Start your week smart: Trump’s tariff chaos, deadly tornadoes, government shutdown averted, news quiz, Selection Sunday
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CNN’s 5 Things brings you the news you need to start your week smart
The finances of low-income Americans are getting worse, and more shoppers are going without basic necessities. That’s according to Dollar General, whose “core customers” earn less than $40,000 a year. The discount chain is considered a bellwether of low and middle-income shoppers’ spending. Here’s what else you need to know to Start Your Week Smart. During his most recent presidential campaign, Donald Trump talked a lot about his plans to implement tariffs. After taking office in January, he quickly made good on those promises by targeting the country’s three largest trading partners: Mexico, Canada and China. The rollout has been chaotic and contentious. Trump’s 25% tariffs on aluminum and steel went into effect last week, and Canada and Europe immediately retaliated. The president’s tariffs threaten to significantly raise prices for American consumers at a time when the US economy is already on shaky ground. 1️⃣ How do tariffs work? They’re a tax on goods coming from another country. A tariff is typically a percentage of the value of the import and can vary based on where the goods are coming from and what the products are. Here’s what you need to know.
More than 30 million people are under winter weather alerts across the Midwest and Northeast early this week with another storm threatening to upend travelers’ plans on what is expected to be one of the busiest travel days this holiday season.
The night was warm and muggy over New Castle Air Force Base in Delaware, the kind of heat that clung to the metal skins of the alert fighter jets lined along the runway.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives here Sunday as his frozen capital of Kyiv comes under assault by Russian missiles and drones, a deadly reminder from the war’s aggressor that its attacks would continue even amid accelerated peace talks.
A Cuban immigrant who had built a new life working at a Kentucky scrapyard died on Christmas Day from severe burns suffered in last month’s UPS cargo plane crash, raising the death toll to 15, officials said.
At least 15 people were killed and 19 injured after a passenger bus plunged into a ravine on the Inter-American Highway in western Guatemala, authorities said on Saturday.
A reform-minded mayor is taking charge of New York City just as the largest police department in the country is finding its stride in its stability, touting a drop in gun violence and homicides while its current leadership stays intact.
When patients come to Eric Frankenfeld’s chiropractic practice with insurance woes, his wife, Lisa, the office manager, tells them not to worry because she’ll work with them to keep care affordable.
Emel McDowell was in a New York City jail when a guard yelled out his name. A single envelope slid through the metal bars into his cell. He stared at the return address in disbelief.
Vivek Ramaswamy barreled into politics as a flame-thrower willing to offend just about anyone. He declared America was in a “cold cultural civil war,” denied the existence of white supremacists, and referred to one of his rivals as “corrupt.” Two years later, Ramaswamy says he wants to be “conservative without being combative.”
The “Epstein files” saga will spill into 2026, despite a deadline earlier this month to release the records.
A shooter armed with several guns opened fire in the lobby of an Idaho sheriff’s office and the street outside Friday, injuring three people before being killed in a standoff with law enforcement, the local sheriff said Friday.
Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell lambasted a performer’s decision to cancel an annual Christmas Eve jazz concert, following the addition of President Donald Trump’s name to the Washington, DC, arts venue.
A group of Venezuelans who were sent to a maximum-security El Salvador prison from the US and then returned to Venezuela called on Friday for the United States to comply with a ruling that would allow them to challenge their deportation in US courts.