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good evening. This is the latest news at the end of Wednesday.

1. The results of the election cast doubts on the Democrats' fate next year.

Republicans claim to own all three statewide offices in Virginia and will have a Republican governor for the first time in more than a decade. The winner, Glenn Youngkin, has made extensive progress over the Democrats in every region and every demographic group of the state.

In Seattle, a Republican city attorney candidate and a pro-police mayor candidate both lead. Although the Democrat Eric Adams easily won the election for mayor of New York City, the Republicans have made progress in New York State.

The most surprising unknown is the fate of the New Jersey governor’s campaign. Governor Philip Murphy is caught in a fierce competition with the lesser-known Republican challenger and former Congressman Jack Ciattarelli.

Our political reporter wrote in his analysis that, in the end, Democrats tried to motivate voters and failed in the information war with Republicans.

The following is what the results mean for 2022, when the control of the House of Representatives, the Senate and 36 governors will be voted on.

2. In Washington, the Democrats are trying to take quick action on key bills to show that they can govern.

Congressional Democrats this week pushed the House of Representatives to vote on social policy, infrastructure and climate change projects worth nearly $3 trillion. They have new concerns: will legislative victory help or harm their political status? But almost all Democrats came out of Tuesday’s failure and agreed that the top priority now is to pass these two bills as soon as possible.

Democrats in the House of Representatives plan to put back four weeks of federal paid family visits and sick leave in their social policy bill in an attempt to pressure Senator Joe Manchin to give up his opposition.

3. Fed officials have developed a plan to slow down bond purchases, which is their first step in withdrawing support from the pandemic.

The central bank is buying US$120 billion in mortgage-backed securities and Treasury bonds every month to keep cash flowing in the financial system, but starting this month, it will reduce it by US$15 billion each month. If it continues, this speed will bring the stimulus plan to an end in mid-2022.

The Fed’s main policy interest rate—the cost of borrowing that affects the entire economy—is still close to zero. If inflation does not recede as expected by policymakers next year, they may decide to raise interest rates to slow demand and control inflation.

4. A New York law that strictly restricts the carrying of firearms in public seems unlikely to continue after the Supreme Court challenged it.

Several members of the court seem to be looking for a way to make a strict decision on the case. Chief Justice John Roberts said that it is surprising that constitutional rights are subject to the discretion of local officials, but he also asked whether guns can be banned in various places such as subways, protests or Times Square.

Paul Clement is the lawyer for two men who have been denied a license to carry a pistol. He said the point is that “carrying a gun at home is a basic constitutional right” and there are almost no restrictions in 43 states.

For more than ten years, the court has not issued a major Second Amendment ruling.

5. The Islamic State poses a growing threat in Afghanistan.

In the two months after the Taliban took control of the country, the Islamic State branch in Afghanistan-known as ISIS-K-intensified its attacks. After 20 years of rebellion, the Taliban now find themselves struggling to fulfill their promises to law and order.

In recent weeks, attacks in major cities such as Kunduz and Kandahar have killed at least 90 people. They mainly target Taliban forces and Shiite minorities. Western officials worry that the Islamic State may gain the ability to strike international targets within 6 to 12 months.

6. The climate summit turned its focus to a difficult question: who pays?

The government and private investors announced a series of measures aimed at helping poorer countries avoid the danger of rising temperatures. These include the world's largest investor alliance's commitment to use $130 trillion in assets to achieve zero emissions targets in its investments. It is essentially a commitment to make climate change the central focus of major financial decisions in the coming decades.

But this promise was questioned by environmentalists, who stated that the details were vague and that many banks still invest hundreds of billions of dollars in fossil fuels each year.

According to the "Paris Agreement", countries must measure and report on the progress of their pledged emissions reductions. But the process is slow and inaccurate. Satellites may be able to help.

7. The Atlanta Warriors found a way to match the great Atlanta team of the 1990s and won their first World Series championship in 26 years.

The team went all out and won the sixth game. In the past, the more famous Brave team usually defeated the Houston Astros in a struggling stage. Jorge Soller won three consecutive championships and won the World Series MVP

"This city has long been eager to win the championship," said Freddie Freeman, the team's longest serving member, who homered and was eliminated in the final. Our baseball columnist described him as "the friendliest person in baseball."

8. Damon Galgut won the Booker Prize for his satirical portrait of a white South African family after apartheid.

The judges of the prestigious literary award praised Galgut's ninth book "The Promise" for its "unusual narrative style" and "breaking boundaries and proving the flourishing development of novels in the 21st century." "The Times" book review stated that Galgut from South Africa was "a beaming satirist who attacked the recklessness and hypocrisy of his characters harshly."

In other book news, Knopf plans to publish the memoirs of film star Paul Newman next year, which are based on several hours of recordings left by him and interviews with family, friends and colleagues.

9. Don't shake your watch face: In the next few months, many new movies will be released.

"Passing By", "Macbeth's Tragedy" and "Belfast" are some of the films that abandon color and adopt more classic methods. To understand this shift, we spoke with the photographers behind the three most compelling black and white films of the season. Cinematographer Edward Grau said that a scene in "Passing By" was "too bright to distinguish" the character's race-a deliberate choice.

Our film critics also commented on "The Harder They Fall", a high-level popular Western film aimed at recreating Western myths. He said that this story sometimes makes people feel glib, but the all-black cast is daunting.

10. Finally, let us look at your teeth. All 500.

If there is one place you don't want to put your fingers in, it is in the mouth of a Pacific cod. This terrible and delicious fish has 500 needle-like teeth, allowing them to feed on slippery squid and hard shell crabs. A new study found that they replace about 3% of their teeth every day to keep these teeth sharp and shiny.

For lingcod, this is equivalent to replacing 20 teeth per day (equivalent to humans losing and gaining a new tooth every day). The researchers hope that their research will help scientists uncover the mystery of fish teeth.

Hope you can find something to smile tonight.

Eve Edelheit organized photos for this briefing.

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