USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has only a limited role to play in combating climate change, Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday, a stance that puts him at odds with environmental activists who have pushed central banks worldwide to take steps to restrict lending to energy companies.

Maintaining the Fed’s independence, Powell said, includes steering clear of issues that are more properly overseen by elected officials.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is moving forward with a proposal that would lower student debt payments for millions of Americans now and in the future, offering a new route to repay federal loans under far more generous terms.

President Joe Biden announced the repayment plan in August, but it was overshadowed by his sweeping plan to slash or eliminate student debt for 40 million Americans. Despite the low profile of the payment plan, however, some education experts see it as a more powerful tool to make college affordable, especially for those with lower incomes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The global economy will come “perilously close” to a recession this year, led by weaker growth in all the world’s top economies — the United States, Europe and China — the World Bank warned Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is reviewing a batch of potentially classified documents found in the Washington office space of President Joe Biden’s former institute, the White House said Monday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California saw no relief from drenching rains early Tuesday as the latest in a relentless string of storms continued to swamp roads and batter coastlines with high surf, turning rivers into gushing flood zones and forcing the evacuation of thousands in towns with histories of deadly mudslides. At least 14 people have died since the storms began last week.

09 Jan 2023; MEMO: American National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, and Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, are planning to visit Israel by the end of January, Israeli media and news agencies have reported.

The London-based Arabic newspaper, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, said that US officials will meet with senior Israeli officials including Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and head of the Israeli National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi.

Jan 9 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq rose more than 2% on Monday with Big Tech and growth stocks spearheading gains as recent signs of a cooling labor market supported bets of a slower pace of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Megacap growth stocks Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) gained over 2% each as U.S. Treasury yields declined.

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) rose 3.4% after Jefferies said it saw cost pressures easing for the e-commerce giant in the second half of the year.

DENVER (AP) — Earth’s protective ozone layer is slowly but noticeably healing at a pace that would fully mend the hole over Antarctica in about 43 years, a new United Nations report says.

A once-every-four-years scientific assessment found recovery in progress, more than 35 years after every nation in the world agreed to stop producing chemicals that chomp on the layer of ozone in Earth’s atmosphere that shields the planet from harmful radiation linked to skin cancer, cataracts and crop damage.

Houston, Jan 9 (PTI) A 39-year-old Indian-origin man has been charged with capital murder for allegedly stabbing to death his 9-year-old son in the US state of Texas, police said.

Subramanian Ponnazhakan was charged on Sunday for stabbing his son on January 6, and his warrant was set for USD one million, the Mckinney police said in a tweet.

He is hospitalised for what the police said are self-inflicted wounds.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is done being underestimated.

Having vanquished both a Donald Trump-backed Republican challenger and Democratic star Stacey Abrams to win reelection, Kemp is looking to expand his influence in his second term, free from the caricature of the gun-toting, pickup-driving, migrant-catching country boy that emerged during his first campaign for governor.