The average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan fell for the second week in a row, positive news for prospective homebuyers after rates touched a 22-year high just last month

The International Monetary Fund says that debt-stricken Sri Lanka, which declared bankruptcy last year, is showing signs of economic improvement but its recovery still faces challenges

Russell Brand is facing allegations of committing rape, sexual assault, and abuse between 2006 and 2013, at the height of his fame

Jorge Martin capped a perfect Saturday by winning the sprint race at the San Marino and Rimini Riviera MotoGP not long after smashing the Misano Adriatico lap record on...

A divided federal appeals court has found that private individuals and groups such as the NAACP do not have the ability to sue under a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act

CNN's ratings appear to have taken a hit in the wake of its much-maligned town hall featuring former President Donald Trump. More than a week after the controversial television spectacle, the network weathered its lowest-rated week since June 2015, according to The Daily Beast. The network averaged approximately 429,000 total daily viewers between Monday and Friday of last week. The network's viewership was also down by double digits when compared to the same week last year. Those numbers remained consistent for its primary advertising demographic of 25-54 year-olds. CNN's cable news rivals had far better viewership during the same time period; MSNBC had more than double CNN's daily audience, with 976,000 total viewers, while Fox News went beyond that with 1.4m. In a statement to The Independnet, CNN defended its ratings, noting that it outpaced Fox News for the month of May up through the 20th. “CNN is reaching the most P2+ and P25-54 viewers in cable news (39.173 million P2+ and 10.529 million P25-54), outpacing Fox News (35.422 million P2+ and 7.950 million P25-54),” a CNN spokesperson told The Independnet. Despite those numbers, Fox News is weathering its own storms with the abrupt firing of Tucker Carlson. Its numbers are down 41 per cent in its key demographics year-to-year, and down 24 per cent in total viewership. Its weekday demographic audience immediately after Carlson's departure was the lowest it has been since the first week of September 2001. Both Fox and CNN are suffering in their primetime time slots. Several of their weeknight primetime offerings have been beaten in the ratings by Newsmax, a far-right media channel that has served as a landing spot for conservative viewers fleeing Fox News in the wake of Carlson's departure. Newsmax saw a similar boost immediately after the 2020 election after Fox News accurately called Arizona for Joe Biden before any other news outlet. Chris Wallace's Friday night interview show on CNN scored only 224,000 total viewers in its 10pm slot; 60,000 more people were watching Newsmax during the same time slot. CNN noted to The Independent that Wallace’s show is available on Max before it airs on CNN, calling it “inaccurate” to portray the CNN viewership as the show’s only audience numbers. The only network actively gaining viewers is MSNBC, which saw its audience numbers increase 44 per cent — likely a result of the CNN exodus. CNN's town hall with Mr Trump and moderated by Kaitlan Collins included the former president further maligning E Jean Carroll — whom he was found by a court to have sexually assaulted and defamed — calling 6 January 2021 a "beautiful day," and promising to pardon Capitol rioters who attempted to thwart the nation's democratic transfer of power after his 2020 election loss. He also continued to push the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. Blowback to the town hall was so severe that CNN star anchor Anderson Cooper made a statement on-air about the debacle, ultimately asking them to view the event as a warning about Mr Trump's political aspirations. Read More Trump defames E Jean Carroll yet again after she sues him over CNN town hall insults Trump Media files $3.78bn defamation lawsuit against Washington Post over Truth Social reporting Trump slams Fox News’ Laura Ingraham over ‘hit piece’ saying DeSantis would do better against Biden than him

TAIPEI Apple Inc supplier Foxconn said on Wednesday artificial intelligence applications would strongly drive demand for its server

By Elizabeth Howcroft LONDON HSBC plans to launch in 2024 a custody service for storing blockchain-based assets excluding

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says he supports more countries joining the BRICS group of large developing nations, which currently includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa

Fierce clashes kill 55 people as many families are left trapped in their homes in Tripoli.

Mr Modi and Mr Xi spoke on the sidelines of the Brics summit in South Africa.

Meta’s new Twitter rival Threads has racked up over five million signups within the first four hours of its launch, the tech giant’s chief Mark Zuckerberg said. Threads arrives at a particularly difficult time for Elon Musk’s Twitter. The site has faced a range of technical issues in recent days, which it has blamed on AI services scraping its site. “Threads, an Instagram app” is already listed on the App Store. It aims to take on the app with a range of features that are similar to those offered by Twitter, according to its App Store listing. “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” it reads. “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favourite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.” It is the latest in a long line of apps to try and take over from the increasingly troubled Twitter in offering text-based updates. Read More Meta responds to Elon Musk’s lawsuit threat as Threads becomes most rapidly downloaded app Mark Zuckerberg trolls Elon Musk by posting Spider-Man meme on Twitter after launching rival Threads People cannot leave Instagram’s Threads app without deleting their whole account, rules warn I tried Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter rival, Threads – I’m not impressed