By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate dropped below 7% to its lowest level since early August, another boost for prospective homebuyers who have largely been held back by sharply higher borrowing costs and heightened competition for relatively few homes for sale. The average rate on
Continue ReadingBy ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying. Retail sales rose 0.3%, in November from October, when sales were down a revised 0.2%. That’s according to the Commerce
Continue ReadingANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A top official says a Turkish opposition lawmaker has died days after he suffered a heart attack and collapsed just after delivering a speech critical of Israel and of the ruling party’s relationship with the country. Turkey’s health minister said 53-year-old Hasan Bitmez died in a hospital on Thursday. The member
Continue ReadingCNN By John King, CNN Kellerton, Iowa (CNN) — Shanen Ebersole calls the rolling hills of southwest Iowa her happy place, where time with the grazing cows is her way to relax and reset. “I’ll just sit here with my cows and take a breath, and everything goes back to the way it should be.”
Continue ReadingBy MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. agents recently seized more than 1.4 million illegal e-cigarettes from the Chinese manufacturer behind Elf Bar, a line of fruity disposable vapes that has become the top brand among American teens, officials said Thursday. Officials pegged the value of the e-cigarettes seized at Los Angeles
Continue ReadingNEW YORK (AP) — General Motors’ troubled Cruise autonomous vehicle unit is cutting over 900 jobs, about a quarter of its workforce, as it moves to reduce costs and remake itself after a series of safety problems in San Francisco. The subsidiary announced the cuts Thursday in a letter to Cruise’s 3,800 workers from President
Continue ReadingBy John King, CNN Kellerton, Iowa (CNN) — Shanen Ebersole calls the rolling hills of southwest Iowa her happy place, where time with the grazing cows is her way to relax and reset. “I’ll just sit here with my cows and take a breath, and everything goes back to the way it should be.” Cattle
Continue ReadingNEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A loose bull on the tracks at a New Jersey train station has snarled rail traffic. New Jersey Transit released a photo of the horned bovine apparently standing on the tracks at Newark Penn Station. It’s unclear how the creature got there or if it’s yet been captured. Newark police said
Continue ReadingBy PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The painful economic steps that Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, announced this week sound draconian: Slashing the currency’s value in half. Reducing aid to provincial governments. Suspending public works. Cutting subsidies for gas and electricity. Raising some taxes. Yet the South American country’s economy is such
Continue ReadingBy DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Two leading international human rights groups are accusing Greek authorities of failing to properly investigate the circumstances around a migrant boat sinking six months ago that killed hundreds. In a joint report, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said Thursday that “little meaningful progress” has been
Continue ReadingMILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo exchanged heated words with members of the Indiana staff and raced toward the Pacers’ locker room Wednesday night as the teams squared off in a hallway in a dispute over the game ball following the Milwaukee star’s franchise-record 64-point performance. After the Bucks’ 140-126 victory, Antetokounmpo had an animated discussion
Continue ReadingBy MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government’s controversial effort to look for people falsely listed as missing has turned up 16,681 who had returned to their homes but not notified the authorities. The massive effort was widely viewed as a government attempt to pare down the country’s horrifying total of
Continue ReadingBy Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell, CNN New York (CNN) — A New York appellate court rejected Donald Trump’s challenge of the gag order in his civil fraud trial Thursday. Trump’s attorneys petitioned the court over the gag order that bars him and the attorneys from speaking publicly about Judge Arthur Engoron’s court staff. In rejecting the challenge
Continue ReadingBy ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case in Washington once appeared likely to be the first of the former president’s criminal trials to begin, with the judge having scheduled a March 4 start date. But appeals of issues central to the case are threatening
Continue ReadingBy ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — M-I-C-K-E-Y will soon belong to you and me. With several asterisks, qualification and caveats, Mickey Mouse in his earliest form will be the leader of the band of characters, films and books that will become public domain as the year turns to 2024. In a
Continue ReadingBy ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — M-I-C-K-E-Y will soon belong to you and me. With several asterisks, qualification and caveats, Mickey Mouse in his earliest form will be the leader of the band of characters, films and books that will become public domain as the year turns to 2024. In a
Continue ReadingST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man acquitted of killing three people in a 2022 shooting could be heading to prison anyway after being found guilty of kidnapping and shooting a man in St. Paul. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that jurors on Tuesday convicted Antonio Wright after about four hours of deliberation.
Continue ReadingBy JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Police say three people have been arrested in coordinated actions across Denmark and one person was arrested in the Netherlands. Danish police said on Thursday that the suspects plotting to carry out “a act of terror.” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the situation was
Continue ReadingBy MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The first indication that you’re not seeing a run-of-the-mill production of Alice in Wonderland is when the White Rabbit appears suspended 30 feet over the stage and does a somersault through a hoop. So begins one of the most innovative and thrilling retellings of Lewis
Continue ReadingLONDON (AP) — A judge says a former British soldier will stand trial in the killing of two civil rights protesters half a century ago on Bloody Sunday, one of the deadliest days of the decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland. The former paratrooper is charged with murder in the killings of James Wray and William
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