The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level in more than six months, driving up borrowing costs during what’s typically the busiest time of the year for prospective homebuyers.

BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Parliament voted Thursday to approve a trade deal between the European Union and the United States but with amendments added to protect European interests should the U.S. fail to hold up its end of the bargain.

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

For years, parents, teenagers, pediatricians, educators and whistleblowers have pushed the idea that social media is detrimental to young people’s mental health and can lead to addiction, eating disorders, sexual exploitation and suicide.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) – Hungary’s pro-Russian government has launched criminal charges against a prominent investigative journalist whom it accuses of conducting spying activities in coordination with a foreign country, a minister said on Thursday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived Thursday in Saudi Arabia on an unannounced visit, days after revealing that Ukraine is helping five countries in the Middle East and Gulf region counter drone attacks on their territory during the Iran war.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. military said it carried out a strike Wednesday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people, as the Trump administration pushes forward with a monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America while waging a war against Iran.

BRUSSELS (AP) – European lawmakers voted Thursday to ease the setting up of new migrant detention centers outside the European Union, known as “return hubs.” Members of the European Parliament voted 389-206 in favor, with 32 abstentions. Right-wing parties made an alliance with far-right groups that they had previously shunned to pass the measure.