Business

As 2025 kicks in, so are layoffs: these are some companies cutting jobs

Feb. 19, 2025

This year only has just over one-and-a-half months in the books so far, but multiple companies have already announced layoffs. Headcount reductions in early 2025 are taking place at companies in a broad range of sectors, impacting thousands of employees.

Sports

Seven men have been charged in connection with nationwide burglaries of professional athletes’ homes

Feb. 19, 2025

Seven Chilean nationals have been charged in connection with breaking in and stealing property worth more than $2 million from professional athletes’ homes –– including those purportedly belonging to Kansas City Chiefs players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. According to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday, the defendants have been targeting athletes from the National Football League and National Basketball Association since around October 2024 –– breaking into their homes while the sports stars were competing in games. The complaint lists various burglaries from October to December last year. The complaint names Pablo Zuniga Cartes, 24; Ignacio Zuniga Cartes, 20; Bastian Jimenez Freraut, 27; Jordan Quiroga Sanchez, 22; Bastian Orellano Morales, 23; Alexander Huiaguil Chavez, 24; and Sergio Ortega Cabello, 38, stating they allegedly were members of a South American theft group. If convicted, they could each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Business

Fed minutes show tariffs factored into concerns about higher inflation

Feb. 19, 2025

Federal Reserve policymakers noted the potential impact of trade policy shifts such as higher tariffs contributing to concerns about high inflation in the minutes from their most recent meeting. The minutes released on Wednesday from the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) meeting in January showed that policymakers "generally pointed to upside risks in the inflation outlook." "In particular, participants cited the possible effects of potential changes in trade and immigration policy, the potential for geopolitical developments to disrupt supply chains, or stronger-than-expected household spending," the Fed minutes said. The Fed said that while it still sees inflation decreasing towards the centr

Sports

Connecticut man pleads guilty in 2022 stray-bullet shooting of Olympian's mother

Feb. 19, 2025

WATERBURY, Conn. — A Connecticut man has pleaded guilty to murder in the stray-bullet killing of a Puerto Rican Olympic athlete’s mother. Jasper Greene of New Haven was one of three men charged in the death of Mabel Martinez Antongiorgi on April 9, 2022. The 56-year-old woman was sewing in her home in Waterbury, about 30 miles southwest of Hartford, when a bullet flew through a wall and hit her in the head.

Sports

F1 drivers gather in London to launch 75th anniversary season

Feb. 19, 2025

LONDON — Lewis Hamilton arrived wearing a tie in Ferrari red as the 20 Formula 1 drivers and 10 teams gathered in London on Tuesday to kick-start the 2025 season with a new live launch show. The F1 75 Live event at London’s O2 arena marks a new approach by the series. It’s the first time the sport is hosting its own large-scale launch event, rather than leaving it to the individual teams to present their drivers and cars.

Business

Trump's Treasury secretary serves reality check to Dems worried that DOGE will expose fraud

Feb. 19, 2025

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent provided some sense of relief for Americans and politicians worried over the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to federal agency data, giving a reality check to those DOGE alarmists. "The American taxpayers don't have to be concerned about any of this," Bessent said Tuesday on "Special Report with Bret Baier." "I think it's unfortunate that [Democrats are] trying to... lampoon what Elon Musk and the DOGE team is doing." "I think it's very unf

Business

Musk weighs a 'DOGE dividend' to send Americans checks using saved funds

Feb. 19, 2025

Although DOGE has set a high-end goal of $2 trillion in savings, Musk has suggested that $1 trillion in savings would be a success and explained that goal in an appearance with President Donald Trump on Fox News' "Hannity" on Tuesday night. "The overall goal is to try to get a trillion dollars out of the deficit," Musk said. "If the deficit is not brought under control, America will go bankrupt." "This is a very important thing for people to understand. A country is no different from an individual, in that if an individual overspends, an individual can go bankrupt. And so can a country," he said. "And the massive waste, fraud and abuse that has been going on, which is leading to a $2 trillion a year deficit."

Business

DOGE looks at making cuts at the Department of Defense

Feb. 19, 2025

Bryan Clark, a senior fellow and director of the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology at the Hudson Institute, told FOX Business that centralizing innovation units within the DoD may be a starting point for DOGE. Clark noted that the DoD has created "innovation cells" across the department that aim to help accelerate the integration of new technologies into the agency and the military, in part by engaging tech companies

International News

Pope Francis is showing ‘slight improvement’ after pneumonia diagnosis, Vatican says

Feb. 19, 2025

Pope Francis is showing “slight improvement” after being diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs, the Vatican said on Wednesday in its latest update on the 88-year-old pontiff’s health. His “clinical conditions are stable” and his blood tests show “a slight improvement, in particular of the inflammatory markers” the Vatican said. The announcement comes after the Vatican said Francis had a peaceful night in hospital.

Entertainment

Mystery solved: Morris Chestnut belongs to 3 gyms so his 'Watson' uncovers washboard abs

Feb. 19, 2025

n USA TODAY’s The Essentials, celebrities share what fuels their lives, whether it's at home, on the set or on the road. Deducing that Morris Chestnut brings the heat to the CBS's "Watson" is pretty elementary. The versatile Chestnut, 56, leads with intellect, charm and six-pack abs as Dr. John Watson, the beloved colleague of the apparently deceased Sherlock Holmes, in CBS' modern series. During the medical mystery's January premiere episode, executive producer Craig Sweeny even found a plausible reason for Watson to take off his shirt after crashing on the office couch at Pittsburgh's Holmes Clinic.