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Struggling US home buyers, and market, face new hurdles as mortgage rates near 7%
Home shoppers holding out for relief from rising mortgage rates may be in for a long wait. The weekly average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate home loan has been rising for months and reached its highest level in over 14 months last week at 6.76%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. This week’s snapshot, due […]
Movie Review: Ethan Hawke leads a tense, Depression-era thriller in ‘The Weight’
In April 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order banning the hoarding of gold and requiring Americans to deliver excess quantities to a Federal Reserve Bank by that May. The policy isn’t the subject of much discussion in the tense and earthy thriller “The Weight,” but it does set the stage for a […]
Bingo and Tickle Me Elmo nominated for Toy Hall of Fame. Will Care Bears also make it this year?
NEW YORK | Tickle Me Elmo dolls, the game of chance Bingo and the humble playground slide are among the finalists to get into the National Toy Hall of Fame this year, a lineup that also includes cuddly Care Bears, the dice game Yahtzee, the ancient game Mahjong and the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The […]
Scenes from a colonial resurrection: First-person interpretations of history draw America 250 crowds
PHILADELPHIA | Betsy Ross is a dynamo with a T-shirt cannon. America’s 250th birthday has been a banner year for the actors of Historic Philadelphia, Inc. who immerse visitors in Colonial history via first-person interpretations and true stories. In the last few months, Betsy, played by Carol Spacht, has waved the checkered flag at a […]
Iran hesitates to clamp down on defiance of headscarf rules as war and economic pressures mount
Women sit at outdoor cafes without headscarves and wearing crop tops. Men in shorts and women in leggings exercise together in parks. At sidewalk concerts, women stop to dance and literally let their hair down. The scenes from the Iranian capital of Tehran, shared in social media videos, point to how dramatically enforcement of social […]
Buckingham Palace hits back at claims in a book by Princess Diana’s brother
LONDON | Buckingham Palace has forcefully denied a claim by the brother of the late Princess Diana that King Charles III said she would soon be forgotten after her death. In a new book, Charles Spencer recounts the traumatic days after Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997 at the age […]
Movie Review: Zach Cregger and Austin Abrams find just enough humor amid the gore in ‘Resident Evil’
“I only use guns in video games,” says Bryan ( Austin Abrams), our frustrated protagonist, trying to piece together a machine gun while his impatient companion urges him to hurry. “It’s confusing in real life!” It’s the most on-the-nose remark in “Resident Evil,” a movie born of video games that’s trying to just be a […]
DoorDash and Uber Eats to offer delivery from US Costco stores
Costco said Thursday it’s partnering with DoorDash to offer delivery from its U.S. warehouse stores. DoorDash already offers Costco delivery in a few markets, including Australia, Sweden and Puerto Rico. But the nationwide partnership is a first for the San Francisco-based delivery company, which said Costco was among the most-searched retailers not yet on its […]
Climate change made deadly Nepal glacier and rock collapse more likely, according to analysis
BENGALURU, India | Human-caused global warming thinned glaciers and thawed mountain permafrost, likely helping to destabilize the Himalayan slope that collapsed last month and unleashed catastrophic flooding across Nepal, according to a report released Thursday. The report by the World Weather Attribution cautioned that climate change was not the sole cause of the Aug. 26 […]
Tens of thousands flee as Iran-backed rebels draw Yemen into the wider war
CAIRO | As Houthi rebels closed in, Eshraq Abdel Gelil and her husband fled their home, walking through the mountains before catching a ride to a nearby city. Four months pregnant, she feared another miscarriage. They are among more than 125,000 people who have fled as the Iran-backed rebels have advanced down the Red Sea […]