 | | The Republican debate in Las Vegas on Tuesday night featured tough talk on how to protect Americans from terrorist threats. Ruth Fremson/The New York Times | Your Wednesday Briefing By ADEEL HASSAN |
| Good morning. |
| Here's what you need to know: |
| • Republicans talk tough. |
| Jeb Bush and other Republican presidential candidates attacked Donald J. Trump on Tuesday night, united against Mr. Trump's plan to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. and arguing over who would be toughest in protecting Americans from terrorist threats. |
| Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, first-term senators who are similar in many ways, had their most pointed face-to-face confrontation. |
| We've fact-checked the debate statements and compiled video highlights. |
| There was no agreement on a clear victor. |
| • Watching the Fed. |
| The Federal Reserve's policy-making committee is expected to announce today that it will raise its benchmark interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade, as the U.S. economy has achieved steady growth and is close to full employment. |
| The rate is expected to be raised a quarter of a percentage point. The Fed has held the rate near zero for seven years as the pillar of its economic stimulus campaign. |
| Here's an unconventional look at what happens when the Fed raises rates. |
| • Congress reaches a deal. |
| Republican and Democratic negotiators in the House agreed to a deal late Tuesday night on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the U.S. government through 2016, and on a huge package of tax breaks. |
| The government also announced that it was extending through Thursday an enrollment period for full-year health insurance, beginning on Jan. 1, under the Affordable Care Act. |
| • U.S. pushes on Syria and Iraq. |
| Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter is in Baghdad today to confer with Iraq's leaders on accelerating the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State. |
| And Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to find common ground with Russia's president so that peace talks on Syria can begin in early 2016. |
| • Threats against public schools. |
| The two largest school systems in the U.S. confronted threats of a terrorist attack on Tuesday. New York City dismissed it as a hoax, but Los Angeles immediately shut down all public schools, upending the lives of parents, students and teachers. |
| The threats, emailed to school officials on both coasts, were largely identical and had been routed through a server in Frankfurt, apparently by the same person. |
| • Baltimore awaits Freddie Gray verdict. |
| Jurors in the trial of Officer William G. Porter, charged with manslaughter in the April death of Freddie Gray, announced on Tuesday that they were deadlocked. They will resume deliberations this morning. |
| Police officers are bracing for possible protests, and jails are preparing extra space in case of numerous arrests. |
| • Executions down in U.S. |
| This year saw the fewest executions in nearly 25 years, and new death sentences imposed by courts fell to levels not seen since the early 1970s, according to a report released today. |
| • Two thumbs up. |
| Our chief film critic writes today that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," opening on Friday, brings "new kinetic wows along with some of the niceties that went missing as the series grew into a phenomenon." |
| BUSINESS |
| • President Xi Jinping of China, whose government has tightened control of the Internet in recent years, called today for other nations to cooperate in regulating it. |
| • Hedge funds took a hit in 2015. Even billionaire managers with sterling records have been unable to avoid heavy losses. |
| • General Electric, the largest U.S. industrial group, presents this afternoon its outlook for next year. G.E. is shifting away from finance and back to its industrial roots. |
| • Wall Street stock futures are positive. European markets are mixed, and Asian indexes finished broadly higher. |
| NOTEWORTHY |
| • Stormy weather … |
| A storm deposited 24 inches of snow on Colorado on Tuesday, after leaving about a foot of snow in the Salt Lake City area. |
| The storm moves to the Plains today. |
| • … but not everywhere. |
| Warm temperatures in the Northeast are weighing significantly on sales of boots, coats and other cold-weather items, and steep discounts are forecast. |
| • Another Higgs boson? |
| Two separate teams of physicists say they have seen traces of what could be a new fundamental particle of nature. |
| • Sports roundup. |
| Abby Wambach, whose 184 goals are the most in international soccer, plays her final game with the U.S. team tonight. |
| Four Cuban major leaguers were swarmed by fans in Havana at the start of a three-day good-will tour of the nation. The landmark trip was years in the making. |
| • Ode to joy. |
| Beethoven was born on this day in 1770, or a day close to it. A Times critic ranked him as the second-greatest classical music composer in history, after Bach. |
| • Silly laws. |
| Over the centuries, Britain has accumulated many laws that now seem irrelevant. A small team of officials is tasked with pruning them. |
| • Healthier than dessert. |
| A restaurant in smog-plagued China charged its customers a "clean air fee." |
| BACK STORY |
| Long before Barack Obama was a player on the national stage, many pundits thought Colin L. Powell would be the first black American president. |
| It was 15 years ago today that Mr. Powell, the son of immigrants and a native of Harlem, was nominated as U.S. secretary of state, after a long and high-profile military career. |
| He was a Republican, a moderate, a charismatic media figure and a natural commander. |
| But Mr. Powell's support for the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq while secretary of state soured some of the public on him. And a distaste for politics turned him against running for elected office. |
| He ended up endorsing President Obama for both of his White House races. |
| Mr. Powell, 78, who left the Bush cabinet in 2005, still jumps into political issues. Notably, he came out in favor of the Iran nuclear agreement this year. |
| In recent speeches, he has criticized the Republican Party in general and Donald J. Trump in particular, as well as the paralysis of Congress and shifting sentiments against immigrants. |
| Asked at a forum in September whether he was still a Republican, he answered, yes, "because it annoys them." |
| Victoria Shannon contributed reporting. |
| Your Morning Briefing is published weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern and updated on the web all morning. |
| What would you like to see here? Contact us at briefing@nytimes.com. |
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