🗞️New U.S. sanctions target Iran and Venezuela

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December 30th, 2025

What happened today 🇺🇸,

• The U.S. has imposed sanctions against 10 individuals and entities in Iran and Venezuela for facilitating illicit arms trade, including the sale of Iranian drones worth millions to Venezuela's state-owned Empresa Aeronautica Nacional

• A Harris poll showed Americans increasingly blame the federal government rather than corporations for rising prices, with 76% of Democrats, 72% of independents, and 55% of Republicans citing poor economic management…read more here

• U.S. Central Command reported that nearly 25 Islamic State operatives were killed or captured in Syria during 11 missions over the past 10 days, following initial strikes on December 19th that hit 70 targets across central Syria

• The Trump administration has frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota amid the fraud scandal

• U.S. District Judge, Amy Berman Jackson, ruled that the Trump administration must continue seeking funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from the Federal Reserve

• Tatiana Schlossberg, an environmental journalist and granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy through her mother Caroline Kennedy, has died at age 35 following a battle with terminal acute myeloid leukemia

• Meta has agreed to acquire the Singapore‑based AI‑agent startup founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, Manus, in a deal valued at over $2 billion

• Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to reject Paramount Skydance's latest amended $108.4 billion hostile takeover bid

• SoftBank has completed its pledged $40 billion investment in OpenAI, finalizing the deal with a final transfer of $22-22.5 billion last week after earlier contributions of $8 billion directly and $10 billion syndicated, boosting its stake above 10% in the AI leader valued at around $260 billion pre-money

• Starbucks plans to close about 400 underperforming U.S. stores, primarily in major metropolitan areas like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, as part of a $1 billion restructuring

• DOW down .20% / S&P down .14%

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Plus: A look at renters vs homeowners by state

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