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This is The World in Brief from The Economist.

Thank you. This is The World in Brief from The Economist. Our top stories.

America's economy added 256,000 jobs in December, the biggest monthly increase since March.

The unemployment rate also fell to 4.1%.

Economists had expected the economy to add 155,000 jobs.

The figures will reinforce the Federal Reserve's case

for holding interest rates steady

after cutting them by a full percentage point last year.

Donald Trump received no jail time over his hush money conviction in New York.

The president-elect was given an unconditional discharge by Judge Juan Merchant, who said that the

legal protection of the presidency did not reduce the seriousness

of the crime. Mr. Trump's lawyers had asked the Supreme Court to intervene to delay the hearing,

arguing that sentencing him before his inauguration would threaten national security.

During a hearing on Friday, America's Supreme Court justices seemed inclined to uphold a law,

requiring TikTok to be sold by ByteDance, its Chinese owner, or to shut down by January 19th.

The justices, who have just days to make a decision are considering whether TikTok's Chinese

...