AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of U.S. homes to foreign nationals have fallen to the lowest level in more than a decade, hampered by a strong dollar and many of the hurdles that have kept the housing market in a deep sales slump for over two years. Some 54,300 previously occupied U.S.
Continue ReadingDocumented, Associated Press NEW YORK CITY (AP) — Brad Song thought he was about to get his e-bike stolen a second time in a less than a month after delivering an order for Chinese food app Fantuan Delivery. Seven strangers surrounded the Chinese immigrant and knocked him off the scooter. He was rescued when a
Continue ReadingAssociated Press LONDON (AP) — An inquiry into the U.K. government’s response to COVID-19 found it was ill-prepared for a pandemic and serious errors in planning failed its citizens. Retired judge Heather Hallett has led the inquiry. She said Thursday that the government mistakenly believed in 2019 that it was one of the best-prepared countries
Continue ReadingBy Christian Edwards, CNN (CNN) — Ursula von der Leyen has been reelected to a second five-year term as president of the European Commission after a vote by EU lawmakers, as the continent’s mainstream seeks to reassert itself in the face of a resurgent far right. In an earlier pitch to the European parliament in
Continue ReadingANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish media reports say Greek pop star Despina Vandi has refused to perform on a stage in Turkey adorned with its flag and portrait of the country’s founding father, prompting the local mayor to ask her to leave her town. The 54-year-old singer was due to perform at a charity concert
Continue ReadingAssociated Press DAMASCUS (AP) — Results of Syria’s parliamentary elections show that President Bashar Assad’s Baath Party has won a majority of seats, as expected. The elections for 250 parliamentary seats were held Monday in government-held areas of the country. All 185 candidates from the Baath Party and its allies won seats, an increase from
Continue ReadingBy Scottie Andrew, CNN (CNN) — Bad news, heat haters: The dog days of summer are not, as Florence Welch once sang, over or done. The dog days of summer, the period during which the star Sirius rises alongside the sun, run from July 3 to August 11. Ancient people believed that Sirius influenced the weather,
Continue ReadingBANGKOK (AP) — Should visitors to Thailand be concerned about their safety after six people were found dead in a locked hotel room in Bangkok? Thai authorities were quick to stress they believed the incident involved a personal dispute and did not reflect any threat to foreign visitors. Thai police believe the six — four
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain is sweating under its first official heatwave of the year with temperatures expected to reach 40 degrees C (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in a large swathe of the country. The worst-off area will be the southern Guadalquivir river basin where thermometers could reach 44C (111F). Six regions are under
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A filmmaking legend and one of the world’s most enduring musical acts headline this year’s crop of Kennedy Center Honors recipients. Director Francis Ford Coppola and the Grateful Dead will be honored for lifetime achievement in the arts. Coppola says he’s delighted to be honored with fellow northern California recipient
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A Chinese-led consortium has pulled out of its contract with Cyprus to build the island nation’s first natural gas import terminal over what it says was the Cypriot government’s failure to pay what it owed for work completed this year. The CPP-Metron Consortium said in a statement Thursday that
Continue ReadingMADRID (AP) — Three people have been arrested in Spain and one in Germany on suspicion of belonging to a network that obtained key parts to build kamikaze drones for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Authorities believe Hezbollah may have used the components to build several hundred drones that have been identified in attacks against
Continue ReadingAssociated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — This week’s attack on a Shiite mosque in the capital stunned Oman, a quiet nation long spared militant violence. It underscores how the Islamic State group has turned to a strategy of surprise, dramatic strikes outside its usual battlegrounds — a way to show its resilience and
Continue ReadingLUCKNOW, India (AP) — A passenger train derailed on Thursday in northern India, killing at least two passengers and injuring 20 others, a railroad official said. The cause of the accident is being investigated. Naveen Kumar, a state relief commissioner, said dozens of rescuers, a 40-member team of doctors and paramedics, and 15 ambulances have
Continue ReadingPNOMH PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Officials in Cambodia say conservationists have found 106 eggs of rare Siamese crocodile species in a western Cambodian wildlife sanctuary. They say it was the biggest discovery in the last 20 years, giving new hope for the world’s rarest crocodile species’ survival in the wild. The group discovered the species
Continue ReadingAssociated Press MILWAUKEE (AP) — Donald Trump, somber and bandaged, accepted the GOP presidential nomination on Thursday at the Republican National Convention in a speech that described in detail the assassination attempt that could have ended his life just five days earlier before laying out a sweeping populist agenda, particularly on immigration. The 78-year-old former
Continue ReadingBy Alexandra Banner, CNN (CNN) — Eyewitnesses in the New York metropolitan area spotted a rare daytime meteor streaking across the sky this week. NASA says this summer will be a sky-gazer’s delight with plenty of opportunities to catch more glimpses of fireballs. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and
Continue ReadingAssociated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has opened a new parliamentary term. It comes nearly two months after an historic election result reshaped the country’s politics and led to the formation of an unprecedented multiparty government coalition. Ramaphosa’s speech to lawmakers in Cape Town on Thursday marked the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s top court has ruled that same-sex couples are eligible to receive the same health insurance benefits as heterosexual couples, a landmark verdict hailed by human rights groups. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state health insurance agency’s refusal to provide spousal insurance coverage for gay
Continue ReadingAssociated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, a move that could threaten the delicate Gaza cease-fire talks. The visit was the latest act of defiance by an ultranationalist settler leader who has transformed himself over the decades from an outlaw and
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