Good morning, all.

1. The government has formally unveiled its media bargaining code, which will compel the big tech platforms to pay for news. Not much new here from what has been reported throughout the drafting process – but Google and Facebook have won a major concession which means the amount of money publishers receive may be offset against the value of the online traffic they get from the tech giants. “This is a huge reform. This is a world first. And the world is watching what happens here in Australia,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.

2. New analysis has revealed that nearly half of all casual workers aren’t being paid their leave loading, despite being entitled to it. The report, published by Griffith University Professor David Peetz, has shed light on the reality of insecure work in Australia, with the country trailing the vast majority of OECD nations when it comes to entitlements. “This report shows that casualisation is a systemic issue in the Australian workforce – the majority of people who are casual should not be and do not receive any of the supposed benefits of casual employment,” ACTU national secretary Sally McManus said, as the unions fight the government over proposed reforms.

3. The United Kingdom began vaccinating seniors against COVID-19 on December 8. It became the first Western country to approve the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine earlier in the week. Here’s what it looks like in the UK on “V-Day,” when the first citizens got doses of the COVID-19 vaccine outside of trials. Also, there’s this:

4. Victoria will be home to new Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud infrastructure. This will allow more startups and organisations to run their applications from data centres in Australia. “Attracting companies like AWS will strengthen our reputation as a tech leader,” Victoria’s Minister for Economic Development Tim Pallas said.

5. Australian logistics software platform Shippit raised $30 million in its latest funding round. The company matches retailers with the best carrier – say Australia Post or Couriers Please – for their e-commerce operations. Shippit plans to use the funds to grow its team of engineers in Australia and continue expanding in Southeast Asia.

6. Apple unveiled its first Apple-branded, over-ear headphones on Tuesday: The Apple AirPods Max. Despite carrying the same AirPods branding as the earbud-style headphones, the AirPods Max are intended as premium headphones – and they come with an extremely premium price of $AU849. Yes, you read that right. But I know in my heart the Apple freaks reading this will probably part gladly with their hard-earned for what will surely be cloned by every other headphone maker at some point.

7. Australians made 1.3 million donations on GoFundMe in 2020 – a 30% increase on the previous year. Several events that spurred the generosity of donors, including the devastating summer bushfires, the Black Lives Matter movement and the coronavirus pandemic. Rounding out the top five was the page to support the business Lentil As Anything from going into administration.

8. IKEA has made the “emotional but rational” decision to scrap both the print and digital editions of its catalogue, it announced this week. Fewer people are reading the catalogue and IKEA wants to focus on online sales instead, it said. The catalogue was first launched in 1951. IKEA now prints around 200 million copies a year, making it one of the world’s most popular books.

9. Facebook’s renamed cryptocurrency is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and does not change the underlying risks that come with it, Germany’s finance minister said on Monday. “It is clear to me that Germany and Europe cannot and will not accept its entry into the market while the regulatory risks are not adequately addressed,” Olaf Scholz said after a G7 meeting. Financial leaders and central bankers have underscored the need to regulate digital currencies. Facebook changed Libra’s name to Diem to stress a simpler, revamped structure.

10. The US Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request from a number of Republican officials to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania. The case was brought by US Rep. Mike Kelly and a number of GOP state legislators and asked the Supreme Court to block Pennsylvania’s certificaton of its election results. The high court’s rejection Tuesday adds to a long list of defeats for President Trump and his allies’ ongoing efforts to throw out the results of the 2020 election.

BONUS ITEM

Every year, Saxo Bank puts out its list of its most outrageous predictions for the following year. The 2021 list is out, and it contains such out there predictions as total corporate collapse and a mass exodus from cities. Hmm, maybe not that insane.

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