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At first glance, a “buy now, pay later” plan’s promise of no interest or upfront fees can seem more appealing than a credit card’s terms. Dividing a transaction into, say, a pay-in-four installment plan sounds straightforward and manageable. Unlike credit cards, though, these plans lack certain consumer protections and are sometimes unpredictable. In this way, credit cards can be superior to pay-in-four buy now, pay later plans, making it easier […]

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Tuesday tightened control and oversight over Vatican-based foundations and associations in his latest effort to impose international standards of accounting and governance on Vatican offices and affiliated entities. A new law aims to bring the Holy See into further compliance with recommendations from the Council of Europe’s Moneyval committee, which in April 2021 flagged as problematic the lack of an overarching law governing […]

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union lawmakers and governments reached a deal Tuesday that would ban the import of products which contribute to deforestation around the world. The preliminary agreement, which still needs to be formally adopted by the EU parliament, requires companies to verify that the goods they sell in the EU have not led to deforestation and forest degradation anywhere in the world as of 2021. Companies need to […]

The COVID-19 pandemic sent Heidi Whitney’s daughter into a tailspin. Suddenly the San Diego middle schooler was sleeping all day and awake all night. When in-person classes resumed, she was so anxious at times that she begged to come home early, telling the nurse her stomach hurt. Whitney tried to keep her daughter in class. But the teen’s desperate bids to get out of school escalated. Ultimately, she was hospitalized […]

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Paulo Dybala posted a photo of himself on Instagram laughing along with his Argentina teammate Lionel Messi, with the accompanying words: “We carry on with a smile! Let’s go.” Argentina might be getting ever closer to a place in the World Cup final but, on a purely personal level, the tournament has been nothing much to laugh about for Dybala. The Roma playmaker hasn’t played a […]

BERLIN (AP) — A 45-year-old German man who had offered babysitting services online went on trial Tuesday in the western city of Cologne accused of almost 100 counts of child sexual abuse. Prosecutors told the Cologne regional court that the man documented the abuse of babies, children and teenagers, and shared videos and images of “unimaginable brutality” with dozens of people, German news agency dpa reported. Investigators who discovered vast […]

TOKYO (AP) — A newly founded Japanese semiconductor company aiming to revive Japan’s chip industry will collaborate with a Belgian research organization in research and development of next-generation chips for production in Japan. Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters Tuesday that the new company, Rapidus, which was launched last month by eight corporate giants including automakers, electronics and chipmakers, will team up with the Imec, a Leuven, Belgium-based […]

BANGKOK (AP) — Three Thai railway workers were killed and four others wounded Tuesday when a bomb exploded as they were clearing the wreckage of an earlier attack over the weekend in the country’s south, police said. The workers were repairing tracks near Khlong Ngae station, not far from the Malaysian border, when the bomb exploded at about 6:30 a.m., according to authorities. On Saturday, another bomb derailed and damaged […]

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Protesters angered by allegations of corruption linked to Mongolia’s coal trade with China tried to force their way into the State Palace in the capital, demanding dismissals of officials involved in the scandal. The U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar issued an alert Monday saying that several hundred protesters had gathered in the freezing cold in the city’s Sukhbaatar Square during the weekend and marched to the presidential […]