Wall Street fell on the final day of trading for 2025, a banner year for markets that was driven by both optimism and uncertainty. The S&P 500 pulled back 0.7% Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite gave back 0.8%. Trading was very light ahead of the New Year's Day holiday Thursday, when markets will be closed.

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) – Dignitaries at a steel-cutting ceremony Wednesday in Finland marked the start of work on a new Canadian icebreaker to be named the Polar Max and aimed at bolstering Arctic defense.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – Venezuela is open to negotiating an agreement with the United States to combat drug trafficking, the South American country’s President Nicolás Maduro said in a pretaped interview aired Thursday on state television, but he declined to comment on a CIA-led strike last week at a Venezuelan docking area.

LONDON (AP) – Behold the power of the humble hot mic. On Monday it captured more than two minutes of U.S. President Donald Trump and eight European leaders chit-chatting around a White House news conference on their talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A Ukrainian drone strike killed 24 people and wounded at least 50 more as they celebrated the New Year in a Russian-occupied village in Ukraine’s Kherson region, Russian officials said Thursday, as tensions between the two nations continue to spike despite diplomats hailing productive peace talks.

HELSINKI (AP) – Finnish authorities said Monday they have charged the captain and two senior officers of a Russia-linked vessel that damaged undersea cables last year between Finland and Estonia.

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

NIKOLAUS, Germany (AP) – Santa’s elves start early in Germany. Three postal workers set off Saturday on their nearly 3,000-kilometer (1,860-mile) bicycle journey from St. Nikolaus, Germany, to the small town of Rovaniemi, Finland, which is home to Santa Claus Village, according to German news agency dpa.