(REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)
US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama during the Kennedy Center Honors at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Monday.
Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
President Obama said it was an act of terrorism. In a rare Sunday-night address from the Oval Office, President Barack Obama discussed the US efforts to address the recent spate of violence for which terrorists have claimed responsibility. "The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it," Obama said. "We will destroy ISIL and any other organization who seeks to harm us."
France's far-right, anti-immigration party is on the rise. "France's hard-right National Front has just made history, storming to first place in the country's regional elections," Business Insider's Mike Bird writes. "The exit polls on Sunday evening showed FN in first place, on 30.6% of the vote. The two mainstream centre-right and centre-left parties racked up 27% and 22.7% respectively. For the first time, the country seems likely to have at least one region controlled by the hard-right, anti-immigration populist party."
The Electrolux-General Electric appliance deal has fallen through. Sweden's Electrolux said its $3.3 billion deal to buy GE's appliance business fell apart after GE terminated the agreement. "Electrolux has made extensive efforts to obtain regulatory approvals, and regrets that GE has terminated the agreement while the court procedure is still pending," Electrolux said.
German industrial output whiffs. Industrial production in Europe's largest economy climbed by just 0.2%, well short of the 0.8% expected by economists. Low energy prices appear to be the main cause of the disappointment.
Chipotle warned sales are tanking amid an E. coli scare. In a regulatory filing on Friday, the burrito chain forecast that its comparable sales would fall by 8% to 11% in the fourth quarter. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been investigating E. coli cases linked to Chipotle. From management: "Sales trends during the quarter so far have been extremely volatile. Future sales trends may be significantly influenced by further developments, including potential additional announcements from federal and state health authorities."
Greek parliament passed an austere budget for 2016. "The Greek parliament approved a 2016 budget featuring sharp cuts in spending and some tax increases to satisfy the country's international lenders at a time of growing austerity fatigue," Reuters' Karolina Tagaris reported. "The budget makes 5.7 billion euros ($6.2 billion) in public spending cuts including 1.8 billion from pensions and 500 million from defense. The savings are greater than this year's 1.5 billion euros. It also included tax increases of just over 2 billion euros."