an all-time high over the weekend.
Goldman Sachs invests in Echelon as a bet on at-home fitness.
Georgia Senate races enter their final stretch.
Novavax begins final-stage trial of its coronavirus vaccine.
More than 4.4 million vaccine shots have been given worldwide.
America’s busiest train station is about to transform travel.
New types of fizz and robots: Eight ways wine will change in 2021.

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What you’ll want to read tonight in Businessweek

Doctors Now Prescribe Arbitration Agreements

Private equity is buying up struggling medical practices on the cheap and following a familiar playbook of consolidation and cost-cutting. As part of that effort, many patients are being asked to sign binding arbitration agreements, which strip them of their right to a jury trial in the event of medical malpractice.

Photographer: Kati Szilágyi for Bloomberg Businessweek

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