QUICK HITS

1 Car bombing: At least 12 people were killed, three of them children, and 20 others were wounded when a car bomb exploded near the Kabul airport early Wednesday, Afghan officials said, the first major attack on the Afghan capital after about a month of relative calm.

2 New DHS interim: Chad Wolf was sworn in Wednesday as acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, becoming the fifth person to hold the top job under President Donald Trump. He replaces Kevin McAleenan, who assumed the acting DHS chief role when Trump removed Kirstjen Nielsen in April but was never nominated for the job. McAleenan submitted his resignation last month.

3 Embassy seized: Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó seized the Venezuelan Embassy in Brasília early Wednesday, claiming its employees defected and voluntarily let them. An embassy spokesman who represents the government of President Nicolás Maduro said the staff remains loyal to Maduro and that Guaidó supporters forced their way in.

4 Venice flooding: Venice, Italy, was hit by the highest tide waters in more than 50 years, an event the mayor said would cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. The high waters flooded 85% of the city, according to City Hall. Venice authorities said the water level peaked at just over 6 feet, second only to a record flood in 1966.

5 Record temps: The most severe early November cold snap in more than a century has plowed over the East Coast, where record lows were set in the majority of population centers Wednesday morning. Weather.com reported that at least 300 records have fallen since the cold snap invaded the Lower 48 on Sunday.