The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level in more than 20 years, grim news for would-be homebuyers already challenged by a housing market that remains competitive due to a dearth of homes for sale.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea is increasing its repression of human rights and people are becoming more desperate and reportedly starving in parts of the country as the economic situation worsens, the U.N. rights chief said Thursday.Volker Türk told the first open meeting of the U.N. Security Council since 2017 on North Korean human
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for patience in a speech released as the ruling Communist Party tries to reverse a deepening economic slump and said Western countries are “increasingly in trouble” because of their materialism and “spiritual poverty.”Xi’s speech was published by Qiushi, the party’s top theoretical journal, hours after data
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Jailed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was put in intensive care Thursday, nearly three weeks into a hunger strike to protest criminal charges brought against him by Senegal’s government, his party said.Sonko was put in detention July 31 in advance of a trial in which he faces charges of calling for insurrection
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A Brazilian hacker claimed at a congressional hearing Thursday that then-President Jair Bolsonaro wanted him to hack into the country’s electronic voting system to expose its alleged weaknesses ahead of the 2022 presidential election.Walter Delgatti Neto did not provide any evidence for his claim to the parliamentary commission of inquiry.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — A prosecutor in the Dominican Republic says the investigation into Tampa Bay Rays All-Star shortstop Wander Franco’s alleged relationship with a minor is being handled by a division specializing in minors and gender violence in the province of Peravia.Ángel Darío Tejeda Fabal, a prosecutor in Peravia, told The Associated
Maximizing player rest and limiting travel demands were again part of the NBA’s formula for the upcoming regular season, the league indicated Thursday when announcing the schedule for 2023-24.Teams have an average of 14 instances of back-to-back games this season, up slightly from last year’s rate of 13.3 per team. But back-to-backs involving travel are
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. government said Thursday it is formally requesting a dispute settlement panel in its ongoing row with Mexico over its limits on genetically modified corn.Mexico’s Economy Department said it had received the notification and would defend its position. It claimed in a statement that “the measures under debate had no
MADRID (AP) — Spain’s newly elected Parliament voted Thursday by a majority to elect a Socialist candidate as chamber speaker, breathing some life into acting Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez´s aspirations of forming another leftist government. The crucial vote was won by Francina Armengol with 178 votes in the 350-lower house of parliament, against 139
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden aims to further tighten security and economic ties between Japan and South Korea, two nations that have struggled to stay on speaking terms, as he welcomes their leaders to the rustic Camp David presidential retreat Friday.Historically frosty relations between South Korea and Japan have rapidly thawed over the last
