Month: January 2024

By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Kansas on Thursday passed a broad package of tax cuts promoted as widespread relief that the Democratic governor is likely to veto because she says it favors the wealthy and threatens the state’s budget in the future. The opposing viewpoints kept the

By EILEEN NG Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Singaporean Transport Minister S. Iswaran was charged Thursday in the first ministerial corruption case ever seen in the Asian financial hub known for squeaky clean government. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said in a statement Thursday that Iswaran, 61, faced a total of 27 charges.

By ZIMO ZHONG AP Business Writer HONG KONG (AP) — Asia markets mostly advanced Friday after Wall Street recouped most of the week’s earlier losses and Japan reported slowing inflation, which may keep its ultra-low interest rates steady. U.S. futures were mixed and oil prices fell. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.4% to 35,946.50. Japan’s

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press MUEANG SUPHAN BURI, Thailand (AP) — Rescue workers are carrying out the grim task of recovering the remains of the 23 apparent victims of a fireworks factory explosion in central Thailand. Only part of the building frame stood at the site of the devastated factory in an otherwise-empty rice field

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press ROME (AP) — Friar Paolo Benanti wears the plain brown robes of his medieval Franciscan order as he pursues one of the most pressing issues in contemporary times: how to govern artificial intelligence so that it enriches — and doesn’t exploit — people’s lives. Benanti is the Vatican’s go-to person

By TERRY SPENCER Associated Press PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Former First Lady Melania Trump on Thursday remembered her mother as “a ray of light in the darkest of days” during a funeral service at a church not far from the family’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The former first lady said she always found peace in the

By DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — On the first business day of the new year, Missouri Treasurer Vivek Malek began accepting applications for about $120 million of state-subsidized, low-interest loans to small businesses, farmers and affordable housing developers. Within six hours, Malek had so many requests for the money that

By JAMEY KEATEN and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Israel’s president says normalizing ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be a key element of ending the war with Hamas and a game-changer for the entire Middle East. Isaac Herzog said Thursday at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland,

By ISABELLA VOLMERT Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Five Republican candidates in Indiana are trying to stand out before an unusually crowded gubernatorial primary in May. Campaign finance reports filed Wednesday show the race could be the most expensive in the office’s history, with millions raised and spent over in the past year. The candidates

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s been nearly two years since the United States and its allies froze hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian foreign holdings in retaliation for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. That roughly $300 billion in Russian Central Bank money has been sitting untapped as the war grinds on,