It’s been a major week in humanity’s hunt for a Covid-19 vaccine. The positive developments were big enough for America’s top infectious disease specialist, Anthony Fauci, to declare the pandemic won’t be around for too much longer. Hot spots in Europe also showed signs of cooling, but in the U.S., which faces a leadership vacuum as President Donald Trump focuses on reversing his defeat at the hands of President-elect Joe Biden, the disease is spreading uncontrolled, infecting 150,000 and killing 1,500 every day. Some of the world’s top central bankers are far from optimistic, and coronavirus mutations among Danish mink have experts worried about new strains, pharmaceutical company analyst Sam Fazeli writes in Bloomberg Opinion.

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What you’ll want to read this weekend

China finally congratulated Biden on his victory and U.S. officials said the election was the most secure in American history, contradicting Trump’s false claims of electoral fraud. With his legal strategy foundering, the Republican has also stepped up his attacks on Fox.

Months of protests against nationwide American police killings of unarmed citizens may have helped Biden’s election by mobilizing Democratic voters. A Target store in Minneapolis, destroyed in the aftermath of George Floyd’s asphyxiation by Minneapolis police employee Derek Chauvin, is re-opening with the goal of reaching out to Black customers.

The Target Corp. store in South Minneapolis  

Photographer: Stephen Allen/Target Corp.

Let the global fight for talent begin: Singapore is introducing a new visa to attract tech experts; Canada created a work permit for recent Hong Kong graduates; and Greece is offering tax breaks to lure the work-from-anywhere crowd.

Climate update: San Francisco will ban the use of natural gas in new buildings, while insurers in California are close to being buried by wildfires. 

Celebrating this holiday season will be complicated, so here’s a guide. Be careful when dining in one of those outdoor tents that restaurants are putting up, since they’re basically enclosed.  

What you’ll need to know next week

• World’s biggest free-trade deal to be signed at the Asean Summit.
• Michael Pompeo starts his last foreign trip as secretary of state.
• Facebook, Twitter CEOs testify on new content restrictions.
• Bloomberg New Economy Forum features Bill Gates, Janet Yellen.
• Saudi Arabia tries to salvage the G-20 summit by hosting it virtually.

What you’ll want to read in Businessweek

Neglecting Climate, Free Trade Costs $36 Trillion

In the Covid crisis, governments have struggled to find the right national policies—and also to coordinate an effective global response. They’ll have to do better when it comes to confronting the biggest challenges of the age: rising temperatures and a fracturing world economy. Taken together, rapid action against rising temperatures and a renewed commitment to globalization would put the world economy on track for 2050 output of $185 trillion. Delaying moves to cut carbon emissions, and allowing cross-border ties to fray, could cap it at $149 trillion—the entire GDP of the U.S. and China last year.

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