UnitedHealth shooting, France in crisis, Bitcoin, Hegseth and transgender care
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Today, a manhunt is underway for the gunman who fatally shot UnitedHealthcare's CEO. France's government collapses, with the far right in focus. Bitcoin hits a new milestone. Trump's pick to run the Defense Department faces a rocky path to the Pentagon. And the Supreme Court wades into the debate over transgender rights. It's Thursday, December 5th.

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This does not appear to be a random act of violence. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch describing the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth's insurance unit. Many people passed the suspect, but he appeared to wait for his intended target. Thompson was shot Wednesday morning outside the Hilton in midtown Manhattan just before the company's annual investor conference.

Police say the gunman arrived outside the Hilton about five minutes before Thompson and shot him in the back as he passed. The gunman is at large and police are still investigating a motive. France's National Assembly president saying Prime Minister Michel Barnier has to tend his resignation after opposition lawmakers brought the government down, with a majority 331 votes in support of the motion.

Barnier's demise has been cheered by far-right chief Marine Le Pen, who has sought for years to portray her National Rally Party as a government in waiting. The move has also thrust her 29-year-old wingman, Jordan Bardella, into the spotlight.

Gabriel Stargardt is in Paris. So last night as Marine Le Pen was wielding the knife against Barnier's government, Bardella was about five kilometers away in a sort of upmarket part of Paris, waiting to be greeted by thousands, and I mean thousands of predominantly young fans, waiting to sign a copy of his book.

That has kind of given Bardella a pedestal, which stands in stark contrast to the one that Le Pen now finds herself in, which is one of questionable utility to herself and her party. Le Pen has been the driver of bringing down the Barnier government. Now, her reasons for doing so are up for debate, but many think it's because she's facing the prospect of being ruled ineligible for five years in an upcoming corruption trial. Now, she denies

denies the allegations and says that the prosecutors are out to kill her political career. So is there any sense of division internally between Bardella and Le Pen? Certainly a lot of people are saying that with Bardella perhaps best placed to benefit from this move or from her potential ineligibility that maybe some sort of schism might open up at the very core of the party. One moment that has kind of

been flagged by observers was that as Le Pen was in the midst of this corruption trial and being potentially ruled out of the 2027 election, Bardella publicly said that nobody with any criminal conviction should be allowed to run for the national rally. Was that a little slip up or was that a calculated move on his part? South Korean opposition lawmakers said they will vote this weekend to impeach the president over his botched attempt to impose martial law.

And in Seoul, President Yoon Seok-yool has accepted the resignation of his defense minister and nominated a replacement. Kim Jong-hyun is seen as the central figure in Tuesday's debacle, blamed for advising the move. A record-breaking fentanyl bust in Mexico. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum saying it was the biggest in the country's history. Almost 2,500 pounds worth nearly $400 million.

And President-elect Donald Trump's new Middle East envoy has been on the road already. A source tells Reuters that Steve Witkoff travelled to Qatar and Israel for talks with both countries' leaders in late November. It was a trip to kickstart Trump's push to land a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal before he takes office in January.

Bitcoin has catapulted above $100,000 for the first time. It's a major milestone for the cryptocurrency. Carmel Crimmins explains why. Breaching $100,000 is seen as a kind of coming of age for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies generally.

A sign that they've moved from the fringes of finance to the center of Wall Street. And what's really driving this is the outcome of the US election. Bitcoin has more than doubled in value this year, but it's up more than 50% in the four weeks since Donald Trump won the presidency. Investors are betting that the new administration will be crypto-friendly. So what pushed Bitcoin above the 100k mark was Trump's pick to run the Securities and Exchange Commission. That's Wall Street's top regulator.

He's going for Paul Atkins, who's seen as a crypto proponent and very different to the current SEC chair, Gary Gensler, who cracked down on the sector and sued multiple firms for allegedly flouting rules. Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Defense, walking through the halls of Congress as reporters shout questions at him. Mr. Hegseth, do you have a drinking problem?

His meetings come as some in Congress express concern over allegations about his personal and professional life. Sources tell Reuters that Trump has been considering Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for the role should Hegseth falter.

Reporter Steve Holland is in Washington, D.C. There are a number of allegations against Pete Hegseth that are dragging him down, including too much drinking, his treatment of women, and possibly misusing funds for veterans organizations. He hasn't been able to clear these hurdles yet. As you mentioned, he's had a number of meetings with senators. Some of these seem to be going well. There seem to be a lot of questions raised.

Hegseth went on the Megyn Kelly Sirius XM radio show to defend himself.

He said that he doesn't have a drinking problem and if he is confirmed, he would never drink while he is defense secretary. So far, he says that President-elect Donald Trump is sticking with him, but Trump has not said this publicly. Hexer did not respond to a request for comment sent through the Trump transition office, nor did Trump's transition team respond to a request for comment.

Conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court appear sympathetic toward the legality of a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. The law, known as SB1, prohibits medical treatments like puberty blockers or hormones for people under 18 experiencing gender dysphoria. Reporter John Krusel covers the court.

So, John, obviously, this is a highly charged topic. There's the cultural debate, but then there's the legal arguments. So what did the justices hear on Wednesday? What it basically boiled down to was whether Tennessee's law is compatible with the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law or whether the law violated that constitutional promise by discriminating on the basis of sex or transgender status.

Tennessee's main argument was that the health benefits and risks behind these drugs is still being hotly debated. They argued that states have a duty to protect the health and welfare of its citizens and are well within their rights to place these sorts of restrictions on medical care. They argued that the law is not discriminatory because it applies equally in preventing both boys and girls from using these drugs to transition away from their sex at birth. Uh-huh.

And I should note that Tennessee's law is one of 24 such policies that have been enacted across the country. Now, on the other side of the argument, you had the Biden administration and the ACLU. They argued that this law does, in fact, discriminate on the basis of sex and transgender status. And to illustrate their point, they noted that Tennessee's law allows

Okay. Right.

What are the implications of this case? Looking ahead, if the court does in fact rule for Tennessee, it would establish a fairly lenient standard here for lawmakers to put in place other limits on transgender people, possibly in the context of things like restroom restrictions and sports participation. To stay ahead in fast-moving markets, you need to transform quality data into tailored, practical, and valuable intelligence.

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Today's Recommended Read is about China's pivot to hybrids for its European export market. It's a move designed to dodge the EU's electric vehicles tariffs, which don't apply to hybrids. And while we're talking China and EVs, take a listen to the latest episode of our Reuters Econ World podcast, which is all about the batteries that power them up.

There's a link to today's story and the Econ World podcast in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.