• #BettyWhiteChallenge Raising Money and Awareness for Animals
  
  The late Betty White was a tireless lifetime advocate for animals, from caring for those without homes to launching her own weekly TV show, "The Pet Set," dedicated to her celebrity friends and their pets. Her most far-reaching contribution, though, may be yet to come.
• Banks Raise Stakes in Cutthroat Competition for Talent
  
  Banks are facing cutthroat competition to hire and are being forced to pay more to recruit and keep talent, with both Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. saying they are having to pay competitively for top people.
• Strong Rise in US Consumer Prices Gives Fed Little Respite
  
  U.S. consumer inflation running at levels not seen in more than a generation will keep the Federal Reserve on track with interest rate hikes and other changes expected in coming months to try to tame the surge in prices. That's the take from economists and analysts.
• Morgan Stanley to Award Bonus Rises of 20 Percent-Plus on Thursday to Top Performers
  
  Morgan Stanley will raise its annual bonus for top-performing staff on Thursday by more than 20%, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, with a dealmaking boom to usher in bumper payouts by it and other banks for this past year.
• Omicron Wave Prompts Media to Rethink Which Data to Report
  
  For two years, coronavirus case counts and hospitalizations have been widely used barometers of the pandemic's march across the world.But the omicron wave is making a mess of the usual statistics, forcing news organizations to rethink the way they report such figures.
• US Shoppers Find Some Groceries Scarce Due to Virus, Weather
  
  Benjamin Whitely headed to a Safeway supermarket in Washington D.C. on Tuesday to grab some items for dinner. But he was disappointed to find the vegetable bins barren and a sparse selection of turkey, chicken and milk.
• Toy Fair New York 2022 Cancelled
  
  Following the cancellation of exhibtors Hasbro, Amazon, Walmart and Target, Toy Fair New York 2022 has been cancelled. The largest toy and youth entertainment marketplace in the Western hemisphere, the fair, was scheduled to take place Feb. 19-22, 2022 at the Javits...
• This Year's Oscars Show Will Go On, With a Host
  
  The Academy Awards will have a host for the first time since 2018 and return to their longtime home at the Dolby Theatre, broadcaster ABC said on Tuesday.
• Home Depot Foundation Gives $1M to Civil Rights Center
  
  The Home Depot Foundation said it will give $1 million to the Atlanta-based National Center for Civil and Human Rights, which plans to use the donation to expand its museum and increase community education and training.
• As Less-Lethal Omicron Surges, Europe Eases Restrictions
  
  European governments are relaxing COVID-19 rules to keep hospitals, schools and emergency services going as the much more contagious but less lethal omicron variant changes their approach to the pandemic.
• Kamala Harris Spokeswoman Now MSNBC TV Host
  
  US Vice President Kamala Harris's recently departed lead spokeswoman announced Monday she has a new job at the Democrat-friendly MSNBC cable news outlet.
• Inflation Outlook Holds Steady in December, as Job Prospects Brighten
  
  Short-term inflation expectations held steady in December after rising steadily for more than a year and consumers became more optimistic about their job prospects, according to a survey released by the New York Federal Reserve on Monday.
• Ex-NBC Exec Furness Named CEO for BBC News, Current Affairs
  
  The BBC announced Thursday that it has appointed Deborah Turness as its new chief executive for news and current affairs, bringing to the broadcaster a vastly experienced journalist who previously held senior leadership positions at NBC.
• BlackBerry Pulls Life Support for Once-indispensable Business Smartphone
  
  BlackBerry Ltd. is pulling the plug on service for its once ubiquitous business smartphones, which were toted by executives, politicians and legions of fans in the early 2000s.
• CES Gadget Show Stages a Wary Return Amid COVID-19
  
  Is anyone going to CES this year?A long-simmering question in the tech world will finally get its answer as the influential gadget show returns to the Las Vegas Strip after a hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• US Equity Funds Receive Big Inflows as Investors Downgrade Omicron Impact: Lipper
  
  U.S. equity funds received robust inflows for a second week in the seven days to Dec. 29 as investors welcomed signs that the Omicron coronavirus variant won't bring a big setback to the economy.
• New Year's Eve Muted by Omicron; Many Hoping for Better 2022
  
  Good riddance to 2021. Let 2022 bring fresh hope.That was a common sentiment Friday as people around the world got ready to welcome in the new year.
• Feds Press Nursing Home COVID Boosters as Staff Cases Spike
  
  Federal health officials on Thursday pressed nursing home workers to get their booster shots amid a spike in COVID-19 cases among staffers and a concerning lag in booster vaccination for residents and staff.
• Experts Warn Omicron 'blizzard' to Disrupt U.S. for Next Month
  
  U.S. health experts on Thursday warned Americans that a rising tide of COVID-19 cases led by the Omicron variant threatens major disruptions to their lives, from schools to shopping, and urged them to prepare now for a challenging month ahead.
• Final Goodbye: Recalling Influential People Who Died in 2021
  
  They both carved out sterling reputations as military and political leaders over years of public service. But both also saw their legacies tarnished by their actions in the long, bloody war in Iraq.
• The Maxwells: Scandal and Conspiracy
  
  Ghislaine Maxwell comes from a family dominated by her father, Robert, whose mysterious drowning at sea left behind conspiracy theories, financial scandal and a fallen empire.
• Top 10 Finance Stories of 2021
  
  2021 has been an unprecedent in the financial world. When the year began, it was hard to imagine the rise of so-called "meme stocks," rampant inflation akin to the Jimmy Carter era, and a historic supply chain crisis.
• Biden Considers Raskin for top Federal Reserve Post
  
  U.S. President Joe Biden is considering Sarah Bloom Raskin for a top role at the Federal Reserve as part of a slate of three nominees for central bank board seats, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• SEC: Payday Loan Scheme Bilks Investors out of Millions
  
  The owner of a Miami-based payday loan company bilked hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars and repaid others with money he acquired from a Ponzi scheme, according to a newspaper report and federal regulators.
• Omicron Accounts for 59 Percent of New COVID Cases in US
  
  U.S. government figures show that the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to account for a growing proportion of new coronavirus infections in the country. Omicron accounted for 59% of new cases in the U.S. for the week ending Dec. 25, 2021.

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