AP National Business

By TOM VERDIN Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Caldor Fire near Lake Tahoe can be measured in more than acres burned. While it has claimed homes, it’s also churning through or threatening places that have been cherished getaways for generations of Californians and others. An entire town, South Lake Tahoe, lies in its

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — America’s lobster fishing industry will face a host of new harvesting restrictions amid a new push from the federal government to try to save a vanishing species of whale. The prospect of new rules has loomed over the profitable lobster industry for years and were announced

By TOM MURPHY AP Health Writer Walgreens will hike starting pay to $15 an hour beginning in October, as employers across the United States continue boosting wages to attract workers. The drugstore chain says the wage hike will take effect in phases and be completed by November 2022. It will affect workers in the U.S.,

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP) — A large U.S. survey of new-vehicle owners found that automobile quality rose last year, but glitches in pairing smartphones with infotainment systems frustrated owners more than anything. The annual survey by J.D. Power found that the Ram truck brand had the fewest problems per 100 vehicles.

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated press MILAN (AP) — The heir of a late duke who sold Sting his Tuscan winery 25 years ago says the singer has hit a flat note with a lame apology for comments the family deems slanderous. The dispute has spilled into the pages of Italian papers. It arose from an

By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration is taking an initial step to assess how climate change could harm financial markets. It’s planning to launch on Tuesday a 75-day comment period on how the impacts could reshape the insurance sector. Insurers face payouts from wildfires and flooding risks that could

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence fell in August to the lowest level since February amid rising concerns about the rapidly spreading delta variant of the coronavirus and worries about higher inflation. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index dropped to a reading of 113.8 in

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — Ask anyone old enough to remember travel before Sept. 11, 2001, and you’re likely to get a gauzy recollection of what flying was like. There was security screening, but it wasn’t intrusive. There were no long checkpoint lines. Passengers and their families could walk right to

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s economy grew by 20.1% in the April-June quarter from the same period a year earlier, when it suffered a record contraction, raising hopes of an economic recovery. It was India’s fastest pace of growth since it began publishing quarterly gross domestic product figures in 1996. It was also far higher

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s National Assembly has approved legislation that bans app store operators such as Google and Apple from forcing developers to use their in-app payment systems. South Korea is reportedly the first country in the world to pass such a bill, which becomes law when it is signed by the

By The Associated Press Johnson & Johnson says its potential HIV vaccine did not provide protection against the virus in a study of young women in sub-Saharan Africa. J&J plans to end that study. But researchers will continue a separate, late-stage trial involving a different composition of the vaccine in men and transgender people. The

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices jumped by a record amount in June as homebuyers competed for a limited supply of available houses, the latest evidence that the housing market remains red-hot. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index jumped 19.1% in June compared with a year earlier,

By DAVID KOENIG and PAUL WISEMAN AP Business Writers Oil companies began gradually to restart some of their refineries in Louisiana, and key fuel pipelines fully reopened, providing hopeful signs that the region’s crucial energy industry can soon recover from the blow of Hurricane Ida. Exxon Mobil said its Hoover platform in the Gulf of

LONDON (AP) — British government veterinarians have killed an alpaca whose sentence of death made international headlines and pitted animal activists against the state. Veterinary staff in blue overalls, masks and goggles, backed by police officers, arrived at the western England farm where Geronimo lived and took the animal from his pen on Tuesday. The

By JOE McDONALD and ZEN SOO AP Business Writers BEIJING (AP) — Hugely popular online games and celebrity culture are the latest targets in the ruling Communist Party’s campaign to encourage China’s public to align with its political and economic vision. Rules that take effect Wednesday cut the amount of game time children are allowed

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president is visiting the United States in hopes of bolstering security ties with Washington and persuading the administration to ramp up sanctions against a new Russian gas pipeline bypassing his country. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called the U.S. failure to block the construction of the

By JARI TANNER Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonia’s parliament has elected the chief of a major national museum as the Baltic country’s new president in a second round of voting. Estonian National Museum director Alar Karis secured support from 72 members of the 101-seat Riigikogu legislature, while eight lawmakers voted blank and the

BERLIN (AP) — Google has announced that it is investing $1.2 billion by 2030 to expand its cloud computing infrastructure in Germany and to increase the use of renewable energy. The Internet giant said Tuesday that it plans to add new cloud computing centers in the Berlin region and in Hanau, a town near Frankfurt.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Defense Ministry is asking for a 2.6% increase over this year’s record budget. It’s seeking to further strengthen the country’s military in the face of China’s growing assertiveness in the region. In its budget request released Tuesday, the ministry sought 5.48 trillion yen ($49.86 billion) for

By COURTNEY JESPERSEN of NerdWallet One of the biggest sale weekends of the year is fast approaching. Labor Day weekend is traditionally filled with retail discounts ahead of the federal holiday on the first Monday of September. But this year, Labor Day sales will be happening in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, inflation and

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Consumers are seeing higher prices in Europe. Official figures released Tuesday show annual inflation hit 3% in August. Economists say it’s mostly temporary. But that hasn’t stopped people from debating how long higher prices will last. The price jump could influence upcoming wage negotiations in

BERLIN (AP) — Official statistics show that the number of unemployed people in Germany declined slightly in August, unusually for the summer month, while the country’s jobless rate remained steady at 5.6%. In its last jobs report before a national election on Sept. 26, the Federal Labor Agency said that 2.578 million were registered as

BEIJING (AP) — A survey shows China’s factory activity decelerated in August as export demand weakened. The numbers released Tuesday showed that the monthly purchasing managers’ index of the Chinese statistics bureau and an official industry group declined to 50.1 from July’s 50.4 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity increasing.

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets have gained as investors weighed the economic impact of the spread of the coronavirus’s delta variant. Wall Street ended August with a gain for the seventh straight month. Shanghai and Hong Kong retreated while Tokyo and South Korea advanced. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press CALIPATRIA, Calif. (AP) — Demand for electric vehicles has shifted investments into high gear to extract lithium from geothermal wastewater around California’s dying Salton Sea. The ultralight metal is critical to rechargeable batteries. Despite widespread availability in the United States, Nevada has the country’s only lithium plant, and U.S. production

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press CALIPATRIA, Calif. (AP) — Demand for electric vehicles has shifted investments into high gear to extract lithium from geothermal wastewater around California’s dying Salton Sea. The ultralight metal is critical to rechargeable batteries. Despite widespread availability in the United States, Nevada has the country’s only lithium plant, and U.S. production

By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska residents don’t know how much money they might get from the state’s oil wealth this year, or even when they might get the unique payout just for living in the oil-dependent state. It’s left many upset. Frustrated residents have told lawmakers that they’re tired of

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SITES, Calif. (AP) — It’s been seven years since California voters agreed to borrow billions of dollars to build more water storage projects. Yet none of the more than half-dozen projects scheduled to get the money have been built. A severe drought gripping the western United States has put those

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is in Tokyo meeting Japan’s foreign minister to discuss efforts to involve China and developing nations to fight climate change. The push comes ahead of a United Nations conference in November. The Japanese foreign minister said Tuesday he told Kerry that getting

By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska residents don’t know how much money they might get from the state’s oil wealth this year, or even when they might get the unique payout just for living in the oil-dependent state. It’s left many upset. Frustrated residents have told lawmakers that they’re tired of

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Legislature has voted to guarantee people can call out their bosses publicly in most harassment and discrimination cases. California law already bans nondisclosure agreements in cases of sexual harassment, discrimination and assault. The bill lawmakers approved Monday would extend that law to include other

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Workers at three Starbucks coffee shops in the Buffalo area filed petitions Monday with the National Labor Relations Board asking for a vote on union representation, the latest development in a nationwide, pandemic-era reckoning on wages and working conditions. Employees at the stores told The New York Times they were seeking

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Hurricane Ida knocked out all eight transmission lines that deliver power to New Orleans, leaving the entire city without electricity as the powerful storm pushed through on Sunday and early Monday with winds that reached 150 miles per hour. Some of the hardest-hit areas won’t see power

By PATTY NIEBERG Associated Press/Report for America DENVER (AP) — The Colorado secretary of state has sued to remove a rural county’s election clerk who is accused of allowing a security breach of voting equipment that the FBI also is investigating. Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in the lawsuit Monday that an initial investigation

By TERRY WALLACE Associated Press The electric utility Griddy Energy has reached a settlement with Texas state officials over crushing electric bills its customers received after the deadly February winter storm and cold wave. The Texas Attorney General’s Office announced the settlement Monday, having sued Griddy after customers received bills totaling many thousands of dollars.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Monday: Synaptics, Amazon rise; Entergy, United Airlines fall.

The Associated Press Stocks wound up mixed on Wall Street Monday, with the S&P 500 index managing just enough of a gain to mark another record high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped and small-company stocks fell. Gains for a handful of Big Tech companies were the main driver behind the increase in the S&P

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

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press CALIPATRIA, Calif. (AP) — Demand for electric vehicles has shifted investments into high gear to extract lithium from geothermal wastewater around California’s dying Salton Sea. The ultralight metal is critical to rechargeable batteries. Despite widespread availability in the United States, Nevada has the country’s only lithium plant, and U.S. production

By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press CALIPATRIA, Calif. (AP) — Demand for electric vehicles has shifted investments into high gear to extract lithium from geothermal wastewater around California’s dying Salton Sea. The ultralight metal is critical to rechargeable batteries. Despite widespread availability in the United States, Nevada has the country’s only lithium plant, and U.S. production

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals has affirmed a decision by state pollution regulators to issue a water quality certification for Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 crude oil pipeline. It’s the latest setback for opponents as the project nears completion. The court ruled that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is launching a new health office that will prod hospitals to cut carbon emissions, aiming to provide greener, more environmentally friendly medical care. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Monday the new Office of Climate Change and Health Equity will also work

BERLIN (AP) — A labor union representing German train drivers said its members will launch a third strike this week in an escalating pay dispute with the country’s biggest rail company. The GDL union said freight train drivers will walk out on Wednesday evening, followed by passenger train drivers early Thursday. The strike is due

By ANGELA CHARLTON and JEFFREY SCHAEFFER Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The speed limit for most of Paris is now 30 kilometers per hour (less than 19 miles per hour). The new rule takes effect Monday almost everywhere in the city except for a few wide avenues like the Champs-Elysees and the bypass circling the

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press MILAN (AP) — Italian firefighters are tackling remaining hot spots in a 20-story apartment building in Milan that was destroyed by fire, but say there were no indications that anyone is missing inside. Questions are arising, however, about the cladding on the building and the speed of the fire. The

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — The U.N. environment office says Algeria has become the last country in the world to stop selling highly toxic leaded gasoline. The U.N. Environment Agency said this marks the “official end” of the use in cars of a fuel that’s been blamed for a wide range of

By SAM METZ and JANIE HAR Associated Press/Report for America SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Fire is forcing thousands of people to rush to leave South Lake Tahoe as the entire California tourist city comes under evacuation orders. Wildfire raced toward Lake Tahoe, a large freshwater lake on the California-Nevada state line. Evacuation warnings

BEIJING (AP) — China is banning children from playing online games for more than three hours a week, the harshest restriction so far on the game industry as Chinese regulators continue cracking down on the technology sector. Regulators announced that minors in China can only play games between 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays,

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press The chief contractor at a failed multibillion-dollar project to build two nuclear reactors in South Carolina has agreed to pay more than $20 million as part of a cooperation agreement with federal authorities probing the fiasco. Acting U.S. Attorney Rhett DeHart said Monday that Westinghouse Electric Co. will contribute $21.25

NEW YORK (AP) — Please disregard US–NYC Subway Disruption, published on Aug. 30, 2021, and datelined in NEW YORK. It was sent when another story on the same topic was already out. Please use that story, now slugged US—NYC Subway Disruption. The 3rd-Ld Writethru was filed at 11:58 a.m.

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — PNC Bank is the latest large U.S. financial services company to increase wages in a bid to keep and attract employees. It is raising its minimum wage to $18 an hour while also giving higher-paid workers a bump in pay. The bank said Monday that

By JARI TANNER Associated Press TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonia’s Parliament on Monday failed to elect a new president to the Baltic country after lawmakers rejected the only candidate in the first round of voting. Alar Karis received support from 63 lawmakers with 16 blank votes and the rest either absent or abstaining Monday in

By KIMBERLY PALMER of NerdWallet Video games are made for entertainment, of course, but they give parents opportunities to talk about saving and spending. Some financial literacy experts actually use video games to teach kids about money. Video game currency costs real money, and you can give your kids real chores to earn it. And

BEIJING (AP) — Universal Studios says it will open its first theme park in China in September after six years of construction. The company said Monday that the theme park will open in China’s capital on Sept. 20. Beijing authorities have strongly backed the project, including the extension of one of the city’s main subway

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has recommended that its 27 nations reinstate restrictions on tourists from the U.S. because of rising coronavirus infections there, but EU nations can still allow fully vaccinated U.S. travelers in if they want. The decision by the European Council to remove the U.S. from

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares are mostly lower in muted trading on continuing concerns about surging COVID-19 infections in key regional markets like Japan. Benchmarks fell Tuesday in Japan, China and South Korea in morning trading, although shares rose in Australia. Gains for several Big Tech stocks helped push

The Associated Press The Conference Board issues its latest U.S. consumer confidence index Tuesday. The Commerce Department delivers its monthly U.S. construction spending snapshot Wednesday. The Labor Department reports its August tally of hiring by nonfarm U.S. employers Friday.

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares are mostly higher as investors interpreted comments from the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve as signaling low interest rates were here to stay for some time. Benchmarks in Japan, Australia and Shanghai rose Monday, while shares were little changed in South Korea and

By PAUL WISEMAN and DAVID KOENIG AP Business Writers WASHINGTON (AP) — With more than 1 million customers in Louisiana and Mississippi having lost power, Hurricane Ida is sure to take a toll on the energy, chemical and shipping industries that have major hubs along the Gulf Coast. But the impact on the overall U.S.

PLANO, Texas (AP) — Authorities are trying to determine if there is a connection between a confrontation at a Dallas suburb in which police officers wounded a man after he had opened fire inside a police station and the death of a Lyft driver at another Dallas suburb. Plano Police say the man was shot

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Candyman” has hooked the top spot at the North American box office. The Universal Pictures film starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II impressively pulled in more than $22.3 million through a quiet weekend despite concerns over the delta variant. The R-rated horror movie, co-written by Jordan

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline dropped 2 cents over the past two weeks, to $3.23 per gallon. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey says Sunday that it’s the first decline in gas prices in nine months. Nationwide, the highest average price for regular-grade gas is in the

By MICHAEL CASEY and MICHELLE LIU Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — States have begun to ramp up the amount of rental assistance reaching tenants but there are still millions of families facing eviction who haven’t gotten help. The Treasury Department says just $5.1 billion of the estimated $46.5 billion in federal rental assistance, or

MADRID (AP) — Spanish authorities say that a passenger ferry has run aground on an islet near the Spanish island of Ibiza and a child and a man required hospital treatment. Nearly 40 people were evacuated from the ferry and Spain’s maritime rescue service said Sunday that a helicopter airlifted six people all in need

By DARKO BANDIC Associated Press DUBROVNIK, Croatia (AP) — Summer tourism has exceeded even the most optimistic expectations in Croatia this year. Beaches along the country’s Adriatic Sea coastline are swarming with people. Guided tours are fully booked, restaurants are packed and sailboats were chartered well in advance. Croatia’s tourism industry was caught by surprise.

By HALELUYA HADERO and GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writers As governments, corporations and charity groups rush to get their citizens and employees out of Afghanistan, dozens of Afghan people got help to flee their country from Instagram influencer Quentin Quarantino. The alter ego of 25-year-old Tommy Marcus has helped raise $7 million on GoFundMe to

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) — A Tesla using its partially automated driving system has slammed into a Florida Highway Patrol cruiser on an interstate near downtown Orlando. The Florida Highway Patrol says the trooper narrowly escaped injury. A highway patrol spokeswoman told The Orlando Sentinel the trooper was assisting a disabled vehicle about 5 a.m. Saturday

By FRANK BAJAK Associated Press Companies evacuated oil and gas platforms south of Louisiana ahead of Hurricane Ida but a far greater worry was potential damage to refineries and petrochemical plants in its projected path from flooding and storm surge. The Mississippi River industrial corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is along the projected

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Republican efforts questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential race have led to voting system breaches that election security experts say pose a heightened risk to future elections. Copies of Dominion Voting Systems software used to manage elections were distributed at an event this month in

By The Associated Press From the Great Wall of China to the picturesque Himalayan mountains of India, Asia’s tourist destinations are looking to domestic visitors to get them through the COVID-19 pandemic. With international travel heavily restricted, foreign tourists can’t enter many countries and locals can’t get out. In the metropolis of Hong Kong, glamping

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Amazon is teaming with payments company Affirm to offer online shoppers a buy-now-pay-later option that does not involve credit cards. San Francisco-based Affirm Holdings Inc. announced Friday that it’s flexible payment service will soon be available on Amazon.com. The news sent Affirm’s stock up more than 35% in after-hours trading. With

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft says it’s fixed a flaw in its cloud computing platform that cybersecurity researchers warned could have enabled hackers to take over a database used by many big companies. The company said Friday there’s no evidence the technique was exploited by malicious actors or that any customer data was exposed. The

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina-based Bojangles chain of restaurants says it will close all of its company-owned establishments on two upcoming days, portraying it as a chance to provide its thousands of employees a “well-deserved break.” But Bojangles’ employees will not get paid for those days off. In a statement, the chicken and

The Associated Press Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Friday: Bill.com, Workday rise; Peloton Interactive, Ollie’s fall

The Associated Press Stocks rallied to more record highs Friday after the head of the Federal Reserve said it’s still far from pulling interest rates off the record low that has helped the market soar, even if it does begin dialing back its support for the economy later this year. In a highly anticipated speech,

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Tenant advocates and court officials were gearing up Friday for what some fear will be a wave of evictions but others predict will be a gradual trickle after a late-night U.S. Supreme Court action that allows the lockouts to resume. The high court’s conservative majority late Thursday

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

By KATHLEEN FOODY Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago officials are accusing DoorDash and Grubhub of harming the city’s restaurants and their customers via high fees and other deceptive practices when delivery and takeout business became essential to the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chicago officials believe the lawsuits filed Friday are the most sweeping

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota troopers on Friday arrested four people protesting Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 replacement pipeline project at the state Capitol. Videos posted on social media showed law enforcement officers surrounding about a dozen protesters. About 1,000 demonstrators gathered earlier in the week for a major rally calling on Democratic Gov. Tim

By MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol has issued sweeping document requests to social media companies. The request expands the scope of the committee’s investigation as it seeks to examine the events leading to the Jan. 6 insurrection. The requests were issued Friday to

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is forecasting that this year’s budget deficit will be $555 billion lower than it estimated back in May, helped by an economy that is rebounding more quickly than had been expected. But even with the improvement, the administration said Friday that it is

By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press A federal bankruptcy judge on Friday urged states that oppose a settlement plan with Purdue Pharma to try to work out differences with the OxyContin maker before he issues a ruling next week. During a videoconference hearing, Judge Robert Drain warned of lengthy and expensive appeals if he approves the

Rivian, an electric vehicle startup backed by Amazon, Ford, and other deep-pocketed investors, confidentially filed to become a publicly traded company. The size of the initial public offering has yet to be determined, but the company has created a lot of buzz. Rivian last year raised $2.5 billion from accounts advised by investment firm T.

By BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona nurse who has spent the past 18 months caring for COVID-19 patients is sharing her perspective as a third surge of cases hits the state and it crosses the 1 million case mark. Caroline Maloney works in the intensive care unit at Scottsdale Osborn

By KELSEY SHEEHY of NerdWallet Business owners planning a move from remote-only to a hybrid workplace face unique challenges. Define what a hybrid setup will look like for your team or company and invest in tools to create a seamless experience for employees, no matter where they’re working. Owners and managers also need to rethink

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press Vermont’s agriculture secretary says 89 organic dairy farms in the Northeast will lose their contracts with an organic dairy company when it stops buying milk in the region by the end of August of next year. Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts says Danone, the parent company of Horizon Organic, notified farms

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve will start dialing back its ultra-low-interest rate policies this year as long as hiring continues to improve, Chair Jerome Powell said Friday, signaling the beginning of the end of the Fed’s extraordinary response to the pandemic recession. Such a move could lead to

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Growth in U.S. consumer spending slowed in July to a modest increase of 0.3% while inflation over the past 12 months rose to the fastest pace in three decades. The July increase in spending was down sharply from a 1.1% rise in June, the Commerce Department

BERLIN (AP) — The Swiss government has approved the extradition of a key figure sought by Germany in a massive tax evasion case. The Federal Office of Justice said Friday that it had given the green light on Aug. 20 for the extradition of German lawyer Hanno Berger. The lawyer, who was arrested in Switzerland

Peloton says it’s been subpoenaed by the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security for documents and other information related to its reporting of injuries associated with its products. The exercise equipment company also said in a regulatory filing on Friday that the Securities and Exchange Commission is “investigating our public disclosures concerning these

VIENNA (AP) — A Vienna court has convicted former Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache of corruption for trying to change laws to favor a private hospital in exchange for donations to his party. Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported Friday that Strache received a 15-month suspended prison sentence for accepting two bribes totaling 12,000 euros ($14,100).

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese regulators will exercise greater control over the algorithms used by Chinese technology firms to personalize and recommend content, in the latest move in a regulation spree across the internet sector. China’s internet watchdog on Friday released a draft proposal of “algorithm recommendation management regulations.” It aims to manage how technology companies

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street rallied to records Friday after the head of the Federal Reserve said it’s still far from pulling interest rates off the record low that has helped the market soar, even if it does begin dialing back its support for the economy later this

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — By early next week, New Zealanders should know if their government’s strict new lockdown is working to stamp out its first coronavirus outbreak in six months. A successful effort could again make the nation’s virus response the envy of the world. A failure could expose

By ASTRID GALVAN and MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press SOMERTON, Ariz. (AP) — The results of the 2020 headcount have many Latino and Black communities concerned about whether the latest numbers are accurate. In Somerton, Arizona, a small city near the U.S.-Mexico border that is overwhelmingly Hispanic, leaders say the results make no sense. They’ve seen

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters battling a stubborn California wildfire near the Lake Tahoe resort region are facing gusty winds and dry conditions that make vegetation ready to burn. The Caldor Fire has proved so difficult to fight that fire managers this week pushed back the projected date for full containment from Aug.

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Apple has agreed to let developers of iPhone apps email their users about cheaper ways to pay for digital subscriptions and media by circumventing a commission system that generates billions of dollars annually for the iPhone maker. The concession announced late Thursday is part of