Kevin Warsh is one step closer to top job at the Fed

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate Banking Committee voted on party lines Wednesday to approve Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve to replace Jerome Powell, a longtime target of President Donald Trump’s insults for not cutting borrowing costs as far as the president wanted.

Thailand ex-PM Thaksin is set for prison release next month

BANGKOK (AP) – Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is set to be released from a Bangkok prison next month after a Justice Ministry panel decision to grant him parole, the Corrections Department announced on Wednesday.

Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – A trial opened in a military court on Wednesday for four Indonesian service members accused of carrying out an acid attack on a prominent human rights activist, in a case that has reignited concerns about military impunity.

Editorials from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and others

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

Trump pays $2 billion in taxpayer money to end offshore wind projects

The Trump administration is spending nearly $2 billion to get energy companies to walk away from U.S. offshore wind projects. Democrats in Congress are investigating. The Republican administration adopted this strategy after federal courts thwarted President Donald Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind development through executive action.

Inquiry into antisemitic attack recommends gun reform

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – A government inquiry into a rise in antisemitism across Australia before a mass shooting killed 15 people at a Hannukah celebration late last year recommended on Thursday that authorities prioritize gun reform.

The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates on hold

LONDON (AP) – The Bank of England is expected to announce Thursday that it is keeping interest rates on hold as policymakers assess the economic impact of the Iran war and Tehran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude passes in peacetime.

Myanmar's military now looks set to resume offensive in bloody civil war

BANGKOK (AP) – A little more than a year ago, the government’s military was on the back foot in Myanmar ‘s bloody civil war, pushed out of great swaths of the country’s north by an alliance of seasoned militias, and forced into defensive action around the rest of the country by other established groups and new pro-democracy guerrillas.

New Zealand court rejects appeal by mosque gunman to abandon his guilty pleas

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – The white supremacist who shot and killed 51 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, lost an attempt to undo his guilty pleas in a Court of Appeal ruling Thursday.