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good evening. This is the latest news at the end of Friday.

1. Inflation is rising at the fastest rate in nearly 40 years.

In the year to November, the consumer price index rose by 6.8%. Supply chain disruptions, rapid consumer demand and rising housing costs have contributed to the strongest inflation in a generation. Food prices and rents have soared, as have energy prices.

The question is what will happen next. The Fed has already formulated a plan to begin cutting pandemic financial aid and is expected to discuss speeding up this process at its meeting next week.

President Biden has been working hard to market strong growth and job growth to a public who seems more worried about price increases and the pandemic. Although the president acknowledged that the family has experienced a huge shock, he insisted that the overall economic situation is better than the consumer survey showed.

2. The Supreme Court ruled that abortion providers can challenge the Texas law prohibiting abortion after six weeks, but the law is still in effect.

Although the law was drafted to avoid federal review, the decision allowed providers to sue at least some state officials in federal court. Proponents of abortion rights had hoped that the judge would change the September 1 ruling, which allowed the country's strictest laws to take effect.

In addition, a state district court judge in Texas ruled that the unique enforcement of the law violated the state constitution, allowing any private citizen to sue abortion providers or others accused of breaking the law.

3. In the first week of December, the CDC found 43 cases of Omicron variant infections in 22 states.

These figures allow people to see for the first time the development of variants of the coronavirus in the United States. A person was vaccinated and required a short hospital stay without death. The actual number of Omicron cases is almost certainly higher, but the exact extent is uncertain.

The sudden threat of new variants is prompting some European countries to re-impose restrictions. The stricter requirements aroused opposition from angry citizens and reignited the debate about how much individual freedom should be restricted in the name of public health.

4. In a terrible truck crash in southern Mexico, at least 54 immigrants were killed and more than 100 were injured.

The immigrants were mainly from Guatemala, apparently heading to the United States. They were stuffed into a tractor trailer that overturned on a highway in Chiapas and hit a pedestrian bridge yesterday afternoon. This accident is one of the deadliest accidents involving immigration in decades. "They are all dead bodies," a paramedic at the scene said.

According to the International Organization for Migration, at least 650 people were killed this year while trying to cross the US border, which is the highest number since the agency started recording the death toll in 2014.

5. The British court ruled that Julian Assange can be extradited to the United States to face espionage charges. The founder of WikiLeaks plans to appeal the verdict.

The ruling overturned the ruling of the lower court and was a victory for the Biden administration. The Biden administration has been working hard to prosecute Assange during the Trump administration. This complicated case focused on the leak of his diplomatic and military files published in 2010 by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.

The Justice Department’s decision to accuse Assange under the Espionage Act triggered new First Amendment issues and shocked advocates of media freedom. But because he has been fighting for extradition, these issues have not been filed, and his transfer to the United States may trigger a major constitutional battle.

6. The Texas debate on critical racial studies began to become broader: efforts to reduce or even ban books.

In June, and in recent weeks, Texas lawmakers again passed a law that shapes how teachers treat the teaching of race and gender. A state politician made a list of 850 books that may “make students feel uncomfortable, guilty, and distressed” because of race or gender, including books on gay teenagers and banned books. Governor Greg Abbott also took aim at the bookshelves of the school library.

Teachers and librarians are frustrated and confused about the ambiguity and practical effects of the new laws and book lists. "A lot of our teachers are stunned," said a school trustee in South Lake, Texas.

7. There are now 11 million new oysters in New York Harbor. No, you can't eat them.

Adding bivalves is part of an ongoing effort to repair contaminated waterways around cities. They help filter water and create habitat for other marine life. The waters are still heavily polluted and oysters cannot be eaten—it may take 100 years before they are safe to eat—but the water quality is improving steadily, thanks in large part to oysters.

In other environmental news, the earth is gaining its own black box. In a remote area of ​​Australia, if humans are destroyed by climate change, a steel box the size of a school bus will record data for future generations.

8. Cindy Sherman. Louise Lawler. Robert Longo. Richard Prince.

These artists entered the art world through Janelle Reiring and Helene Winer, who opened the groundbreaking Manhattan art gallery Metro Pictures in 1980. The founder's unique vision helped define the movement that was ultimately called the "Picture Age". Tomorrow, the gallery will close in 41 years. Before ending their legacy, we talked with Reiring and Winer.

“We just want to show good art, and our view of good art happens to narrow a bit and then expand,” Wiener said. "This is what makes it exciting."

To end the year, here are the best art books, art exhibitions and works of art in 2021.

9. It's time to start planning your holiday menu.

Roasting duck like roast chicken is a simple thing-let Melissa Clark show it to you. By adding some adjustments, such as rendering fat for extra crispy skin, it can produce a bird that is easy to cook and delicious. Or, if you want to eat grilled ham, Eric Kim's new recipe includes root beer.

For dessert, consider Yotam Ottolenghi's very rich dark cake covered with caramelized hazelnuts. After (another) long year, “anyone who feels festive and celebrating this month should have any cake they want and eat a big piece,” he wrote.

If you want to eat biscuits, these 12 simple one-bowl recipes are for you.

10. Finally, how does an over-stressed animal get its shell?

Scientists have long wondered how ammonite, a mollusk that went extinct about 66 million years ago, obtained their unique spiral shell.

So they developed a mathematical model to explain this. They learned that if the bodies of ammonites grow faster than their shells, then they are too big for the shell house. This creates mechanical stress and causes the body to twist inside the shell, resulting in an asymmetrical form. The researchers say the model also explains how other snails form their characteristic spiral shells.

Hope you can find something that can be reversed and yelled at this weekend.

Brian Denton compiled photos for this briefing.

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