In the past week, many Americans remained laser focused on the economy, inflation and how those forces could impact their lives. But it is almost impossible not to notice that trips to the grocery store or gas station are more painful than they were last year.

BEIRUT (AP) – The United States is warning shipping companies they could face sanctions for paying Iran to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz.

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

WASHINGTON (AP) – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent winces at the allure of easy money – whether it’s lottery tickets, buy now, pay later loans or the promise of a crypto windfall – warning that the get-rich-quick mindset often leads Americans farther from financial stability, not closer to it.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Building trades unions – long fashioned as the voice of the American worker – are now intertwined with the richest companies in the world as they create America’s artificial intelligence economy.

BEIRUT (AP) – Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least seven people and wounded others on Saturday while the Israeli military demolished parts of a Catholic convent in a border village, officials said.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said he arrived in the African nation of Eswatini on Saturday, days after his government was forced to push back the trip when several countries withdrew permission for him to fly over their territories reportedly over Chinese pressure.

MEXICO CITY (AP) – Two members of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s party in the northwestern Sinaloa state said they would temporarily step down from their posts after the United States charged them and eight other politicians and security officers with drug trafficking in a bombshell indictment that has shaken Mexico’s political establishment.