AP National Business

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Italian workers in both the public and private sectors will be obliged to provide a health pass to access the workplace from Oct. 15 under a decree that has been approved by Premier Mario Draghi’s broad-based coalition government. The measures are the first by a major European

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The director of Covered California says he will step down early next year. Peter Lee has been the state’s only executive director during the nine-year history of the state’s health insurance marketplace. He helped launch the nation’s largest state-based health marketplace in 2012. Lee said Thursday

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Muslim civil rights group is calling for a boycott of Hilton hotels over what it says are plans to build a hotel on the site of a bulldozed Uyghur mosque in China. The Council on American-Islamic Relations and other organizations held a news conference Thursday outside the Capital Hilton in Washington

By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER Associated Press DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford plans to spend $250 million and add 450 jobs at three Michigan plants to meet demand for the new F-150 Lightning. Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s president of the Americas, said Ford already has taken more than 150,000 reservations for the new electric version of its immensely

The Associated Press Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities, and foreign exchange levels.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A budget airline will get a chance to add flights at the busy airport in Newark, New Jersey, just outside New York City. The Transportation Department said Thursday that it will give coveted afternoon and evening runway rights to a low-cost airline. The takeoff and landing rights were previously used by Southwest

WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term mortgage rates dipped lower this week as economic prospects continued muted amid a wave of new delta variant coronavirus cases. They remained under 3%. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate for a 30-year mortgage edged down to 2.86% from 2.88% last week. The rate for a 15-year loan

HENRICO, Va. (AP) — A tentative contract agreement reached between snack company Mondelez and striking union workers could end a walkout that began last month. The company and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union issued statements Wednesday announcing a tentative deal, but The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports neither would discuss the terms.

By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has been enlisting one emissary after another to convince Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to help raise the federal debt limit. It’s not working. McConnell is digging in and playing political hardball, saying it’s up to Democrats who have narrow control

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn’t make many headlines. Charged with keeping America’s workplaces safe, it sets and enforces standards for goggles, hardhats and ladders. Now the tiny Labor Department agency has been tossed into the raging national debate over federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates. President

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats are calling top executives at ExxonMobil and other oil giants to testify about what lawmakers say is a long-running, industry-wide campaign to spread disinformation about the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming. The House Oversight Committee on Thursday requested that executives at ExxonMobil,

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is reviewing the ethics policies that cover the financial holdings of its senior officials in the wake of disclosures that two regional Fed presidents engaged in extensive trading last year. Robert Kaplan, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, in 2020 traded millions

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Colleen Hoover’s years as a published — and self-published — fiction writer have been one long, pleasant surprise. The Texas-based Hoover broke through in January 2012 when she released her novel “Slammed” through an Amazon.com program. It became a showcase for how an author in

By DAVID McHUGH and ARITZ PARRA MADRID (AP) — Gas and electric prices are spiking in Europe. Consumers are already finding higher bills in their mailboxes and jumps in prices on wholesale markets in recent days are expected to send costs higher still. Governments in Spain, Greece and Italy are taking steps to cap the

By GILLIAN FLACCUS and BRITTANY PETERSON Associated Press MADRAS, Ore. (AP) — Oregon farmers who grow 60% of the world’s carrot seed have been without irrigation water for weeks as drought ravages the American West. But just down the road, sprinklers douse crops and cattle graze in green pastures. The stark contrast is a consequence

By KATHERINE ROTH Associated Press Gas-powered home lawn-care machines for mowing, trimming and blowing have generally been accompanied by deafening roars and fumes. There’s now a lower-decibel lawn-care revolution going on. Quieter, zero- to low-emissions electric lawn-care tools now have better batteries that last longer. The changes so far seem more popular among homeowners than

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — Opening a small business is a bureaucratic headache in many parts of the world. In Cuba, it’s an adventure in largely unknown territory. Most sorts of private businesses have been banned for more than 50 years, even if hundreds of thousands of Cubans in recent years have

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer A poll shows that most Americans don’t believe their personal information is secure online and they aren’t satisfied with the federal government’s efforts to protect their digital privacy. The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and MeriTalk shows that about half of Americans believe that

By JOSEPH PISANI AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Americans kept shopping last month, despite a rise in COVID-19 cases. Retail sales rose a seasonal adjusted 0.7% in August from the month before, the U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday. It was much better that the 0.85% decline Wall Street analysts had expected.  But Thursday’s

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits moved up last week to 332,000 from a pandemic low, a sign that worsening COVID-19 infections may have slightly increased layoffs. Applications for jobless aid rose from 312,000 the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. Jobless claims, which

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer The gulf between record job openings and a lack of people taking those jobs is forcing Wall Street to reassess the pace of the economic recovery. Jobs were gutted during the pandemic and employment growth has been a closely watched gauge for investors. Increasing employment eventually results in

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union says it will fund its new health preparedness and rapid response agency to the tune of 30 billion euros over the next six years. It’s even higher if individual efforts from the member nations and private sector are taken into account. The EU was

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe has told all government employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or they will not be allowed to come to work. It wasn’t made clear what would happen to those who refused to be vaccinated. State-owned newspaper The Herald reported that the government would adopt a

By JERRY HARMER Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Taxi fleets in Thailand are giving new meaning to the term “rooftop garden,” as they utilize the roofs of cabs idled by the coronavirus crisis to serve as small vegetable plots. Workers from two taxi cooperatives assembled the miniature gardens this week using black plastic garbage bags

By VESELIN TOSHKOV Associated Press SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has reappointed a retired general as interim prime minister to lead a new caretaker government until the next early election is held in November. The Balkan country is the European Union’s poorest member. It is gearing up for its third parliamentary election

LONDON (AP) — Irish airline Ryanair is planning to create 5,000 jobs over the next five years as part of its recovery from the shock of the coronavirus pandemic. The additional pilots, cabin crew and engineers will mean that the company will have more than recouped the 3,000 jobs it got rid of at the

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says dozens of his staff have been infected with the coronavirus and that he will continue his self-isolation because of the outbreak. The Kremlin announced earlier this week that he would self-isolate after someone in his inner circle was infected although Putin had tested negative for the virus

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s biggest rail operator and a labor union representing train drivers say they have agreed on a pay raise to end a series of strikes that had caused chaos for commuters and vacationers over the summer. The GDL union said Thursday that it secured assurances over pensions, a raise of about 3.3%

By NINIEK KARMINI Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian court has ruled that President Joko Widodo and six top officials have neglected citizens’ rights to clean air and has ordered them to improve the poor air quality in the capital. The Central Jakarta District Court panel voted 3-0 in favor of the group

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Asian shares are mixed after a hodge-podge of economic data led Wall Street to close mostly lower.  Benchmarks rose in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul but fell in Shanghai and Sydney. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each lost about 0.2% Thursday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq

Japan’s exports rose 26% in August from a year earlier, below analysts’ forecasts, as supply chain disruptions hit manufacturers. Preliminary trade data released Thursday showed the world’s third largest economy logged a trade deficit of 635 billion yen ($5.8 billion), as imports surged nearly 45%, driven largely by imports of oil, gas and coal. Exports

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is considering requiring that international visitors be vaccinated against COVID-19. And it will gather information to conduct contact tracing on visitors after the U.S. revamps current broad travel restrictions. This was announced Wednesday by Jeffrey Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator. He says the administration wants to make

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Public health officials in Los Angeles County will begin requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination for patrons and workers at indoor bars, wineries, breweries, lounges and nightclubs next month. The new initiative in the nation’s most populous county begins Oct. 7, with proof of at least one

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A divided federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of an ACLU lawsuit challenging a portion of the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance of Americans’ international email and phone communications. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the lawsuit must be dismissed

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — An Australian man who pleaded guilty to securities fraud for cheating investors in his cryptocurrency fund of over $50 million has been sentenced to over seven years in prison. U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni imposed the sentence Wednesday on 24-year-old Stefan He Qin after saying

By CEDAR ATTANASIO Associated Press/Report for America NAMBÉ, N.M. (AP) — Tesla has sidestepped car dealership laws by setting up shop on Native American land for the first time. The move in New Mexico could be a model for Tesla’s efforts to sell in other states that require car companies to sell through dealerships. The

By DREW COSTLEY AP Science Writer Los Angeles County’s board of supervisors voted unanimously on Wednesday to phase out oil and gas drilling and ban new drill sites in the unincorporated areas of the county. Over 1,600 active and idle oil and gas wells in the county could be shuttered as a result. The sites

The Associated Press Stocks closed solidly higher Wednesday, shaking off some recent doldrums and giving the S&P 500 its biggest daily gain since late August. Energy companies did particularly well as prices for crude oil and natural gas climbed, and Microsoft helped pull the tech sector higher after announcing a dividend increase and a new

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Wednesday: GreenSky, Steel Dynamics rise; Yum China, Live Nation fall.

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — .SpaceX’s first private flight has streaked into orbit with two contest winners, a health care worker and their rich sponsor. It was the first time a spacecraft circled Earth with an all-amateur crew and no professional astronauts. SpaceX’s recycled rocket soared Wednesday night from

The Associated Press Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities, and foreign exchange levels.

By COLLEEN LONG and ANDREW DEMILLO Associated Press Religious objections were once used only sparingly around the country to get exempted from various required vaccines. But they are becoming a much more widely used loophole against the COVID-19 shot. About 2,600 Los Angeles Police Department employees are citing religious objections to try to get out

By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. (AP) — After humble beginnings as a pushcart operation by an Oregon town’s railroad tracks, Dutch Bros Coffee has launched an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Dutch Bros Coffee Executive Chairman Travis Boersma was on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MATTHEW PERRONE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. government advisers will debate Friday if there’s enough proof that a booster dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective. It’s the first public step toward deciding which Americans may get an extra dose and when. The Food and Drug Administration on

By GLENN GAMBOA and HALELUYA HADERO AP Business Writers Candid, a leading philanthropy research organization, told The Associated Press that it broadened its definition of racial equity to better reflect the intent of contributors and to help foster additional donations. It now defines racial equity donations as “grantmaking explicitly awarded to benefit people of color

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A former Georgetown University tennis coach accused of accepting more than $2 million in bribes to help kids get into the school will plead guilty in the sweeping college admissions scandal. Gordon Ernst’s decision to plead guilty comes as the first trial in the massive case

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Saudi company that owes billions of dollars will pay banks back $1.9 billion after an agreement was reached with creditors following more than decade of efforts. The website of the Abu Dhabi-based The National newspaper on Wednesday quoted business conglomerate Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers as saying that

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Qatar has resumed its distribution of aid to Gaza for the first time since the May war between Israel and the territory’s militant Hamas rulers, this time through a new mechanism that does not involve suitcases full of cash. The Hamas-run government’s official news agency said on Wednesday the

By ALAN FRAM and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee has dealt an ominous if tentative blow to President Joe Biden’s social and environment package. The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to derail a money-saving plan to let Medicare negotiate the price it pays for prescription drugs. That vote to

LONDON (AP) — TikTok is facing two EU data privacy investigations, one into its handling of children’s personal data and another over its data transfers to China. Ireland’s data privacy watchdog said Tuesday that it has started two inquiries to examine whether the popular short video app has breached stringent EU data privacy regulations. The

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The path is now clear for Canadian Pacific’s $31 billion acquisition of Kansas City Southern railroad to move forward after Canadian National dropped out of the bidding war Wednesday. The deal could still face tough scrutiny from regulators at the federal Surface Transportation Board, which

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish court has sentenced a 47-year-old man to three years in prison for spying for Russia by handing over confidential information on the Swedish truck and bus maker Scania to a Russian diplomat in return for money several years. The man, identified as Kristian Dimitrievski, had been charged with delivering sensitive

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. industrial production slowed to a 0.4% gain in August as shutdowns of petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants caused by Hurricane Ida curbed manufacturing activity. Plant closures long the Gulf Coast as well as lost oil production during last month’s hurricane shaved 0.3 percentage points from

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer DoorDash is suing New York City over a new law that requires delivery companies to share customer data with restaurants. The San Francisco company says the law passed by the New York City Council in late July is unconstitutional and violates customer privacy. The law requires delivery companies to

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has invited CEOs and business leaders to the White House to discuss COVID-19 mandates. The meeting Wednesday follows Biden’s announcement last week that the Labor Department is working to require that businesses with 100 or more employees order their workers to

POINT COMFORT, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice says a Texas plastics company has agreed to pay nearly $3 million in civil penalties for violating the Clean Air Act. The DOJ says Formosa Plastics Corporation also agreed to improve its risk management program at its petrochemical plant in Point Comfort, Texas. An investigation

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says nearly 3 million consumers took advantage of a special six-month period to sign up for subsidized health insurance coverage made more affordable by his COVID-19 relief law. He calls that number encouraging and is urging Congress to help keep the trend going by

LONDON (AP) — The European Union’s top official outlined on Tuesday ambitious plans to kickstart chipmaking capability so that the bloc can stand on its own in the face of intensifying global competition for semiconductors. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a European Chips Act to provide official support to boost the bloc’s

By CAMERON ROGERS Edmunds Volkswagen’s redesigned 2022 Golf GTI will be arriving at dealerships this fall. It’s the latest generation of the car that pioneered the hot hatch segment when it launched in the U.S. for the 1983 model year. Nearly four decades later, the GTI still stands as a benchmark for sporty performance and

By JAMEY KEATEN and MATT O’BRIEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief is calling for a moratorium on the use of artificial intelligence technology that poses a serious risk to human rights, including face-scanning systems that track people in public spaces. Michelle Bachelet also says countries should expressly ban AI applications

By GEORGIA ROSE of NerdWallet A rise in freelancing, coupled with an increasing interest in flexible employment from millennial and Gen Z workers, could signal a change in how Americans build and calculate life insurance plans. For example, the group life insurance policies offered by employers are not available to self-employed workers, forcing freelancers to

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s most powerful politician says the country’s future is in the European Union but that Poland also wishes to remain a “sovereign” country. The head of the governing conservative party made his comments in an interview with the state news agency, published Wednesday. It follows some

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Immigration is a side issue in this year’s German election campaign, but that hasn’t stopped the country’s biggest far-right party from trying to play it up. The party rattled Germany’s political establishment four years ago, when it came third in parliamentary elections after stoking anti-migrant sentiment over

By DANICA KIRKA and PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The U.K. posted the biggest jump in annual inflation on record last month as global supply shortages and rising wages magnified the scale of price increases after pandemic-related discounts a year ago. The Office for National Statistics says consumer price inflation accelerated to 3.2%

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The economic ravages of COVID-19 are forcing some families in Zimbabwe to abandon the age-old tradition of taking care of their older people. Some roam the streets. The lucky ones end up at facilities for older people. They were once widely viewed by many Zimbabweans as

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — One of China’s biggest real estate developers is struggling to avoid defaulting on billions of dollars of debt, prompting concern about broader impacts and protests by apartment buyers over delays in completing projects. Rating agencies say Evergrande Group looks likely to be unable to repay all

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is committing 200 million more vaccine doses to Africa and low-income nations to help curb the COVID-19 pandemic on a global scale. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the new donations come on top of 250 million vaccine shots already committed and

By OLEG CETINIC and THOMAS ADAMSON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Health care workers in France face suspension from their jobs if they haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccines are compulsory for health care and emergency workers in France and Wednesday is the deadline for such staff to have had at least one. They face

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Stocks are mostly lower in Asia after the region’s two biggest economies released data that were weaker than expected. Chinese economic activity was lackluster and Japan’s exports in August also failed to meet forecasts. On Wednesday, Wall Street shook off recent doldrums, giving the S&P 500 its biggest gain

By MARCY GORDON AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats have begun the serious work of trying to implement President Joe Biden’s expansive spending plan. But getting there will require remarkable legislative nimbleness, since Biden has said the revenue to pay for it must come only from Americans who earn more than $400,000 a

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials are giving the go-ahead for temporary storage of highly radioactive waste in west Texas. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted a license to Interim Storage Partners to build and run a facility that could take up to 5,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel rods from power plants and 231 million

By KIM CHANDLER Associated Press MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Facebook has indicated the campaign page of Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey was briefly taken down after it was mistakenly flagged as an imposter account. But the social media giant says the site was restored Tuesday after the error was detected and that the step was not

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — NBC owes Tom Brady a thank you note. The ageless Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback led a charge in the annual NFL kickoff game, reaching some 24.8 million last Thursday for the matchup with the Dallas Cowboys. That represented a healthy increase from the 2020 season

By MARCY GORDON AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats have begun the serious work of trying to implement President Joe Biden’s expansive spending plan. But getting there will require remarkable legislative nimbleness, since Biden has said the revenue to pay for it must come only from Americans who earn more than $400,000 a

By CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press A woman is suing a New York fertility doctor for allegedly using his own sperm to impregnate her mother and then keeping the secret even after the woman, his biological daughter, became his patient. The 35-year-old Monroe County woman says she became suspicious of Dr. Morris Wortman of Rochester after

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Federal investigators say an officer’s errors in calculating the stability of a cargo ship carrying more than 4,000 new cars likely caused the giant vessel to capsize on the Georgia seacoast. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board issued its report Tuesday on the 2019 capsizing of

By ERIC TUCKER and ALAN SUDERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Three former U.S. intelligence and military operatives have admitted providing sophisticated hacking technology to the United Arab Emirates and agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to resolve criminal charges. It is an agreement that the Justice Department describes as the first of its kind.

The Associated Press Stocks went back to falling on Wall Street Tuesday after a blip higher the day before, giving the S&P 500 its sixth loss in the last seven trading days. The benchmark index had started higher after the latest data on inflation came in better than economists had expected, but those gains faded

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Tuesday: Oracle, Herbalife fall; FuelCell Energy, Magnite rise.

By MARCOS ALEMÁN Associated Press SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — One week after El Salvador became the first country to make bitcoin legal tender, problems continue to plague the system. El Salvador rolled out a digital wallet known as the “Chivo” on Sept. 8, but the system has often been down for maintenance. It

The Associated Press Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities, and foreign exchange levels.

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Apple unveiled its next iPhone line-up, including a model that offer twice the maximum and other modest upgrades to last year’s editions that proved to be a big hit among consumers devouring the latest technology during the pandemic. The pre-recorded video event streamed Tuesday

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press A new study finds pension systems for state government workers are in their best shape since the Great Recession. The Pew Charitable Trusts credits a booming stock market over the past year as well as states’ longer-term steps. Those include boosting taxpayer contributions to public pension funds and reducing promised

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A cryptocurrency company launched by partners of a major Wall Street trading firm has snagged the support of billionaire investor Steven A. Cohen. The hedge-fund manager and owner of the New York Mets has agreed in principle to invest in Radkl, a crypto trading firm,

UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked New York state from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after a group of health care workers sued, saying their Constitutional rights were violated. Judge David Hurd in Utica issued the order Tuesday after 17 health professionals, including doctors and nurses, claimed the vaccine mandate

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization and its partners hope to provide Africa with about 30% of the COVID-19 vaccines the continent needs by February. That will badly miss the 60% vaccination coverage goal that African leaders had once hoped for this year. At a press briefing on Tuesday, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

By NOMAAN MERCHANT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The general who leads U.S. efforts to thwart foreign-based cyberattacks says he’s mounting a new “surge” to fight incursions that have at times debilitated government agencies and companies responsible for critical infrastructure. In an interview, Gen. Paul Nakasone broadly describes “an intense focus” by government specialists to

By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — A judge has declared a mistrial at the trial of the founders of the lucrative classified site Backpage.com on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money. U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich said Tuesday prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no

Apple has released a critical software patch to fix a security vulnerability that could allow hackers to directly infect iPhones and other Apple devices without any involvement of the owner. Here’s how to update various Apple devices, according to the company’s website.

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — A woman who struggled with a robber inside an Illinois Subway shop says the owner suspended her from work after surveillance video of the fight became public. Araceli Sotelo told The Rockford Register Star that she was working alone in the Rockford sandwich shop Sept. 5 when a man came in

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A flight safety organization is warning that a Turkish drone base in ethnically divided Cyprus could increase safety risks for thousands of commercial flights that cross the airspace around the eastern Mediterranean island. FSF-Med, which is affiliated with the International Flight Safety Foundation, said Tuesday the planned upgrade for the Turkish

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Massive government relief passed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic moved millions of Americans out of poverty last year, even as the official poverty rate increased slightly. That’s according to Census Bureau reports released Tuesday. The official poverty measure showed an increase of 1 percentage point in

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — UK. Health Secretary Sajid Javid says that the government canceled an agreement with French vaccine maker Valneva partly because it was clear the company’s COVID-19 shot wouldn’t be approved by British regulators. Javid’s comments came a day after Valneva said the government had terminated an agreement to

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer Kroger is teaming up with Instacart on a new delivery service that can get grocery items to customers in as few as 30 minutes. The announcement comes at a time when many people are having groceries delivered for convenience and want their items to arrive quickly. Kroger Co. said

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer prices rose a lower-than-expected 0.3% last month, the smallest monthly increase n seven months and a hopeful sign that inflation pressures may be cooling. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that the August gain was down from a 0.5% increase in July and a 0.9%

BERLIN (AP) — German police are investigating the source of a balloon that caused a massive blackout in and around the eastern city of Dresden. Authorities said the metal foil balloon caused a short-circuit at an electricity substation in Dresden on Monday. It provoked a power outage that affected hospitals, trams, factories and about 300,000

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer Despite the pandemic’s damage to air travel, Boeing says it’s optimistic about long-term demand for airplanes. Boeing said Tuesday that it expects the aerospace market to be worth $9 trillion over the next decade. That includes planes for airlines and military uses and other aerospace products and services. That

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — More than $104 million in Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls went uncollected last year as the agency fully converted to all-electronic tolling. Turnpike records show the millions of motorists who don’t use E-ZPass have a nearly 1 in 2 chance of riding without paying under the “toll-by-plate” license