A top McDonald’s executive is weighing in on claims that the company has jacked up its prices. Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, said in an open letter Wednesday that the average price of McDonald’s menu items is up around 40% since 2019. The breakdown comes in response to claims on social media from House…
Orange juice prices have climbed to fresh all-time highs amid persistent supply constraints, pushing the industry into crisis mode and forcing some makers to consider alternative fruits. Prices of the breakfast staple have been climbing rapidly in recent years, partly driven by declining output in Florida — the main producer of orange juice…
The Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday that its experimental Direct File free tax-filing option for simplified tax returns would become a permanent option starting next year. In a release, the IRS, along with the U.S. Treasury Department, said its Direct File pilot program, which rolled out on a limited basis…
Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic and disturbing descriptions of sexual violence. Within an hour of being arrested by Russian security forces, Roman Shapovalenko was threatened with rape. On August 25, 2022, the day after Ukraine’s Independence Day, he said three armed, masked officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB)…
A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted Wednesday for the fifth time since December, spewing massive lava flows that threaten to cut off the town of Grindavík and prompting the evacuation of the world-famous Blue Lagoon. Dramatic video and images from the scene showed fountains of red-hot lava shooting into the…
Chinese leader Xi Jinping decried “tremendous sufferings” in the Middle East and called for an international peace conference as leaders from Arab nations visit Beijing this week amid mounting global concern over Israel’s war in Gaza. “Since last October, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has escalated drastically, throwing the people into tremendous…
Millions of South Africans are voting in what is expected to be the most pivotal general election since the end of apartheid. For months, polls have shown the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party could lose its majority for the first time since Nelson Mandela led it to power in…
Claudia Sheinbaum was campaigning for president in southern Mexico when hooded men approached her car, filming the interaction as they implored her to keep their town from being taken over by gangs. One man said he felt helpless, and that the government had “never done anything for these lands.” They lived in…
France and Germany said Tuesday that Ukraine should be allowed to use their weapons against targets inside Russia from which Moscow attacks Ukraine. Speaking at a news conference alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron outlined that French weapons sent to Ukraine, including long-range missiles, were permitted…
The war in Gaza will likely continue through at least the end of the year, an Israeli official warned Wednesday, seeming to dismiss the idea that fighting would end after the military offensive against Hamas in Rafah. Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said the year 2024 has been “defined…