Good Morning! Today’s edition is 875 words, a 4-minute read.

What’s on tap: 

• FDA approves weight loss drug

• Barry Manilow’s cancer diagnosis

• 7 ways to connect with kids

First-time reader? Sign up here!

*Editor’s note: I’m taking off the next few days to celebrate Christmas with my family. The Neutral will be back in your inbox Monday morning. Merry Christmas! - Adam

Big Stories

Trump Names Greenland Envoy

• President Trump appointed Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry on Sunday as special envoy to Greenland with the explicit goal of making the self-governing Danish territory part of the United States. The move sparked immediate backlash from Denmark and Greenland.

• Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen issued a joint statement: "You cannot annex another country. Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders." Nielsen added on Facebook: "We decide our own future." Denmark's foreign minister will summon the US Ambassador, calling the appointment "completely unacceptable."

• Trump cited Greenland's strategic Arctic location and mineral resources as essential to national security and reducing US reliance on China. Greenland, with 57,000 residents, is a former Danish colony dependent on fishing and Danish subsidies. Denmark recently invested heavily in Arctic defense to appease Trump.

FDA Approves Wegovy Pill

• The FDA approved a pill version of Wegovy, making it the first oral GLP-1 drug available for weight loss.

• Clinical trials showed people taking the highest dose lost 16.6% of their body weight after 64 weeks, comparable to Wegovy injections. The pill must be taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach with no more than 4 ounces of water. Patients who didn't follow the strict schedule lost 13.6% instead.

• Novo Nordisk will sell the lowest dose for $149 monthly for cash-paying customers under a deal with the Trump administration. Many private insurers restrict coverage due to high costs, though Medicare may cover the pill for heart disease prevention. It will be available in January.

Car Bomb Kills Russian General

• A car bomb killed Russian Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov on Monday, the third senior military officer assassinated in just over a year. Russia's Investigative Committee said Ukraine may be behind the attack. Sarvarov, 56, headed the Operational Training Directorate of the General Staff.

• The killing follows a pattern of targeted assassinations. In December 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment in Moscow. Ukraine claimed responsibility. In April, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik died from a car bomb near Moscow.

• Ukraine has increasingly used asymmetric warfare against Russia's larger military, including attacks on naval bases, bomber facilities, and leadership targets. Ukraine has not yet commented on Sarvarov's death.

Invest right from your couch

Have you always been kind of interested in investing but found it too intimidating (or just plain boring)? Yeah, we get it. Luckily, today’s brokers are a little less Wall Street and much more accessible. Online stockbrokers provide a much more user-friendly experience to buy and sell stocks—right from your couch. Money.com put together a list of the Best Online Stock Brokers to help you open your first account. Check it out!

Start investing

Quick Stories

US News

• The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassador posts to replace them with people fully supportive of his "America First" agenda. (More)

• Homeland Security is offering undocumented migrants $3,000 and a free ticket to voluntarily leave the US by year-end, tripling its self-deportation incentive. (More)

• This year's holiday season is expected to be the busiest travel period in history with 122.4 million Americans projected to travel at least 50 miles from home, up 2.2% from last year's record. (More)

World

• El Salvador gave 248 MS-13 gang members sentences of up to 1,335 years for murders and disappearances, part of President Bukele's massive crackdown that has jailed over 90,000 people. (More)

• China imposed tariffs up to 42.7% on European dairy products starting December 23, claiming EU subsidies hurt its domestic industry. (More)

• Japan moved closer to restarting the world's largest nuclear plant for the first time since Fukushima after local officials approved Tokyo Electric's plan to restart one of seven reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa. (More)

Business & Economy

• US stock markets closed higher on Monday (S&P +0.64%, Nasdaq +0.52%, Dow +0.47%). AI stocks boosted the market for a third straight day. (More)

• Google's parent company, Alphabet, is buying data center firm Intersect Power for $4.75 billion to secure power for its energy-hungry AI data centers and training operations. (More)

• Paramount added a $40.4 billion personal guarantee from billionaire Larry Ellison to its $30-per-share hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. (More)

Sports & Entertainment

• The Kansas City Chiefs will leave Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri for a new $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas set to open in 2031. (More)

• Universal released the first teaser for Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey," starring Matt Damon. (More)

• Barry Manilow announced he has lung cancer and will undergo surgery to remove a spot on his left lung, postponing January shows until late February. (More)

Science, Health, & Tech

• TikTok Shop launched digital gift cards to compete with Amazon and eBay. (More)

• Aggressive brain tumors increase nearby neurons' electrical activity, which then fuels tumor growth, suggesting new treatments could target this neural-cancer connection. (More)

• Astronomers found a Jupiter-sized planet stretched into a football shape by its pulsar star's extreme gravity. (More)

Extra Credit

7 ways to meaningfully connect with your kids.

Why you should never put oil in pasta water.

White Elephant 101: How to play the holiday gift-giving game.

Harvard morgue manager gets 8 years for selling body parts.