News Wrap: Police believe gunman who killed healthcare CEO has fled New York

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Welcome to the "News Hour."

  New York police and federal agents tonight say they're gathering more clues on the gunman who fatally shot a health care CEO in Manhattan this week, as the search has now become a nationwide manhunt. New York City's police commissioner said in an interview today that investigators have reason to believe the suspect left the city.

  Investigators are attempting to track the gunman using a trail of surveillance videos, a burner phone and a water bottle believed to have been dropped when he fled the scene. No arrests have been made in the killing of Brian Thompson, the 50-year-old executive who led UnitedHealthcare, one of the country's largest health insurance companies.

  Also in New York, the most serious charge of mansLaughter has been dismissed against Daniel Penny, a man accused of using a fatal choke hold on a mentally ill and unruly subway passenger last year. The jury today became deadlocked on the charge, which could have sent Penny, a Marine veteran, to prison for as many as 15 years.

  Jurors have been deliberating since Tuesday and were told to keep deliberating by the judge on a second lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide when they return next week.

  Turning overseas now to Syria, where rebels are seizing more territory and are now closing in on the country's third largest city of Homs. If Homs is lost, it could be a tripling blow to the regime of embattled President Bashar al-Assad. The insurgents led by a jihadi group known as HTS already successfully captured the major cities of Aleppo and Hama earlier this week. They have reportedly taken over two towns just north of Homs today.

  And that is where eyewitness video showed the rebels celebrating as their convoy sped through the streets with little resistance from the Syrian army. The insurgents have vowed to continue their steady march toward the country's capital of Damascus. Russia, a key ally of President Assad, has warned Russian nationals to leave the country.

  Another of Syria's allies is Iran. And, today, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog warned that Tehran is poised to dramatically increase its stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium. Rafael Grossi told reporters today that Iran has started efforts at several nuclear facilities to more quickly enrich uranium. Iran has denied its pursuing nuclear weapons.

  Grossi's comments came just hours after Iran said it successfully carried out a space launch with its heaviest payload ever, something Western experts believe is meant to improve Tehran's ballistic missile program.

  And a surprising turnaround in South Korea today. The leader of President Yoon Suk Yeol's own party now supports impeaching him. Just yesterday, that same leader said he opposed impeachment. The about-face from ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon makes suspending Yoon from office more likely. Han said the president poses a great danger to that country.

• Han Dong-Hoon, Leader, People Power Party (through interpreter):

  The president is not even admitting that it was wrong to declare martial law. Therefore, if President Yoon Suk Yeol is allowed to continue running government affairs, there is a significant risk of extreme actions, like reattempting to impose martial law.

• Geoff Bennett:

  With chants of "Step down," many South Koreans have joined the growing course of officials in calling for Yoon's removal, taking to the streets for a third straight night.

  Impeaching President Yoon would require two-thirds of the National Assembly. They're set to vote on his fate tomorrow.

  The U.S. job market bounced back in November from a major slowdown the month before. The economy added 227,000 jobs. That's far more than October's revised total of only 36,000, and that's when two hurricanes and worker strikes held job creation down. Just three job categories, that's health care, hospitality and government, accounted for 70 percent of November's growth.

  And the unemployment rate rose, but only slightly, from 4.1 to 4.2 percent.

  The U.S. government has ordered testing of the nation's raw and unpasteurized milk supply for bird flu after the virus has spread in recent months to more than 700 herds of cows in 15 states. Testing will start in six states, that's California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, to better monitor the spread of the virus in dairy.

  Officials say the risk to people from bird flu remains low.

  A federal appeals court today unanimously rejected an effort by social media platform TikTok to overturn a law that would require it to part ways with ByteDance. That's its Chinese-based parent company. The law, signed back in April, says TikTok in the U.S. must find a new owner by next month or be shut down nationwide. TikTok is expected to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

  And stocks closed mixed, but mostly positive to finish out the week. The Dow Jones industrial average was the only drop for the day, losing more than 100 points. The Nasdaq climbed 0.8 percent to set a new record, the S&P 500 also at a new all-time high.