| By Derek Caney
When President-elect Donald Trump returns to Grand Rapids, Michigan, for a victory celebration, he will find a region already experiencing the manufacturing renaissance he promised on the campaign trail. Sort of. There's no shortage of jobs. It's just that they don't pay very well. Quote of the day: "We can barely make ends meet and we're stuck going nowhere." – Michael Baum, an auto-parts maker in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Digits of the day: 234-56 South Korean lawmakers voted 234-56 to impeach President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal, setting the stage for her to become the country's first elected leader to be pushed from office in disgrace.
Russia plans to meet with some OPEC and non-OPEC nations today to discuss unresolved issues related to a planned oil-output cut before wider talks the following day in Vienna. Russia promised to reduce its output by 300,000 barrels per day in the first half of 2017. Other non-OPEC countries are being urged to cut by a similar amount in total. OPEC has already pledged to cut production by 1.2 million barrels.
Aleppo before the war  REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Around the world - Russia is building a $30 million complex for acrobatic rock'n'roll, a niche sport in which President Vladimir Putin's daughter is a leading dancer and has a senior role for development. The money being invested dwarfs that spent on some other, bigger, sports in Russia, such as archery and biathlon.
- More than 1,000 Russian athletes competing in summer, winter and Paralympic sports were involved in an institutional conspiracy to conceal positive doping tests, according to a World Anti-Doping Agency report.
- Defense Secretary Ash Carter tried to reassure Afghanistan of the United States' commitment to the nation, in the absence of any specific foreign policy plans that Trump has for the region that is battling a renewed Taliban insurgency.
Around the country - Remember the polar vortex that killed nine people in 2014? Some weather forecasters think another one may be on the way next week in the northern half of the United States.
- Trump only gets one presidential intelligence briefing a week. By comparison, Vice President-elect Mike Pence gets six. Although they are not required to, presidents-elect have in the past generally welcomed the opportunity to receive the President's Daily Brief (PDB), the most highly classified and closely held document in the government, on a regular basis. An official on the transition team said Trump has been receiving national security briefings, including "routine" PDBs and other special briefings, but declined to specify their content or frequency, saying these matters were classified.
- Lawmakers in Ohio approved a bill that opens the way for licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons on college campuses, less than two weeks after a man injured 11 in a stabbing attack at Ohio State University. There have been 206 school shootings in the United States since 2013, according to anti-gun violence group Everytown USA.
Around Wall Street - Large British banks want the government to allow their industry to remain subject to EU laws for up to five years after the country leaves the trading bloc. Brexitphiles won't be pleased. They want to break away from the bloc's legal system as soon as possible.
- The European Union launched an investigation into whether Chinese manufacturers are selling steel into Europe at unfairly low prices, a case Beijing said it viewed with deep concern.
Today's reason to live The Byrds - Mr. Spaceman See you down the road, John Glenn.
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