December 20, 2024 - PBS News Hour full episode

Who owns a vibe? That question is at the heart of a lawsuit where one online influencer is suing another for copyright infringement. Sydney Gifford claims that Alyssa Sheill knowingly replicated Gifford’s aesthetic and her posts on social media. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Sandra E. Garcia, a reporter at The New York Times who has been covering this first-of-its-kind case.

Overnight in the occupied West Bank, a mosque was vandalized and set on fire by Israeli settlers. Attacks against Palestinians there have increased greatly since the Oct. 7 terror attacks. Israel describes the West Bank as one of seven fronts it is fighting on, stoked by Iranian support of militants. Nick Schifrin reports from the Jenin refugee camp, the epicenter of much of the violence.

American diplomats were in Syria for the first time since the U.S. shut its embassy in Damascus in 2012. They met with Syria's new ruler, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and announced the $10 million bounty the U.S. placed on him would be removed. For perspective on the latest developments, Geoff Bennett spoke with Theodore Kattouf, the U.S. ambassador to Syria during the George W. Bush administration.

In our news wrap Friday, a car drove through a crowd of people at a Christmas market in Germany, Ukraine struck inside Russia's Kursk region with U.S.-supplied weapons, the Biden administration announced it would forgive another $4 billion in student loan debt for roughly 55,000 borrowers who work in public service and Party City is closing its doors after nearly 40 years in business.

The back-and-forth on the stopgap spending bill has created fault lines among House Republicans. Many were unsatisfied with the original text, but some also rejected the revised bill, which included President-elect Trump’s demands to suspend the debt limit. One of those members is Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona. He joined Geoff Bennett to discuss more.

Days of chaos and uncertainty on Capitol Hill appear to be winding down. A bill backed by President-elect Trump to keep the government open was rejected by the House Thursday night. But on Friday, an apparent breakthrough was announced by Speaker Mike Johnson. Lisa Desjardins is tracking it all on Capitol Hill.

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Geoff Bennett to discuss the week in politics, including yet another chaotic, down-to-the-wire funding battle in Congress, how President-elect Trump will govern during his second term and the political influence of Elon Musk.