WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican senators are considering dropping a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump’s ballroom after it has failed to win enough party support on Capitol Hill.
NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. stocks ticked higher following the latest reversal for oil prices. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% Thursday. The Dow Jones added 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.1%. All three indexes erased early drops and gained strength after the price of a barrel of Brent dropped from $109 in the morning to settle below $103.
NEW YORK (AP) – Promising a commitment to “ambitious journalism and agenda-setting conversations,” media scion James Murdoch has struck a deal with the Vox Media digital company to acquire New York magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network and the Vox editorial brand.
BEIJING (AP) – On the surface, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s back-to-back summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin looked pretty similar, with formal handshakes in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, enthusiastic greetings from flower-waving children, and marching columns of soldiers branching gleaming bayonets.
Today is Wednesday, May 20, the 140th day of 2026. There are 225 days left in the year. Today in history: On May 20, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which was intended to encourage settlement west of the Mississippi River by making federal land available for private ownership and farming.
The Trump administration’s indictment of former Cuban President Raúl Castro in the 1996 downing of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles is escalating pressure on the island’s socialist government. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are expected to abandon a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and Trump’s ballroom on Thursday.
SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed two decrees on Wednesday that add to the pressure on big tech companies by increasing their liability for illegal content shared by its users and paving the way for investigations by a government body into their responses to such cases.
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NEW YORK (AP) – A House committee on Wednesday expressed bipartisan support for ensuring Transportation Security Administration officers get paid during future government shutdowns and are equipped with the latest technology, discussing the agency’s future as the Trump administration lobbies to make airport screening a job for private contractors.