China is rewriting its political history…again.

Happening in the World: Yesterday, the Chinese Communist Party released a resolution on history that identifies President Xi Jinping as one of its revered leaders. The full text of this resolution was released after party officials approved it last week and are the third summation of history released by the CCP within the last 100 years. Roughly two-thirds of the document are about Xi Jinping’s nine years in power, with the goal of cementing his status as a pioneering leader. Notably, Mr. Xi’s name appears 22 times in the resolution—which is more than the 18 mentions given to Mao, and the six times Deng Xiaoping is mentioned (NYT).

Happening in the US: The Food and Drug Administration hopes to authorize booster doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for all adults by tomorrow. This comes only a little more than a week after Pfizer asked for its boosters to be authorized for use by everyone above the age of 18. If both the CDC and the FDA approve the efficacy and safety of the booster doses, any adult who received a second dose of the vaccine at least six months earlier would be officially eligible to get a booster as soon as this weekend (NYT).

Happening in NYC: Times Square is ready to welcome back crowds to celebrate the New Year of 2022—however, they will now require that everyone attending is either vaccinated or has received a negative COVID test in the recent past. The announcement was made by the president of the Times Square Alliance, along with Mayor Bill de Blasio. Historically, Times Square has hosted one of the biggest New Year’s celebrations every year since 1907—until the eerily empty New Year’s celebration last year due to the COVID-19 outbreak (Gothamist).

Happening in Our Community: Columbia’s European Institute is hosting a dialogue between two award-winning writers, Jhumpa Lahiri and Amara Lakhous, about writing in the Italian language, migration and mobility, and belonging. The event is at 1 pm today, and you can register for it here.

Propaganda is a universal phenomenon via Bwarchives