With her latest venture, the Bliss founder Marcia Kilgore is selling high-end beauty products at prices closer to what the factories charge. Will consumers want a slice of Beauty Pie?

Makeup Without the Markup

Drops in November and October raise questions about how retailers are faring in the all-important holiday shopping season.

Red Flags for Economy as Retail Sales Fall for a Second Month

The Chang’e-5 mission’s success highlights the progress of China’s space program, and growing rivalry with the United States.

China Brings Moon Rocks to Earth, and a New Era of Competition to Space

Walgreens and CVS staff will soon begin vaccinations at tens of thousands of long-term care facilities. Some staff and residents are wary, and there are thorny issues of consent.

Vaccination Campaign at Nursing Homes Faces Obstacles and Confusion

Members of the national Women of Color Quilters Network draw on personal experiences of injustice, turning their needlework into symbols of liberation, resistance and empowerment.

Gone but Never Forgotten in a Quilt

The website for the tech titan’s cloud business described facial recognition software that could detect members of a minority group whose persecution has drawn international condemnation.

As China Tracked Muslims, Alibaba Showed Customers How They Could, Too

With ‘Pandemonium,’ the BBC is betting that an audience will find humor in reliving the ordeals of a very awful year.

Are We Ready to Laugh About Covid-19? A British Sitcom Hopes So

More than 3,400 players from seven leagues that operated from 1920 to 1948 will now be considered major leaguers in a move that will shake up the record books.

Baseball Rights a Wrong by Adding Negro Leagues to Official Records

The suit focuses on the advertisements that generate a vast majority of the company’s profits.

10 States Accuse Google of Abusing Monopoly in Online Ads

With “Wolfwalkers,” Cartoon Saloon completes a hand-drawn trilogy based on Celtic mythology. The film epitomizes everything the studio stands for.

The Small Irish Animation Studio That Keeps Getting the Oscars’ Attention

A new six-part Netflix series explores half a century of music under pressure.

‘Break It All’ Celebrates the Oppositional Energy of Latin Rock

The social network said it opposed changes that Apple was making to the tracking of apps and would provide information for an antitrust complaint against the iPhone maker.

Facebook Takes the Gloves Off in Feud With Apple

The emerging compromise would provide emergency stimulus payments, jobless aid and rental assistance, extending help to businesses and funding the distribution of a vaccine. But more is likely to be needed.

Staring Down Deadline, Congress Nears $900 Billion Stimulus Deal

Some tree crickets amplify their calls with leaves, giving them an opportunity to mate that they otherwise might miss.

He’s Too Quiet for His Mate to Hear Him. So He Makes a Megaphone.

In Heather Christian’s “I Am Sending You the Sacred Face,” the saint of Calcutta vogues and lip-syncs and broods on the nature of selflessness.

Review: Mother Teresa Sings, in Drag and With Doubts

In 2013, this reporter spent 10 Bitcoin, worth $1,000 at the time, on a dinner for dozens of strangers in San Francisco. The owner of the restaurant wisely held onto it.

My $200,000 Sushi Dinner

Quotation of the Day for Wednesday, December 16, 2020.

Quotation of the Day: Rush by Rich Countries to Reserve Early Doses Leaves the Poor Behind

On a film set in Britain, the actor tore into the crew with an expletive-laden rant. Production of the blockbuster film had previously been delayed by the pandemic.

Tom Cruise Erupts at ‘Mission: Impossible’ Crew Over Covid-19 Breach

We asked Dr. Anthony S. Fauci and other experts when they thought life would start to feel more normal.

When Can We Start Making Plans?

At the end of a socially distanced year, simply having the excuse to put on some makeup, like lip color, feels like a cause for celebration.

Time to Break Out the Lipstick

The decision to label the countries currency manipulators for the first time is likely to raise tensions with two trading partners.

Trump Administration Says Vietnam and Switzerland Manipulated Currency

The medical anthropologist won the prize, which is given to “thinkers whose ideas have profoundly shaped human self-understanding and advancement.”

Paul Farmer Is Awarded the $1 Million Berggruen Prize

Use these mediation techniques to build empathy and help them settle disputes themselves.

How to Squash Kids’ Fights in 4 Steps

Plays by Mike Bartlett, Christina Anderson and Halley Feiffer are watchable at home, too. And for an alternative holiday hit, “Burning Bluebeard.”

Theater to Stream: ‘Spring Awakening’ and Audra McDonald

“She’s disrupting the norms around billionaire philanthropy by moving quickly,” an expert on charities said.

December 16, 2020

Headlines from December 16, 2020

Makeup Without the Markup

Red Flags for Economy as Retail Sales Fall for a Second Month

China Brings Moon Rocks to Earth, and a New Era of Competition to Space

Vaccination Campaign at Nursing Homes Faces Obstacles and Confusion

Gone but Never Forgotten in a Quilt

Billboard 200

Wonder

El Ultimo Tour del Mundo

Positions

Christmas

My Gift

Historical Context for December 16, 2020