Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including House Democrats plan to vote Thursday on a short-term spending plan in a bid to end the partial government shutdown; Stocks in the U.S. rose slightly on the last day of a turbulent economic year and international markets also ticked up on hopes of a trade deal between U.S. and China; The International Federation of Journalists reported that 2018 was a highly bloody year for the press, and more.

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National

The sun rises behind the White House in Washington on Dec. 22, 2018. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers faced a partial government shutdown early Saturday after Democrats refused to meet President Donald Trump's demands for $5 billion to start erecting a border wall with Mexico. Overall, more than 800,000 federal employees would see their jobs disrupted, including more than half who would be forced to continue working without pay. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

1.) In a bid to end the partial government shutdown early in the new year, House Democrats plan to vote Thursday on a short-term spending plan.

The federal website where consumers can sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act is shown on a computer screen in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

2.) A Texas federal judge who controversially invalidated the Affordable Care Act two weeks ago agreed late Sunday to allow the law to stand while his ruling is appealed, citing “great uncertainty” for those seeking health care coverage.

In this Dec. 28, 2018, file photo, trader Jonathan Corpina works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

3.) Stocks in the U.S. rose slightly Monday on the last day of a turbulent economic year and international markets also ticked up on hopes of a trade deal between U.S. and China.

Flames burn inside a van as the Camp Fire tears through Paradise, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. Tens of thousands of people fled a fast-moving wildfire Thursday in Northern California, some clutching babies and pets as they abandoned vehicles and struck out on foot ahead of the flames that forced the evacuation of an entire town and destroyed hundreds of structures. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

4.) Pointing to multiple fires that have devastated California since 2017, the U.S. government offered a basis Monday for a federal judge to hold Pacific Gas and Electric criminally liable.

5.) A federal judge ruled Saturday that Google does not violate Illinois privacy laws by automatically creating a face template when Android users upload photos taken on their smartphone to the company’s cloud-based photo service.

International

People pause for a moment of silence next to a memorial outside near the Capital Gazette building Thursday, July 5, 2018, in Annapolis, Md., for the five Capital Gazette employees who were killed a week ago in one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)

6.) Counting a dozen more deaths from the previous year, the International Federation of Journalists reported Monday that 2018 was a highly bloody one for the press.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. (Riccardo Antimiani/ANSA via AP)

7.) The drawn-out budget battle between Italy’s new establishment-challenging populist government and the budget hawks of the European Union is over – for now.

8.) Russia’s security agency announced Monday that an American citizen, Paul Whelan, has been arrested on charges of espionage in Moscow.

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