Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Stocks closed lower on the final trading day of 2024 to end what has been a strong year for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500, which notched its second consecutive larger than 20% annual return in decades.

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Outgoing North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on Tuesday announced 15 commutations of the death penalty to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Effingham County (Ga.) Judge Stephen Yekel died by suicide while inside a county courtroom where he was slated to serve his last day on the bench on Tuesday.

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Three people are dead and a minor boy in critical condition after an American family were shot at in Mexico while on vacation, officials say.

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Aaron Brown, who anchored CNN's coverage of 9/11 and other important national and world events, passed away Sunday at age 76, his family announced. They did not release his cause of death.

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping in a New Year's address declared Taiwan and China to be one people and said no nation can stop China from annexing the island nation.

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Police have identified the woman who recently was set on fire in a subway car in New York City, according to several news reports.

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- North Korean President Kim Jong Un on Monday declared a "new high" in relations between North Korea and Russia and hoped for a Russian victory over Ukraine in 2025.

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The United States sanctioned a Russian judge for the "arbitrary" imprisonment of Moscow politician and human rights activist Alexei Gorinov as officials in Russia seek to extend his sentence, the U.S. announced Tuesday.

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it will begin congestion pricing tolling on Sunday despite New Jersey officials claiming that a U.S. district judge's ruling disallows the plan.