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In the news today: Trump brings chaos back to Washington as a government funding plan collapses; Iran pauses a strict new headscarf law; and patients tired of long waitlists for human transplants line up for pig organs. Also, a look at 2024’s best new holiday albums.

Donald Trump at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

POLITICS

Government funding plan collapses as Trump makes new demands days before shutdown

President-elect Donald Trump abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan Wednesday to prevent a Christmastime government shutdown, instead telling House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans to essentially renegotiate — days before a deadline when federal funding runs out. Read more.

Why this matters:

• The president-elect made a proposal that combined some continuation of government funds along with a much more controversial provision to raise the nation’s debt limit — something his own party routinely rejects. It all shows just how hard it will be for Republicans next year, as they seize control of the House, Senate and White House, to unify and lead the nation.
  
  

• Democrats decried the GOP revolt over the stopgap measure. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said “an agreement is an agreement,” and by backing out of it the House Republicans “will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people.”
  
  

• The episode showcased the growing political influence of billionaire ally Elon Musk, whom Trump has selected alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental task force. Musk began criticizing the measure as soon as it was released Tuesday evening, and he continuously posted about it Wednesday. “Stop the steal of your tax dollars!” Musk wrote on his social media platform X as he dangled primary challenges against anyone who voted for the budget deal, a threat Trump later echoed in a post of his own.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Trump brings chaos back to Washington with Musk’s help
  
  
• Senate passes defense bill that will raise troop pay and aims to counter China’s power
  
  
• The Fed expects to cut rates more slowly in 2025. What that could mean for mortgages, debt and more
  
  
• A key Trump ally on immigration explains how mass deportations could work
  
  
• Pardon Trump? New York governor says president-elect would have to show ‘remorse’
  
  
• House passes bill backed by Paris Hilton to reform youth treatment facilities
  
  
• Senate committee to hold confirmation hearing for defense secretary nominee Hegseth on Jan 14

WORLD NEWS

Iran pauses the process to implement a new, stricter headscarf law for women, official says

Iran has paused the process of implementing a new, stricter law on mandatory headscarves, or hijabs, for women an official said — a bill that many believe could have reignited the protests that engulfed the Islamic Republic after the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, which killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained. Read more.

What to know:

• The controversial law, which levies harsher punishments for women who refuse to wear the hijab and for businesses that serve them and was approved by the parliament in September 2023, will not be sent to the government as planned this week, according to one of the country’s vice presidents. The development effectively means that Iran has halted enacting the legislation. 
  
  

• Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian previously rejected the penalties of the law as he attempted to restart talks with the West over sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program. Had the bill passed to the government, Iran’s president would have had little room to maneuver. By law, he’s required to endorse the bill within five days, after which it would have taken effect in 15 days. The president has no authority to veto it.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Iran’s rial hits a record low, battered by regional tensions and an energy crisis
  
  
• Iran sentences an Iranian-American journalist to 10 years in prison
  
  
• YouTube singer arrested in Iran after performing an online concert while not wearing a hijab

HEALTH

Patients tired of waiting years for transplants line up for pig organs

The calls and emails started coming into NYU Langone Health and Massachusetts General Hospital soon after doctors began experimenting with pig organs in humans. People worried they’ll never get a scarce human transplant asked: When could we get a pig kidney? Now two U.S. companies aim to begin the world’s first clinical trials of xenotransplantation in 2025 – using pig kidneys or hearts to try to save human lives. Read more.

Why this matters:

• United Therapeutics and eGenesis aim to begin the world's first formal studies of pig-to-human transplants in 2025. So far emergency transplants haven't yielded survival past two months — although a woman transplanted last month so far is faring well. But some patients are eager to volunteer anyway.
  
  

• FDA rules require that pig organs be extensively tested in monkeys or baboons before humans. And while researchers have extended those primates’ survival to a year, sometimes longer, they were desperate for experience with people. Patients given pig organs so far have been “compassionate use” transplants, experiments that FDA allows in select emergency cases for people out of other options.
  
  

• Scientists have tried animal-to-human transplants for years without success but now they can edit pig genes, trying to bridge the species gap enough to keep the human immune system from immediately attacking the foreign tissue. Still, nobody knows the best gene combination.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• A transplanted pig kidney has freed her from eight years of dialysis
  
  
• US deaths are down and life expectancy is up, but improvements are slowing
  
  
• Most US teens are abstaining from drinking, smoking and marijuana, survey says

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IN OTHER NEWS

READ

Israeli airstrikes: Israel strikes Yemen’s rebel-held capital and port city after Houthi attack

Gisèle Pelicot: Ex-husband found guilty of rapes and all other charges against him in France

UnitedHealthcare CEO: How New York prosecutors used a terrorism law in the charges against Luigi Mangione

School shooting: Wisconsin school shooter had 2 guns and got messages from man accused of plotting his own attack

Guantanamo Bay: US repatriates 3 Guantanamo Bay detainees, including one held 17 years without charge

American chestnuts: Chestnuts are part of Yuletide lore. But in the US, they’ve nearly been wiped out

Billionaire philanthropist: MacKenzie Scott reveals another $2 billion in donations in 2024

Today in History: In 1998, Bill Clinton was impeached

WATCH

Plane crash: 2 pilots die in fiery small plane crash into vacant building near Honolulu airport

New poll: What Americans think of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his health stances

‘Murder hornets’: Invasive 'hornets are wiped out in the US, officials say

Out of season visitor: Fur seal makes unusual summer trip to Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema beach

A CHANGE OF PACE

A combination of images showing holiday albums. (A&M/UMG Recording, Republic, Verve, New West Records, MCA Nashville, Interscope, Mercury Nashville/UMG, Capitol Records Nashville, Motown via AP) 

‘Tis the season for holiday albums, from Jennifer Hudson to Jimmy Fallon
It’s not the holiday season until the house is full of festive music, from classics to covers and reimaginations across genres, for all to enjoy. In honor of the most wonderful time of the year, here are some of the best new holiday releases for the 2024 season.

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