Americans are feeling the strain already with less than three weeks to go until the expiration of COVID-era tax credits that have helped many people pay for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to spend money on gifts, parties, and travel this holiday season, you're not alone.

Belarusian authorities have released Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and key opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova from prison.

Iran has introduced a new pricing tier for its subsidized gasoline, marking the first price adjustment since 2019.

The Transportation Security Administration is renewing efforts to end a collective bargaining agreement with airport screening officers.

The commercial boom in artificial intelligence has sparked interest in humanoid robots.

The federal government continues to find states improperly issuing commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants that remain valid after their authorization to be in the country expires, putting millions of dollars of funding at risk.

A new AP-NORC poll finds this holiday season isn’t quite so merry for American shoppers as large shares of them are dipping into savings, scouring for bargains and feeling like the overall economy is stuck in a rut under President Donald Trump.

An official says Germany has summoned the Russian ambassador following accusations of sabotage, cyberattacks and election interference.

Ford Motor Co. has stepped up technology in its popular F-150 pickup to combat ever-evolving techniques car thieves have at their disposal.

The European Union has indefinitely frozen Russia’s assets in Europe to ensure that Hungary and Slovakia, both with Moscow-friendly governments, can’t prevent the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine.

More drops for superstar AI stocks knocked Wall Street off its record heights.

International Criminal Court judges and prosecutors are trying to live and work under the same financial and travel restrictions brought against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Osama bin Laden.

The first two episodes of Taylor Swift's six-episode docuseries “The End of an Era” will premiere on Disney+ Friday.

Global online forum Reddit has filed a court challenge to Australia’s world-first law that bans Australian children younger than 16 from holding accounts on the world’s most popular social media platforms.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to block states from regulating artificial intelligence.

A new lawsuit seeks to overturn the recent approval of an exploratory drilling program in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

A Hollywood director has been convicted on charges that he scammed Netflix out of $11 million for a show that never materialized, while he instead used the cash for lavish purchases that included several Rolls-Royces, a Ferrari and about $1 million in mattresses and luxury bedding.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued new guidance stating airlines don't have to cover passenger expenses like meals or lodging when a flight is canceled or significantly delayed by an aircraft recall.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on three nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Senators from both parties are pushing to change a defense bill after crash investigators and victims' families warned it could undo key safety reforms.

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage edged higher this week, though it remains relatively near its low point so far this year.

Disney is investing $1 billion in OpenAI to bring characters like Mickey Mouse and Luke Skywalker to the AI company's Sora video tool.

A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week, but remain in the same historically healthy range of the past few years despite growing concern over the health of the labor market.

Bulgaria’s government has resigned as mass protests gripped the country just weeks before it’s due to join the eurozone.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday, a month after it moved forward with its efforts to regulate the sale of consumable hemp products.

The heirs of an 83-year-old Connecticut woman are suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft for wrongful death.

Wall Street rose to more records even as a sell-off for Oracle and worries about a potential bubble in artificial-intelligence technology weighed on the market.

Onetime cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after a $40 billion crash revealed his crypto ecosystem to be a fraud.

American farmers are feeling the strain from trade disputes under President Donald Trump, particularly with China.

One Texas-born former coach has revolutionized playcalling with an analytics system he developed.

Coca-Cola said Wednesday that its chief operating officer will become its next CEO in the first quarter of 2026.

Federal prison officials say the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch is fit to stand trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

Sweeping taxes on imports have cost the average American household nearly $1,200 since Donald Trump returned to the White House this year, according to calculations by Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.

The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point Wednesday for the third time since September, bringing its key rate to about 3.6%, the lowest in nearly three years.

Travelers who are now able to come to the United States without a visa might soon need to provide social media, email, and family history details to the Department of Homeland Security.

Oil companies have offered $300 million for drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico in the first offshore lease sale for the region since 2023.

The billionaire and author MacKenzie Scott revealed $7.1 billion in donations to nonprofits Tuesday, bringing her overall giving since 2019 to $26.3 billion.

Waymo's self-driving taxis have been in the spotlight for both negative and positive reasons.

USA Today's editor in chief, Caren Bohan, is out of the job she's held for a little more than a year.

Mega billionaire Elon Musk said his efforts leading the Department of Government Efficiency were only “somewhat successful” and he would not do it over again.

CBS says Tony Dokoupil will take over at the beginning of next year as anchor of its flagship “CBS Evening News” broadcast.

Coffee lovers are paying more for their morning cup; coffee and tea prices were already rising before recent tariffs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 says it has taken control of the strategic city of Uvira in eastern Congo.

Paramount Skydance says that the Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings withdrew from its bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery to avert a national security review.

President Donald Trump’s push for the largest mass deportation in history has had an outsized impact on the child care field, which is heavily reliant on immigrants and already strained by a worker shortage.

The U.S. stock market neared its all-time high after the Federal Reserve cut its main interest rate to bolster the job market, and hopes strengthened for more cuts to come in 2026.

The Federal Reserve reduced its key interest rate for the third time in a row Wednesday but signaled that it may leave rates unchanged in the coming months.

A to-do list and travel plans found during Luigi Mangione’s arrest and revealed in court this week shed new light on the steps he may have taken — or planned to take — to avoid capture after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killing last year.

Cracker Barrel posted lower-than-expected sales in its fiscal first quarter and lowered its revenue forecast for the year as it continued to feel the fallout from a botched plan to revamp its logo and restaurants.

The Environmental Protection Agency has removed references to fossil fuels from its online page about climate change causes.

Rejoice, New Year’s dieters: Oreos are getting a sugar-free option.

The author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott revealed $7.1 billion in donations to nonprofits in 2025 Tuesday, marking a significant increase in her annual giving from recent years.

OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue.

Investors have a valuable escape hatch if their employer-provided HSA comes up short.

Paired with high-deductible healthcare plans, health savings accounts help ease healthcare costs.

U.S. job openings barely budged in October, coming in at 7.7 million amid uncertainty over the direction of the American economy.

The European Union is investigating Google for potential antitrust violations related to its AI models.

Australia has introduced a world-first social media ban for children under 16, starting Wednesday.

The most comprehensive global environment assessment ever undertaken calls for a new approach to jointly tackle the most pressing environmental issues including climate change and biodiversity loss that threaten over 1 million plant and animal species with extinction.

Populist billionaire Andrej Babiš has been sworn in as the Czech Republic’s new prime minister following October’s parliamentary election.

At a nighttime event in Pennsylvania, President Donald Trump tried to emphasize his focus on combating inflation, although the issue couldn't quite command his full attention.

U.S. stocks largely held in place as Wall Street waits to hear what the Federal Reserve will say about interest rates.

A Beijing court has ruled Malaysia Airlines must pay $410,000 each to the families of eight passengers who went missing in the disappearance of Flight 370 more than a decade ago.

A federal judge has struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects, saying the effort to halt virtually all leasing of wind farms on federal lands and waters was “arbitrary and capricious” and violates U.S. law.

PepsiCo plans to cut prices and eliminate some of its products under a deal with an activist investor announced Monday.

It's a tough time for CNN, which looks like it will be in management limbo for some time with Paramount Skydance's hostile takeover bid of its parent company, Warner Bros.

The Federal Reserve faces an unusually contentious meeting this week that will test Chair Jerome Powell’s ability to corral the necessary support from fellow policymakers for a third straight interest rate cut.

More people are turning to GoFundMe for help with basic needs such as housing and food.

President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China.

Incoming Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel is assembling his team to help him lead the conglomerate Warren Buffett built starting in January after a couple of key departures.

President Donald Trump won't be getting his wish, at least not soon.

Warner Bros.

The maker of an iPhone app that flagged sightings of U.S. immigration agents has sued the Trump administration for free speech violations.

The Golden Globes have introduced a best podcast category that's likely to spark conversations.

Paramount has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros.

Angry farmers protesting delays in the payment of subsidies have swarmed onto an airport tarmac on the southern Greek island of Crete.

Michael R.

An official says the airspace over Yemen was briefly closed as tensions rose in the south of the country.

President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix to buy Warner Bros.

U.S. stocks pulled away from their record heights.

The Supreme Court seems likely to expand presidential control over independent federal agencies, signaling support for President Donald Trump’s firing of board members.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is waiving part of a fine assessed against Southwest Airlines after the company canceled thousands of flights during a winter storm in 2022.

Police in Edmonton, Canada, have started a pilot project using AI-equipped body cameras to detect faces on a "high risk" watch list.

Tom Hicks, the Texas businessman and philanthropist who owned two Dallas-area professional sports franchises and an English Premier League soccer team, died Saturday.

Chief Justice John Roberts has led the Supreme Court’s conservative majority on a steady march of increasing the power of the presidency.

The latest Pickup Lines segment features CHRISTUS Children’s CEO Cris Daskevich. The West Texas native started her medical career in Houston and never expected to end up running a children’s hospital.

Vanity Fair is parting ways with West Coast editor Olivia Nuzzi amid controversy over her past coverage of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A statement Friday from Nuzzi and the magazine says they have mutually agreed to let her contract expire at the end of the year.

Florida’s Republican-dominated congressional delegation is urging the Trump administration to drop a plan that would allow new oil drilling off the state’s coast.

Netflix's $72 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros.

Massachusetts’ highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state’s lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users.

President Donald Trump's White House has established a hall of shame for journalists it finds guilty of media bias as it looks for new avenues of attack against legacy news outlets.

The Cooper family has worked in the coal industry in Colorado for generations.

Netflix has struck a deal to buy Warner Bros.

French first lady Brigitte Macron has reunited with a giant panda born in France during a visit to China with President Emmanuel Macron.

European Union regulators have fined Elon Musk’s social media platform X 120 million euros for failing to comply with digital regulations.

Pope Leo XIV has taken his biggest step yet to correct one of Pope Francis’ more problematic financial moves.

India’s aviation watchdog has temporarily rolled back restrictions on airline crew duty hours.

The U.S. stock market rose to the edge of its all-time high.