Updated at 3:19 p.m. ET

Google CEO Sundar Pichai made his public debut before Congress on Tuesday, spending much of his testimony countering Republicans' allegations of anti-conservative bias in the company's search results.

He also faced scrutiny of how much data Google collects on users and on the company's work on a censored search tool for China.

The Google+ social network inadvertently gave app developers access to information on some 52.5 million users — even data that users designated as private — because of a "bug" in its software, Google says. The company had already announced it was pulling the plug on the social network because of an earlier incident, and now says the shutdown will happen four months sooner.

Lawmakers unveiled the much-anticipated farm bill compromise Monday night, ending the months-long impasse over whether a critical piece of legislation that provides subsidies to farmers and helps needy Americans buy groceries could pass before the lame-duck session concludes at the end of the year.

'Tis the season when an escape from holiday madness may be necessary --and these three romance novels will whisk you away to fictional worlds where all the high stakes drama is resolved with true love and happily ever after.

President Trump sent a largely unnoticed letter to Congress last week saying the U.S. is engaged in at least seven separate military conflicts.

In most cases, though not all, Trump and his two immediate White House predecessors launched these U.S. military actions without explicit approval from Congress.

Updated at 5:37 p.m. ET

In a testy Oval Office exchange with the two top congressional Democrats, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer, President Trump made clear he would be "proud" to shut down the government in less than two weeks if he doesn't get funding for his border wall.

As President Trump continues to threaten to potentially shut down the government over his border wall, Americans would prefer to see him compromise to prevent gridlock, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll.

By a 21-point margin — 57 percent to 36 percent — Americans think the president should compromise on the wall to avoid a government shutdown, rather than stand firm. About two-thirds of Republicans say the opposite, and the president has been focused on maintaining his base.

When you hit your 40s, it's only natural to want to try new things.

A deadly snowstorm carrying snow, sleet and freezing rain created dangerous road conditions and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of households and businesses in five states from Virginia to Georgia over the weekend. At least three deaths have been blamed on the storm.