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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest from Germany: “At least two people were killed, and more than 60 were injured when a car plowed through a crowded Christmas market in eastern Germany on Friday. The suspected driver, identified as a doctor from Saudi Arabia who lived in Germany, was detained, according to a local official. The suspect acted alone, and there was no ongoing threat to the public. The official did not rule out additional deaths due to the severity of some of the injuries.”
* All eyes on the Hill: “House Republican leaders on Friday are pressing forward with a new plan to try to avert a government shutdown hours ahead of a deadline that would force U.S. troops, border patrol agents, air traffic controllers and millions of other federal workers to work without pay during the holidays.”
* The latest on inflation: “Prices barely moved in November but still held higher than the Federal Reserve’s target when looked at from a year ago, according to a Commerce Department measure released Friday. The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, showed an increase of just 0.1% from October.”
* It’s a new day in Syria: “Senior U.S. officials arrived in Damascus on Friday for the first diplomatic mission to the Syrian capital since the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad this month.”
* A curious choice: “President-elect Donald Trump announced on Friday his plan to nominate Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote and a papal critic, as the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See. ... Burch co-founded Catholic Vote, a lay advocacy group in 2005. The organization backed Trump in 2020 and 2024. Burch is the author of the 2020 book, ‘A New Catholic Moment: Donald Trump and the Politics of the Common Good.’”
* This White House sure does care about student loan debt relief: “President Joe Biden’s administration announced on Friday another $4.28 billion dollars in student loan relief for nearly 55,000 public service workers. The announcement brings the total loan forgiveness by the Biden administration to ‘approximately $180 billion for nearly 5 million Americans,’ according to a fact sheet from the Department of Education.”
* Most Americans probably don’t know about the CFPB, but it continues to do important work on consumers’ behalf: “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suing America’s three largest banks, accusing the institutions of failing to protect customers from fraud on Zelle, the payment platform they co-own.”
* I’ll have more on this next week: “President Joe Biden is expected to secure the 235th judicial confirmation of his presidency as soon as Friday, an accomplishment that exceeds his predecessor’s total by one after Democrats put extra emphasis on the federal courts following Donald Trump’s far-reaching first term when he filled three seats to the Supreme Court.”
Have a safe weekend.