National Lifestyle

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cosmetic companies would have to take extra steps to ensure that any products containing talc are free of asbestos under a federal rule proposed Thursday.

The death of an Oregon house cat and a pet food recall are raising questions about the ongoing outbreak of bird flu and how people can protect their pets. Bird flu has been spreading for years in wild birds, chickens, turkeys and many other animals.

NEW YORK (AP) — An Alabama woman who says she was raped by Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs when she was 13 can proceed anonymously, for now, in her lawsuit against the rap moguls, a judge ruled Thursday.

Sales rose this year during the holiday shopping season even as Americans wrestled with elevated prices for many groceries and other necessities, according to new data. Holiday sales from the beginning of November through Christmas Eve climbed 3.

TORONTO — Shoppers flocked to malls on Thursday to take advantage of Boxing Day deals made more enticing by the federal government’s GST holiday, but some say the lower prices aren’t enough to keep up with the country’s cost of living.

Happy holidays from Bad Bunny , who announced Thursday he will release a new album Jan. 5.

NEW YORK (AP) — Jason LaCroix felt privileged to work from home, especially as a father to two young children. He needed flexibility when his son, then 6, suffered a brain injury and spent 35 days in intensive care.

For Makenzie Gilkison, spelling is such a struggle that a word like rhinoceros might come out as “rineanswsaurs” or sarcastic as “srkastik.

VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. (AP) — Teenage actor Hudson Meek has died after he fell out of a moving vehicle in Alabama, authorities said. Meek, 16, was hurt on Dec. 19 while on a street in Vestavia Hills, a suburb of Birmingham.

Viewers may gasp, cringe or cry out watching characters die on Netflix's “Squid Game,” but those simulated deaths have a different effect on its creator, writer and director. Instead, Hwang Dong-hyuk feels happiness seeing them go.