A pall is hanging over the holiday season in Lexington, Nebraska, where the Tyson beef plant, by far the largest employer in small town, is set to lay off 3,200 people when the company closes the facility on Jan. 20, after three decades of operation. | AP

The Colosseum metro station in Rome, a long-delayed and complex project to bring a subway line under ancient Roman ruins and through Rome’s historic center, opened to the public for the first time on Tuesday. | AP

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. | AP

Attendees at Turning Point USA's annual AmericaFest convention gave high praise to Vice President JD Vance as he closed out the conference with a speech on Sunday saying the conservative movement should be open to everyone as long as they “love America." | AP

President Donald Trump said in a White House speech Wednesday night that he was sending a $1,776 bonus check to U.S. troops for Christmas, indicating that tariffs were funding the payments as he tried to reassure a worried public about the health of the economy. | AP

The showdown between Fani Willis and a Republican-led Georgia state Senate committee over her conduct while prosecuting Donald Trump had loomed for months, and when it finally arrived Wednesday, Fulton County’s Democratic district attorney was ready to fight. | AP