By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided panel of appeals court judges ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can suspend or terminate billions of dollars of congressionally appropriated funding for foreign aid.

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Two of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that grant recipients challenging the freeze did not meet the requirements for a preliminary injunction restoring the flow of money.

In January, on the first day of his second term in the White House, Republican President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to freeze spending on foreign aid.

After groups of grant recipients sued to challenge that order, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ordered the administration to release the full amount of foreign assistance that Congress had appropriated for the 2024 budget year.

The appeal court’s majority partially vacated Ali’s order.

Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Gregory Katsas concluded that the plaintiffs did not have a valid legal basis for the court to hear their claims. The ruling was not on the merits of whether the government unconstitutionally infringed on Congress’ spending powers.

“The parties also dispute the scope of the district court’s remedy but we need not resolve it … because the grantees have failed to satisfy the requirements for a preliminary injunction in any event,” Henderson wrote.

Judge Florence Pan, who dissented, said the Supreme Court has held “in no uncertain terms” that the president does not have the authority to disobey laws for policy reasons.

“Yet that is what the majority enables today,” Pan wrote. “The majority opinion thus misconstrues the separation-of-powers claim brought by the grantees, misapplies precedent, and allows Executive Branch officials to evade judicial review of constitutionally impermissible actions.”

The money at issue includes nearly $4 billion for USAID to spend on global health programs and more than $6 billion for HIV and AIDS programs. Trump has portrayed the foreign aid as wasteful spending that does not align with his foreign policy goals.

Henderson was nominated to the court by Republican President George H.W. Bush. Katsas was nominated by Trump. Pan was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden.

By YURI KAGEYAMA

TOKYO (AP) — Fast-food chain McDonald’s Japan has canceled a Happy Meal campaign that came with coveted Pokemon cards, apologizing after resellers rushed to buy the meals and then discarded the food, leaving trash outside stores.

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The meals, called Happy Sets in Japan, were meant for children. They came with a toy, such as a tiny plastic Pikachu, and a Pokemon card. They sold out in a day, according to Japanese media reports.

Mounds of wasted food were found near the stores.

“We do not believe in abandoning and discarding food. This situation goes against our longtime philosophy that we have cherished as a restaurant to ‘offer a fun dining experience for children and families.’ We sincerely accept that our preparations had not been adequate,” the company said in a statement Monday.

McDonald’s said it was working on ways to prevent such a situation from happening again, such as limiting the number of meals each person can buy and ending online orders. It said it might deny service to customers who fail to abide by the rules.

“We vow to return to the basics of what lies behind the Happy Set, which is about helping to bring smiles to families so we can contribute to the wholesome development of the hearts and bodies of children, who are our future,” the company said.

Collecting Pokemon cards is popular among adults and children in many places, with the most popular cards selling for $1,000 or more.

Unusually large crowds were seen flocking to McDonald’s stores when the meals with Pokemon cards went on sale. The cards were later being resold for up to tens of thousands of yen (hundreds of dollars) online.

McDonald’s has been selling Happy Meals for more than 40 years. In Japan, they usually sell for 510 yen ($3.40).

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

Homeowners are cashing in on years of home equity gains, even as mortgage rates remain elevated.

The trend sent cash-out home refinancing activity to a nearly three-year high in the April-June quarter, according to data from home loan data tracker ICE Mortgage Technology.

In a cash-out refinance, a homeowner takes out a loan for more than they owe on their mortgage and then pockets the difference. The funds are often used to consolidate debt, finance home improvement projects and pay for big-ticket purchases.

The average cash-out refinance in the second quarter resulted in the homeowner pulling $94,000 in home equity, increasing their monthly payment by $590. On average, they also raised the interest rate on their home loan by 1.45 percentage points, according to the report.

To qualify for a cash-out refinance, homeowners must have at least 20% home equity, have owned the home for at least six months and have at least a 620 credit score, among other criteria. Borrowers who got a cash-out refinance in the second quarter had an average credit score of 719, ICE noted.

Years of rising home values have made tapping their home equity a tempting option for many homeowners. The median price of a previously occupied U.S. home climbed to an all-time high of $435,500 in June. That’s a 48% increase from just five years ago.

Total homeowner equity in the U.S. hit an all-time high of $17.8 trillion in the second quarter, with $11.6 trillion of available for homeowners to draw upon by refinancing, ICE said.

All told, cash-out refinances accounted for roughly 60% of all home loan refis in the second quarter.

A cash-out refinance can give a borrower more financial flexibility, especially if they can reduce their mortgage rate and use the funds to lower higher-interest debt. However, the borrower is signing up for a larger loan, possibly at a higher interest rate than they previously had, and they’re often extending the loan repayment term by several years.

That can be risky, because if a borrower can’t pay back the loan, they may not have enough equity left to avoid foreclosure.

Often, a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, may be a better option for homeowners, as they generally come with lower interest rates and the borrower isn’t giving up their equity, just borrowing against it.

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Stubbornly high mortgage rates have helped keep the U.S. housing market in a sales slump since early 2022, when rates started to climb from the rock-bottom lows they reached during the pandemic. Home sales sank last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years.

The market has remained in a slump this year, and while prices have kept rising nationally, the rate of growth has been slowing or falling in many metro areas, including Atlanta, Austin and Tampa, Florida.

The slower pace of home price appreciation, especially for homes in Sunbelt and Western markets, have led to home equity growth slowing by its lowest rate in two years, ICE said.

As a result, tappable equity has dropped by at least 5% in nearly one-quarter of U.S. markets. And about 1% of homeowners with a mortgage, or roughly 564,000 borrowers, now owe more than their homes are worth, ICE said.

NEW YORK — Ten months after the Pohlad family announced it was exploring a sale of the Twins, the family has decided that it will instead retain control over the team that it has owned for four decades.

“After a detailed and robust process, our family will remain the principal owner of the Minnesota Twins,” executive chair Joe Pohlad said in a statement on behalf of the family.

Twins Executive Vice President for Brand Strategy and Growth Joe Pohlad during a fashion show to introduce the team’s new logo and uniforms at the Mall of America in Bloomington on Friday Nov. 18, 2022. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Instead of selling the team fully, the Twins will take on two “significant limited partnership groups, each of whom will bring a wealth of experience and share our family values,” Pohlad said in the statement.

The family has owned the Twins since 1984, when Carl Pohlad purchased it for $44 million. After his death, his son Jim took over as chairman in 2009. Joe, Carl’s grandson, has been the organization’s executive chair since November 2022.

“We see and hear the passion from our partners, the community, and Twins fans,” Pohlad said in the statement. “That passion inspires us. This ownership group is committed to building a winning team and culture for this region, one that Twins fans are proud to cheer for.”

This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.

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