I went to the search bar, and typed in search settings
selected search settings & privacy
Scrolled to more settings
toggled off show search highlights.
No more news and game ads, and also, the annoying little icon that shows in the search bar with a holiday or something also disappeared.
I hope it help someone else out there.
I'm on the latest Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (OS Build 22631.3235) and the *only* item removed is the search highlights in the Search Bar; widgets are left as per money grabbing Microsoft's current settings.
Solution: Disable widgets and turn off "Show search highlights" in Settings ~ Privacy & security ~ Search permissions