Attendees at Turning Point USA's annual AmericaFest convention gave high praise to Vice President JD Vance as he closed out the conference with a speech on Sunday saying the conservative movement should be open to everyone as long as they “love America." | AP

The Colosseum metro station in Rome, a long-delayed and complex project to bring a subway line under ancient Roman ruins and through Rome’s historic center, opened to the public for the first time on Tuesday. | AP

A pall is hanging over the holiday season in Lexington, Nebraska, where the Tyson beef plant, by far the largest employer in this small town, is set to lay off 3,200 people when the company closes its facility on Jan. 20 after three decades of operation. Tyson says it’s closing the plant to “right-size” its beef business after a historically low cattle herd in the U.S. and the company’s expected loss of $600 million on beef production next fiscal year. | AP

A pall is hanging over the holiday season in Lexington, Nebraska, where the Tyson beef plant, by far the largest employer in small town, is set to lay off 3,200 people when the company closes the facility on Jan. 20, after three decades of operation. | AP

The U.S. military said Monday that it had conducted another strike against a boat it said was smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person. | AP

President Donald Trump said in a White House speech Wednesday night that he was sending a $1,776 bonus check to U.S. troops for Christmas, indicating that tariffs were funding the payments as he tried to reassure a worried public about the health of the economy. | AP