Sabrina Siddiqui

It's Thursday, December 4th.

I'm Sabrina Siddiqui for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Osola.

This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

The battle to acquire Warner Bros.

Discovery is heating up.

One of its suitors, Paramount, criticized rival Netflix's bid, saying in a letter this week to Warner that regulatory hurdles would block a deal with the streaming giant.

The previously unreported letter, which was sent on Monday and viewed by The Wall Street Journal, says Paramount's own proposal was the only one that didn't raise antitrust issues.

People familiar with the matter say Warner is seeking more bids by the end of today and plans to finish the auction by the end of the month.

Paramount is aiming to buy the whole company, while Netflix and Comcast are bidding for Warner's movie and TV studios and libraries, as well as HBO Max.

Turning to finance, the Trump administration is advancing a plan to establish $1,000 investment accounts for young Americans and Wall Street wants in.

Many of the largest financial firms are preparing proposals related to the Trump accounts to submit to the Treasury Department.

People familiar with the matter say the administration is asking firms including Charles Schwab and Robinhood to pitch plans to manage the Trump accounts records and handle administrative tasks.

Meanwhile, the administration said today that work permits for immigrants seeking asylum and other humanitarian protections will now be valid for 18 months rather than five years.

Officials said that will give the government more chances to vet immigrants and frame the change as part of a crackdown on legal immigration after two members of the National Guard were shot in Washington, D.C.

last week.

Federal officials say the shooter was a man from Afghanistan who was granted asylum in the U.S.

in April.

The new rules take effect today and for now only apply to new permits.

They will likely affect hundreds of thousands of people and may raise concerns among employers.

The meatpacking industry, for example, has relied on people who received legal work authorizations after applying for asylum.