| | A partial U.S. government shutdown was widely expected to continue after Congress reconvenes on Thursday, with lawmakers split over President Donald Trump's demand for $5 billion in taxpayer funding for a proposed Mexican border wall. | |
| President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he is prepared to wait as long as it takes to get $5 billion from taxpayers for his U.S.-Mexico border wall, a demand that has triggered a partial shutdown of the federal government that is now in its fifth day. | |
| Migrant children will receive more thorough medical checks after an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy died in U.S. custody this week, the U.S. government said on Wednesday, and his mother expressed grief and despair over his death. | |
| The former chief executive of Insys Therapeutics Inc has agreed to plead guilty to participating in a scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe a powerful opioid medication in order to boost its sales, U.S. prosecutors said on Wednesday. | |
| A crowd of mourners said goodbye to the 7-year-old Guatemalan migrant girl who died in U.S. custody this month, laying her to rest in a Christmas Day funeral that left her mother so crushed she could not bear to attend. | |
| U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, has been released from the hospital after undergoing cancer surgery, a court spokeswoman said on Wednesday. | |
| Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has incorrectly claimed in government documents that he had been named an Academic All-American while playing football at the University of Iowa, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. | |
| Sales in the 2018 U.S. holiday shopping season rose 5.1 percent to over $850 billion, the strongest in six years, according to a Mastercard report on Wednesday, as shoppers were encouraged by a robust economy and early discounts. | |
| An 8-year-old Guatemalan migrant boy died early on Christmas Day after being detained by U.S. border agents, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said, the second migrant child to die in U.S. detention this month. | |
| A $321 million Mega Millions jackpot, the biggest ever offered on Christmas Day, went unclaimed as the size of the grand prize grew for the next drawing later this week, the multistate lottery said on Wednesday. | |
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