Town Hall News

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. ticked up this week to slightly above 7%, the highest level in eight months. The rate rose to 7.04% from 6.93% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, it averaged 6.6%. It has risen for five straight weeks. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower […]

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. ticked up this week to slightly above 7%, the highest level in eight months. The rate rose to 7.04% from 6.93% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, it averaged 6.6%. It has risen for five straight weeks. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Sales for the 2024 holiday shopping season turned out to be robust and better than expected, as easing inflation on merchandise drove shoppers to buy, according to the nation’s largest retail trade group. Holiday sales in November and December rose 4% to $994.1 billion compared with the previous year, according to the National Retail Federation, the largest retail trade group in the U.S. For the holiday […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Sales for the 2024 holiday shopping season turned out to be robust and better than expected, as easing inflation on merchandise drove shoppers to buy, according to the nation’s largest retail trade group. Holiday sales in November and December rose 4% to $994.1 billion compared with the previous year, according to the National Retail Federation, the largest retail trade group in the U.S. For the holiday […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Israel-Hamas war, now nearing a potential ceasefire, has devastated the Gaza Strip. Satellite photos offer some sense of the destruction in the territory, which has been largely sealed off to journalists and others. Some of the images have illustrated a likely buffer zone, wanted by Israel despite international objections, which would take some 60 square kilometers (23 square miles) out of the enclave. […]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Israel-Hamas war, now nearing a potential ceasefire, has devastated the Gaza Strip. Satellite photos offer some sense of the destruction in the territory, which has been largely sealed off to journalists and others. Some of the images have illustrated a likely buffer zone, wanted by Israel despite international objections, which would take some 60 square kilometers (23 square miles) out of the enclave. […]

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — The leaders of two previously rival Kurdish groups met in northern Iraq on Thursday in an apparent step toward reconciliation at a time when the political upheaval in Syria has left Kurds in the region facing an uncertain future. Hoshyar Zebari, a senior Kurdistan Democratic Party official, described the meeting between KDP leader Masoud Barzani and Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, […]

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — The leaders of two previously rival Kurdish groups met in northern Iraq on Thursday in an apparent step toward reconciliation at a time when the political upheaval in Syria has left Kurds in the region facing an uncertain future. Hoshyar Zebari, a senior Kurdistan Democratic Party official, described the meeting between KDP leader Masoud Barzani and Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, […]

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday denied a request by former President Jair Bolsonaro to temporarily restore his passport so that he could attend the inauguration in Washington of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump next week. Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who Bolsonaro frequently has called his personal foe, said in the ruling that Bolsonaro currently holds no position that would allow him to represent Brazil at the event […]