AP National News

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate fell this week to its lowest level since September, a potential boost to the housing market which has been in decline for nearly a year. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the benchmark 30-year rate fell

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Christopher Wray says he is “deeply concerned” about the Chinese government’s artificial intelligence program, asserting that it was “not constrained by the rule of law.” Speaking Thursday during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wray said Beijing’s AI ambitions were

By BEN FINLEY Associated Press NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The family of a 6-year-old boy who shot and wounded his teacher in Virginia says the gun he used had been secured. The family’s statement was released Thursday by an attorney and did not elaborate further on where the 9mm handgun was kept. The family also

By MORGAN LEE Associated Press SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Actor Alec Baldwin and a weapons specialist will be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico movie set, prosecutors announced Thursday, citing a “criminal disregard for safety.” Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies issued a statement announcing

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The countdown toward a possible U.S. government default began Thursday with Treasury implementing accounting measures as a stopgap, while frictions between President Joe Biden and House Republicans raise alarms about whether the U.S. can sidestep a potential economic crisis. The Treasury Department said in a letter to

By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — A lawsuit filed on behalf of several Missouri faith leaders on the 50th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision asks a court to throw out the state’s abortion law, alleging that lawmakers openly invoked their personal religious beliefs in drafting the measure.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Soccer player Anton Walkes, who started his career at Tottenham, died Thursday after an accident in Florida, his MLS club Charlotte FC said. He was 25. Charlotte said in a statement Walkes passed away early Thursday morning, without giving details of the accident. The Miami Herald reported he was involved in

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in morning trading on Wall Street Thursday as worries build that the U.S. may be headed for a painful recession. The S&P 500 fell 0.7% as of 10:16 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 209 points, or 0.6%, to 33,087

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration is directing $930 million toward reducing wildfire dangers in 10 western states by clearing trees and underbrush from national forests. The move is set to be announced Thursday and comes as government officials have struggled to contain destructive infernos being made worse by

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska state troopers arrested a 13-year-old driver from Colorado after a chase that topped 100 mph along an interstate highway earlier this week. A state trooper spotted an SUV driving about 35 mph on Interstate 80 near the city of Kearney on Monday night, but the driver sped up and fled

BRUSSELS (AP) — Lawyers for a former European Parliament Vice President at the heart of the corruption scandal rocking the EU assembly are worried by her detention conditions. They asked for her release during a hearing at a Brussels courthouse Thursday. Eva Kaili, a Greek European lawmaker, was removed from her VP post after she

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The countdown toward a possible U.S. government default is in the offing, and frictions between President Joe Biden and House Republicans are raising alarms about whether the United States can sidestep a potential economic crisis. The Treasury Department on Thursday said in a letter to congressional leaders

By SYLVIE CORBET and JADE LE DELEY Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of thousands protested on the streets of Paris and other French cities Thursday amid nationwide strikes against plans to raise the retirement age, but President Emmanuel Macron insisted he would press ahead with the proposed pension reforms. Nationwide strikes severely disrupted transport,

By JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez have signed a friendship treaty in Barcelona to strengthen relations between the European neighbors. Both governments consider this a diplomatic bond of the highest order. Thursday’s one-day summit comes on a day of widespread strikes and

By FREIDA FRISARO Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Greg Steube sustained “several serious injuries” when he fell off a ladder while cutting trees on his property on Florida’s Gulf Coast, his office said Thursday. Steube spent the night in the intensive care unit where doctors are still assessing several serious injuries

By YURI KAGEYAMA and MATT OTT AP Business Writers Wall Street drifted lower in premarket trading Thursday, extending the largest single-day retreat of the year Wednesday after new economic data heightened worries about the possibility of a recession. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 slid 0.8% before the opening bell.

By THOMAS ADAMSON AP Fashion Writer PARIS (AP) — Dance, theater and geometry have merged in the installment of Paris menswear week. All eyes looked toward Louis Vuitton’s fall winter spectacle to be held later Thursday. A writhing dancing troupe at Issey Miyake performed on the runway against a backdrop of optically striped lighting which

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer The films from 2022 that topped the AP’s inaugural Top 25 Movies poll yield a host of other numbers, facts, figures and trivia on close examination. “Top Gun: Maverick” was the biggest hit of the bunch at year’s end with a global total of $1.5 billion. “Avatar: The Way

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s state RTS television says emergency teams are searching for two people after they were swept away by a swollen river in a southwestern town. Heavy rainfall this week across the Balkans has caused rivers to rise dangerously in Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro, flooding some areas and threatening flood defenses elsewhere.

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME and GERALD IMRAY Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Russia and China will conduct naval drills off the coast of South Africa next month in another indication of their strengthening relationships with Africa’s most developed country amid the war in Ukraine and global financial uncertainty. The South African armed forces say they, Russia