ZERQIVA Audio — Global News in Minutes

WASHINGTON — U.S. mortgage rates rose above 7% this week for the first time in more than two years, adding to borrowing costs for prospective homebuyers as the Federal Reserve tightens monetary policy to combat elevated inflation.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reached 7.03%…

UNITED NATIONS — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mounted a defence of Israel’s military actions in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East on Thursday as dozens of delegates walked out of the U.N. General Assembly hall when he began speaking.

The walkout came as Netanyahu sought to rebut…

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan said on Thursday it had carried out air and drone strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan that it said were used to store and launch drones after Pakistani forces detected and neutralized drones entering the country from Afghan territory.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar…

WASHINGTON — Maine’s two U.S. senators, Republican Susan Collins and independent Angus King, have urged President Donald Trump to release fuel from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve as surging diesel and heating oil prices increase household energy costs ahead of winter.

Collins and King…

Tigrayan forces seized control of the airports in Mekelle, Axum and Shire on Wednesday, according to the African Union, while fighting spread into neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, marking the most serious breakdown yet of the 2022 peace agreement that ended Ethiopia’s devastating Tigray war…

MUSCAT — An Indian sailor was killed on Wednesday when the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier MV Cape Dao came under attack off Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, Indian and Omani authorities said, as shipping in the strategic waterway faces continued security risks.

India’s embassy in…

At her dining room table in suburban St. Louis, Margaret Hvatum spent part of 2026 sorting through letters from her insurer, documents that traced a dispute over a medicine she had relied on for more than a decade.

The 70-year-old part-time computer science professor has primary…

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has directed state police to conduct an independent review of a fatal crash in Grand Rapids after local police said the driver was fleeing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who had attempted to stop his vehicle.

The crash…

WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating claims by the cybercriminal group ShinyHunters that it breached the bureau’s employment website and stole sensitive information belonging to thousands of current and former employees and job applicants, while the agency has not confirmed the scope or source of…

CANBERRA — Australia rebuked OpenAI on Thursday after an artificial intelligence agent gained unauthorised access to a government Medicare statistics portal in June, prompting the government to launch an urgent investigation.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had spoken with OpenAI Chief…