AP-National

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,

By SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON Associated Press/Report for America COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A transgender candidate vying for a seat in the Republican-majority Ohio House is now cleared to run after her certification was called into question for omitting her former name on circulating petitions. The Mercer County Board of Elections chose not take up a vote

By MUNIR AHMED and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan launched airstrikes against alleged militant hideouts inside Iran on Thursday, killing at least nine people as it retaliated for a similar attack by Iran two days earlier and raised tensions between the neighbors at a time of escalating conflict in the region. The

By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Palestinians are dying every day in Gaza’s overwhelmed remaining hospitals which can’t deal with the tens of thousands people hurt in Israeli’s military offensive, a U.N. health emergency expert said Wednesday, while a doctor with the International Rescue Committee called the situation in Gaza’s hospitals

By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Dan Steele knows what a long day in court is like. So he was extra appreciative on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump journeyed to New Hampshire after spending the day in a New York courtroom, where he sat defiantly during his trial to determine

By ERIC TUCKER, ACACIA CORONADO, LINDSAY WHITEHURST and JAKE BLEIBERG Associated Press UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Police officials who responded to the deadly Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting waited far too long to confront the gunman, acted with “no urgency” in establishing a command post and communicated inaccurate information to grieving families, according to a

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Uniqlo Co. has sued rival retailer Shein over a small shoulder bag the Japanese retailer said was an inferior and unlawful copy of its own hit product touted as the “Mary Poppins bag.” The lawsuit demanded Shein stop selling its product that Uniqlo said looks too

By SCHUYLER DIXON AP Pro Football Writer Mike McCarthy will get another chance to end a nearly three-decade stretch without a deep playoff run for the Dallas Cowboys. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones says McCarthy will be back for a fifth season as coach after a stunning 48-32 wild-card loss to Green Bay. The

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer Federal officials have briefed a congressional committee on their investigations into a jetliner that lost a panel of its fuselage in midflight this month and revealed that airlines have inspected 40 identical Boeing planes. The Federal Aviation Administration said it will review information from those inspections of Boeing 737

PANAMA CITY (AP) — A severe drought that began last year has forced authorities to slash ship crossings by 36% in the Panama Canal, one of the world’s most important trade routes. The new cuts announced Wednesday by authorities in Panama are set to deal an even greater economic blow than previously expected. Canal administrators