WASHINGTON (AP) – Fewer Americans filed for jobless aid last week as layoffs remain low despite a number of uncertainties that continue to cloud the economy.

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level in nearly nine months, driving up borrowing costs for homebuyers during what’s traditionally the housing market’s busiest time of the year.

Editorials from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times and others

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – Authorities in Taiwan are investigating three people on suspicion of using forged documents to smuggle computer servers containing advanced Nvidia chips to China, prosecutors said Thursday. The high-performance AI servers were made by the San Jose, California-based Super Micro Computer Inc.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A powerful congressional committee is urging major telecommunications companies to do more to protect Americans against scams, part of a widening investigation into the role that U.S. companies play in the surge in cyberscams that cost Americans an estimated $200 billion in 2024.

WASHINGTON (AP) – In the year since President Donald Trump signed an executive order promising to create a deep-sea mining industry from scratch, businesses have raised millions of dollars from investors, stock prices have soared and federal regulators have raced to fast-track a permitting process.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration is set to loosen a federal rule that requires grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment, in what officials say is a push to lower grocery costs.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Federal officials on Thursday gave final approval for the Dakota Access oil pipeline to continue operating its contentious Missouri River crossing, an outcome that comes nearly a decade after boisterous protests against the project on the North Dakota prairie.