AP National Business

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan, which had been living mostly free of COVID-19, is now facing its worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic with over 11,000 new cases reported Thursday. Cases have been on the upswing since late March. In April, the island’s central authorities announced that they

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Wireless and fixed-network equipment maker Nokia has reported first-quarter operating profits of 354 million euros, down 18% from a year ago. The Espoo, Finland-based company said Thursday that net sales in the first quarter grew 1% in constant currency to 5.348 billion euros. Nokia was “shocked to see the Russian invasion

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese internet services company Baidu has received a permit to provide driverless ride-hailing services to the public in Beijing, one of just two companies to receive such approvals. Baidu and a rival AI driving company, Pony.ai, obtained permits allowing them to offer rides without a safety driver behind the wheel to take

By KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Businesses in Sri Lanka are closed, teachers absent and public transportation interrupted as people heed a call for a general strike to pressure the president to step down over a growing economic and political crisis. Sri Lanka is on the verge of bankruptcy with huge

By JULIE CARR SMYTH and MARC LEVY Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Millionaire candidates and billionaire investors are harnessing their considerable personal wealth to try to win competitive Republican primaries for open U.S. Senate seats in Pennsylvania and Ohio. In Ohio, four wealthy candidates led by investment banker Mike Gibbons have given their campaigns

By KELVIN CHAN and BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — Twitter’s quarterly profit, revenue and the number of daily users on its platform are rising but its quarterly report, released days after agreeing to be sold to billionaire Elon Musk, offered scant details about what it expects on the financial front for the

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — If Elon Musk and Twitter get their way, the company will soon be privately held and under his control. The most obvious immediate change would likely be Twitter’s stock being taken off the New York Stock Exchange. But the company would also likely get freed

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA Associated Press KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal is banning imports of cars, alcohol and tobacco and cutting its work week to cope with a shortage of foreign exchange. The Himalayan country published a notice in the government gazette Wednesday saying imports of all cars except for emergency vehicles, all types of alcohol,

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — An independent research group says Germany was the biggest buyer of Russian energy during the first two months of the war in Ukraine. A study published Thursday by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air calculates that Russia has earned $66.5 billion from fossil fuel

By DAVID KOENIG AP Business Writer DALLAS (AP) — Ford has reported a $3.1 billion loss for the first quarter, in large part because of a drop in the value of its investment in an electric-vehicle startup. The automaker also said Wednesday that its revenue fell 5% from a year ago as a shortage of

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer Puck and player tracking in the NHL has taken major leaps since it was first tested in January 2019. Coaches already have access to player and shot speed and all the other data being tracked by microchips attached to equipment and implanted inside the puck. Broadcasters will be integrating

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Energy Department has authorized additional exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, from planned terminals in Texas and Louisiana. The orders allow Golden Pass LNG Terminal near Port Arthur, Texas, and Magnolia LNG Terminal in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to export additional natural gas as LNG to

By DEEPTI HAJELA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — It’s one of the most recognizable outfits in American movie history, the blue-and-white checked gingham dress a young Judy Garland wore as Dorothy in the classic 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz.” For decades, one of the versions of the dress Garland wore in the movie

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s top diplomat says Western allies should send tanks, planes and other heavy weapons to Ukraine, saying “inaction would be the greatest provocation.” NATO nations have supplied Ukraine with military supplies including missiles and armored vehicles. But so far they have been reluctant to send fighter planes

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer Facebook parent Meta’s first quarter profit and its count of daily users jumped past Wall Street’s expectations despite the company’s slowest revenue growth since going public a decade ago. Shares were up sharply in after-hours trading. Meta cut a sharp contrast with Google parent Alphabet, which on Monday reported

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Wednesday: Microsoft, Visa rise; Boeing, F5 fall

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press Heaven Hill Distillery says it plans to revive its whiskey production in its Kentucky hometown. The family-owned and operated spirits company announced plans Wednesday to build a $135 million distillery expected to open by 2024 in Bardstown, Kentucky. It comes more than a quarter century after a devastating fire destroyed

WARSAW (AP) — Poland’s air navigation agency says it has agreed to implement all of the demands of the country’s air traffic controllers’ union. The agreement prevents the threat of a mass cancellation of flights in Warsaw in the coming days. Earlier this week Poland’s government announced plans to drastically reduce flights at Warsaw’s two

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press Perhaps no group of people is more alarmed about Elon Musk’s apparent plan to make Twitter a free speech free-for-all than those most likely to be targeted for harassment: women, racial minorities and other marginalized groups. They fear that a more hands-off approach to policing the platform will embolden purveyors

The Associated Press Benchmark U.S. crude oil for June delivery rose 32 cents to $102.02 a barrel Wednesday. Brent crude for June delivery rose 33 cents to $105.32 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline for May delivery rose 12 cents to $3.46 a gallon. May heating oil rose 20 cents to $4.67 a gallon. May natural gas

By JEAN FERNAND KOENA Associated Press BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Central African Republic has legally recognized the use of cryptocurrency after the president approved a law adopted by deputies last week that has also made bitcoin an official currency alongside the West African CFA franc in the African nation. President Faustin Archange Touadera

DEKALB, Ill. (AP) — Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is expanding a data center in northern Illinois and says more than 200 operational jobs will be based there once complete. The company announced the expansion Wednesday. The company announced its initial plan for the DeKalb data center in June 2020, proposing an $800 million

Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot activists say uncertainty over the safety of war-wracked Ukraine’s nuclear power plants has reignited concerns over a Russian-owned nuclear power station being built in a quake-prone area on Turkey’s southern coast. About 200 activists from two dozen organizations from both sides of ethnically divided Cyprus converged Wednesday inside the United

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has raised 1.5 billion euros in a 7-year bond re-issue, tapping markets days after a sovereign credit rating upgrade. Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said the money was raised with a yield of 2.4% ‒ up from the 2% yield in 2020 when the bond was first issued. The ratings agency

By FRANK BAJAK Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Cyberattacks by state-backed Russian hackers have destroyed data across dozens of organizations in Ukraine and produced “a chaotic information environment,” Microsoft says in a report released Wednesday. Nearly half the destructive attacks were against critical infrastructure, many times simultaneous to physical attacks, the report notes. A top

By MIKE SCHNEIDER and ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — At the first meeting of Walt Disney World’s private government since Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a measure to dissolve it next year, officials said Wednesday they were still confused about what the new legislation meant, even as some

LONDON (AP) — British fraud investigators have raided the U.K. offices of the GFG Alliance, owners of the country’s third-largest steelmaker. The move is part of an investigation into possible fraud and money laundering related to financing from a now-bankrupt lender with ties to former Prime Minister David Cameron. The Serious Fraud Office opened an

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has made a formal protest to Turkey involving accusations that the fellow-NATO member conducted unauthorized military flights over inhabited Greek islands. Greece’s Foreign Ministry called the alleged actions “an unacceptable provocation.” Turkey’s ambassador to Athens was summoned to the ministry on Wednesday to receive the complaint in person. Neighbors Greece

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has appealed a New York judge’s decision to hold the former president in contempt of court and fine him $10,000 per day for failing to comply with a subpoena for evidence in the state attorney general’s civil investigation into his business dealings. Trump’s

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY (AP) — The former director of the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency has testified that Pope Francis asked him to help the Vatican secretariat of state get full control of a London property at the center of a Vatican financial trial. The testimony Wednesday by Tommaso di Ruzza once

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — A federal judge has rejected Elon Musk’s bid to throw out a securities fraud settlement over tweets claiming that Musk had the funding to take Tesla private in 2018. Judge Lewis Liman on Wednesday also denied a motion to nullify a subpoena of Musk seeking information

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is putting China, Russia and five other countries on its annual blacklist for lax enforcement of intellectual property rights that leaves American companies vulnerable to copyright and trademark piracy. All seven countries on this year’s list were on last year’s list, too. According

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The owner of a New York-based hedge fund that collapsed when it defaulted on margin calls has been arrested on charges alleging he defrauded leading global investment banks and brokerages. The charges unsealed Wednesday in an indictment in Manhattan federal court named Bill Hwang, the founder

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s government extended a price cap on fuel and some basic food items for an additional two months as consumer prices continue to rise in the Central European country. In a video on Facebook, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the price cap on gasoline and diesel, which the government fixed

By AYA BATRAWY Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The world’s economy is forecast to grow around 3.6% this year, but Arab oil exporters are seeing a windfall from high energy prices that will buoy their economies and replenish their financial reserves this year and next. A report released on Wednesday by the

By The Associated Press Russia’s playing hardball on natural gas. State-owned exporter Gazprom says it’s stopping pipeline deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria. Russia is demanding payment in rubles, not dollars and euros. European leaders have rejected ruble payments, saying one side can’t change longstanding contracts in dollars and euros. But it’s about more than that.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union moved Wednesday to lift visa requirements for people from Qatar and Kuwait to make it easier for them to enter many European countries for stays of up to 90 days.The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, said it recommended allowing people from the two Mideast countries who hold biometric

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive arm wants to see the EU adopt a law to protect journalists and civil rights activists from lawsuits aimed at censoring them. The European Commission proposed safeguards to curb SLAPPS, or strategic lawsuits against public participation. The commission said the law proposed on Wednesday would allow courts to

By PETER DEJONG Associated Press AMSTERDAM (AP) — After two years of celebrations muted by coronavirus lockdowns, the Netherlands is marking King Willem-Alexander’s 55th birthday with street parties, music festivals and a national poll showing trust in the monarch ebbing away. The king, who was once photographed drinking a beer with Vladimir Putin at the

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer Boeing is reporting a money-losing quarter as both its civilian-airplane division and the defense business are struggling. Boeing said Wednesday that it lost $1.2 billion in the first quarter and took large write-downs for several programs. The loss was worse than Wall Street expected, and Boeing’s quarterly revenue also

By SAM KEMMIS of NerdWallet Demand for travel has returned to pre-pandemic levels just in time for travel’s hottest season — summer. National parks, Mexico and other resort destinations have surging demand, making them less-than-ideal destinations for budget-conscious travelers. Instead, deal seekers should go to places that have been slow to recover, such as Italy

By RONALD MONTOYA Edmunds The conventional wisdom of car buying once stated that your loan should not exceed 48 months. But the latest data from Edmunds shows that the average loan term for a new car has steadily increased over the last decade and is now about 70 months. These longer loan terms reflect not

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe, Africa’s biggest tobacco grower, has opened its selling season for the crop amid pledges to fight deforestation and child labor in response to pressure from rights groups, environmentalists and international buyers. Tobacco is on a rebound in the southern African nation where production plummeted from

BEIJING (AP) — Drone company DJI Technology Co has temporarily suspended business activities in Russia and Ukraine to ensure its products are not used during the hostilities in a rare example of a Chinese company publicly withdrawing from Russia due to the war. The company said in a statement that “DJI is internally reassessing compliance

GENEVA (AP) — Credit Suisse is reporting a pretax loss of 428 million Swiss francs ($443 million) and a plunge in revenues in the first quarter. It was marked in part by a loss of 206 million Swiss francs linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Credit Suisse on Wednesday also reported net revenues of 4.4

By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Shanghai city authorities say a taxing, one-month lockdown of China’s largest city may be eased in some neighborhoods if new COVID-19 testing shows the virus is no longer spreading in the community. Residents in Beijing, meanwhile, were carefully watching for word on whether the capital city

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Asian shares logged moderate gains on Thursday after Wall Street stabilized following a sell-off in tech stocks the day before. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1% to 26,642.88 after the Bank of Japan wrapped up a policy meeting with no major changes, maintaining its near-zero interest rate stance despite a

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The older you are, the less you fret about aging in your own home or community. That’s a key insight from a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, which found that U.S. adults ages 65 or older feel much better prepared to “age in

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Former U.S. President Donald Trump cast himself as a master of “The Art of the Deal,” but his old buddy, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, may be taking over that title. López Obrador has pressured a U.S. gravel company to operate a tourist resort and

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo’s Shibuya is famed for its Scramble Crossing, where crowds of people crisscross the intersection in a scene symbolizing urban Japan’s congestion and anonymity. It may have added another boasting right. Tokyu Railways’ trains running through Shibuya and other stations were switched to power generated only by

By DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Three days before Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter, the world’s richest man tweeted a photo of Bill Gates and used a crude sexual term to make fun of his belly. Playful, aggressive and often juvenile, Musk’s past tweets show how he has used social media

By DAVID PITT Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa will become the first U.S. state to require that gas stations have pumps selling fuel with at least 15% ethanol. Gov. Kim Reynolds proposed the bill that received final legislative approval Tuesday, and when she signs it into law, the measure will boost corn

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Native American leaders are meeting with land managers as the Biden administration considers prohibiting new oil and gas development on nearly 550 square miles of federal land in northwestern New Mexico. Top officials with the All Pueblo Council of Governors said Tuesday they will reiterate

By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — General Motors’ net income declined in the first quarter, as the automaker sold fewer cars and trucks worldwide, though higher prices helped boost revenue, especially in North America. The Detroit company’s adjusted earnings topped Wall Street estimates, though its revenue fell short of analysts’ forecasts.

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — ABC’s ‘black-ish’ ended its eight-season run with a relatively modest audience of 2.52 million viewers last week. The Nielsen company says that was its most-watched live episode since the season began in September. The final episode featured the Johnson family moving out of a predominantly

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Payment processing giant Visa’s profits rose 21% in the first three months of the year fueled by a large jump in spending on the company’s namesake credit and debit card network. The San Francisco-based company reported its earnings adjusted to exclude one-time items amounted to

By HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writer The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday its investigation into the deadly collapse of an Amazon warehouse has “raised concerns about the potential risk to employees” during weather emergencies. Six people died and another was critically wounded after a tornado struck a delivery station located in Edwardsville,

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Google’s corporate parent has posted its slowest quarterly revenue growth since 2020, the latest sign that the huge gains enjoyed by technology companies during the pandemic are fading into the rear-view mirror. For most companies, the numbers announced Tuesday would be a cause for

The Associated Press More sharp declines in Big Tech stocks sent the Nasdaq composite down 4% Tuesday, the worst drop for the tech-heavy index since September 2020. The Nasdaq is now down 20% so far this year as investors shun the ultra-pricey tech sector, which had made gangbuster gains for much of the pandemic. With

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Tuesday: General Electric, Zions Bancorp fall; Whirlpool, Axalta rise.

By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Interior Department has issued a decision to limit roughly half of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to oil and gas leasing. It is a rollback of an approach adopted under the prior Trump administration. The decision states that it would prevent oil and gas development

NEW YORK (AP) — Dean Baquet, outgoing executive editor of The New York Times, will lead a fellowship program at the newspaper for local and state journalism projects. The newspaper announced that Baquet and other investigative editors will help train selected journalists and the work they produce will be offered to news publications in the

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed the nomination of Lael Brainard to a four-year term as vice chair of the Federal Reserve, elevating her to the Fed’s No. 2 post in the midst of the central bank’s toughest fight against inflation in four decades. Her confirmation came

The Associated Press Benchmark U.S. crude oil for June delivery rose $3.16 to $101.70 a barrel Tuesday. Brent crude for June delivery rose $2.67 to $104.99 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline for May delivery rose 10 cents to $3.34 a gallon. May heating oil rose 38 cents to $4.47 a gallon. May natural gas rose 18

By TOM MURPHY AP Health Writer COVID-19 patients have two treatment options that can be taken at home. But that convenience comes with a catch: The pills have to be taken as soon as possible once symptoms appear. The challenge is getting tested, getting a prescription and starting the pills within five days of the

By VANESSA GERA and MONIKA SCISLOWSKA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish and Bulgarian officials said Tuesday that Moscow is cutting off natural gas deliveries to their countries due to their refusal to pay in Russian rubles, a demand made by President Vladimir Putin after sanctions were levied against his nation over the invasion

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is scrapping old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs, speeding an ongoing trend toward more efficient lighting that officials say will save households, schools and businesses billions of dollars a year. Rules finalized by the Energy Department will require manufacturers to sell energy-efficient light bulbs, accelerating a

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer Delta Air Lines, which is facing another attempt to unionize its flight attendants, will begin paying cabin crews during boarding, a first for a major U.S. airline. Across the airline industry in the United States, hourly pay for flight attendants starts when all the passengers are seated and the

MIAMI (AP) — Carnival Corp. will soon get a new CEO at the helm of the cruise line operator. The company said Tuesday that CEO Arnold Donald will step down on Aug. 1 and be replaced by Josh Weinstein, a longtime Carnival executive. Donald has led Miami-based Carnival since 2013, taking it to record profits

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s government has announced plans to drastically reduce flights at Warsaw’s two airports starting Sunday if talks with air traffic controllers demanding better working conditions fail. Regulations published late Monday state the Frederic Chopin and Modlin airports would operate from 07:30 GMT until 15:00 GMT each day and only handle flights

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — JetBlue is further dialing back its growth plans after struggling with a high number of canceled flights. The company said Tuesday that it lost $255 million in the first quarter but saw strong demand for travel, which pushed revenue higher. But in April, JetBlue has canceled

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Retirement giant Fidelity said Tuesday that it’s launched a way for workers to put some of their 401(k) savings and contributions directly in bitcoin. Fidelity said it’s the first in the industry to allow such investments without having to go through a separate brokerage window,

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence dampened slightly in April but remains high even as inflation continues to cloud their optimism about the rest of the year. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index — which takes into account consumers’ assessment of current conditions and their

By JANIE HAR Associated Press BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — College students squeezed by a massive housing shortage and surging rents are paying too much for moldy apartments, commuting long distances or sleeping in their cars to get an education — and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. For some colleges, the housing crunch

By JANIE HAR Associated Press BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — UC Berkeley sophomore Terrell Thompson slept in his car for nearly two weeks at the start of the school year last fall, living out of a suitcase stashed in the trunk and texting dozens of landlords a day in a desperate search for a place to

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — An independent monitor of Britain’s use of surveillance cameras has asked for the government to clarify its positions on buying equipment from a Chinese company accused of involvement in “appalling human rights abuses.” Fraser Sampson, the biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner, said he raised concerns with senior

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — The winner of Slovenia’s weekend parliamentary election says he hopes to have a new government formed by mid-June. Robert Golob met with President Borut Pahor on Tuesday. It was Golob’s first public appearance since he tested positive for the coronavirus in the days before Sunday’s vote. His liberal-green party, the Freedom