Month: March 2023

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Catholic bishops and lay representatives have gathered for the final meeting of a potentially groundbreaking reform assembly that has been marked by tensions between liberalizers and conservatives. It’s also drawing increasingly open opposition from the Vatican. The German process, dubbed the “Synodal Path,” was launched in

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is requesting more than $2.8 billion in the federal budget proposal he’s sending to Congress to help advance his cancer-fighting goals. That’s according to White House officials, who shared details with The Associated Press before Biden unveils the proposal Thursday in Philadelphia. More than

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — As political gridlock puts the government at risk of defaulting, President Joe Biden on Thursday is making an opening offer with a budget plan that would cut deficits by $2.9 trillion over the next decade — a proposal that Republicans already intend to reject. It’s part of

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose for the fifth straight week to its highest level since breaching 7% in November, just as the spring buying season gets ready to kick off. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the benchmark 30-year rate climbed to 6.73%

By JOHN HANNA and TOM DAVIES Associated Press TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative Republicans who want to thwart socially and environmentally conscious investing are now being pushed to water down their proposals by backlash from powerful business groups and fears that state pension systems could see huge losses. In both Kansas and Indiana bankers associations

MOSCOW (AP) — The chairman of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s investigative foundation has resigned over a letter he wrote seeking the lifting of European Union sanctions against top officials of a group that includes one of Russia’s largest banks. Leonid Volkov said he was resigning Thursday. On Wednesday, a Russian journalist posted what

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose modestly on Wall Street Thursday as markets remain anxious about the prospect of more aggressive action by the Federal Reserve to fight inflation. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% as of 11:43 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 37 points, or

By JOSHUA GOODMAN and GISELA SALOMON Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — The head of the Organization of American States made almost three dozen work trips with a female staffer with whom he maintained a long-running intimate relationship, according to travel records uncovered by The Associated Press. The revelations come as an external probe is expected

By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A former White House official who helped implement Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies has broken ranks with the former president. He is instead encouraging Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to pursue the presidency in 2024. Ken Cuccinelli, a former attorney general of Virginia, was a top official at

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California braced Thursday for the arrival of another atmospheric river that forecasters warned will bring heavy rain, strong winds, thunderstorms and the threat of flooding to a state still digging out from earlier storms. The flood threat will come from the combination of rain and melting of parts of the huge