Jordan Klepper Grills Jan. 6 Trump Supporter Who Confesses: ‘I Just Got Out of a Cult’

USA TODAY
Malibu burning
Powerful, erratic Santa Ana winds fuel Malibu wildfire.
Reuters
Future pandemic could cause $13.6 trln economic loss -Lloyd's of London
Another human pandemic could cause economic losses of $13.6 trillion for the global economy over a five-year period, commercial insurance market Lloyd's of London predicted. The impact would mainly be from disruption across global industries due to local lockdowns and worldwide travel restrictions, Lloyd's said on Wednesday. The analysis by Lloyd's and the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies said that the most severe scenario could cause losses of $41.7 trillion, equivalent to a reduction in global GDP of 1.1%-6.4%.
Reuters
Futures steady in lead-up to crucial inflation reading
A November reading of the consumer price index (CPI), due at 8:30 a.m. ET, is among the final major datasets ahead of the Fed's Dec. 17-18 meeting. The report is expected to show that headline inflation rose 0.3% on a monthly basis and to 2.7% on an annual basis in the last month, still above the Fed's 2% target.
Reuters
Russia tells its citizens to avoid travel to the West
Russia said on Wednesday that relations with the United States were so confrontational that Russian citizens should not travel to the United States, Canada and some EU countries because they were at risk of being "hunted" down by U.S. authorities. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that relations with the United States were teetering on the verge of rupture. "In the context of the increasing confrontation in Russian-American relations, which are teetering on the verge of rupture due to the fault of Washington, trips to the United States of America privately or out of official necessity are fraught with serious risks," Zakharova told a news briefing.
Associated Press
Myanmar's economy set to contract as floods and fighting take heavy toll, the World Bank says
Myanmar’s economy is forecast to contract this year, the World Bank said Wednesday, as flooding and fighting take a severe toll nearly four years after the military ousted its elected government headed by Aung San Suu Kyi. In an update issued Wednesday, the bank said about a fifth of all built structures and a tenth of Myanmar’s roads had been damaged by widespread flooding during heavy monsoon rains and a typhoon that swept through the country in September. Overall, the report said the economy will likely contract 1% in annual terms in the April-March fiscal year.
Reuters
Trying to attract tourists, Venezuela builds infrastructure in fragile ecosystems
A push by Venezuela to attract tourists and boost its flailing economy by building infrastructure including runways and hotels is doing environmental damage to ecologically-delicate areas, especially fragile Caribbean coral reefs already threatened by climate change, conservationists, scientists, government sources and locals say. The government of President Nicolas Maduro, who blames U.S. sanctions for his country's economic crisis, has called tourism the economy's "secret weapon". The push has so far failed to attract foreign investors, sources say, despite a tourism ministry meeting with French businesspeople and public overtures from Maduro to investors as recently as this month.
USA TODAY
Hospitals gave patients meds during childbirth, then reported them for illicit drug use
Hospitals across the country reported mothers to authorities after they tested positive for medications used routinely in millions of births.
Reuters
Blinken to testify in Congress on Afghanistan weeks before his term ends
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will testify to a Republican-led House of Representatives committee on Wednesday on the August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, ending a long dispute with the panel weeks before the end of his term. The House Foreign Affairs Committee and the State Department have have been wrangling over Blinken's appearance for months. Panel Republicans voted in September - weeks before the presidential election - to recommend the top U.S. diplomat be held in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena.
Yahoo Finance
An 'unfamiliar' era for investors has arrived after a 20-year 'regime': Morning Brief
As another CPI reading is set to show the continued challenge of reeling in inflation, RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas says that things are different now — and explains what that means.
Associated Press
Romania's pro-Western parties agree to form a majority government after political turmoil
Romania’s pro-European parties agreed Wednesday to form a majority government made up of groupings that were traditionally on opposite sides and shutting out far-right nationalists who made significant gains in the election on Dec. 1. Pro-Western parties won the most votes, with the leftist Social Democratic Party, or PSD, topping the polls. The PSD reached agreement late Tuesday to form a grand coalition with the center-right National Liberal Party, or PNL, the reformist Save Romania Union party, USR, and the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party.
Associated Press
Organized crime gangs expanded into a third of cities in Brazil’s Amazon, report finds
Criminal gangs are operating in over a third of municipalities in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest driving a boom in violence, according to a report published Wednesday by a prominent nonprofit organization. In 2024, gangs were present in 260 of 772 municipalities in the region, up from 178 last year, according to the Brazilian Forum of Public Security. The entrenchment of “mafia-like” organizations — particularly the Red Command and First Capital Command (PCC) — “greatly aggravate the situation in the Legal Amazon, which is now seen as a very strategic territory for transnational trafficking, with the circulation of different illicit goods,” the report said.
Reuters
Trump plans major reshaping of U.S. policies within hours of taking office
President-elect Donald Trump is planning a blizzard of more than 25 executive orders and directives on his first day in office on Jan. 20 as he seeks to dramatically reshape U.S. government policy on issues from immigration to energy. Two sources familiar with the effort said Trump has told his team he wants to make a "big splash" with the Day One orders, looking to exert his executive power with greater scale and speed than he did during his first term. In contrast, Democratic President Joe Biden issued 17 executive orders on his first day in office in 2021, many of which were aimed at rolling back Trump's policies.
Reuters
Exclusive-Two U.S. lawmakers push for some Syria sanctions relief after Assad's fall
Two U.S. congressmen have urged senior American officials to suspend some sanctions on Syria to ease pressure on its shattered economy after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, according to a letter dated Dec. 10 and seen by Reuters. The move is the latest effort in the West to push for easing sanctions after rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al Qaeda affiliate, swept into Damascus. The letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was signed by Republican Representative Joe Wilson, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and Democratic Representative Brendan Boyle, who chairs th Free Syria Caucus.
Yahoo Finance
Older workers are the happiest workers, study finds
Older workers have expressed higher job satisfaction levels overall, and they are more likely to feel respected at their job, according to a new Pew Research report.
AFP
Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia strike toll rises to 8, rescue operation underway
Rescuers were working Wednesday to find people under the rubble of a building destroyed in a Russian attack the day before that killed eight people, Ukrainian officials said.There are probably still people under the rubble," they added.
AFP
Sudan militia chief 'enthusiastically' committed war crimes: prosecutor
A feared Sudanese militia chief "willingly and enthusiastically" participated in war crimes, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor charged Wednesday, laying out searing accusations of rape, murder, and torture.He stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, torture, pillaging, and cruel treatment.
AFP
South Korean police blocked from raid on president's office
South Korean police said Wednesday that security guards were blocking a raid on President Yoon Suk Yeol's offices to investigate his brief imposition of martial law, with the opposition party accusing the presidential staff of illegally protecting an insurrectionist.Several hours into a standoff at the presidential offices, police Wednesday evening said "The special investigation team is currently continuing to discuss the seizure and search of the presidential office (with the presidential staf
Reuters
Kremlin plays down blow to Russia from Assad's fall
The Kremlin on Wednesday played down the damage to Russian influence in the Middle East from the fall of Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad, saying that its focus was Ukraine and that Moscow was in contact with the new rulers of Syria. When Russia intervened in the Syrian Civil War in 2015, it helped tip the balance in Assad's favour, so his fall from power dealt a serious setback to both Russia, which is fighting a major land war in Ukraine, and to Iran, which is battling U.S.-backed Israel across the Middle East.
TODAY
Dylan Dreyer’s sons are all smiles in their 2024 family holiday card
Dylan Dreyer shares her family's holiday card for 2024, which shows her three sons at various moments over the year.
USA TODAY
What's after high school? Start a career with these college alternatives.
For high school graduates interested in starting a career without immediately going to college, USA TODAY compiled a list of options.

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