WELLINGTON, New Zealand — From Sydney to Vladivostok, communities around the world have begun welcoming 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges. Auckland became the first major city to celebrate, as thousands thronged downtown or climbed the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point. A...
Judge Denies Sentencing Delay for Ex-Sen. Bob Menendez, Puts His Wife’s Trial off Until February
NEW YORK — Former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez will be sentenced on corruption charges as scheduled at the end of January, and his wife’s trial will be moved from January to February, a judge said Monday. U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein in Manhattan rejected Menendez’s request to delay...
Treasury Says Chinese Hackers Remotely Accessed Workstations, Documents
WASHINGTON — Chinese hackers remotely accessed several U.S. Treasury Department workstations and unclassified documents after compromising a third-party software service provider, the agency said Monday. The department did not provide details on how many workstations had been accessed or what sort of documents the hackers may have obtained, but it...
California Will Soon Require Insurers To Increase Home Coverage in Wildfire-Prone Areas
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Hundreds of thousands of California homeowners who have failed to find or lost access to home insurance as wildfires in the state become more destructive will once again be able to buy policies under a state regulation announced Monday. The rule will require home insurers that write...
Stock Market Today: Wall Street Slips in Final Days of a Banner Year for US Stocks
Stocks fell on Wall Street as a strong year for the market looks set to end on a sour note. The S&P 500 closed 1.1% lower Monday. On the second-to-last day of 2024, the benchmark index is still on track for its second straight yearly gain of more than 20%....
‘Sonic 3’ and ‘Mufasa’ Battle for No. 1 at the Holiday Box Office
LOS ANGELES - Two family films dominated the holiday box office this week, with "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" winning the three-day weekend over "Mufasa" by a blue hair. Paramount's Sonic movie earned $38 million, while "Mufasa" brought in $37.1 million from theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio...
Northern Lights Could Be Visible in Upper Fringes of the US This New Year’s Eve
NEW YORK — There's a chance solar storms may bring northern lights to several northern U.S states just in time for the new year. The sun expelled two bursts of plasma that are hurtling toward Earth and are expected to arrive early this week, according to the U.S. National Oceanic...
Hundreds of Soldiers Freed in the Latest Prisoner Exchange Between Russia and Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates, officials said Monday. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border...
Linda Lavin, Star of the Sitcom ‘Alice’ and Tony Winner, Dies at 87
NEW YORK — Linda Lavin, a Tony Award-winning stage actor who became a working class icon as a paper-hat wearing waitress on the TV sitcom "Alice," has died. She was 87. Lavin died in Los Angeles on Sunday of complications from recently discovered lung cancer, her representative, Bill Veloric, told...
JuJu Watkins Scores 31 to Propel No. 4 USC Past No. 23 Michigan
LOS ANGELES — JuJu Watkins scored 31 points, making 13 of 14 free throws, and No. 4 Southern California beat No. 23 Michigan 78-58 on Sunday night in the Trojans' Big Ten home opener. Watkins Leads Trojans' Offensive Charge Watkins had five rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three blocks....