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Just as vaccines begin to offerhope for a path out of the pan-demic, officials in Britain this pastweekend sounded an urgentalarm about what they called ahighly contagious new variant ofthe coronavirus circulating inEngland.

Citing the rapid spread of the vi-rus through London and sur-rounding areas, Prime MinisterBoris Johnson imposed the coun-try’s most stringent lockdownsince March. “When the virus

changes its method of attack, wemust change our method of de-fense,” he said.

Train stations in London filledwith crowds of people scramblingto leave the city as the restrictionswent into effect. On Sunday, Euro-pean countries began closingtheir borders to travelers from the

United Kingdom, hoping to shutout the new iteration of the patho-gen.

In South Africa, a similar ver-sion of the virus has emerged,sharing one of the mutations seenin the British variant, according toscientists who detected it. That vi-rus has been found in up to 90 per-cent of the samples whose geneticsequences have been analyzed inSouth Africa since mid-November.

Scientists are worried aboutthese variants but not surprisedby them. Researchers have re-corded thousands of tiny modifi-

The Virus Is Mutating. Should We Be Worried?By APOORVA MANDAVILLI

London implemented tighter restrictions after a more contagious variant of the virus was found.ANDREW TESTA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Highly Infectious StrainDrives Britain Into a

Bigger Lockdown

Continued on Page A8

WASHINGTON — Congres-sional leaders on Sunday reacheda hard-fought agreement on a$900 billion stimulus package thatwould send immediate aid toAmericans and businesses to helpthem cope with the economic dev-astation of the pandemic and fundthe distribution of vaccines.

The deal would deliver the firstsignificant infusion of federal dol-lars into the economy since April,as negotiators broke throughmonths of partisan gridlock thathad scuttled earlier talks, leavingmillions of Americans and busi-nesses without federal help as thepandemic raged. While the plan isroughly half the size of the $2.2trillion stimulus law enacted inMarch, it is one of the largest reliefpackages in modern history.

“We can finally report what ournation has needed to hear for avery long time,” Senator MitchMcConnell, Republican of Ken-tucky and the majority leader,said Sunday night. “More help ison the way.”

It was expected to be mergedwith a sweeping catchall spendingmeasure that would keep the gov-ernment funded for the remainder

of the fiscal year, creating a $2.3trillion behemoth whose passagewill be Congress’s last substantivelegislative achievement beforeadjourning for the year. The dealcame together after a weekend offrenzied negotiating only hoursbefore the government was set torun out of funding and two weeksbefore the next Congress was toconvene on Jan. 3.

Still, even as it prepared to passa consequential measure, Con-gress was at the peak of its dys-function, having left so little timeto complete it that lawmakersfaced a series of contortions to getit across the finish line. With addi-tional time needed to transformtheir agreement into legislativetext, both chambers had to ap-prove a one-day stopgap spendingbill — their third such temporaryextension the past 10 days — toavoid a government shutdownwhile they were finalizing thedeal.

Both chambers approved themeasure on Sunday night, andPresident Trump was expected tosign it before midnight. Finalvotes on the spending package

CONGRESS REACHESDEAL ON VIRUS AID,ENDING AN IMPASSE

Jobless Relief, Help for Small Businessesand Stimulus Checks Are Included

By EMILY COCHRANE

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Mitch McConnell, the major-ity leader, broke a lengthy stalemate over a $900 billion package.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEFANI REYNOLDS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A9

TYLER HICKS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Thousands of children, some unaccompanied, are among the Ethiopians who have fled to places like Hamdayet in Sudan. Page A12.A Casualty of Ethiopia’s War: Childhood

The chief executive of Uber, theride-hailing company whose sixNew York lobbying firms includeAlbany’s best connected, wrotelast week to Gov. Andrew M.Cuomo with an ask: priority for itsdrivers in the next round of co-ronavirus vaccinations.

Days later, the president of NewYork’s largest transit union spokeabout the same topic with thechairman of the state transit au-thority, a Cuomo appointee. Not tobe outdone, the Hotel TradesCouncil, a hospitality labor groupwith an aggressive political arm,urged the state’s health commis-sioner in a letter on Tuesday togive priority to its members.

Even a presidential elector hadhoped to chat with the governorabout who was getting vaccinepriority — after they both tookpart in New York’s Electoral Col-lege vote.

Political horse-trading is rou-tine in state capitals, but Albanyhas a particularly long tradition ofbehind-the-scenes deals. Now, asthe coronavirus rages and vac-cines remain in short supply, thepandemic has been thrustsquarely into the maw of NewYork politics.

A state official described thenext stage of vaccine prioritiza-tion as “the big fight.”

“Everyone is chasing the samething now, and it really is remark-able,” said James E. McMahon, aveteran Albany lobbyist who rep-

Battle UnfoldsOn Who’s NextIn Vaccine Line

By J. DAVID GOODMANand LUIS FERRÉ-SADURNÍ

Continued on Page A6

FRANKFURT — Traveling forwork and far from home, SedaBasay-Yildiz received a chillingfax at her hotel: “You filthy Turk-ish sow,” it read. “We will slaugh-ter your daughter.”

A German defense lawyer ofTurkish descent who specializesin Islamist terrorism cases, Ms.Basay-Yildiz was used to threatsfrom the far right. But this one,which arrived late one night in Au-gust 2018, was different.

Signed with the initials of a for-mer neo-Nazi terrorist group, it

contained her address, which wasnot publicly available because ofthe earlier threats. Whoever sentit had access to a database pro-tected by the state.

“I knew I had to take this seri-ously — they had our address,they knew where my daughterlives,” Ms. Basay-Yildiz recalled inan interview. “And so for the firsttime I actually called the police.”

It would bring her little sense ofsecurity: An investigation soonshowed that the information hadbeen retrieved from a police com-puter.

Far-right extremism is re-surgent in Germany, in ways that

are new and very old, horrifying acountry that prides itself on deal-ing honestly with its murderouspast. This month, a two-year par-liamentary inquiry concluded thatfar-right networks had exten-sively penetrated German securi-ty services, including its elite spe-cial forces.

But increasingly, the spotlight isturning on Germany’s police, amuch more sprawling and decen-

tralized force with less stringentoversight than the military — andwith a more immediate impact onthe everyday safety of citizens,experts warn.

After World War II, the greatestpreoccupation among the UnitedStates, its allies and Germansthemselves was that the country’spolice force never again be milita-rized, or politicized and used as acudgel by an authoritarian statelike the Gestapo.

Policing was fundamentallyoverhauled in West Germany af-ter the war, and cadets across thecountry are now taught in unspar-

Neo-Nazis Burrow Into Ranks of German Police DepartmentsBy KATRIN BENNHOLD Experts Warn of Threat

to Public Safety

Continued on Page A13

It was among the most conse-quential weeks of PresidentTrump’s tenure: Across thecountry, health care workersbegan receiving a lifesavingcoronavirus vaccine. On CapitolHill, lawmakers closed in on adeal for economic relief aimed ataverting a deeper recession. Andon Friday, federal regulatorsauthorized a second vaccine.

Yet Mr. Trump was largelyabsent from those events. It wasVice President Mike Pence whoheld a call with governors onMonday to hail a “medical mir-

acle,” and who received the Pfi-zer vaccine at week’s end on livetelevision. Legislative leaderswere the ones working late intothe nights on a stimulus dealeventually reached on Sunday.

All the while Mr. Trump wasconducting a Twitter-borne as-sault on Republicans for nothelping him overturn the electionresults, even warning SenatorMitch McConnell of Kentucky,the majority leader, to “gettougher, or you won’t have aRepublican Party anymore.” By

Trump in Grip of GrudgesNEWS ANALYSIS

By ALEXANDER BURNS and JONATHAN MARTIN

Continued on Page A16

At churches like St. James in Louisville,Ky., music directors are perseveringthis Christmas season. Above, St.James’s 135-year-old organ. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

Still Making Joyful NoisesPhotographers captured how the pan-demic has brought many hectic holidaytraditions to a halt. PAGE B4

BUSINESS B1-7

Scenes of a Quiet ChristmasThe world’s largest rubber glove makerhas enjoyed record profits even as itslow-paid workers fall ill. PAGE A8

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-9

Equipping Others, at a Cost

Top-seeded Alabama will face NotreDame and No. 2 Clemson will take onOhio State in the national college foot-ball semifinals on Jan. 1. The winnerswill meet on Jan. 11. PAGE D1

SPORTSMONDAY D1-6

The Usual Playoff SuspectsThe Trump administration plans to stripthe Cyber Command director of his dualrole atop the nation’s largest spy opera-tion. It’s led to a firestorm. PAGE A16

NATIONAL A15-17

Change at N.S.A. After Breach?

The majority owner Daniel Snyder mayemerge stronger from a dispute withthree of his partners in the N.F.L. teamthat has been fought in courts fromcoast to coast to New Delhi. PAGE D1

Washington Football MessWith control of the Senate at stake, thetwo runoff races feel more like nationalelections than statewide ones. PAGE A15

Ad Spending Soars in Georgia

MacKenzie Scott’s methods and priori-ties in giving away $6 billion this yearcould influence future donors. PAGE B1

Upending PhilanthropyIn Afghanistan, life goes on as thoughthe coronavirus never existed, even asa second wave is underway. PAGE A7

‘Covid Can’t Compete’

Charles M. Blow PAGE A18

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19Critics say the British leader’s decision-making process has tied the country’shands on Covid-19 and Brexit. PAGE A14

INTERNATIONAL A12-14

Johnson’s Waiting Game

The congressional agreementon Sunday on another dose of aidto fuel the slowing economic re-covery has probably spared mil-lions of Americans from a winterof poverty and kept the countryfrom falling back into recession.

For much of the economy — es-pecially people and industriesthat have been insulated from theworst effects of the pandemic — itmay provide a bridge to a vaccine-fueled rebound. That is especiallylikely if the vaccine is quickly andwidely distributed, and theswelling number of coronaviruscases doesn’t force another round

of widespread shutdowns.The injection of money comes

months too late for tens of thou-sands of failed businesses, howev-er, and it may not be enough tosustain unemployed workers untilthe labor market rebounds. More-over, it could be the last help fromWashington the economy getsanytime soon.

The package requires a vote inboth houses, and its text was stillbeing finalized on Sunday. But it isexpected to include most of the el-ements that economists have longsaid were crucial to avoiding fur-

Federal Funds a Balm for Now, But Come Too Late for Many

By BEN CASSELMAN and JIM TANKERSLEY

Continued on Page A9

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,914 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2020

Today, a mix of clouds and sunshine,light wind, high 40. Tonight, rain orsnow showers late, low 36. Tomor-row, partly sunny, breezy, high 40.Weather map appears on Page B8.

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