| Never-ending story | Brexit talks continue after the latest in a long line of deadlines came and went yesterday with the U.K. and the European Union agreeing to take another shot at closing a deal. Officials now say that an agreement could be struck this week, after both sides said they're prepared to go the "extra mile." The U.K. will leave the EU customs union and single market on Dec. 31, deal or no deal. Christmas gloom | Chancellor Angela Merkel finally got her way when she sent Germany into a hard lockdown after less rigorous restrictions introduced last month failed to stem the virus spread. All non-essential shops will be closed from Wednesday, employers urged to shutter workplaces and schoolchildren encouraged to stay at home under the measures, which are to last at least until Jan. 10. Merkel consistently called for tighter curbs, but the federal states refused to go along until a crisis meeting yesterday. - Trump and other top U.S. officials will be offered the newly approved coronavirus vaccine within days as part of a plan to ensure continuity in government, Jennifer Jacobs reports.
Red Sea tension | An explosion rocked a tanker after it was hit by an "external source" in the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah yesterday, a sign of mounting attacks in the Red Sea. Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who are fighting a Saudi-led force backing the government there, have previously used sea mines to target ships in Saudi Arabian waters. Reality check | While political momentum is building for action against global warming, the lack of near-term detail means the planet could still be on track for an environmental catastrophe. As Jess Shankleman and Laura Millan Lombrana explain, a six-hour summit of leaders this weekend heard pledges of only incremental steps, which doesn't bode well for the upcoming round of climate talks next year in Glasgow. - Thinning ice in the Arctic made this year's navigation season for natural gas tankers the longest on record, the latest sign of accelerating climate change in the Earth's northernmost latitudes.
 Muslim anxiety | French President Emmanuel Macron's description of Islam as a religion in crisis has some Muslims saying they feel they're being made into scapegoats after a series of horrific attacks by Islamic radicals, Ania Nussbaum reports. Macron's government last week introduced a draft law to fight "separatism," a term he's coined for groups that don't integrate and are susceptible to extremism. What to Watch This WeekThanks to all who responded to our pop quiz Friday, and congratulations to Han-Ywan Hu who was the first to name Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro as the president who regained control of his nation's National Assembly after the opposition boycotted elections. And finally ... In January, most people had never heard of the coronavirus or Covid-19. Now everyone from the youngest schoolchild to the most vulnerable pensioner has. As Rodney Jefferson outlines in Bloomberg's The Year in Pictures, 2020 will be etched into the collective psyche as the year when the pandemic took a huge human toll — more than 1.6 million lives so far — and upended how and where we work, travel, learn, worship and socialize.  A family carries the coffin of a person who died from the coronavirus at the Nueva Esperanza cemetery in Lima, Peru, on June 17. Photographer: Angela Ponce/Bloomberg | 
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