Like the US and many other countries, Britain has a childhood obesity problem. One teacher witnessed the issue firsthand when she watched a group of 11 year-olds struggle to complete a lap. So she came up with a simple idea. And it's going viral. Every day, students across the country leave their classrooms and start running or walking. "They don't change clothes. They don't compete. They don't know when their teacher will give the green light to rush outside. But at some point during the day, come (non-torrential) rain or shine, children complete a mile." Here's WaPo's Karla Adam on Britain's daily mile craze. (When I was about this age, my PE teacher described a race between me and the school's second-slowest kid as the battle of the bulge. I wish that teacher could see me now. I can type ten thousand words without breaking a sweat.)

+ In Japan, older drivers are causing more accidents. So the country is offering them a deal. Stop driving and you get a discount on ramen.

"It is not the first time cigarette makers have experimented with heating rather than burning tobacco to do less less damage to consumers." But this time Philip Morris is borrowing a few tech and design ideas from the vape craze. And the company's CEO believes this is the first major step towards one day completely phasing out traditional cigarettes. (They've been phasing out human lives for decades.)

"Duterte is perhaps the most brutal leader to sweep to power in this year's global populist wave, and his bloody campaign against drug users and dealers remains overwhelmingly popular in his country, even as the US and other Western governments have criticized its violence. He won election in a landslide earlier this year after vowing to kill 100,000 criminals and feed their bodies to fish in Manila Bay." Rodrigo Duterte's brutal tactics are shocking to many in the US. But is American money backing the Philippines' bloody war on drugs?

I've always said if I had it to do over again, I would have been an Instagram model. Apparently, I'm not the only one who's had that thought. Bloomberg's Max Chafkin decided to actually give it a shot (with the help of a marketing agency). "I would do everything possible within legal bounds to amass as many followers as I could. My niche would be men's fashion, a fast-growing category in which I clearly had no experience. The ultimate goal: to persuade someone, somewhere, to pay me cash money for my influence." The Confessions of an Instagram Influencer.

The internet went nuts after the release of a photo of the president-elect and Mitt Romney dining at Jean-Georges in NYC. And that makes sense given the heated exchanges that took place between the two men during the course of Trump's campaign. Here's WaPo's Michael Kranish with a look at how the Trump-Romney divide began to heal.

+ After talking to the Trump and Pence, an Indiana company has agreed to keep some of its Mexico-bound jobs from leaving town.

+ LA Times: "President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Steven Mnuchin, a wealthy Wall Street executive and Hollywood movie producer who served as his campaign finance chairman, to be the next Treasury secretary." (Mnuchin helped finance Batman v Superman, but let's keep an open mind...)

+ Outgoing CIA director John Brennan warns the incoming president that ending the Iran nuclear deal would be "disastrous" and "the height of folly."

"After the release of the movie Spotlight, I was often asked how we at The Boston Globe were willing to take on the most powerful institution in New England and among the most powerful in the world, the Catholic Church. The question really mystifies me--especially when it comes from journalists or those who hope to enter the profession. Because holding the most powerful to account is what we are supposed to do. If we do not do that, then what exactly is the purpose of journalism?" After being honored with the Hitchens Prize, Washington Post Editor Marty Baron reflected on the role of journalists in the current political climate: Marty Baron Has A Message To Journalists .

+ As you know, I'm worried about the prevalence of fake news. But recently, I been wondering...what if we're giving fake news more credit than it deserves in an understandably desperate effort to reject a more disturbing truth? Here's my take: You're Gonna Wish This Was Fake News.

"It would take them more than two years and millions of dollars to breach the defenses of the offshore financial world. Their efforts would leave a trail of thousands of pages of court documents through Canada and the United States, revealing the inner workings of a system exquisitely engineered to repel scrutiny." In the NYT Magazine Nicholas Confessore tracks one woman's quest to locate the money her ex-husband stashed in offshore accounts. How to Hide $400 Million.

"The lengths to which Millennials have to go in search of home pale in comparison with the struggles faced by most economic migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. Their search for home has become the stuff of a much angrier politics." At a time when the meaning of home is in flux, Charles Leadbeater takes a very interesting look at what having place to call home means to people, and why that is becoming a really big deal in this age of technology and refugees. From Aeon: Nobody is home.

At long last, Netflix is enabling customers to download most of their content for offline viewing. (2016 held off good news for 11 months, but it finally gave in.)

"The world is a desperately sad and dispiriting place at this particular moment, and we all need to make time for self-care. This year, three beers and and the new Frank Ocean simply will not do. You need more. You need the highest-possible dosage of cheese." Dave Holmes makes an impassioned defense of extremely bad Christmas movies.

+ In case Christmas movies don't provide the healing you need, try watching 4,000 rabbis attempt the Mannequin Challenge.