Hanukkah, Judaism’s eight-day Festival of Lights, begins this year on Christmas Day.

Hanukkah — also spelled Chanukah or other transliterations from Hebrew — is Judaism’s “festival of lights.”.

Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract.

Two little piggies will not become Christmas Eve roast pork thanks to a holiday pardon they received from a Florida mayor.

NORAD’s Santa tracker is a Christmas tradition that’s become nearly global in scope.

Born in Ghana, Sister Seyram Mary Adzokpa had never encountered a nun until adulthood.

Less than 1% of nuns in the United States today are 30 or younger.

Whether dressed in black, mimicking bare branches or decked out with enough bows for a Taylor Swift concert, the Christmas trees in some U.S. homes this year display an unconventional streak.

President Joe Biden’s administration has started to withdraw pending regulations that won’t be finalized by the time he leaves office.

Creamy, delectable – and pricey.

Drivers and airline passengers without reindeer and sleighs better make a dash for it: it’s beginning to look like another record for holiday travel in the U.S. The auto club AAA predicts that more than 119 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home between Saturday and New Year’s Day.

The federal government is phasing out off-brand copies of two blockbuster drugs used to treat obesity and diabetes.

Packaged foods in the U_S_ must follow new rules in order to call themselves “healthy.”.

Immigration in 2024 drove U.S. population growth to its fastest rate in 23 years as the nation surpassed 340 million residents.

'Tis the season for spirited and winless debates about what the best Christmas movie is.

Background music is no longer an afterthought at many airports.

A British YouTuber and rapper known as Yung Filly has admitted in an Australian court to reckless driving while he was awaiting trial on charges of raping a woman three months ago.

Macao has grown from a monopoly-driven gambling enclave into the world's biggest gaming hub, packed with Chinese tourists, since Beijing took control of the former Portuguese colony 25 years ago.

The U.S. market gained more than 25% for the year to date through mid-December 2024.

Capybaras are having a big moment.

Full-size trucks are hugely popular thanks to their versatility and ability to get tough jobs done.

The holidays are meant to be a time of celebration with family and friends.

The Federal Trade Commission says it will soon require hotels, vacation rental platforms and live event promoters to disclose any fees up front when they list prices.

Teen drug use hasn’t rebounded from its drop during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moravian missionaries named the Pennsylvania city of Bethlehem after the biblical birthplace of Jesus on Christmas Eve in 1741.

Nobody puts baby in a corner, but they’re putting her in the National Film Registry.

It's about as American an idea as it gets -the hunger to make your own path, to find your own way, make your voice heard.

Starting in September of 2027, all new passenger vehicles in the U.S. will have to sound a warning if rear-seat passengers don’t buckle up.

Experts say that the holidays can put a strain on your mental health.

A lot of theater companies dust off chestnuts like “A Christmas Carol” or “White Christmas” this time of year.

Reliance on school buses has been waning for years as districts struggle to find drivers and more students attend schools far outside their neighborhoods.

More than 100 kids have been treated to an airplane flight and visit to a hangar at Denver International Airport that was transformed into the North Pole.

Santa Clauses are coming to town.

With a late Thanksgiving, the holiday shopping season is five days shorter than last year, and owners of small retail shops say that people have been quick to snap up holiday décor early, along with gifts for others and themselves.

The griping Vatican-based movie thriller “Conclave” about picking a new pope and Stephanie Hsu starring in the dark comedy series “Laid” as a woman whose former lovers keep unexpectedly dying are some of this week’s new streaming entertainment releases.

Nearly half of American teenagers say they are online “constantly,” despite concerns about the effects of social media and smartphones on their mental health.

The December holidays are supposed to be a time of joyful celebration.

Fewer grandparents were taking care of grandchildren, there was a decline in the number of preschoolers and more people were staying put in their homes in the first part of the 2020s compared with the last part of the 2010s.

Kaja Veilleux has been hunting New England attic treasures for more than 50 years.

More than 600,000 people annually visit Santa Claus Village, a winter-themed amusement park in the small town of Rovaniemi in Finland.

Cyber officials are advising people to use encryption in their communications after a sprawling hacking campaign.

Google has unleashed another wave of artificial intelligence.

Midsize three-row SUVs are among today’s primary modes of family movement, but some are roomier than others.

Regional supermarket chain Stop & Shop is installing kiosks in all of its stores in the Northeast U.S. to make digital-only coupons more accessible.

Remember what you searched for in 2024.

Americans should eat more beans, peas and lentils and cut back on red and processed meats and starchy vegetables.

If you want to get yourself thoroughly depressed, spend a little time looking at statistics about Americans’ retirement preparedness.

U.S. consumers who were tricked into purchases they didn’t want from Fortnite maker Epic Games are now starting to receive refund checks, the Federal Trade Commission said this week.

OpenAI has publicly released its new artificial intelligence video generator Sora but won’t let most users depict people as it monitors for patterns of misuse.

The holiday shopping season is underway, and this year small businesses have less time to capitalize on the busy shopping period.

Brenda Lee's memories of recording “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree” are a little hazy now.

Depending on who you ask, the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election rattled the country or were cause for celebration.

It was 1906 when U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt designated the first national monument — Devils Tower in Wyoming.

France’s iconic Notre Dame Cathedral has formally reopened its doors for the first time since a devastating fire nearly destroyed the 861-year-old landmark in 2019.

Chipotle is raising its U.S. prices to offset inflation and to compensate for a promise to increase portion sizes.

Angelina Jolie portraying opera singer Maria Callas in the movie “Maria” and Jamie Foxx's Netflix comedy special called “Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was.

The Princess of Wales is taking another step in her return to public life following cancer treatment as she hosts her annual Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey.

Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen is set to become a father for the first time with his girlfriend Kelly Piquet.

The reopening this weekend of Notre Dame is a succession of ceremonies to breathe life back into the iconic cathedral and celebrate the recovery from its devastating fire in 2019.

Chi-Chi’s is making a comeback.

The day after an inferno struck Notre Dame cathedral in 2019, its chief architect, Philippe Villeneuve, walked despondently into its remains.

Sake is perhaps even more Japanese than the world-famous sushi.

A U.S. Senate subcommittee is taking aim at airlines and their growing use of fees for things like early boarding and better seats.

The global phenomenon that is Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is coming to an end after the popstar performed more than 150 shows across five continents over nearly two years.

Similar in size and fuel economy, these two hybrid compact sedans differ from there.

For the artistic and cultural elites of the West African nation of Senegal, the monthlong Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Arts is a celebratory moment.

It is an ambitious social experiment of our moment in history.

When SmileDirectClub shut down a year ago, scores of existing customers of the teeth-straightening company were left in limbo.

Pop superstar Taylor Swift tops a list of 2024's most notable quotations compiled by Yale University, with her declaration that she's a “childless cat lady" while endorsing Kamala Harris for president.

Small businesses are bracing for stiff tariffs that President-elect Donald Trump has proposed as one of his first actions when he takes office.

Did you have a “Brat summer” this year.

Peace is driving up property prices in Kabul and fueling the luxury market.

The Princess of Wales helped kick off the emir of Qatar’s trip to Britain as the U.K. government enlists one of the most popular royals to ensure the success of a state visit by the leader of a key ally.

The lake-effect snow that has fallen in parts of upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan is the result of cold, moist air that blew over the Great Lakes region.

Established nonprofits, everyday individuals and mutual aid groups all want your dollars to make a difference.

Bobby Flay’s latest cookbook is really a sort of recipe for how Bobby Flay was made.

The reopening of Notre Dame this coming weekend will be a high-security affair, with a repeat of some measures used during the Paris Olympics.

Oxford University Press has named “brain rot” its word of the year.

Tired of thinking about what gifts to get everyone this year.

Consumers in the U.S. are scouring the internet for online deals as they look to make the most of the post-Thanksgiving shopping marathon on Cyber Monday.

It's the final holiday stretch at the White House for President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, and the theme is “A Season of Peace and Light.”.

Some storm-weary residents of the Great Lakes region have seen continued snowfall and are facing the prospect of even more accumulations this week.

As temperatures drop into the teens, Minnesotans have embraced sauna culture for warmth and community.

Lake-effect snow blanketed swaths of the U.S. as Thanksgiving travelers journeyed home this holiday weekend, with more snow expected to fall over the Great Lakes region through the week.

Southwest Airlines is ending cabin service earlier to reduce the risk of in-flight turbulence injuries.

Pooches in pullovers have paraded past Buckingham Palace in a charity walk of dogs in Christmas sweaters.

The Black pastor of a multiethnic congregation in Anaheim, California, has started a string orchestra for young musicians of color.

While retailers hope to go big this holiday season, customers may notice that the catalogs arriving in their mailboxes are smaller.

The first big snowfall of the season is blanketing towns in upstate New York and northwestern Pennsylvania as the hectic holiday travel and shopping weekend winds down.

Black Friday is giving way to a white weekend in parts of New York state.

Sabrina Carpenter hosting a holiday variety music special on Netflix and Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw playing a spy and an assassin in the TV series “Black Doves" are some of this week’s new streaming entertainment releases.

Merchandise is nothing new.

Retailers in the U.S. have used giveaways and bigger-than expected discounts to reward shoppers who ventured out on Black Friday.

As the holiday season kicks off, the journey home could also mean that those who are more tech-savvy will be called on to provide a backlog of tech support to parents, grandparents and other family.

The bells of Notre Dame are chiming again, but scaffolding that still clings to the cathedral is puzzling some Parisians and raising questions about whether the monument's grand post-blaze reopening is more symbolic than substantive.

The Australian Parliament has passed a social media ban for young children in a world-first law.

After weeks of plugging increasingly inviting discounts, retailers in the United States and several other countries are preparing for prime time.

There’s no easy way to bridge the political divides that have created rifts in communities, families and friendships.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade marched, soared and roared into its second century as a holiday fixture despite a drenching rain and a brief disruption from pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

In the remotest reaches of Alaska, there’s no relying on DoorDash to have Thanksgiving dinner delivered.