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  • Idaho Company Recalls Nearly 3,000 Pounds of Ground Beef for E. Coli Risk

    An Idaho-based company is recalling nearly 3,000 pounds of raw ground beef that may have been contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

    The recall involves 16-ounce vacuum-sealed packages labeled “Forward Farms Grass-Fed Ground Beef.” Affected packages were produced Dec. 16 and have a label telling customers to use or freeze the meat by Jan. 13. The affected beef also bears the establishment number “EST 2083” on the side of its packaging.

    The meat was produced by Heyburn, Idaho-based Mountain West Food Group and was shipped to distributors in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Pennsylvania and Washington.

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, which announced the recall Saturday, didn’t say which retailers may have sold the meat. The USDA and Mountain West Food Group didn’t respond to messages left Tuesday by The Associated Press.

    The USDA said there have been no confirmed reports of illness due to consumption of the meat. The issue was discovered in a sample of beef during routine testing.

    The USDA said the type of E. coli found can cause illness within 28 days of exposure. Most infected people develop diarrhea, which is often bloody, and vomiting. Infection is usually diagnosed with a stool sample.

    The USDA said customers who have purchased the affected products should either throw them away or return them to the place they were bought. The agency also advises all customers to consume ground beef only if it has been cooked to a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • IRS increases 2026 business mileage rate by 2.5 cents

    WASHINGTON — The standard mileage rate for the business use of a car, truck, van or other vehicle will increase by 2.5 cents in 2026.

    The IRS announced Monday that beginning Jan. 1, the standard mileage rate for a qualifying vehicle will be 72.5 cents per mile, up 2.5 cents from 2025.

    The rate will be 20.5 cents per mile driven for medical purposes, down a half cent from 2025 and will be 20.5 cents per mile driven for moving purposes for certain active-duty members of the Armed Forces and certain members of the intelligence community, which is reduced by a half cent from last year.

    The change, meant to reflect updated cost data and annual inflation adjustments, applies to fully-electric and hybrid automobiles, and gas and diesel-powered vehicles.

    Use of the standard mileage rates is optional. People who use a their car for work may instead choose to calculate the actual costs of using their vehicle.

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  • Asian shares follow Wall Street lower in final stretch of 2025

    BANGKOK — Shares were mostly lower Tuesday in Asia and U.S. futures were flat after stocks slipped on Wall Street.

    Crude oil prices were little changed and gold and silver resumed climbing.

    With just two trading days left before the year ends, most big investors have closed out their positions and volume has been thin. Most global markets will be closed Thursday, New Year’s day, and some will remain closed on Friday.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei edged less than 0.1% lower to 50,519.12.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 0.5% to 25,751.64, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.1% to 3,961.21.

    In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% lower to 8,719.10.

    South Korea’s Kospi picked up less than 2 points, to 4,221.64, while Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.2%.

    On Monday, stocks slipped in quiet trading on Wall Street.

    The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 6,905.74. The benchmark index is still up more than 17% for the year and it remains on track for its eighth monthly gain in a row.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 48,461.93, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.5%, to 23,474.35.

    Big technology stocks with outsized valuations were among the heaviest weights on the market. Nvidia and several other companies focusing on AI or benefiting heavily from the developing technology have become some of the most valuable in the world.

    Nvidia fell 1.2% and Broadcom fell 0.8%.

    Tech shares have wobbled recently as investors have grown skeptical over the whether the eventual payoff will justify hefty investments in artificial intelligence.

    Energy stocks gained ground Monday along with rising oil prices. U.S. benchmark crude jumped 2.4% to settle at $58.08 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 2.1% to settle at $61.94 a barrel. Exxon Mobil rose 1.2%.

    Early Tuesday, U.S. crude was unchanged and Brent had lost 1 cent to $61.48 per barrel.

    Gold and silver prices resumed their upward trajectory after pulling back on Monday when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, one of the largest trading floors for commodities, asked traders to put up more cash to make bets on precious metals.

    The price of gold gained 0.9% early Tuesday after falling 4.6% the day before. It’s up about 64% for the year.

    Silver prices gained 5.2% after slumping 8.7% on Monday. They have more than doubled in 2025.

    Treasury yields fell in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.11% from 4.13% late Friday.

    Treasury yields have fallen significantly from the start of the year, after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate to help counter a slowing jobs market. That risks heating up inflation that is already stubbornly above the central bank’s target rate of 2%. Interest rate cuts could boost the economy by making loans less expensive, but that benefit could be nullified by rising inflation stunting economic growth.

    In other dealings early Tuesday, the U.S. dollar slipped to 156.03 Japanese yen from 156.05 yen. The euro rose to $1.1779 from $1.1774.

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    AP Business Writer Damian J. Troise contributed to this story.

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  • World shares are mostly lower in quiet holiday trading as China stages war drills near Taiwan

    BANGKOK — Shares in Europe and Asia were mostly lower in thin holiday trading as China staged military exercises near the island of Taiwan.

    The prices of gold and silver fell back after recent gains, while oil prices jumped more than $1. U.S. futures were little changed.

    Shares in Taiwan were higher even after China’s military said it was conducting the drills around the self-governed island that Beijing claims as its territory.

    In early European trading, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.2% to 24,296.81, while the CAC 40 in Paris was nearly unchanged at 8,100.83. Britain’s FTSE 100 likewise barely budged, at 9,874.80.

    The future for the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat.

    China said its combined forces drills were intended to warn against what it called separatist and “external interference” forces. Taiwan placed its military on alert and called the Beijing government “the biggest destroyer of peace.”

    The drills came after Beijing expressed anger at U.S. arms sales to the territory. That followed a comment by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that Japan’s defense forces could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan. The Chinese statement did not mention the United States and Japan.

    Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex gained 0.9%, but the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gave up early gains, falling 0.7% to 25,635.23. The Shanghai Composite index was virtually unchanged at 3,965.28.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.4% to 50,526.92.

    In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 2.2% to 4,220.56, less than 2 points off its all-time record reached in early November. A 6.8% jump for SK Hynix due to a regulatory change that lifted an investment warning for its stock helped boost the benchmark. Samsung Electronics advanced 2.1%.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.4% to 8,725.70.

    The price of gold fell 1.3% to $4,494 per troy ounce, while silver slipped 2.3% to $75.40. It has jumped to record levels on supply constraints, as both precious metals have been favored by investors seeking safe havens outside of stocks and bonds.

    Earlier surges in gold prices also partly reflected worries during the U.S. government shutdown. Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further in the new year, weakening the dollar against other currencies, have further fueled buying of gold.

    Silver, which like gold is used in many industries, has been influenced by other factors, too. China, which refines about two-thirds of global supplies, has scrapped an export quota system, replacing it with an export licensing system effective Jan. 1.

    “Scarcity is no longer theoretical,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a report. “China sits at the center of global silver refining, and when the world’s top refiner starts tightening the valve, downstream users feel it immediately.”

    Reopening Friday from the Christmas holiday, the S&P 500 index fell less than 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%.

    With three trading days left in 2025, the S&P 500 has climbed nearly 18% this year, helped by the deregulatory policies of the Trump administration and investor optimism about the future of artificial intelligence.

    Trading has been light, with institutional investors largely closed out for the year.

    In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained $1.13 to $57.87 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, advanced $1.13 to $61.37 per barrel. On Friday, U.S. crude oil fell 2.8% and Brent crude fell 2.6%.

    The U.S. dollar fell to 156.30 Japanese yen from 156.56 yen. The euro rose to $1.1779 from $1.1770.

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  • South Korea’s climate pledge to cut coal, lower emissions clash with US push for LNG purchases

    SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea is promising to shrink its reliance on coal power as part of its pledge to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to climate change, but that ambition is at odds with the Trump administration’s push for more U.S. natural gas exports.

    At recent United Nations climate talks, South Korea’s new Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced plans to retire most of the country’s coal-fired power plants by 2040 and to at least halve its carbon emissions by 2035.

    Experts say this shows that South Korea, a major coal importer with one of the world’s largest fleets of coal plants, wants to speed up its renewable energy transition, which lags behind its neighbors and global averages.

    But as part of trade deals with President Donald Trump, Seoul is raising imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas, or LNG. Climate activists contend such plans may conflict with the country’s pledges to help curb climate change and could lock South Korea into a fossil fuel-dependent future.

    Talks are underway for South Korea to invest $350 billion in U.S. projects and purchase up to $100 billion worth of U.S. energy products, including LNG, a natural gas cooled to liquid form for easy storage and travel. It burns cleaner than coal, but still causes planet-warming emissions, especially of methane.

    South Korea’s overall LNG imports may not increase if it offsets purchases of more U.S. natural gas by reducing imports from other sources such as Australia and the Middle East.

    Still, it’s unclear how South Korea will “manage and consolidate all this somehow contradictory planning regarding its energy sector,” said Michelle Kim, an energy specialist for the U.S.-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

    South Korea’s liberal President Lee Jae Myung, who won a snap election in June, campaigned for stronger climate commitments. They had softened under his conservative predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol, who was ousted after a short-lived martial law declaration.

    “As the global temperature rises, we all need to responsibly take climate action and Korea will have a stronger sense of responsibility in tackling the climate crisis,” Kim Sung-hwan, the inaugural Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

    South Korea’s goal to cut carbon emissions by 53% to 61% of its 2018 level, fell short of climate activists’ expectations. Business lobbies representing major manufacturers had proposed a 48% emissions reduction target.

    “This range presents an effort by the government to accommodate two very different ways of thinking about the economic and climate future of the nation,” said Joojin Kim of the Seoul-based advocacy group, Solutions for Our Climate.

    The South Korean government made the ambitious commitment to increase its clean energy use even after Trump’s sweeping ‘America First’ tariffs spurred energy negotiations between Seoul and Washington.

    As part of its broader efforts to avoid higher tariffs, South Korea offered to import more LNG from the U.S., but the final trade deal has not been announced.

    The agreement still under negotiation could last between three to 10 years, according to industry analysis and U.S. federal documents. Depending on the deal’s duration, South Korea may import between 3 million to 9 million tons of American LNG a year.

    LNG made up almost a fifth of South Korea’s total energy supply last year, according to the International Energy Agency, or IEA. The government’s target was to cut that to 10.6% by 2038.

    South Korea risks its climate goals if the pending trade deal increases the total volume of imported LNG, which will likely lead to an oversupply issue and the excess burning of gas to justify the deal, said Insung Lee, with Greenpeace in Seoul.

    “If we just replace coal plants with LNG, that means the coal exit actually doesn’t lead to a green transition and merely shifts Korea’s addiction from coal to gas, which undermines the whole spirit of climate action,” Lee said.

    Renewable energy generated 7% of South Korea’s domestic power in 2022, according to the IEA. South Korean government data show that had increased to 10.5% last year, still one of the lowest levels among leading economies.

    Japan, with an economy more than twice as big, generates 21% of its power from renewable sources. Spain, whose economy is about the same size as South Korea’s, gets 42% of its power from renewable sources.

    Clean energy provided about 30% of global electricity production in 2023.

    Nuclear power produces a major share of South Korea’s domestic energy, with government data showing that nuclear sources accounted for 31% of total electricity generation last year.

    “We will transition into a new energy system that focuses on renewables and nuclear, while phasing out coal,” said Kim, the energy minister. He said South Korea will use LNG as a “complementary or emergency energy source” to make up for irregularities in renewable energy supplies.

    In early December, South Korea set another goal of boosting its offshore wind power capacity to 4 gigawatts, about 10 times the current level.

    South Korean companies that don’t cut back on carbon emissions may find that to be a competitive disadvantage, said Michelle Kim of the IEEFA.

    Many global industries, including shipping and aviation, face pressure to reduce their emissions by providing incentives for low emitters and creating deterrents for high ones, she said.

    “This is a lot of risk,” she said. “South Korea needs to speed up renewable energy deployment and come out from high dependency on the fossil fuel industry.”

    At last month’s climate talks, South Korea joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance, a group of businesses, organizations and governments promoting the green energy transition.

    That’s mainly a symbolic move, said Bruce Douglas, with the Global Renewables Alliance. “But it signifies very clear government intention to move away from fossil fuels and towards clean power.”

    South Korea imports virtually all its coal, largely from Australia, Indonesia and Russia, and the switch to renewables is bound to impact regional markets.

    The pledge to retire 40 of South Korea’s 61 coal sites by 2040 may be “an enforced transition” for coal exporters in the Asia-Pacific region, said James Bowen, with Climate Analytics. “It’s a reality that they’re going to have to face this downturn in the market.”

    “The writing’s on the wall,” Bowen said. “One of the biggest importers in the world, one of the biggest customers, is starting to move away from coal.”

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Asian shares are mixed in quiet holiday trading after a lackluster post-Christmas day on Wall St

    BANGKOK — Asian shares were mixed on Monday after a lackluster post-Christmas session on Wall Street, despite a ratcheting up of tensions over Taiwan.

    U.S. futures were little changed.

    The Chinese military said it had dispatched air, navy and rocket troops to conduct joint military drills around the self-governed island, which Beijing claims as its territory, to warn against what it called separatist and “external interference” forces. Taiwan said it was placing its forces on alert and called the Beijing government “the biggest destroyer of peace.”

    The drills came after Beijing expressed anger at U.S. arms sales to the territory and a statement by Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, saying its military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that the world’s second-biggest economy says must come under its rule. But the Chinese military did not mention the United States and Japan in its statement on Monday morning.

    Taiwan’s benchmark gained 0.8%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was up 0.3% at 25,887.33. The Shanghai Composite index added 0.3% to 3,975.92.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2% to 50,663.90.

    In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 1.9% to 4,207.36, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.3% to 8,732.70.

    The price of gold fell 0.4% to $4,535.50 per troy ounce, while silver gained 3% to $79.87. It has jumped to record levels on supply constraints.

    Earlier surges in gold prices partly reflected worries during the U.S. government shutdown. Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further in the new year, weakening the dollar against other currencies, have also fueled buying of gold.

    Both precious metals have risen this year as investors have looked for safe havens outside of stocks and bonds. Miners posted solid gains Friday. Freeport-McMoRan climbed 2.2%.

    Trading is light with institutional investors largely closed out for the year.

    Reopening Friday from the Christmas holiday, the S&P 500 index fell less than 0.1% to 6,929.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell less than 0.1%, to 48,710.97, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1% to 23,593.10.

    With three trading days left in 2025, the S&P 500 has climbed nearly 18% this year, helped by the deregulatory policies of the Trump administration and investor optimism about the future of artificial intelligence.

    In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 60 cents to $57.34 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, advanced 62 cents to $60.86 per barrel.

    On Friday, U.S. crude oil fell 2.8% and Brent crude fell 2.6%.

    The U.S. dollar fell to 156.28 Japanese yen from 156.56 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1770.

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  • Trump: Ukraine, Russia ‘closer than ever’ to peace

    PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump on Sunday insisted Ukraine and Russia are “closer than ever before” to a peace deal as he hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Florida resort, but he acknowledged the negotiations are complex and could still break down, leaving the war dragging on for years.

    The president’s statements came after the leaders met for talks following what Trump said was an “excellent,” two-and-a-half-hour phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine launched the war nearly four years ago. Trump insisted he believed Putin still wants peace, even as Russia launched another round of attacks on Ukraine while Zelenskyy flew to the United States for the latest round of negotiations.

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    By WILL WEISSERT, SEUNG MIN KIM and ELISE MORTON – Associated Press

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  • Zelenskyy to meet with Trump as efforts to end Russia-Ukraine war remain elusive

    WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — President Donald Trump will host his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Sunday to try to close out a peace agreement that would end nearly four years of war that began with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

    The two will meet at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida, where the U.S. president is spending the holidays and has an agenda mostly filled with daily rounds of golf. Zelenskyy said the two planned to discuss security and economic agreements and he will raise “territorial issues” as Moscow and Kyiv remain fiercely at odds over the fate of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

    In the days before the meeting, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s capital, using missiles and drones to attack Kyiv and try to increase the pressure on Zelenskyy.

    “Ukraine is willing to do whatever it takes to stop this war,” Zelenskyy posted Saturday on X. “We need to be strong at the negotiating table.”

    In response to the attacks, he wrote: “We want peace, and Russia demonstrates a desire to continue the war. If the whole world — Europe and America — is on our side, together we will stop” Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    In a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Saturday, Zelenskyy said the key to peace is “pressure on Russia and sufficient, strong support for Ukraine.” To that end, Carney announced $2.5 billion Canadian (US$1.8 billion) more in economic assistance from his government to help Ukraine rebuild.

    Denouncing the “barbarism” of Russia’s latest attacks on Kyiv, Carney credited both Zelenskyy and Trump with creating the conditions for a “just and lasting peace” at a crucial moment.

    Trump and Zelenskyy sitting down face-to-face also underscored the apparent progress made by Trump’s top negotiators in recent weeks as the sides traded draft peace plans and continued to shape a proposal to end the fighting. Zelenskyy told reporters Friday that the 20-point draft proposal negotiators have discussed is “about 90% ready” — echoing a figure, and the optimism, that U.S. officials conveyed when Trump’s chief negotiators met with Zelenskyy in Berlin earlier this month.

    During the recent talks, the U.S. agreed to offer certain security guarantees to Ukraine similar to those offered to other members of NATO. The proposal came as Zelenskyy said he was prepared to drop his country’s bid to join the security alliance if Ukraine received NATO-like protection that would be designed to safeguard it against future Russian attacks.

    Zelenskyy also spoke on Christmas Day with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. The Ukrainian leader said in a post on X that they discussed “certain substantive details of the ongoing work” and cautioned in a subsequent post that “there is still work to be done on sensitive issues” and “the weeks ahead may also be intensive.”

    The U.S. president has been working to end the war in Ukraine for much of his first year back in office, showing irritation with both Zelenskyy and Putin while publicly acknowledging the difficulty of ending the conflict. Long gone are the days when, as a candidate in 2024, he boasted that he could resolve the fighting in a day.

    After hosting Zelenskyy at the White House in October, Trump demanded that both Russia and Ukraine halt fighting and “stop at the battle line,” implying that Moscow should be able to keep the territory it has seized from Ukraine.

    Before Sunday’s meeting, Zelenskyy said the key issues that remain unresolved between Ukraine and the U.S. include questions surrounding territory, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and funding for Ukraine’s postwar recovery. He said there also are outstanding technical matters related to security guarantees and monitoring mechanisms.

    Ukraine has conveyed its position to the U.S., Zelenskyy said, adding that Trump administration officials would relay that to Russia.

    Zelenskyy also said last week that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday that the Kremlin had already been in contact with U.S.

    “It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue,” he said.

    Putin has publicly said he wants all the areas in four key regions that have been captured by his forces, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He also has insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces haven’t captured. Kyiv has publicly rejected all those demands.

    The Kremlin also wants Ukraine to abandon its bid to join NATO. It warned that it wouldn’t accept the deployment of any troops from members of the military alliance and would view them as a “legitimate target.”

    Putin also has said Ukraine must limit the size of its army and give official status to the Russian language, demands he has made from the outset of the conflict.

    Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told the business daily Kommersant this month that Russian police and national guard would stay in parts of Donetsk -– one of the two major areas, along with Luhansk, that make up the Donbas region — even if they become a demilitarized zone under a prospective peace plan.

    Ushakov cautioned that trying to reach a compromise could take a long time. He said U.S. proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.

    Trump has been somewhat receptive to Putin’s demands, making the case that the Russian president can be persuaded to end the war if Kyiv agrees to cede Ukrainian land in the Donbas region and if Western powers offer economic incentives to bring Russia back into the global economy.

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    Kim reported from Washington and Morton from London. Associated Press writers Illia Novikov in Kyiv and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

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  • Kennedy Center criticizes musician who canceled performance after Trump name added to building

    WASHINGTON — The president of the Kennedy Center on Friday fiercely criticized a musician’s sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue after the White House announced that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility.

    “Your decision to withdraw at the last moment — explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure — is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” the venue’s president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to musician Chuck Redd that was shared with The Associated Press.

    In the letter, Grenell said he would seek $1 million in damages “for this political stunt.”

    Redd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    A drummer and vibraphone player, Redd has presided over holiday “Jazz Jams” at the Kennedy Center since 2006, succeeding bassist William “Keter” Betts. In an email Wednesday to The Associated Press, Redd said he pulled out of the concert in the wake of the renaming.

    “When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd said.

    President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial to him.

    According to the White House, Trump’s handpicked board approved the renaming, which scholars have said violates the law. Kennedy niece Kerry Kennedy has vowed to remove Trump’s name from the building once he leaves office, and former House historian Ray Smock is among those who say any changes would have to be approved by Congress.

    The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.

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    Associated Press writer Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report.

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  • Virginia offshore wind developer sues over Trump administration order halting projects

    The developers of a Virginia offshore wind project are asking a federal judge to block a Trump administration order that halted construction of their project, along with four others, over national security concerns

    NORFOLK, Va. — The developers of a Virginia offshore wind project are asking a federal judge to block a Trump administration order that halted construction of their project, along with four others, over national security concerns.

    Dominion Energy Virginia said in its lawsuit filed late Tuesday that the government’s order is “arbitrary and capricious” and unconstitutional. The Richmond-based company is developing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, a project it says is essential to meet dramatically growing energy needs driven by dozens of new data centers.

    The Interior Department did not detail the security concerns in blocking the five projects on Monday. In a letter to project developers, Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management set a 90-day period — and possibly longer — “to determine whether the national security threats posed by this project can be adequately mitigated.”

    The other projects are the Vineyard Wind project under construction in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Connecticut and two projects in New York: Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind. Democratic governors in those states have vowed to fight the order, the latest action by the Trump administration to hobble offshore wind in its push against renewable energy sources.

    Dominion’s project has been under construction since early 2024 and was scheduled to come online early next year, providing enough energy to power about 660,000 homes. The company said the delay was costing it more than $5 million a day in losses solely for the ships used in round-the-clock construction, and that customers or the company would eventually bear the cost.

    Dominion called this week’s order “the latest in a series of irrational agency actions attacking offshore wind and then doubling down when those actions are found unlawful.”

    The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

    U.S. District Judge Jamar Walker set a hearing for 2 p.m. Monday on Dominion’s request for a temporary restraining order.

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Asian shares are mixed after US stocks drift to more records

    BANGKOK — Asian shares were mixed Thursday in thin holiday trading, with most markets in the region and elsewhere closed for Christmas.

    In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost less than 0.1% to 50,317.43. It has gained nearly 30% this year.

    The dollar slipped to 155.70 Japanese yen from 155.94 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1780.

    Markets in mainland China advanced, with the Shanghai Composite index up 0.3%. Hong Kong’s exchange was closed.

    Investors were encouraged by a statement by the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, promising to ensure adequate money supply to support financing, economic growth and inflation targets. Earlier in the week, the PBOC had opted to keep its key short-term lending rates unchanged.

    Shares fell in Thailand and Indonesia.

    On Wednesday, the S&P 500 index rose 0.3% to 6,932.05 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6% to close at 48,731.16. The Nasdaq composite added 0.2% to 23,613.31

    Trading was extremely light as markets closed early for Christmas Eve and will be closed for Christmas on Thursday. Roughly 1.8 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, which is roughly a third of the average trading day.

    U.S. markets will reopen for a full day of trading on Friday, though volumes will likely remain light this week with most investors having closed out their positions for the year.

    The S&P 500 is up more than 17% this year, as investors have embraced the deregulatory policies of the Trump administration and been optimistic about the future of artificial intelligence in helping boost profits for not only technology companies but also for Corporate America.

    Much of the focus for investors for the next few weeks will be on where the U.S. economy is heading and where the Federal Reserve will move interest rates. Investors are betting the Fed will hold steady on interest rates at its January meeting.

    The U.S. economy grew at a surprisingly strong 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter, the most rapid expansion in two years, driven by consumers who continue to spend despite strong inflation. There have also been recent reports showing shaky confidence among consumers worried about high prices. The labor market has been slowing and retail sales have weakened.

    The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week and remain at historically healthy levels despite some signs that the labor market is weakening.

    U.S. applications for jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 20 fell by 10,000 to 214,000 from the previous week’s 224,000, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. That’s below the 232,000 new applications forecast of analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

    Dynavax Technologies soared 38.2% after Sanofi said it was acquiring the California-based vaccine maker in a deal worth $2.2 billion. The French drugmaker will add Dynavax’s hepatitis B vaccines to its portfolio, as well as a shingles vaccine that is still in development.

    Novo Nordisk’s shares rose 1.8% after the weight-loss drug company got approval from U.S. regulators for a pill version of its blockbuster drug Wegovy. However, Novo Nordisk shares are still down almost 40% this year as the company has faced increased competition for weight-loss medications, particularly from Eli Lilly. Shares of Eli Lilly are up 40% this year.

    U.S. crude oil closed at $58.35 a barrel and Brent crude finished at $61.80 a barrel.

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  • EU warns of possible action after the US bars 5 Europeans accused of censorship

    BRUSSELS — France, Germany, the European Union and the United Kingdom on Wednesday hit out at a U.S. decision to impose travel bans on five Europeans the Trump administration accuses of pressuring tech firms to censor or suppress American views.

    The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, which supervises tech regulation in Europe, warned that it would take action against any “unjustified measures.” It said it had requested clarification from the U.S. State Department, which announced the bans on Tuesday.

    The five Europeans were characterized by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “radical” activists and “weaponized” nongovernmental organizations. They include the former EU commissioner responsible for supervising social media rules, Thierry Breton.

    Breton, a businessman and former French finance minister, clashed last year on social media with tech billionaire Elon Musk over broadcasting an online interview with Donald Trump in the months leading up to the U.S. election.

    Rubio wrote in an X post on Tuesday that “for far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose.”

    “The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship,” he posted.

    The European Commission countered that “the EU is an open, rules-based single market, with the sovereign right to regulate economic activity in line with our democratic values and international commitments.”

    “Our digital rules ensure a safe, fair, and level playing field for all companies, applied fairly and without discrimination,” it said.

    French President Emmanuel Macron said on X that he had spoken to Breton about the U.S. move. “We will stand firm against pressure and will protect Europeans,” Macron posted.

    Macron said the EU’s digital rules were adopted by “a democratic and sovereign process” involving all member countries and the European Parliament. He said the rules “ensure fair competition among platforms, without targeting any third country.”

    He underlined that “the rules governing the European Union’s digital space are not meant to be determined outside Europe.”

    The four other Europeans banned by the U.S. are Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate; Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, leaders of HateAid, a German organization; and Clare Melford, who runs the Global Disinformation Index.

    German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on X the entry bans, including on the leaders of HateAid, were “not acceptable.” He said Germany intended to address the U.S. “interpretation” of the EU’s digital rules with Washington “in order to strengthen our partnership.”

    EU Council President António Costa also called the U.S. bans “unacceptable between allies, partners, and friends.”

    “The EU stands firm in its defense of freedom of expression, fair digital rules, and its regulatory sovereignty,” Costa posted on X.

    The U.K. government said, “While every country has the right to set its own visa rules, we support the laws and institutions which are working to keep the Internet free from the most harmful content.”

    The Europeans fell afoul of a new visa policy announced in May to restrict the entry of foreigners deemed responsible for censorship of protected speech in the United States.

    Rubio said the five had advanced foreign government censorship campaigns against Americans and U.S. companies, which he said created “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the United States.

    The action to bar them from the U.S. is part of a Trump administration campaign against foreign influence over online speech, using immigration law rather than platform regulations or penalties.

    In a post on X on Tuesday, Sarah Rogers, the U.S. under secretary of state for public diplomacy, called Breton the “mastermind” behind the EU’s Digital Services Act, which imposes a set of strict requirements designed to keep internet users safe online. This includes flagging harmful or illegal content like hate speech.

    Breton responded on X by noting that all 27 EU member countries voted for the Digital Services Act in 2022. “To our American friends: ‘Censorship isn’t where you think it is,’” he wrote.

    ___

    Angela Charlton contributed to this report from Paris.

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  • Trump order halts offshore wind projects for at least 90 days

    WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has directed five large-scale wind projects under construction off the East Coast to suspend their activities for at least 90 days, according to letters from the Interior Department obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, which provide new details on the government’s move to pause the offshore ventures.

    During the pause, the Interior Department will coordinate with project developers “to determine whether the national security threats posed by this project can be adequately mitigated,” the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said in a letter to project developers. The 90-day period can be extended if necessary, the ocean management agency said.

    The administration announced Monday it was suspending the offshore wind projects because of national security concerns. Its announcement did not indicate whether the pause was limited, nor did it reveal specifics about the national security concerns.

    It was the latest step by the Trump administration to hobble offshore wind in its push against renewable energy sources. It comes two weeks after a federal judge struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects, calling it unlawful. The move angered local officials who have supported the projects and posed a new threat to offshore wind development that has faced increasing pressures since Trump took office.

    The letter to the developers said the Defense Department completed a recent assessment regarding the national security implications of offshore wind projects and provided senior leadership at Interior with new classified information, “including the rapid evolution of relevant adversary technologies and the resulting direct impacts to national security from offshore wind projects.”

    The potential impacts are “heightened by the projects’ sensitive location on the East Coast and the potential to cause serious, immediate and irreparable harm to our great nation,” the letter said. The letter was signed by Matthew Giacona, the acting director of BOEM and a former lobbyist for the National Ocean Industries Association.

    Kirk Lippold, a national security expert and former Commander of the USS Cole, said concerns about wind turbines’ possible effects on radar systems “have been known for decades.”

    While Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said new classified information indicates turbines may pose a national security threat, “I want to know what’s changed?” Lippold said in an interview on Tuesday. “What threat vector has changed? Have the Chinese developed new weapons or techniques that we’re unaware of and can’t fight against?”

    “To my knowledge, nothing has changed in the threat environment that would drive us to stop any offshore wind programs,” he said.

    House Democrats, meanwhile, have called for an ethics investigation into Giacona’s actions since taking over at the agency that manages offshore waters. Giacona’s work may directly overlapped with his prior lobbying work for the ocean industries group, Democrats said.

    A spokesperson for Interior said Giacona “is a highly qualified and ethically sound employee who is working tirelessly on behalf of this administration to make real change for the American people.”

    Wind proponents slammed the administration’s move to suspend the projects, saying it was another blow in an ongoing attack by the Trump administration against clean energy.

    Democratic governors of four affected states — Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York — issued a joint statement Tuesday vowing to fight the action, which they said “lands like a lump of dirty coal for the holiday season for American workers, consumers and investors.”

    Pausing active leases, including for projects that are nearly completed, “defies logic, will hurt our bid for energy independence, will drive up costs for America’s ratepayers and will make us lose thousands of good-paying jobs,” the governors said. “It also threatens grid reliability that is needed to keep the lights on.”

    The statement was issued by Govs. Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Kathy Hochul of New York and Dan McKee of Rhode Island.

    Meanwhile, two Democratic senators said the lease suspensions mean that congressional efforts to approve bipartisan permitting reform are “dead in the water.”

    The House approved legislation last week aimed at speeding up permitting reviews for new energy and infrastructure projects, seeking to meet growing demand for electricity. The bill would also limit judicial review as Congress seeks to enact the most significant change in decades to the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental law that requires federal agencies to consider a project’s possible environmental impacts before it is approved.

    Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico said Monday that with House approval, “there was a deal to be had that would have taken politics out of permitting, made the process faster and more efficient, and streamlined grid infrastructure improvements nationwide.”

    But they said any deal would have to be administered by the Trump administration, whose “reckless and vindictive assault on wind energy” destroys the trust needed for true permitting reform.

    “There is no path to permitting reform if this administration refuses to follow the law,” the senators said. Whitehouse is the top Democrat on the Senate environment panel, while Heinrich is the senior Democrat on the committee on energy and natural resources.

    ___

    McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Immigrant truckers file suit over California’s plans to revoke commercial licenses

    A group of immigrant truckers sued California’s Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday, alleging the state violated thousands of workers’ rights when officials took action to revoke their commercial driver’s licenses.

    California officials said last month that the state notified about 17,000 truckers that their commercial driver’s licenses would be revoked because the expiration dates went past when the drivers were legally allowed to be in the U.S. That number has since grown to 21,000.

    The move came after the Trump administration started cracking down on states’ issuance of the licenses to immigrants. The federal government has threatened to withhold money from California, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New York over the issue.

    The Sikh Coalition, a national group defending the civil rights of Sikhs, and the San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the California drivers.

    “These drivers have spent years anchoring their lives to these careers, only to now face potential economic ruin through no fault of their own — they deserve better, and California must do better,” said Munmeeth Kaur, the Sikh Coalition’s legal director, in a statement.

    The state’s plan to revoke the truckers’ licenses violates their due process rights and threatens their livelihoods, the groups allege. They’re asking the Alameda County Superior Court to pause the license cancellations.

    The California DMV said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

    Concerns about immigrant truck drivers gained attention after a tractor-trailer driver who was not authorized to be in the U.S. made an illegal U-turn and caused an August crash in Florida that killed three people. A fiery California crash that also killed three people in October and involved a truck driver in the country illegally added to the worries.

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  • Asian markets mostly advance after the S&P 500 hits record high

    HONG KONG — Asian markets mostly advanced Wednesday after the benchmark S&P 500 closed at another record high following a report that the U.S. economy grew at an unexpectedly strong 4.3% annual rate in July to September.

    The U.S. government’s first estimate of growth for the third quarter showed inflation remained high, while a separate report said consumer confidence faded further in December. The U.S. economy expanded at a 3.8% annual pace in April-June.

    Trading in Asia was thin, with many global markets due to be closed Thursday for Christmas. Markets in the U.S. will end early Wednesday for Christmas Eve and stay closed for Christmas.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was unchanged at 50,411.10 and South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.1% to 4,113.83.

    In Chinese markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2% to 25,818.93. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.2% higher, to 3,929.25.

    In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped nearly 0.4% to 8,762.70.

    Markets in Hong Kong and Australia closed early due to Christmas Eve.

    Taiwan’s Taiex picked up less than 0.1% while the Sensex in India gained 0.1%.

    Gold and silver extended their rally after hitting record highs this week driven by heightened geopolitical tensions. The price of gold rose 0.4% early Wednesday to $4,525.50 per ounce, adding to gains of about 70% for the year. Silver rose 1.8%.

    U.S. futures edged lower early Wednesday.

    On Tuesday, big gains for tech stocks pushed the S&P 500 up 0.5%, even though most stocks in the index fell. It closed at 6,909.79. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2% to 48,442.41, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.6% to 23,561.84.

    Nvidia advanced 3% and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, edged up 1.5%.

    Novo Nordisk jumped 7.3%, after U.S. regulators approved a pill version of the weight-loss drug Wegovy, the first daily oral medication to treat obesity.

    The government’s update on the economy showed inflation hovering higher than the central bank prefers. The Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge — called the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE — climbed to a 2.8% annual pace last quarter, up from 2.1% in the second quarter.

    On Wednesday, the Labor Department will release its weekly data on applications for jobless benefits, which stands as a proxy for U.S. layoffs.

    Investors are betting the Fed will hold steady on interest rates at its January meeting. Recent reports show high inflation and shaky confidence among consumers worried about high prices. The labor market has been slowing and retail sales have weakened.

    In other dealings early Wednesday, the dollar continued to fall against the Japanese yen, after officials said they could intervene with excessive moves in the yen. The dollar was trading Wednesday at 155.96 yen, down from 156.17 yen.

    The euro slipped to $1.1793 from $1.1796.

    Oil prices edged higher as traders kept an eye on risks of supply disruptions in Venezuela and Russia.

    U.S. benchmark crude oil added 7 cents to $58.45 per barrel. Brent crude edged 3 cents higher, to $61.90 per barrel.

    ___

    AP Business Writer Damian J. Troise contributed to this story.

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  • Epstein document release includes multiple Trump mentions, but little news

    The U.S. Justice Department has released tens of thousands more documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, a tranche that included multiple mentions of President Donald Trump but added little new revelatory information to the long-anticipated public file on the disgraced late…

    By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and SEUNG MIN KIM – Associated Press

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  • Student loan borrowers in default may see wages garnished in 2026

    WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it will begin garnishing the wages of student loan borrowers who are in default early next year.

    The department said it will send notices to approximately 1,000 borrowers the week of January 7, with more notices to come at an increasing scale each month.

    Millions of borrowers are considered in default, meaning they are 270 days past due on their payments. The department must give borrowers 30 days notice before their wages can be garnished.

    The department said it will begin collection activities, “only after student and parent borrowers have been provided sufficient notice and opportunity to repay their loans.”

    In May, the Trump administration ended the pandemic-era pause on student loan payments, beginning to collect on defaulted debt through withholding tax refunds and other federal payments to borrowers.

    The move ended a period of leniency for student loan borrowers. Payments restarted in October of 2023, but the Biden administration extended a grace period of one year. Since March 2020, no federal student loans had been referred for collection, including those in default, until the Trump administration’s changes earlier this year.

    The Biden administration tried multiple times to give broad forgiveness to student loans, but those efforts were eventually stopped by courts.

    Persis Yu, deputy executive director for the Student Borrower Protection Center, criticized the decision to begin garnishing wages, and said the department had failed to sufficiently help borrowers find affordable payment options.

    “At a time when families across the country are struggling with stagnant wages and an affordability crisis, this administration’s decision to garnish wages from defaulted student loan borrowers is cruel, unnecessary, and irresponsible,” Yu said in a statement. “As millions of borrowers sit on the precipice of default, this Administration is using its self-inflicted limited resources to seize borrowers’ wages instead of defending borrowers’ right to affordable payments.”

    ___

    The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Trump critic George Conway takes steps to run for New York City congressional seat

    WASHINGTON — George Conway, a former conservative lawyer who has become one of President Donald Trump’s most outspoken critics, is taking steps toward a run for Congress in an open New York City seat.

    Conway filed paperwork Monday to run as a Democrat in New York’s 12th Congressional District, though he has not made an official announcement and his campaign did not respond to a request for comment. If he enters the race, Conway would be the latest high-profile contender in an increasingly crowded primary to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler in the Manhattan-based district.

    Conway initially supported Trump early in his first term. At the time, he was married to pollster and strategist Kellyanne Conway, who served as a senior presidential adviser in the White House.

    George Conway later emerged as one of the president’s fiercest critics, condemning Trump’s actions on social media and cable news with an intensity that often mirrored his wife’s public defense of him.

    Conway later helped found the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. The Conways announced their divorce in early 2023.

    John F. Kennedy’s grandson Jack Schlossberg announced in November that he was seeking to succeed Nadler. Micah Lasher, a former Nadler aide and current New York state lawmaker, has also entered the Democratic primary.

    The district stretches from Union Square to the northern edge of Central Park, encompassing the wealthy Upper East Side and Upper West Side.

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  • Asian shares climb after US stocks rise at the start of a holiday-shortened week

    Asian shares were mostly higher on Tuesday after benchmarks on Wall Street rose at the start of what’s expected to be a relatively calm holiday week.

    U.S. futures were nearly unchanged.

    Touching new records, the price of gold rose 1.1% early Tuesday to 4,519.50, adding to its consistent gains throughout the year, while silver rose 1.5%.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was flat at 50,412,87 and the dollar fell against the Japanese yen after officials in Tokyo warned they would intervene if the yen weakened sharply.

    The dollar was trading at 156.01 yen, down from 157.04 yen late Monday. The euro climbed to $1.1782 from $1.1762.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up early gains to fall 0.1% to 25,774.14. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% higher, to 3,919.98.

    South Korea’s Kospi added 0.3% to 4,117.32, while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia jumped 1.1% to 8,795.70.

    In Taiwan, the Taiex advanced 0.6%, while India’s Sensex was nearly unchanged.

    Markets in the U.S. will close early on Wednesday for Christmas Eve and remain closed on Thursday for Christmas. The short week for trading includes several economic reports that could shed more light on the condition and direction of the U.S. economy.

    On Tuesday, the government will release the first of three estimates on gross domestic product, a reflection of how the broader U.S. economy fared in the third quarter. On Wednesday, the Labor Department will release its weekly data on applications for jobless benefits, which stands as a proxy for U.S. layoffs.

    The Conference Board offers up results from its December consumer confidence survey on Tuesday as well.

    On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite picked up 0.5%.

    Smaller company stocks did particularly well. The Russell 2000 index outpaced other major indexes with a 1.2% gain.

    The gains also helped major indexes push further into winning territory for the month as a choppy December nears its end. Technology companies, especially those focused on artificial intelligence, have been the main force behind the market’s oscillations. The direction of AI-related stocks will likely determine whether the market closes out December with gains or losses.

    Uber rose 2.5% and Lyft rose 2.7% after announcing plans to bring robotaxi services to London next year.

    Paramount Skydance rose 4.3%. The company sweetened its hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with an “irrevocable personal guarantee” from Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle and father of Paramount CEO David Ellison. He is putting up billions of dollars to back the deal as part of the latest move in Paramount’s bidding war against Netflix.

    Warner Bros. Discovery rose 3.5% and Netflix fell 1.2%.

    Dominion Energy fell 3.7% after the Trump administration said it is pausing leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects. They include Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

    Oil prices were flat after jumping more than 2% on Monday when the U.S. Coast Guard said it was pursuing another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean.

    U.S. benchmark crude was unchanged at $58.01 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, gained 7 cents to $62.14 per barrel.

    Recent reports have shown that U.S. inflation remains elevated and consumer confidence has faded over the last year. Overall, the job market has been slowing and retail sales have weakened.

    The ongoing and wide-ranging U.S. trade war has been hanging over consumers and businesses already squeezed and worried by higher prices. The mix of stubbornly high inflation and a weaker jobs market has also put the Fed in an awkward policy position moving forward.

    Still, Wall Street is mostly betting that the Fed will hold steady on interest rates at its meeting in January. It has cut its benchmark interest rate at its last three meetings, even though inflation has remained stubbornly above its 2% target.

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  • US strikes another alleged drug-smuggling boat in eastern Pacific

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. military said Monday that it had conducted another strike against a boat it said was smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person.

    In a social media post, U.S. Southern Command said, “Intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” Southern Command provided no evidence that the vessel was engaged in drug smuggling.

    A video posted by U.S. Southern Command shows splashes of water near one side of the boat. After a second salvo, the rear of the boat catches fire. More splashes engulf the craft and the fire grows. In the final second of the video, the vessel can be seen adrift with a large patch of fire alongside it.

    Earlier videos of U.S. boat strikes showed vessels suddenly exploding, suggesting missile strikes. Some strike videos even had visible rocket-like projectiles coming down on the boats.

    The Trump administration has said the strikes were meant to stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. and increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

    At least 105 people have been killed in 29 known strikes since early September. The strikes have faced scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the administration has offered scant evidence that its targets are indeed drug smugglers and say the fatal strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.

    Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard has stepped up efforts to interdict oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Trump administration’s escalating campaign against Maduro.

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