News Wrap: Labor Department report shows inflation is slowing

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• Judy Woodruff:

  The U.S. economy is giving fresh hope tonight that the worst of inflation may have passed.

  The U.S. Labor Department reports that consumer prices climbed 7.1 percent in November from a year ago. And that was down from a year-over-year increase of 7.7 percent in October and from the peak of 9.1 percent in June.

  Federal prosecutors unveiled a battery of charges today against Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX. They include wire fraud, money laundering and lying to investors. Bankman-Fried was arrested Monday in the Bahamas and remains in custody, after being denied bail today.

  We will return to this later in the program.

  The European Parliament has ousted one of its vice presidents, in a budding bribery scandal. Eva Kaili of Greece is one of four E.U. lawmakers arrested over the weekend and accused of taking money and gifts from Qatar. The E.U. Parliament's president today vowed a no-holds-barred investigation.

• Roberta Metsola, President, European Parliament:

  There will be no impunity. There will be no sweeping under the carpet. Our internal investigation will look at what has happened and how our systems can be made more watertight.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Officials from Qatar have denied the bribery claims.

  A French court today convicted eight defendants in a truck attack that killed 86 people in Nice in 2016. The victims lay everywhere after an Islamic State sympathizer drove into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day. He was killed by police. Those convicted today were accused of helping orchestrate the attack.

  The United States may be close to sending a Patriot missile battery to help Ukraine repel Russian attacks. That was widely reported today. The Patriot would be the most advanced surface-to-air system that Kyiv has received. Meanwhile, in Paris, donor countries pledged more than $1 billion to help Ukrainians through the winter.

• Emmanuel Macron, French President (through translator):

  Today, the main goal of the Russian offensive after recent military defeats is to drown the Ukrainians in despair. It's about attacks on civilian infrastructure to cut water and electricity and plunge Ukrainians into darkness and cold. We're acting today to help them resist.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Ukraine's President Zelenskyy warned that some 12 million Ukrainians are living with power outages in winter cold.

  Back in this country, a sprawling winter storm brought everything from tornadoes to blizzards today. Twisters struck near Fort Worth, Texas, and in Oklahoma, along with heavy rain and hail. To the north, ice, sleet and heavy snow hit the Dakotas and other states. There were no reports of any deaths.

  Same-sex and interracial marriages are now protected under a federal law that President Biden signed today. The White House invited hundreds of guests for a celebration that featured singer Cyndi Lauper on the South Lawn. The president said the new law strikes a blow against hate in all its forms.

  Alabama and Utah have joined a growing list of state governments barring the social media platform TikTok on official devices and computer networks. They acted Monday, citing security concerns with the Chinese-owned app. The FBI has warned that Chinese authorities could get access to users' data.

  The automaker Stellantis is recalling 1.4 million Ram pickup trucks, mostly in North America. The company says that tailgates may open suddenly, causing cargo to spill out. The recall covers Ram models from the model years 2019 to 2022.

  And, on Wall Street, stocks soared on today's inflation news, and then dropped back, until tomorrow's interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 700 points early, but ended just 103 points higher, to close at 34108. The Nasdaq rose 113 points, 1 percent. The S&P 500 added 29.

  Still to come on the "NewsHour": U.S. immigration officials face a surge of asylum seekers near El Paso; Brittney Griner's agent discusses the basketball star's road to recovery; a new documentary follows the first person ever diagnosed with autism; plus much more.