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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Elevated mortgage rates and rising home prices are freezing out many would-be buyers, keeping the U.S. housing market in a sales slump dating back to 2022.While home sales are off to a soft start this year, it hasn’t been all bad news for home shoppers.The average rate on a 30-year mortgage, while still near 7%, has been easing in recent weeks. And the inventory of homes for sale is up sharply from a year ago, which makes for a more buyer-friendly market than in recent years.Still, after years of skyrocketing home prices, these trends may not…

Ambassador to the UK recalled after comparing Trump’s bid to end the war in Ukraine to the appeasement of Nazi Germany.New Zealand has sacked its ambassador to the United Kingdom after the diplomat publicly questioned United States President Donald Trump’s understanding of the events that precipitated World War II. The office of New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Thursday that High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Phil Goff’s position was “untenable” following his remarks during a panel discussion in London. New Zealand’s ministry of foreign affairs said it was in discussions with Goff about his return home and…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The day after her house burned down, Lara Ganz sent a group message to the youth theater troupe she runs: They would not let the Los Angeles firestorm stop their upcoming show.“So many of our castmates have lost everything,” wrote Ganz, the director of youth theater at a beloved playhouse in the Pacific Palisades. “We will continue with rehearsals. I am confident we will find a stage.”The devastating Jan. 7 fire gutted every inch of the 125-seat Pierson Playhouse, from the basement to the roof, leaving behind only a mangled steel skeleton. Many of the young…

NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University senior Maryam Alwan was visiting family in Jordan over winter break when she received an email from the school accusing her of harassment. Her supposed top offense: writing an op-ed in the student newspaper calling for divestment from Israel.The university has launched a flurry of investigations, led by a new disciplinary committee — the Office of Institutional Equity — to identify Columbia students who have expressed criticism of Israel, according to records shared with The Associated Press.In recent weeks, it has sent notices to dozens of students for activities ranging from sharing social media…

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump talks of big change in his second term of office. But he’s not forgetting small change, either. Trump ordered the Treasury Department to stop making pennies with a Feb. 10 sentence on his social media account that followed years of conservatives pointing out that putting a copper-coated zinc disc in your pocket costs the government more than a cent — almost 4 cents today. Will Trump’s order make the penny disappear? There is no sign that the U.S. Mint will stop pressing pennies in Denver and Philadelphia, and Mint officials did not respond to…

United States President Donald Trump has escalated his war of words with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, hinting at rocky negotiations as Canada seeks to deescalate a growing trade war. On Wednesday, Trump turned to his social media platform Truth Social to give his version of a midday phone call he held with Trudeau. “The call ended in a ‘somewhat’ friendly manner,” Trump said, without offering specifics. The Republican leader did, however, accuse Trudeau of doing too little to address fentanyl trafficking, an issue experts say is of minor concern along the Canadian border. Trump also openly questioned Trudeau’s role…

US president warns Hamas that there would be ‘hell to pay’ if Israeli captives in Gaza are not released immediately.Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has issued a threat to Hamas and the people of Gaza as part of a demand to release all Israeli captives in the territory. In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump renewed his warning that there would be “hell to pay” if the captives are not released. “This is your last warning! For the leadership, now is the time to leave Gaza, while you still have a chance,” Trump wrote. “Also, to…

In a policy paper published Wednesday, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, and Center for AI Safety Director Dan Hendrycks said that the U.S. should not pursue a Manhattan Project-style push to develop AI systems with “superhuman” intelligence, also known as AGI. The paper, titled “Superintelligence Strategy,” asserts that an aggressive bid by the U.S. to exclusively control superintelligent AI systems could prompt fierce retaliation from China, potentially in the form of a cyberattack, which could destabilize international relations. “[A] Manhattan Project [for AGI] assumes that rivals will acquiesce to an enduring imbalance or omnicide rather…

The United States’ decision to suspend foreign aid is exacerbating a catastrophic hunger crisis in Sudan, where millions risk dying from malnutrition-related illnesses. Since assuming office in January, US President Donald Trump’s administration has put on leave or fired the vast majority of employees at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and paused almost all of the global projects it funds. Last year, USAID contributed 44 percent to Sudan’s $1.8bn humanitarian response, according to the United Nations. A portion of this sum went to supporting Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), which are neighbourhood relief groups that support hundreds of “community…

The one month exemption is for cars and trucks that comply with USMCA’s content rules.President Donald Trump will exempt automakers from his punishing 25-percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for one month as long as they comply with the terms of an existing free trade agreement, the White House has said. The announcement on Wednesday came after Trump spoke with the chief executive officers of the three big carmakers, Ford, GM and Stellantis. Auto stocks rose on the news, with General Motors up 5.3 percent and Ford up 4.1 percent. Trump’s press secretary said on Wednesday that the president is…