News of the day: But you are also lining up

1.

Speak

"Corona pandemic" is the word of the year

- a much less surprising decision than the "respectable" from the previous year.

The selection will also open up in the following places earlier than in 2019.

• Today in places two to ten are: Lockdown, Conspiracy Narrative, Black Lives Matter, AHA, Systemically Relevant, Triage, Ghost Games, Gender Stars, Stay Healthy!

• Back then, before the pandemic, there were: Roller chaos, Fridays for Future, onlookers, donut effect, tired of brexit, googling against the bees, the dying of bees, niece of oligarchs, the orderly return law.

It almost seems as if an

, the progress of which is being read more and more frequently, has learned something new and has chosen the most important annual review words more appropriately.

But it was the jury of the Society for German Language, about whose artificiality and intelligence I cannot say anything seriously.

• Read more here: »Corona pandemic« is the word of the year 2020

• If you are interested in Artificial Intelligence: Order our weekly Netzwelt newsletter "Star Menu" here.

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2.

See / stand

The picture of the year

, selected without a jury or computer, is the

for me

.

In front of the supermarkets, at the weekly markets, at the daycare doors - people are standing everywhere and waiting for their turn.

Markings in front of the cash registers and on the sidewalks remind people to keep a safe distance.

I would be surprised if photography working groups and art colleges have not been planning illustrated books and online projects for a long time (vernissages will probably fall flat for a while).

Icon: enlarge

How is the waiting feeling?

Photo: Jochen Tack / imago images / Jochen Tack

The waiting and the partial shutdown

don't seem to spoil people's mood completely, at least not in economic matters.

During the discount campaigns for so-called »Black Friday« it was so crowded in some pedestrian zones and in front of electronics stores that images of the real »Black Friday« came to mind.

Unlike in the spring, the November measures only dampened the confidence of Germans for a short time, as the SPIEGEL economic monitor shows.

Icon: enlarge

How snake still?

Photo: Rupert Oberhäuser / imago images

My colleague Florian Diekmann evaluated the representative survey data.

"People are quite aware of the negative economic consequences of the pandemic, but remain comparatively calm." This is not just a mood: hard economic indicators also suggest that "the second shutdown will slow the economy down significantly less than the first," says Florian.

(Read more here.)

Unfortunately, it also slows down the number of infections less

, but at least the curve is flattening out.

It is less the economic news than the medical news that gives us hope: The US pharmaceutical company Moderna wants to be the first company to apply for approval for a corona vaccine in the EU.

At the same time, he wants to obtain emergency approval from the US drug agency.

This means that vaccination is getting closer this year.

I guess you'll have to stand in line for that too.

• Read more here: What you need to know about the corona vaccine

3.

Yawn

Joachim Löw remains national coach

, that's in the headlines.

When it comes to football, as you know, let's switch to my colleague Peter Ahrens from the sports department:

Icon: enlarge

Handlebar pose

Photo: MARCELO DEL POZO / REUTERS

“The German Football Association can still surprise you.

Since the 6-0 fiasco in Seville, the DFB had communicated that on Friday, December 4th, the Presidium would decide on the future of Löw and the national team.

Now the decision was just made a few days earlier.

How it turned out, however, falls under the category: expected. "

Peter writes about the reasons:

»An early dismissal with the associated high severance payment was considered very unlikely in view of the financial problems at the DFB.

So it was in the hands of the national coach himself. In view of the huge public displeasure that broke out after the Spain game, he could have said of his own accord: Folks, I don't have to do that to myself.

But that's not how Joachim Löw is.

He believes that he can still achieve something great with this team. "

• Read the whole comment here: Keep it up, Germany

What else is important today

• The trail leads to the Mossad:

  Iran blames Israel for the murder of its nuclear program chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

  In fact, there is much to suggest that Jerusalem was behind the act.

  Still completely unclear: what did Donald Trump know?

• Müller counters Brinkhaus criticism of the states:

  Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus demands more financial commitment from the states in the corona crisis.

  Berlin's Prime Minister Michael Müller found clear words for this in the SPIEGEL studio talk.

• Australia asks China to apologize for a horror photo:

  an Australian soldier holds a bloody knife to the throat of an Afghan child - this clearly edited image is shared by China's Foreign Office on Twitter.

  The Canberra government is outraged.

My favorite story today: miracles in the desert

Icon: enlarge

Reuter (r.)

Photo: Sam Tarling / Sam Tarling / Sana'a Center / Publication

If

is making headlines, it usually goes to the civil war, which dominated the country for eight years.

There is almost never anything hopeful to report, which is also due to the fact that it is very difficult for journalists to get into the country.

My colleague Christoph Reuter spent two years preparing a trip to Yemen together with some international journalists.

The target was the province of Shabwa, whose inhabitants have fought their way free from all attackers and are now experiencing a modest upswing.

"There are new jobs, better health care," says Christoph, "only how long this miracle will last in the desert, nobody knows."

• Read the full story here: A place of hope between civil war and epidemics

What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +

• Can Trump pardon himself?

  If the US president leaves office, his immunity also ends.

  He already has ideas on how to avoid the threatened legal proceedings.

  It is questionable whether the strategy will work.

• Brazil's gun violence - Made in Germany:

  More people die from firearms in Brazil than rarely before.

  Despite this, the president has further relaxed the rules on gun ownership.

  The German company Sig Sauer in particular benefits from this.

• »Women challenged the system«:

  Pickelhauben and subjects - was the first German nation-state really that authoritarian?

  Historian Hedwig Richter says: Germany was modernizing rapidly around 1900.

  Women drove change.

• I am amazed at the ease with which my friends

  bring

  children into the world:

  I always considered myself a courageous woman - until I wanted to get pregnant.

  Then came the fear of a child with a disability.

  Although or because my brother has Down syndrome.

Which is not so important today

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CAUTION FICTION!

Emma Corrin as Princess of Wales in "The Crown"

Photo: 

Des Willie / Netflix

• Media palace guard

  : The British Minister of Culture

  Oliver Dowden

  , 42, is obviously concerned about the reputation of the royal family and wants to get a warning before every "The Crown" episode, as reported by several newspapers.

  He told the Mail on Sunday: “It is a beautifully made work of fiction.

  That should also be highlighted by Netflix, as is the case with other shows.

  Otherwise, I fear that a generation of viewers who haven't seen the real events will misinterpret the whole thing as real. "

Typo of the day

, corrected in the meantime: "Or checking the browser line before entering your credit card details somewhere: Is it really https up there?"

Cartoon of the day:

skiing in corona times

Icon: enlarge Photo: Klaus Stuttmann

And tonight?

Icon: enlarge

Onion skins evening

Photo: 

Helga Lugert

Could you bring the scent of the Christmas markets, which unfortunately fail everywhere, into your kitchen and try the recipe from our cook Verena Lugert: She spices her

.

An aroma that is usually more familiar from gingerbread in this country - but which harmonizes wonderfully with the hearty soup and makes the rich cheese top even easier to digest, she writes.

Sounds like you could sleep comfortably on the sofa afterwards.

You a relaxing evening.

Sincerely,

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