PRESENTED BY BP

Axios AM

By Mike Allen · Dec 24, 2023

🕯️ It's Christmas Eve. The world waits. 🛒 Kelly Tyko's guides to retail openings ... grocery, drugstores. 📱 NORAD's 68-year-old Santa Tracker has St. Nick over Indonesia(apps available).  🛷 Sleigh Technical Data to impress your young friends.  Smart Brevity™ count: 1,189 words ... 4½ mins. Edited by Jennifer Koons.

💎 1 gem thing: Diamonds get cheaper

Data: Paul Zimnisky's Global Rough Diamond Price Index. (For generic, round, near-colorless diamond with VS clarity and VG cut grade.) Chart: Axios Visuals The growing popularity of lab-grown diamonds has disrupted the diamond industry, dropping the prices of all diamonds. Why it matters: A rebranding of "synthetic diamonds" to "lab-grown diamonds" has made them a more tempting alternative to natural (mined) diamonds, Axios' Carly Mallenbaum writes. What's happening: In 2018, the FTC determined that lab-grown diamonds are diamonds. According to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), which grades diamonds, lab-grown diamonds have the same chemical and physical properties as natural diamonds. GIA stopped calling lab-grown diamonds "synthetic" in 2019. 63% of independent jewelers in the U.S. sell lab diamonds, up from 58% a year ago, according to a recent survey by the trade publication InStore. Jewelers tell Axios they've seen more millennial women shopping for engagement rings with their partners, and they are increasingly asking for lab-grown options. Lab-grown diamonds from Jean Dousset's "Never Mined. All Mine" campaign. Photo courtesy Jean Dousset Jeweler Jean Dousset, great-great-grandson of Louis Cartier, sees an opportunity: luxury lab-grown diamonds for empowered women. He spent his career in natural diamonds, but this year opened a bespoke lab-diamond showroom in West Hollywood. Dousset sells engagement rings with designer lab diamonds ranging from 1 to more than 18 carats for $1,500 to $76,300 (before the settings). The bottom line: The diamond industry, set in its ways for hundreds of years, is going through an existential crisis, Dousset tells Axios: "Technology and the human imagination have been able to replicate nature perfectly." Share this story.

2. 🇷🇺 Putin open to Ukraine deal

Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday. Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool via AP Twenty-two months after invading Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is back-channeling that he's open to a deal to halt the war — as long as he could still declare victory, the N.Y. Times reports. Putin is "open to a cease-fire that freezes the fighting along the current lines, far short of his ambitions to dominate Ukraine." Why it matters: "While deploying fiery public rhetoric, Mr. Putin privately telegraphs a desire to declare victory and move on," The Times says. 🥊 Reality check: Ukraine "has been rallying support for its own peace formula, which requires Moscow to surrender all captured Ukrainian territory and pay damages," The Times adds. So they're not close. Go deeper: Ukraine's wartime Christmas traditions.

3. 🫏 Bethlehem is a ghost town

The Mosque of Omar in Bethlehem's Manger Square rises in the background as a policeman approaches the Gate of Humility at the entrance to the Church of the Nativity. Photo: Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — The normally bustling biblical birthplace of Jesus is a ghost town today, with Christmas Eve celebrations called off due to the Israel-Hamas war. The festive lights and Christmas tree that normally decorate Manger Square are missing — as are the throngs of foreign tourists and jubilant youth marching bands that gather in the West Bank town each year. "This year, without the Christmas tree and without lights, there's just darkness," said Brother John Vinh, a Franciscan monk from Vietnam who has lived in Jerusalem for six years. What's happening: With many major airlines canceling flights to Israel, few foreigners are visiting. Local officials say 70+ hotels in Bethlehem have been forced to close, leaving thousands of people unemployed. Gift shops were slow to open on Christmas Eve. A few did once the rain had stopped pouring down. But there were few visitors. 🍽️ What they're saying: "We can't justify putting out a tree and celebrating as normal, when some people [in Gaza] don't even have houses to go to," said Ala'a Salameh, an owner of Afteem Restaurant, a family-owned falafel restaurant just steps from Manger Square. "Normally, you can't find a single chair to sit. We're full from morning till midnight," Salameh said. This year, just one table was taken — by journalists taking a break from the rain. Go deeper with Axios' Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath ... Church of the Nativity ... Share this story.

A MESSAGE FROM BP

Biofuel or oil & gas? One top energy investor is doing both

Across the U.S., bp supports more than 275,000 jobs to keep our energy flowing. That includes teams working to almost double our biodiesel capacity in Washington state and bringing a new platform online in the Gulf of Mexico. See how else bp is investing in America.

4. 📷 Pic du jour: Biden's mini-me

Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images Hunter Biden and his son, Beau, 3½, leave the White House to board Marine One yesterday as the family traveled to Camp David for Christmas. Beau's jacket says "Joe" for his grandpa, the 46th president. On Wednesday, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, for New Year's.

5. 🏈 Gatorade with that?

Photo: Loren Orr/Getty Images Georgia State head coach Shawn Elliott endures a french fry bath yesterday at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho. His Panthers beat the Utah State Aggies, 45-22. Gamer.

6. 🎥 "Elf" turns 20

Will Ferrell in "Elf." Photo: Alan Markfield/New Line Productions via AP "Elf" — the story of Buddy, an overgrown human (Will Ferrell) who travels from the North Pole to New York City — has surged into the holiday canon alongside "It's a Wonderful Life," "Miracle on 34th Street" and "A Christmas Story," writes Jason Gay, The Wall Street Journal's sports and humor columnist. Gay argues "Elf" is actually No. 1 — "Citizen Candy Cane, if you will." Why it matters — Gay's case: "It's Sweet without Being [ahem] Syrupy ... It Holds Up to Endless Repeat Viewing ... It's a Perfect New York Movie ... James Caan as Buddy's long-lost father ... You Can Enjoy 'Elf' in July." Mike's favorite: "They Never Made a Sequel." Some classic Buddy lines:  "We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns ... and syrup!" "You mean I can stay?" "You sit on a throne of lies!" "Does somebody need a hug?" "Son of a nutcracker! "You have such a pretty face. You should be on a Christmas card!" "You smell like beef and cheese — you don't smell like Santa! Watch the trailer ... Clip: Buddy's four food groups ... More quotes.

7. 🦌 Why you should leave O.J. for Rudolph tonight

Reindeer in a corral near Kiruna, Sweden. Photo: Malin Moberg/AP A true-life, real-science reindeer tale:  For a hungry reindeer, finding food in a cold, barren landscape is tough. But researchers now think reindeer eyes evolved to help them spot their next meal, AP reports. What's happening: Scientists have long known that mirror-like tissue in reindeer eyes changes from greenish gold in summer to vivid blue in winter, amplifying the low light of polar winter.  Unlike other mammals, reindeer can see light in the ultraviolet spectrum. That protects them from predators — letting them spot white wolves against a snowy landscape. A new study in the journal i-Perception points to another possibility: food. Reindeer subsist on light-colored reindeer moss — a lichen that grows in crunchy carpets. Researchers found reindeer moss absorbs UV light. So white lichen, which humans have trouble seeing against the snow, stands out as dark patches. 🍊 The bottom line: Since vision is a reindeer superpower, orange juice and carrots are perfect treats to leave on Christmas Eve. Read the study ... Share this story.

8. 🎨 1 fun thing: Reader pet portraits

Photo: Tom Gorman This is an "elfie" with Charley, a 13-year-old mutt who gets an Advent box with 24 doors filled with little treats — no-hide chews and fancy dog biscuits. AMer Tom Gorman tells me from Middleburg, Va., that his wife, Jessica Rich, got Charley from a shelter in Manassas, Va., when she was 3 months old: "Jessica, a retired jockey and racehorse assistant trainer, sat quietly in a corner for an hour to watch how she interacted with other dogs before picking her from a litter of 6 or more."