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Malaysian leader appoints technocrat as his deputy finance minister in Cabinet shuffle

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim appointed a technocrat as his deputy finance minister on Tuesday in a Cabinet shuffle aimed at strengthening his administration and winning public trust a year after taking power.The shuffle was widely expected and expanded the number of portfolios with the appointment of five new ministers. Anwar said the changes were needed to meet current demands and cope with global trends, including the growing impact of artificial intelligence.Anwar, who appointed himself as finance minister after taking office last year, revived the post of second finance minister and named the head of the country’s largest pension fund, Amir Hamzah Azizan, to the portfolio in a move that could ease criticism of the prime minister.While he still heads the Finance Ministry, Anwar said having a professional team will ensure “we are on right track and can focus on the economy.”Several key ministers swapped portfolios. Mohamad Hasan,...

Suicide bomber attacks police station in northwest Pakistan, killing 3 officers and wounding 16

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at a police station’s main gate in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least three policemen and wounding 16 others, officials said. Some militants also opened fire and a shootout between them and security forces was still ongoing, police officer Kamal Khan said. Khan said the attack happened in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The province is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed a rise in violence with several deadly attacks. In January, at least 101 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a mosque in Peshawar.No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up attacks on security forces since 2022. Authorities say the insurgents have become embolde...

Zelenskyy will arrive on Capitol Hill to grim mood as Biden’s aid package for Ukraine risks collapse

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will arrive on Capitol Hill to a darker mood than when he swooped in last winter for a hero’s welcome, as the Russian invasion is grinding into a third year and U.S. funding hangs in balance.Zelenskyy’s visit Tuesday comes as President Joe Biden’s request for an additional $110 billion U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs is at serious risk of collapse in Congress. Republicans are insisting on strict U.S.-Mexico border security changes that Democrats decry as draconian in exchange for the overseas aid.“It is maddening,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a close ally of Biden, of the stalemate. “A very bad message to the world, to the Ukrainian people.”The White House said the time was right for Zelenskyy’s trip to Washington as Biden pushes lawmakers to approve the aid package before the year-end holidays. But the mood turned grim at the Capitol on the eve of his arrival. Zelen...

Backlash to House testimony shines spotlight on new generation of Ivy League presidents

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The university presidents called before a congressional hearing on antisemitism last week had more in common than strife on their campuses: The leaders of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and MIT were all women who were relatively new in their positions.In that sense, they represented the changing face of leadership at top-tier universities, with a record number of women leading Ivy League schools.Now Penn’s president has resigned over a backlash to comments that she said did not go far enough to condemn hate against Jewish students. And Harvard’s president is facing calls to step down from donors and some lawmakers.While the Israel-Hamas war has deepened rifts at campuses across the country, the three leaders were invited to testify as the public faces of universities embroiled in protest and complaints of antisemitism. The Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce chose the three presidents because their schools “have been at the ...

Battle over creating new court centers on equality in Mississippi’s majority-Black capital city

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The constitutional right of equal treatment under the law is at the center of a monthslong legal fight over a state-run court in part of Mississippi’s majority-Black capital city of Jackson.A federal judge is set to hear arguments Dec. 19 over the Capitol Complex Improvement District Court, which is scheduled to be created Jan. 1.The new court would be led by a state-appointed judge and prosecutors, and it would be the equivalent of a municipal court, handling misdemeanor cases. Municipal judges and prosecutors in Mississippi are typically appointed by local elected officials, but legislators who created the CCID Court said it was part of a package to fight crime.The Justice Department says the new court would continue Mississippi’s long history of trying to suppress Black people’s right to participate in government.“Just like many past efforts to undermine Black political power, (the law) singles out the majority-Black City of Jackson for los...

Hong Kong leader praises election turnout as voter numbers hit record low

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong leader John Lee on Tuesday praised the 27.5% voter turnout in the city’s weekend election, a record low since the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997.Sunday’s district council election was the first held under new rules introduced under Beijing’s direction that effectively shut out all pro-democracy candidates.“The turnout of 1.2 million voters has indicated that they supported the election, they supported the principles,” Lee said at a news conference.“It is important that we focus our attention on the outcome of the election, and the outcome will mean a constructive district council, rather than what used to be a destructive one,” he said.Sunday’s turnout was significantly less than the record 71.2% of Hong Kong’s 4.3 million registered voters who participated in the last election, held at the height of anti-government protests in 2019, which the pro-democracy camp won by a landslide.Lee said there was resistance to Sunday&...

Florida school board may seek ouster of Moms for Liberty co-founder over Republican sex scandal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — A co-founder of the conservative Moms for Liberty group could move a step closer to getting ousted from a Florida school board on Tuesday, as she is embroiled in the fallout of a sexual assault investigation into her husband, the Republican Party state chairman.The Sarasota County School Board cannot directly remove Bridget Ziegler from the panel but was set to vote on a resolution requesting that she step down. The resolution was authored by board Chair Karen Rose, who said in an email that she is “shocked and deeply saddened” by the rape allegations involving Ziegler’s husband, Christian Ziegler, and the couple’s admissions about having a three-way sexual encounter previously with the accuser.“I personally care about Bridget and her family and deeply regret the necessity for this course of action, but given the intense media scrutiny locally and nationally, her continued presence on the Board would cause irreparably harmful distractions to our cri...

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear sworn in for 2nd term in Republican-leaning Kentucky

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear renewed his oath of office early Tuesday during a ceremony at Kentucky’s Capitol, launching his second term after notching a convincing reelection victory that could offer a roadmap for his party’s broader efforts to make inroads in Republican strongholds.Beshear, 46, was sworn in just after midnight before a gathering of family, friends and supporters — a Bluegrass State ritual every four years to ensure continuity at the head of state government.The middle-of-the night formality preceded a full day of inaugural events Tuesday, including a worship service, a parade and a public swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol steps. Beshear will lay out themes for the second half of his governorship during his inaugural speech in the afternoon.The governor defeated Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron in last month’s election, extending Beshear’s winning streak in a state that otherwise has swung decidedly toward t...

Journalists tackle a political what-if: What might a second Trump presidency look like?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Even before anyone has cast a vote in a 2024 presidential primary, the attention of many political journalists has shifted to Jan. 20, 2025.There has been a flurry of recent stories about the implications of a potential second presidency for Donald Trump, and his team’s planning for Inauguration Day and beyond. Polls show his continued dominance over Republican rivals and the likelihood of a close general election.The New York Times reporting team of Charlie Savage, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman has been mining that topic since the summer, and last week wrote in depth about the former president’s authoritarian impulses, and the possibility of fewer checks on his power. On Sunday, they examined whether Trump would leave NATO.A special issue of The Atlantic magazine released last week collected essays by 24 writers on how a Trump presidency would affect things like foreign policy, immigration, journalism and climate change. Editor Jeffrey Goldberg wrote...

Whitmer’s fight for abortion rights helped turn Michigan blue. She’s eyeing national impact now

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Ten years ago, as Michigan’s Republican-led Legislature was on the verge of passing one of the nation’s most restrictive anti-abortion laws at the time, a 42-year-old state senator from East Lansing took to the Senate floor to speak out against what she knew was about to happen.Minutes into her speech, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer tossed aside her prepared remarks and revealed for the first time publicly that she had been raped while attending college. Had she become pregnant, Whitmer said, she would not have been able to afford an abortion under the proposed law.The bill, which Whitmer had derisively called “rape insurance” because it required women to declare when buying health insurance whether they expected to receive an abortion, passed anyway. But Whitmer, now in her second term as Michigan’s governor after winning reelection by nearly 11 percentage points in 2022, this week removed the requirement from state law with the stroke of a pen after Michigan...