E-commerce giant Amazon and business software maker Salesforce are the latest U.S. technology companies to announce major job cuts as they prune payrolls that rapidly expanded during the pandemic lockdown. Amazon said Wednesday that it will be cutting about 18,000 positions. It's the largest set of layoffs in the Seattle-based company’s history, although just a fraction of its 1.5 million global workforce.

Southwest Airlines returned to a relatively normal flight schedule Friday, as the focus shifts to making things right with what could be well more than a million passengers who missed family connections or flights home during the holidays, and many of whom are still missing luggage. The Dallas carrier, which had canceled thousands of flights every day this week after a winter storm last weekend, reported fewer than 40 cancellations early Friday.

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines said it expects to return to normal operations Friday after slashing about two-thirds of its schedule in recent days, including canceling another 2,350 flights Thursday. Southwest is struggling to recover after being overwhelmed by a winter storm that left hundreds of pilots and flight attendants stranded out of position to operate flights. It is likely that far more than 1 million passengers have been affected.

Taking down the Christmas tree is only one task after the holiday season. For those with a real tree, figuring out what to do with it can be as easy as placing it by the curb. In most states, it can be the gift that keeps on giving. Discarded Christmas trees can be picked up curbside for recycling through regular trash-collection services in various cities. The trees are often shredded for use as compost or mulch that is offered back to residents and non-profit groups free of charge for gardening and landscaping.

DALLAS (AP) — Families hoping to catch a Southwest Airlines flight after days of cancellations, missing luggage and missed family connections suffered through another wave of scrubbed flights, with another 2,500 pulled from arrival and departure boards Wednesday. Exhausted travelers sought passage by other means using different airlines, rental cars, or trains — or they've simply given up.

The Chinese government says it will start issuing new passports in another major step away from anti-virus travel barriers. That sets up a potential flood of millions of tourists out of China for …

Investors found few, if any, safe havens in 2022, as central banks in the U.S. and around the globe raised interest rates for the first time in years to fight surging inflation, stoking fear of a global recession. Consumers paid more for energy, food and just about everything else. Borrowing to buy a home or a car also got costlier.

Thousands of travelers have been stranded at airports or stuck on hold trying to rebook flights this week as a massive storm snarled travel in the U.S. and Canada. More than 2,800 more flights had …

NEW YORK (AP) — Holiday sales rose this year as American spending remained resilient during the critical shopping season despite surging prices on everything from food to rent, according to one measure.

A choppy day on Wall Street ended with broad gains for stocks Friday, though most of the major indexes wound up with their third weekly loss in a row. Mixed economic news weighed on stocks early on, but the indexes rebounded by late afternoon amid relatively light trading ahead of a long holiday weekend.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A measure of inflation closely watched by the Federal Reserve slowed last month, another sign that a long surge in consumer prices seems to be easing. Friday's report from the Commerce Department showed that prices rose 5.5% in November from a year earlier, down from a revised 6.1% increase in October and the smallest gain since October 2021.

Japan’s Cabinet has approved record defense spending next year in preparation for the country deploying U.S.-made Tomahawks and other long-range cruise missiles as part of a more offensive security …

Inflation is driving many consumers to put off their holiday shopping until the last minute. For the first two years of the pandemic, many were buying earlier in the season, afraid of not getting …

Concerns about illness or inflation aren’t stopping Americans from hitting the roads and airports this holiday season. But a massive winter storm might. Forecasters predict an onslaught of heavy snow, ice, flooding and powerful winds from Thursday to Saturday in a broad swath of the country, from the Plains and Midwest to the East Coast. A surge of Arctic air will follow. The Christmas weekend could be the coldest in decades.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major boost for President Joe Biden's pledge to eliminate gas-powered vehicles from the sprawling federal fleet, the Postal Service said Tuesday it will sharply increase the number of electric-powered delivery trucks — and will go all-electric for new purchases starting in 2026.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer banking giant Wells Fargo agreed to pay $3.7 billion to settle a laundry list of charges that it harmed consumers by charging illegal fees and interest on auto loans and mortgages, as well as incorrectly applied overdraft fees against savings and checking accounts. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday ordered Wells to repay $2 billion to consumers and enacted a $1.7 billion penalty against the bank.

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — For all the worries about inflation and the economy, Americans aren’t scrimping on a centerpiece of many celebrations this holiday season: the Christmas tree. Retailers from Home Depot and Lowes to mom-and-pop operations raised their prices on trees — but people are still buying them. Some Christmas tree growers fretted over external factors — high fuel, fertilizer and labor costs — only to rediscover that holiday greenery is largely inflation-proof, even as Americans cut back on retail spending last month.

The maker of the popular Fortnite video game will pay $520 million in penalties and refunds to settle complaints revolving around children's privacy and its payment methods that tricked players into making unintended purchases, U.S. federal regulators said Monday. The Federal Trade Commission reached the settlements to resolve two cases against Epic Games Inc., which has parlayed Fortnite's success in the past five years to become a video game powerhouse.

More than half of the 17.5 million users who responded to a Twitter poll created by billionaire Elon Musk over whether he should step down as head of the company had voted yes by the time the poll closed Monday. There was no immediate announcement from Twitter, or Musk, about whether that would happen, though Musk said that he would abide by the results. Musk attended the World Cup final on Sunday and was headed back to the U.S. early Monday.

LONDON (AP) — The European Union on Monday accused Facebook parent Meta of breaching antitrust rules by distorting competition in the online classified ads business, the bloc’s latest maneuver to curb the power of Big Tech companies. In its complaint following an investigation launched last year, the EU’s executive commission took issue with the tech company tying its online classified ad business, Facebook Marketplace, to Facebook. It’s also concerned that Meta imposes unfair trading conditions on rivals “for its own benefit.”

NEW YORK (AP) — The free-wheeling holiday shopper of 2021, happy to spend money to relieve some pent-up pandemic demand, has given way to a more practical consumer this year, many small business owners say. The reason: inflation. Stephanie Sala felt last year had a YOLO, or “you only live once,” feel to it. People were splurging -- spending $250 on a giant stuffed avocado, for example — at her eight Five Little Monkeys toy stores around the Bay Area in California. This year, the purchases are more low-key: Legos, Pokemon and anything mushroom-related are popular toys.

The Federal Reserve’s move to raise its key rate by a half-point brought it to its highest range in 14 years. The Fed’s increase — its seventh rate hike this year — will make it even costlier …

Twitter on Wednesday suspended an account that used publicly available flight data to track Elon Musk's private jet, despite a pledge by the social media platform's new owner to keep it up because of his free speech principles. Then, hours later, Musk brought back the jet-tracking account after imposing new conditions on all of Twitter's users — no more sharing of anyone's current location.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Railroad workers who are fed up with demanding work schedules and disappointed in the contract they received aired their frustrations this week at rallies across the country and in a leadership vote at one of their biggest unions. Workers gathered in Washington D.C. and nearly a dozen other locations across the country Tuesday to emphasize their quality of life concerns and fight for paid sick leave after Congress intervened in the stalled contract talks earlier this month and imposed a deal on four unions that had rejected it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve reinforced its inflation fight Wednesday by raising its key interest rate for the seventh time this year and signaling more hikes to come. But the Fed announced a smaller hike than it had in its past four meetings at a time when inflation is showing signs of easing.