KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia will introduce new taxes and revamp gasoline, education and healthcare subsidies next year as part of aggressive reforms to narrow the country’s fiscal deficit. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim unveiled a national budget for 2025 on Friday that focuses on strengthening the economy and driving reforms. He said the country’s
Continue ReadingAssociated Press LONDON (AP) — One of the most basic questions in the world is “Who are you?” It’s at the heart of the ancient tragedy of Oedipus, and it perplexes people still. It drives a new production of Sophocles’ 2,500-year-old play in London, directed by Robert Icke and starring Mark Strong and Lesley Manville.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press Every Christmas growing up in Minnesota, Jimmy Darts’ parents gave him $200 in cash: $100 for himself and $100 for a stranger. Now, with over 12 million followers on TikTok and several million more on other platforms, philanthropy is his full-time job. Darts, whose real surname is Kellogg, is one of the biggest
Continue ReadingAssociated Press Christian nationalist leaders are telling followers that Vice President Kamala Harris is under the influence of a “Jezebel spirit,” using a term with deeply racist and misogynistic roots that is setting off alarm bells for religious and political scholars. The concept is inspired by the biblical story of the evil Queen Jezebel, who
Continue ReadingNEW YORK (AP) — Naomi Shihab Nye is this year’s winner of the Wallace Stevens Award, a $100,000 lifetime achievement honor named for the great 20th century poet. Nye’s prize was announced Friday by the Academy of American Poets, which has previously given the award to Louise Glück, John Ashbery and Rita Dove among others.
Continue ReadingPARIS (AP) — France’s prime minister says firefighters and other rescuers have been involved in about 2,300 operations, some of them lifesaving, in what appears to be the biggest flooding in 40 years in central France. Over 1,000 people have been evacuated. Most of them were able to go back home on Friday. French weather
Continue ReadingATHENS, Greece (AP) — A data breach has exposed personal information of over 500 officers from a newly launched elite crime fighting agency in Greece. The Directorate for Combating Organised Crime was launched this week amid revalations that details of the agency’s structure and staff membership had been published on a news website and subsequently
Continue ReadingAssociated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norwegian authorities say they have dropped the case against a real estate tycoon who had been suspected of murder or complicity to murder in connection with his wife’s disappearance almost six years ago. Police initially said Anne-Elizabeth Falkevik Hagen, 68, had been abducted from her home on Oct. 31,
Continue ReadingAssociated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Nine monkeys who died in Hong Kong’s oldest zoo in two days this week had been infected with an endemic disease, possibly after some digging work near their cages, officials said on Friday. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung said in a press briefing that the animals
Continue ReadingBy Allie Torgan, CNN Dallas, Texas (CNN) — Stephen Knight has saved thousands of animals from ending up in shelters. But 13 years ago, he was just trying to save himself. Knight, whose nonprofit provides foster care for the pets of people who need to go to rehab, was motivated by his own experiences with
Continue ReadingAssociated Press CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch has stepped down with company shares sinking 19% this year and the health care giant struggling on several fronts. Company shares tumbled again Friday after CVS Health also warned of disappointing third-quarter earnings and said investors should not rely on guidance for that quarter that provided in August.
Continue ReadingAssociated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas confirmed Friday that its leader, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza and reiterated its stance that hostages the militant group took from Israel a year ago will not be released until there is a cease-fire in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops. The group’s staunch
Continue ReadingAP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s road safety agency is investigating Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents that it opened the probe on Thursday after the company reported four crashes when
Continue ReadingBy Alexandra Banner, CNN (CNN) — Ask to take a nap in a mattress store. Or challenge a stranger to dance in public. You’ll likely get a “no” in response — but that’s the point of the exercise. Psychologists say exposing yourself to uncomfortable situations can be a form of therapy to help decrease your
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COLUMBIA, Mo. The University of Missouri will be holding multiple homecoming events Friday and Saturday that will cause streets to be closed in and around campus. On Friday from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., fraternities and sororities will be hosting a house decoration event that will have food trucks, vendors and will be a pedestrian
Continue ReadingLONDON (AP) — The body of former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has been brought back to Scotland on a private jet, six days after the politician died suddenly in North Macedonia. A trumpet sounded as Salmond’s coffin, draped in Scotland’s blue-and-white Saltire flag, was loaded onto the plane at Ohrid airport in the country’s
Continue ReadingCAIRO (AP) — Egypt has raised fuel prices by between 10% and 17%, a move likely to impact the cost of both goods and services. The Egyptian government said in a statement on Facebook that the decision was made in order to “reduce the gap between the selling prices of petroleum products and their high
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ISLAMABAD (AP) — A lawyer says Pakistan’s prime minister has written to U.S. President Joe Biden to request the release of a Pakistani woman who is serving an 86-year prison sentence in the U.S. for terrorism charges. The letter from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was submitted to a court in Islamabad that was
Continue ReadingBy Elizabeth Wolfe, Ashley Killough, Ed Lavandera and Dakin Andone, CNN (CNN) — Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson sat praying in a cell Thursday night, just feet from the execution chamber where he was set to die by lethal injection for the “shaken baby” death of his toddler. While he prayed, the state and
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ROME (AP) — Workers in Italy’s troubled automotive sector are holding a national strike for the first time in 20 years, with a massive demonstration crossing the center of Rome. The sector’s three main unions in Italy are asking the government to defend employment in the sector and relaunch the future of the
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