News briefs

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Inflatable swimming pools are the new must-have item around Budapest as residents of Hungary’s sprawling capital struggle to stay cool amid one of the most oppressively hot summers in the country’s history.

New Zealand house prices have fallen year-on-year for the first time in more than a decade as rising interest rates finally halted a dizzying boom that had only gained momentum after the coronavirus pandemic first hit. The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand on Thursday reported median prices fell 1.8% in July when compared with the same month last year. The decline was more pronounced in the biggest city of Auckland, where prices fell 5.6%, and in the capital, Wellington, down by 5.9%. Sales also declined by more than one-third. Up until its peak last November, the New Zealand property market had been among the frothiest in the world.

The Kremlin has refused to announce a full-blown mobilization as Russia suffers military losses in its invasion of Ukraine which is nearing its sixth month. Such a move could be very unpopular for President Vladimir Putin. Russia is engaged instead in a covert recruitment effort that includes using prisoners to make up for the manpower shortage. This also is happening amid reports that hundreds of soldiers are refusing to fight and are trying to quit the military. Authorities seem to be pulling out all the stops to bolster enlistment although the Defense Ministry denies any “mobilization activities” are happening. Billboards urge men to join up and authorities have set up mobile recruiting centers.

India’s phenomenal transformation from an impoverished nation in 1947 into an emerging global power whose $3 trillion economy is Asia’s third largest has made it a major exporter of things like software and vaccines. Millions have escaped poverty into a growing, aspirational middle class as its high-skilled sectors have thrived. But many millions of Indians are employed in informal day labor or farm work, struggling to survive. Raging unemployment is worsening insecurity and inequality between the rich and poor and is perhaps Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s biggest challenge as the country marks 75 years of independence from British rule on Aug. 15.

The cancellation of a major music festival in Atlanta has ignited a new fight over Georgia gun laws. Live Nation has refused to say why it abruptly called off September’s Music Midtown festival last week. But news outlets ascribed the decision to state gun laws that could have prevented organizers from enforcing a ban on firearms. Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and other Democrats have blasted Republican Gov. Brian Kemp for the cancellation, though the gun law cited in news reports preceded his administration. Kemp has accused Democrats of pushing critical narratives of Georgia’s firearms landscape to distract from inflation.