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

It may feel like you are surrounded by sniffles and coughs, but flu season activity is still low in many parts of the U.S. New government data posted Friday shows that as of last week, flu activity was high in four states — Colorado, Louisiana, New Jersey and New York — and minimal or low in most others.

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

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has hosted a U.S. envoy for talks in Minsk, the latest step in the isolated leader’s effort to improve ties with the West.

In a story published Dec. 12, 2025, about the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, The Associated Press, relying on information from the Windward maritime intelligence firm, erroneously reported the name of a Windward senior analyst.

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.

After his corruption indictment last year, the Laredo Democrat forfeited his role as the top Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees more than $65 billion in annual spending.

A man accused of killing a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina train has appeared in federal court.

U.S. strategic bombers joined Japanese fighter jets in a joint military exercise around Japan's airspace.

More than 400 civilians have been killed since the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group escalated its offensive in eastern Congo, officials said.

The House votes to pass a sweeping defense policy bill that authorizes $900 billion in military programs.

Oil companies have offered $279 million for drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico in the first offshore lease sale in the region since 2023.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he and European leaders have discussed proposals to end the war in Ukraine, adding that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “has to be realistic” about his country’s position on a peace plan.

U.S. prosecutors have told the Supreme Court that they want to give up their fight to preserve the convictions of a former Fox executive and a South American sports media company in a corruption case related to the TV rights for international soccer tournaments.

Rod Paige, the first African American to serve as U.S. secretary of education, has died at 92.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire confirms former Houston ISD superintendent and U.S. Education Secretary, Rod Paige, has died.

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

With the candidate filing deadline behind us, TribCast digs into the musical chairs that awaits voters in 2026

Immigration lawyers and authorities say arrests of Afghans are on the rise following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. The suspect in the attack is an Afghan national.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has designated one of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups in the U.S. a “foreign terrorist organization,” following a similar step by Texas last month.

President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Alina Habba, announced her resignation as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey.

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

Israeli police have forcibly entered the United Nations agency compound for Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem.

A Hamas official says the group is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons as part of its ceasefire with Israel.

Members of Congress now know that the U.S. military fired upon two people clinging to the wreckage of a boat allegedly carrying drugs — and they want answers.

An international body tasked with governing the Gaza Strip under the next phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire is expected to be announced by the end of the year.

A prosecutor says the man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack told investigators he was “disappointed” in the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

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

The Justice Department has failed to secure a new indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James after a judge dismissed the previous mortgage fraud prosecution encouraged by President Donald Trump.

A special congressional election in Tennessee this week highlights the power and consequences of partisan gerrymandering.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is challenging the authority of an acting U.S. attorney in Albany who is investigating her.

The U.S. stock market held near its records in a quiet day of trading.

The Pentagon knew there were survivors after a September attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea and the U.S. military still carried out a follow-up strike.

The family of a Colombian man has filed a formal challenge to U.S. military strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats.

Republicans have held onto a conservative U.S. House district in Tennessee.

U.S. stocks rose near their record levels.

The U.S. stock market held steadier as both bond yields and bitcoin stabilized.

Are you planning to travel to see family and friends this holiday season? If so, you might need to pay attention to what airline you book your flight through.

U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls says he will retire from Congress after his term ends in 2026 to focus on family.

President Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer Alina Habba has been disqualified from serving as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor.

U.S. stocks gave back some of last week’s rally, as bitcoin fell sharply again.

Shoppers scoured for deals everything from electronics to clothing on Cyber Monday, delivering strong sales for online retailers and capping a five-day spending spree that kicked off on Thanksgiving.

Lawmakers from both parties say they support congressional reviews of U.S. military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea.

Hondurans are buzzing about U.S. President Donald Trump's recent involvement in their presidential election.

Despite wider economic uncertainty hovering above this year’s holiday season, shoppers turned out in big numbers for Black Friday — spending billions of dollars both in stores and online.

A major snowstorm in the Midwest and Great Lakes is affecting Thanksgiving travelers.

Inside a bustling warehouse in Houston, volunteers move with the precision and speed of an automotive assembly line — but the parts they’re packing are not engines or car doors.

Shares in Europe are mixed following gains in most Asian markets.

The president of the Dominican Republic says he has authorized the U.S. government to operate inside restricted areas in the Caribbean country to help in its fight against drug trafficking.

With Thanksgiving and the formal launch of the holiday shopping season, Americans will again take to the road for holiday gatherings before knocking off items on their Christmas gift lists.

U.S. stocks rose for a fourth straight day, led by solid gains for technology companies.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has announced a special $40 billion budget for arms purchases, including to build a Taiwan Dome, an air defense system with high-level detection and interception capabilities, as the U.S. pressures the island to increase its defense spending.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is increasing the size of home loans that the government can guarantee against default as it takes into account rising housing prices.

A federal judge’s dismissal of criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney Letitia James, two political foes of President Donald Trump, won’t be the final word on the matter.

As the first year of President Donald Trump's second term comes to a close, two new polls from the Pew Research Center find that Hispanic adults are increasingly unhappy with the way his administration is handling the economy and immigration, issues that were key for voters during last year’s election.

Officials say progress was made in urgent weekend talks on amending the U.S. peace proposal for Ukraine that many saw as favoring Russia.

The U.S. stock market rallied.

Bird flu and another disease have shrunk the U.S. turkey population to a 40-year low this year.

Gunmen abducted 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers from St. Mary’s School in Niger state, Nigeria, according to an updated tally issued Saturday by the Christian Association of Nigeria.

The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas’ 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by President Donald Trump likely discriminates on the basis of race.

The U.S. flu season is starting slowly, and it’s not clear if it will be as bad as last winter’s.

More swings hit Wall Street, except it finished higher this time.

Japan has reported that its exports to the world rose 3.7% in October from a year earlier, while imports edged up 0.6%.

Researchers have completed a full accounting of water uses and losses in the Rio Grande-Bravo basin as it faces severe shortages throughout its range in the United States and Mexico.

The Trump administration has threatened to withhold nearly $75 million in funding if Pennsylvania does not immediately revoke what the administration claims are illegally issued commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes increased last month to the fastest pace since February as lower mortgage rates helped pull more homebuyers into the market.

Judge Jerry Smith, who sits on the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, published his 100-page dissent on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump is again expressing support for skilled immigrants training U.S. workers in high-tech factories.

The U.S. stock market swung through another unsettled day of trading, ahead of a couple of crucial tests for Wall Street.

A federal appeals court has paused a California law that requires companies that do business in the state and make more than $500 million a year to report how climate change could hurt them financially.

A man in Spring pleaded guilty to charges related to sending inappropriate messages and requesting explicit photos from a minor.

Home Depot’s third-quarter was mixed with fewer violent storms reaching shore, more anxiety among U.S. consumers and a housing market that has slumped.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary and current Harvard professor Larry Summers says he'll step back from public commitments after the release of emails showing he maintained a friendly relationship with Jeffrey Epstein long after the financier pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

Tribal citizens are among communities navigating the impacts of massive cuts in federal spending and the effects of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

In Chile, a hard-right former lawmaker and admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump is leading in the presidential runoff.

The U.S. stock market fell as Nvidia and other superstars created by the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology dimmed some more.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to oppose any attempt to establish a Palestinian state.

The Democratic U.S. senator from Minnesota sits down with Ali Vitali, the host of MSNBC’s Way Too Early, at 9 a.m. Saturday.

A Sedgwick County, Kansas woman has pleaded guilty to lying to federal authorities after claiming her estranged spouse, who’s an astronaut, accessed her bank account while deployed to the International Space Station, U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei announced.

Seven people from the Houston area have been charged in a superseding indictment tied to an alleged Medicare fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei said.

Hassan Al Gharawi, a 54-year-old Iraqi national, was convicted Thursday of conspiring to violate U.S. gun export laws, U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei announced.

The former U.S. secretary of transportation sits down with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic at 9 a.m. Friday.

Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker as it traveled through the narrow Strait of Hormuz on Friday.

An early swoon shook the U.S. stock market, but it quickly calmed.

The first major blast of wintry weather in the U.S. this week brought snow, frigid temperatures and in some places something a little more magical: Frost flowers.

The indicted former national security advisor, who served under the president, spoke during The Texas Tribune Festival.

A senior adviser to the Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces says U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments calling for a halt to the flow of military support coming to the RSF from abroad may jeopardize global efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire.

Lawyers for two of President Donald Trump’s foes who've been charged by the Justice Department have asked a federal judge to dismiss the cases against them, saying the prosecutor who secured the indictments was illegally installed.

The U.S. stock market tumbled to one of its worst days since its springtime sell-off.

More than 1,000 unionized Starbucks workers are on strike Thursday at 65 U.S. stores.

U.S. Catholic bishops have voted to make official a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender patients at Catholic hospitals.

A Chinese scientist charged in Michigan with smuggling biological materials has pleaded guilty.

As part of a seismic schedule change for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, track and field, and not swimming, will lead off the Olympics.

U.S. stocks drifted around their records in a mixed day of trading.

The southeastern U.S. has plunged into record-low temperatures, affecting 18 million people under a freeze warning across Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.

The British government has rallied to the defense of the BBC as it faces a dispute with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Asian shares are mixed in cautious trading after most U.S. stocks rose, settling back to where they were before last week’s swoon over the future of artificial intelligence.

Wendy’s plans to close hundreds U.S. restaurants over the next few months to boost its profit and make its remaining stores more appealing.

The Supreme Court has rejected a call to overturn its landmark decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

China has a new visa scheme that is creating job opportunities for foreign professionals, part of its effort to attract global talent and gain an edge in global technology.