The $814 million mystery

House Republican leaders are moving to quell a rebellion within their ranks over a stopgap spending bill needed to avert a government shutdown. Funding to keep the government operating expires at the end of the day on Dec. 8 and GOP leaders are attempting to push forward with a two-week measure that expires Dec. 22. The conservative House Freedom Caucus has threatened to block progress on the tax bill unless the group gets support to extend the spending measure to Dec. 30.

Trump is expected to sign a waiver delaying the move of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, while declaring the contested city the capital of Israel. Middle East and European leaders said Trump’s move would undermine peace efforts and potentially generate protests across the region. The president’s decision to sign the waiver would be in keeping with moves by his predecessors going back 20 years under a federal law that declares Jerusalem to be the Israeli capital.

The $814 million mystery near the heart of the biggest bitcoin exchange. The digital token known as tether is described as a stable alternative to bitcoin’s wild price swings. The company behind it says that every tether is backed by one U.S. dollar held in reserve, but some are skeptical.

Russian athletes at the 2018 Olympics won’t have a flag or anthem. Although some athletes will be invited to compete at the Games, their anthem won’t play, their flag won’t fly, and any medals they win will not accrue toward an overall Russian medal count, the International Olympic Committee announced. The punishment is the culmination of a three-year investigation into state-sponsored doping.

Democratic Representative John Conyers is leaving Congress immediately amid sexual harassment allegations. His retirement would end a House Committee on Ethics investigation into the allegations. Conyers, the longest serving House member, said he is endorsing his son, John Conyers III, to replace him.

Ray Dalio says part of the tax reform plan will further divide the nation. The expected elimination of state and local income tax deductibility will take a toll on high-tax areas, the Bridgewater founder said, by forcing high-income earners to move out of state, thereby exacerbating the conflict already present between wealthy and lower-income U.S. taxpayers.

Everyone from Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein to Nobel Prize winner Robert Shiller has weighed in on the best reads of the year.