Good morning, Quartz readers!
Here’s what you need to know
Another Covid vaccine is on its way. The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine is cheaper to make, and easier to store and transport, than Pfizer’s and Moderna’s. Although it appears to have lower immediate efficacy than the others, at around 70%, its success rate jumped to 90% for volunteers who had taken an earlier half-dose.
Donald Trump is engulfed in legal chaos. Two of the US president’s lawyers, Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, cut ties with their colleague, conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell. They said she is “practicing law on her own,” and is “not a member of the Trump legal team.” Meanwhile, lawsuits challenging the election result continue to be thrown out.
Joe Biden is set to name his secretary of state. According to multiple reports, the US president-elect’s choice for foreign policy chief is Antony Blinken, 58, a career diplomat and longtime Biden aide who also served in the Obama administration.
Prominent Hong Kong democracy activists pleaded guilty over protests. Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam appeared in court today accused of unlawful assembly during last year’s demonstrations, and did not contest the charges. They face up to five years in jail.
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy goes on trial. He faces accusations of corruption over alleged attempts to bribe a judge with a cushy job in return for information about an inquiry into the ex-president. The case is the first of several against the man who led France for one term from 2007-2012.
What to watch for this week
Monday: Brexit trade deal talks resume in London, and the International Emmy Awards are held.
Tuesday: Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi begins a four-day visit to Japan and South Korea; Biden announces his first cabinet picks; and Grammy Award nominations are announced.
Wednesday: UK finance minister Rishi Sunak is expected to announce major infrastructure investment in his spending review, and the US publishes key metrics including personal spending, GDP, and residential sales.
Thursday: 🦃 US Thanksgiving.
Friday: Black Friday—which Amazon France has agreed to delay to help local shops hit by lockdowns.
Workplace software is having a moment
With in-person meetings still limited or impossible, companies are looking to software to make their operations easier and secure. That means the companies that provide that software are seeing a significant boost—one that might be here to stay, as remote work arrangements become permanent.
Here’s what’s in demand:
💻 Online HR systems like Workday
⛅ Cloud computing services
💼 Workers for India’s IT firms (in both hardware and software roles)
💫 Proprietary software, which helps make businesses less prone to disruption
Charting the cost of Jollof rice
Jollof rice might be as close as Nigeria gets to a national dish. The availability of its ingredients is one of the reasons the spicy rice meal cuts across ethnic divides. It also makes the dish a good benchmark for the cost of living in Nigeria.
Turns out, the cost of food has skyrocketed over the past year, leaving citizens to bear the brunt of a deteriorating economy, which has now officially tipped into recession. Yomi Kazeem explores why food costs so much, and when respite might come.
How we eat now
Nine months into the pandemic, Quartz looked at the biggest gastronomical shifts around the globe, and the impact on local and multinational businesses. Who benefits, who’s harmed, and when this is all over, which changes will last?
Whether it’s shifts in home cooking, the suffering restaurant industry, or the role of food in our culture and politics, we found a mix of creative solutions to difficult situations, ingenious adaptations to short-term shortages, and even some hope for the future. Read more in our field guide to how we eat now.
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Surprising discoveries
A Dutch journalist gatecrashed an EU defense meeting. He managed to join the video call after the Dutch defense minister accidentally tweeted out login details.
Oxford Dictionaries couldn’t sum up 2020 in a single word. It had to expand its word of the year to a list including “Covid-19”, “Black Lives Matter”, and “essential workers”.
Remarkably preserved remains of two men were unearthed in Pompeii. The man and his slave were thought to be looking for shelter, and the ash captured details down to the folds of their clothes.
An ancient Hermes head was found in Athens. Sewer workers found the marble artifact depicting the Greek god of war.
Hokkaido has a monster wolf. The Japanese city installed the mechanical animal, which makes howling sounds and flashes red eyes, in an attempt to ward off nuisance bears.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, not-so-secret meetings, and plates of Jollof rice to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Hasit Shah, Mary Hui, Ananya Bhattacharya, Amanda Shendruk, and Alex Ossola.