Analysts estimate Bashar al-Assad’s regime raked in $5 billion per year from the Captagon drug trade, dwarfing Syria’s official budget and making it a lifeline for the bankrupted country. Imtiaz Tyab has new details about what was discovered about the trade after Assad’s rule collapsed. Source

There is fresh optimism in the Middle East that a ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war is closer than ever. CBS News’ Chris Livesay reports. Then, Jon Alterman, senior vice president and director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joins “The Daily Report” to analyze why. Source

The community in Madison, Wisconsin, held a vigil Tuesday night to remember those killed in Monday’s shooting at a private Christian school. CBS News’ Anna Schecter has more about the suspected shooter. Source

The Federal Reserve announced its third consecutive interest rate cut of the year on Wednesday, cutting its benchmark rate by a quarter point. Interest rates have now been slashed by a full percentage point since September. CBS News contributor Javier David breaks down its impact. Source

For the second time in three months, Congress is facing a fast-approaching deadline to pass a short-term funding bill to prevent a government shutdown. President-elect Donald Trump and some other Republican lawmakers have spoken out against it. Meanwhile, Trump has suggested that members of the now-disbanded House Jan. 6 committee should be criminally targetted. CBS News’ Hunter Woodall and Ed O’Keefe have more details. Source

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates Wednesday for the third consecutive month, slashing rates by a quarter percentage point. It was the Fed’s final rate decision before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has been a longtime critic of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. CBS News MoneyWatch correspondent Kelly O’Grady joins to break down the move. Source

The Supreme Court plans to hear arguments in January on a challenge to a new law that could lead to the popular social media app TikTok being banned in the U.S. The Biden administration and lawmakers say the Chinese government’s ability to collect data from TikTok poses a significant national security risk, while the app and its Chinese parent company ByteDance argue that the law is unconstitutional. CBS News Supreme Court producer Catherine Cole has more. Source

President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canada haven’t even gone into effect and they’ve already plunged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government into turmoil. On Monday, Trudeau’s finance minister and deputy prime minister resigned, sharing a sharply critical assessment of her old boss in a public letter. Mercedes Stephenson, Ottawa bureau chief for Canada’s Global News, joins “America Decides” to discuss Trudeau’s future. Source

There are new signs Israel and Hamas are closing in on a ceasefire deal following more than a year of warfare. CBS News foreign correspondent Chris Livesay has the details from Tel Aviv. Source

President-elect Donald Trump says he will remove millions of immigrants living unlawfully in the U.S. through his mass deportation plan once he takes office in January. CBS News immigration and politics reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez rode along Wednesday in El Paso with a sergeant for the Texas Department of Public Safety to discuss border policy. Source