(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)
Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1. President Trump insists that the Affordable Care Act is “essentially” being repealed. But what remains of it appears relatively stable and looks more and more like government-run health care.
Tech companies are angling to get a bigger share of the $3 trillion spent on health care each year in the U.S. They’re racing to introduce new tracking apps, sensors and other tools.
_____
2. Small farmers say they’re drowning in federal rules and regulations. We visited Indian Ladder Farms, an orchard in upstate New York that, by our count, is subject to about 5,000 of them.
The Ten Eyck family, which has run the orchard for five generations, is hoping for relief from Washington soon. It’s not that they’re anti-rules, they say. They just want them applied in a simpler and smarter way. Above, a worker making cider.
_____
3. New York City’s crime rate is set to hit a record low as 2017 draws to a close. If the trend holds until Sunday night, crime will have declined for 27 straight years.
Continue reading the main storyBut there’s one area of concern: an uptick in reports of rape and sexual misconduct. The increase coincided with the start of the #MeToo movement, which encouraged victims to come forward.
Officials said that an unusually high number of reports were about older incidents.
_____
4. A powerful Israeli official wants to thank President Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by naming a new train station in the Old City after him.
Building the station would require digging beneath some of the most sensitive acreage on earth and would surely draw international criticism. Most of the world does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Old City, which Israel captured in 1967.
And in Tel Aviv, the world’s tallest Lego tower is being constructed.
_____
5. Turkey’s leader abandoned a softened approach toward President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, describing him as a mass murderer with no place in the country’s future.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, above right, may have intended his remarks as a message to Mr. Assad’s most powerful ally, Russia. A day earlier, Russia said that Kurdish groups would be included in talks that it’s hosting next month, a move Turkey strongly opposes.
_____
6. In Russia, the Kremlin barred Aleksei Navalny, an anticorruption activist, above, from running for president and warned him against organizing a boycott of the election in March.
Mr. Navalny’s exclusion “casts a serious doubt on political pluralism in Russia and the prospect of democratic elections next year,” the European Union’s foreign service said in a statement.
While the Kremlin is clearly afraid of Mr. Navalny, it is unclear exactly what it fears, our correspondent writes.
_____
7. In an interview with Prince Harry for the BBC, former President Barack Obama said he was adjusting to life outside the White House and expressed concern about social media. Here are highlights from the interview.
And Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, drew intense response with his claim that President Trump is similar to Winston Churchill. Historians took issue with the comparison.
_____
8. Most chefs vie for a coveted Michelin star. It’s like the Nobel or an Oscar — a lifetime achievement. So why did Jérôme Brochot, a renowned French chef, give his back?
He couldn’t afford it, he said. Running a high-end establishment in a modest town made it difficult to draw diners.
But now that he’s cut prices and added more down-to-earth dishes, the tables seem to have filled up again.
_____
9. We sat down with Anderson Cooper, left, and Andy Cohen, who will replace the comedian Kathy Griffin during CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage.
We learned that they almost went on a blind date years ago. Now, their bond has become a commodity: They talk about whatever they like before a paying audience on the “AC²” tour. Read excerpts from the conversation.
Ms. Griffin was fired in May after she posed for a photo with a fake severed head of President Trump.
Market Snapshot View Full Overview
_____
10. Finally, in the first year of President Trump’s administration, the role of late-night TV comedians has changed drastically.
Here are the top late-night moments of 2017, as chronicled by our stalwart employee who stays up late every night so you don’t have to.
For more on the year that was, check out our 2017 Year in Review.
Have a great night.
_____
The Evening Briefing by Email
Get a nightly rundown of the day's top stories delivered to your inbox every Monday through Friday.
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.
And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a.m. Sundays.
Want to catch up on past briefings? You can browse them here.
If photographs appear out of order, please download the updated New York Times app from iTunes or Google Play.
What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes.com.
Continue reading the main story