NEW YORK (AP) – Infant mortality in the U.S. dropped to a new all-time low in 2025, according to preliminary government data. There were slightly fewer than 5.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2025, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

TOKYO (AP) – The Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate to 1% on Tuesday, citing challenges stemming from a weak Japanese yen and higher prices. The central bank’s increase in the uncollateralized overnight rate, by a quarter of a percentage point from 0.75%, puts it at a three-decade high.

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

WARSAW, Poland (AP) – A 44-year-old Russian artist who has been critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin was shot and killed at close range near his home in the eastern Polish city of Biala Podlaska, prosecutors said Tuesday.

BANGKOK (AP) – The Iran war has exposed major risks for Southeast Asia that could cost the region billions of dollars, if it doesn’t diversify sources of energy more quickly, according to an International Energy Agency report released Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in the Philippines on Tuesday that Europe is worried over tensions in the disputed South China Sea where a major flare-out could endanger freedom of navigation as has happened in the Strait of Hormuz.

LONDON (AP) – The Russian-speaking handler, a shadowy figure known as “El Money,” was not happy. A string of arson attacks targeting a car and two London homes linked to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had attracted little attention, possibly because the then 21-year-old attacker, a Ukrainian recruited online, was not very good at documenting them.

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s administration is further dismantling the Department of Education, moving oversight of special education and civil rights to other agencies.