Southern California Edison has filed lawsuits against Los Angeles County, local water agencies and the Southern California Gas Company. The utility claims a series missteps made last year's Eaton Fire more deadly. The fire started on Jan. 7, 2025, and killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 homes. It took nearly a month to extinguish. SoCal Edison claims county agencies failed to send timely evacuation warnings and that water agencies didn't provide enough water for firefighters. They also blame SoCalGas for delayed gas shutoffs. The cause remains under investigation, but evidence suggests one of the utility’s idled power lines might have ignited the fire.

Google is expanding the shopping features in its AI chatbot by teaming up with Walmart, Shopify, Wayfair and other big retailers to turn the Gemini app into a virtual merchant as well as an assistant. An instant checkout function will allow customers to make purchases from some businesses and through a range of payment providers without leaving the Gemini chat they used to find products, according to Walmart and Google. The news was announced Sunday on the first day of the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York. The role of artificial intelligence in e-commerce and its impact on consumer behavior are expected to dominate the three-day event.

President Donald Trump signed a New Year’s Eve proclamation delaying increased tariffs on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities for a year, citing ongoing trade talks. Trump’s order signed Wednesday keeps in place a 25% tariff he imposed in September on those goods, but delays for another year a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture and 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and vanities. The increases, which were set to take effect Jan. 1,  come as the Republican president instituted a broad swath of taxes on imported goods to address trade imbalances and other issues.

Russia struck Ukraine's capital with missiles and drones in an attack that killed at least one person. The barrage came a day before the leaders of Ukraine and the United States meet. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack “really shows that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin doesn’t want peace.” Authorities said that Saturday's assault hit residential buildings and energy infrastructure in Kyiv. Moscow said the strike was in response to Ukraine’s attacks on “civilian objects” in Russia. Poland scrambled fighter jets and closed airports in Lublin and Rzeszow near the border with Ukraine for several hours during the Russian attacks but there was no violation of Polish airspace.