AP-National

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average rate on a 30-year mortgage dipped to just below 7% this week, little relief for prospective homebuyers already facing the challenges of rising housing prices and a relatively limited inventory of homes on the market. The rate fell to 6.99% from 7.03% last

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota judge has denied a preliminary injunction as three families challenge the state’s law banning gender-affirming care for kids. He also clarified Wednesday that a grandfather clause does allow children to continue their treatment if they were receiving such medical care before the law

By RUTH ALONGA Associated Press GOMA, Congo (AP) — The U.N. says a fire at a displacement camp in eastern Congo has destroyed around 50 makeshift tents, leaving dozens of families without shelter. On Wednesday afternoon, the tents were reduced to ashes at the Mugunga displaced people camp near the provincial capital Goma. The United

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry has been given permission to appeal the British government’s rejection to provide him with police protection in the U.K. The Court of Appeal gave the Duke of Sussex the go-ahead to challenge a ruling earlier this year in the High Court. A judge in February

GLEN ROSE, Texas (AP) — A Texas family got a brief scare when a nibble from a giraffe turned a 2-year-old’s safari visit into an airborne adventure. Paisley Toten was in the bed of a pickup truck on June 1 when her family drove through the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, where visitors can see exotic

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s governor says electric vehicles have ignited enough momentum from job growth and investments to steer past any roadblocks from former President Donald Trump and other critics. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press that EV-related jobs are springing up

By MATTHEW LEE AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is imposing sanctions on dozens of Georgian officials and law enforcement authorities. The move Thursday comes in response to the enactment of a law that drew weeks weeks of protests by critics who say it’ll curb media freedom and jeopardize the country’s chances

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Two more people have been charged in the sports betting scandal that prompted the NBA to ban former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter for life. Timothy McCormack and Mahmud Mollah join two other men as defendants in a federal wire fraud case about wagers allegedly based

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer U.S. antitrust enforcers have decided to investigate the roles Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI have played in the artificial intelligence boom, according to people familiar with the pending actions. The Department of Justice will launch an investigation of chipmaker Nvidia, while the Federal Trade Commission will scrutinize close business partners

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A judge has expunged the misdemeanor convictions of a St. Louis couple who waved guns at racial injustice protesters outside their mansion in 2020. Now they want their guns back. Attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey filed a request in January to have the convictions wiped away. Judge Joseph P. Whyte wrote

By CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The horse transformed human history – and now scientists have a clearer idea of when humans began to transform the horse. Around 4,200 years ago, one particular lineage of horse quickly became dominant across Eurasia, suggesting that’s when humans started to spread domesticated horses around the

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Pres VER-SUR-MER, France (AP) — It’s been 80 years since Christian Lamb helped rescue France from Nazi tyranny. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron kissed her on both cheeks and pinned the nation’s highest honor to her lapel. Lamb spent the months before D-Day alone in a tiny room in central

By CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press A Navy veteran of World War II is being mourned after his death en route to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Friends say Robert “Al” Persichitti of Fairport, New York, fell ill on a stop in Germany last week and died in a hospital. He was 102.

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Two British judges have resigned from Hong Kong’s top court, deepening worries over the city’s rule of law under a Beijing-imposed national security law. The judiciary said in a Thursday statement that Jonathan Sumption and Lawrence Collins, who both serve as non-permanent overseas judges of Hong

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California Supreme Court ruling will allow the University of California to build new student housing at Berkeley’s historic People’s Park. The court on Thursday has ruled that a new law enacted last year invalidates the claims by two local organizations that sued the school,

By JUAN ZAMORANO Associated Press ISBERYALA, Panama (AP) — Hammocks have begun appearing this week in the doorways of 300 new houses built in what was previously a yucca field along Panama’s Caribbean coast. The houses were built for families from the country’s first low-lying island evacuated due to rising sea levels. Families from Gardi

PHIPPSBURG, Maine (AP) — A Maine woman learned the hard way that quicksand doesn’t just happen in jungles or rainforests in Hollywood movies. Jamie Acord was walking at the water’s edge at Popham Beach State Park over the weekend when she sunk to her hips in a split second. It turns out that quicksand, known

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Every June since the 1970s, across the United States, musicians, fans and industry professionals celebrate Black Music Month. It’s an opportunity to highlight the contributions of Black artists at the center of American culture. Most often, Black Music Month’s origins are traced to 1979 when

By MARK BANCHEREAU and JESSICA DONATI Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister is visiting Africa’s sub-Saharan region of the Sahel this week as Moscow seeks to grow its influence in the restive, mineral-rich region. Russia has emerged as the security partner of choice for a growing number of African governments in the

By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press MILWAUKEE (AP) — The head of the U.S. Secret Service says security plans for the Republican National Convention are still being determined as protesters blasted restrictions they claimed will violate free speech with just weeks until the event. Roughly 30,000 visitors are expected in Milwaukee next month when former President

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man is accused of killing three people an injuring a fourth by attacking them with a metal pipe at a rural home. Sheriff Brian Gardner says in a news release that among the potential motives being investigated is “the possibility of the crime being made into a movie.”

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Jonathan Dekel-Chen dreams of the moment when his abducted 35-year-old son, Sagui, is reunited with his wife and three young children, including a daughter born two months after the devastating attack on Israel that initiated the war. Ruby Chen longs to recover the remains of his 19-year-old

By SCOTT BAUER and TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The charges brought this week against a warden and eight staffers related to the deaths of two inmates at Wisconsin’s oldest prison are leading to renewed calls to close it and another lockup. The prison at Waupun was built in the 1850s and

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Broadway has had great success with “Hello, Dolly.” Now get ready for “Hello, I’m Dolly.” Dolly Parton is writing new songs to go along with some of her past hits and co-writing a stage story inspired by her life for a stage musical that she

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union has prepared a blueprint for using lawsuits, advice to state and local officials and lobbying in Congress to try and thwart the large-scale raids, huge detention camps and mass deportations that former President Donald Trump has promised should he win a second

By BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI Associated Press Retired NASCAR driver Tighe Scott, his adult son and two other Pennsylvania men are facing felony charges stemming from confrontations with police during the Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol. Scott and three Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, residents were arrested Wednesday by the FBI. Court records did not list attorneys

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 1.2 million rechargeable lights are under recall in the U.S. and Canada following a report of one consumer death. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Good Earth Lighting’s now-recalled integrated light bars have batteries that can overheat and cause the unit to catch on fire. That can

By KRYSTA FAURIA Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — It can sometimes be difficult for child actors to shed public conceptions of them as a kid on screen, hindering these stars from being taken seriously in Hollywood as adults. But at 30, Dakota Fanning is feeling better than ever about her creative voice and agency

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press Prosecutors this week dropped an involuntary manslaughter case against a 911 dispatcher in Pennsylvania who had been accused of failing to send an ambulance to the rural home of a woman who was found dead a day later of internal bleeding. Greene County District Attorney Brianna Vanata said she acted