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🇷🇺 Car bomb kills Russian general in Moscow. Investigators say an explosive was planted under the officer’s car in southern Moscow. The victim was Russian General Sarvarov, a senior military official. Russia’s Investigative Committee said it is treating the blast as a targeted killing. Officials claimed Ukraine may be responsible, without laying out public evidence. Ukrainian officials were not cited as responding on record in the report. The attack drags the war’s violence closer to the center of Russian power.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia widens access to its only alcohol shop. The kingdom has quietly expanded who can use its lone alcohol store in Riyadh. The shop opened in January 2024 for non-Muslim diplomats only. Access is now expanding to non-Muslim residents with Premium Residency. Officials are framing it as controlled demand management, not a cultural U-turn. Critics call it a soft normalization step that will travel faster than any press release. Either way, it signals rule-by-rule liberalization remains tightly gated.

🏙️ Eric Adams’ rise stalls in plain sight. New York City Mayor Eric Adams once pitched himself as the Democratic Party’s next national face. Today, he is stuck explaining what went wrong while rivals circle and allies peel off. City Hall’s story has become a grind of bad headlines, internal strain, and public fatigue. Supporters say he is governing through hard realities like crime, budgets, and migrant pressures. Critics say the brand is fraying because discipline and trust did. The result looks less like a launchpad and more like a slow-motion stumble.

🏭 Nebraska town braces for a 3,200-job gut punch. Lexington, Nebraska is confronting what happens when one employer becomes the economy. Tyson Foods, Inc. ($TSN) is tied to the local beef plant whose shutdown would erase about 3,200 jobs. That number does not only cover payroll, but also rent checks, school enrollment, clinic visits, and grocery aisles. Workers and shop owners are weighing whether to wait, move, or start over. Local leaders are chasing replacement jobs, but scale is the problem. When a single plant goes quiet, a whole town has to renegotiate its future.

🌬️ Trump pauses 5 offshore wind projects over security claims. The Trump administration suspended leases for five East Coast offshore wind projects under construction. Officials cited national security risks identified by the Department of Defense (DOD), without detailing them. The Department of the Interior (DOI) said the pause is immediate and open-ended while agencies assess mitigation options. The move lands two weeks after a federal judge struck down Trump’s wind-blocking executive order as unlawful. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong called the suspension lawless and erratic as Revolution Wind faces renewed disruption. Critics also singled out Empire Wind farms near major airports, while Dominion Energy defended Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farms as vital for continued grid reliability.

🤲 Most adults skip year-end giving, a new poll finds. The latest joint survey from the Associated Press (AP) and National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago (NORC) suggests many adults are not making late-December donations. Respondents point to tight budgets and competing household costs as the core constraint. Charities say that matters because the final weeks can decide annual totals. Fundraisers are leaning harder on small-dollar asks and recurring gifts as a hedge. Donors say they want impact proof, not just emotional appeals. The tension is simple: generosity is popular, but disposable income is not infinite, especially given inflation.

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That’s all for today!

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