AP National Business

GENEVA (AP) — Credit Suisse has reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.2 billion as the top-drawer Swiss bank wrapped up “a year of challenges” marked by bad bets on a hedge fund, set asides for legal costs, and accounting changes due to its acquisition of a U.S. investment bank over 20 years ago. Switzerland’s second-largest

By HOPE YEN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — States are getting the go-ahead to build a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations that would place new or upgraded stations every 50 miles along interstate highways. It’s part of the Biden administration’s plan to spur widespread adoption of the zero-emission cars. The administration on Thursday

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is seeing its economic emergence from the unprecedented COVID-19 slowdown hampered by coronavirus-induced staff shortages, supply bottlenecks, runaway energy prices and subsequent inflation surges. The European Commission said Thursday that even though the economy has rebounded from losses at the height of the pandemic

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — Britain’s top diplomat has urged Russia to defuse tensions over Ukraine and take the path of diplomacy even as thousands of Russian troops engaged in sweeping maneuvers in Belarus as part of a military buildup near Ukraine that has fueled Western fears of an invasion. Foreign Secretary

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany Siemens AG saw net profit at the global maker of trains and industrial equipment rise 20% to 1.8 billion euros in the last three months of 2021. The rebounding global economy increased orders for its goods, including a 1-billion euro order for high speed

LONDON (AP) — AstraZeneca has recorded a big jump in revenue as it begins to take a profit from its coronavirus vaccine for the first time. The company recorded full-year revenues of $37.4 billion, an increase of 38% from the year before at constant exchange rates. Part of the boost came from $4 billion in

By MOSA’AB ELSHAMY Associated Press IGHRAN, Morocco (AP) — The death of a 5-year-old boy trapped for days in the dark depths of a well symbolizes for many villagers a curse that haunts their remote mountainous region in northern Morocco. Rif is dirt poor, neglected and dependent on its illegal cannabis crop to survive. Rayan’s

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Global shares are higher as investors try to gauge U.S. inflation, tensions between Russia and Ukraine and the impact of the pandemic. Benchmarks in France, Britain and Germany are rising in early trading. Shares in Japan, South Korea, Australia and China finished higher. Japan extended measures

PARIS (AP) — Paris police are banning road blockades threatened by groups organizing online against COVID-19 restrictions. The groups appear in part inspired by protesters in Canada. The Paris police department on Thursday banned protests aimed at “blocking the capital” from Friday through Monday. Police cited the “risks of trouble to public order.” The police

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — A newspaper says a Chinese real estate developer that is struggling under $310 billion in debt is promising to deliver 600,000 apartments this year. That is a show of confidence that Evergrande Group can can avert a collapse and resume normal business. The company has left

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea will begin offering Novavax Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine at hospitals, nursing homes and public health centers next week, adding another tool to fight a fast-developing omicron surge. The country reported a record 54,122 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, but officials are expressing cautious hope

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) — A peace agreement for eastern Ukraine has remained stalled for years. But it has come into the spotlight again amid a Russian military buildup near Ukraine that has fueled invasion fears. Top officials from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany are set to meet in Berlin on Thursday

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California has sued Tesla Inc. over allegations of discrimination and harassment of Black employees at its San Francisco Bay area factory. The state’s civil rights arm, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, filed the suit on Wednesday. Newspaper reports say agency head Kevin Kish says the agency received hundreds of

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and JOSH BOAK Associated Press CULPEPER, Virginia (AP) — President Joe Biden is trying to jump-start progress on his stalled domestic agenda by refocusing attention on one of his most popular proposals, limiting the cost of prescription drugs. Biden traveled to Culpeper, Virginia, on Thursday to call attention to what the White

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — With American consumers spending freely and many supply chains still snarled, year-over-year inflation may have notched yet another four-decade high in January. The factors that have accelerated prices since last spring remain largely in place: Wages are rising at the fastest pace in at least 20

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares are mostly higher as investors try to gauge U.S. inflation, tensions between Russia and Ukraine and the impact of the pandemic. Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney advanced while Hong Kong and Shanghai were lower. Japan extended measures in Tokyo and some other places to curb

By JIM GOMEZ and JOEAL CALUPITAN Associated Press MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines has lifted a nearly two-year ban on foreign travelers in a lifesaving boost for its tourism and related industries as an omicron-fueled surge eases. Fully vaccinated travelers who tested negative for the virus will also no longer be required to quarantine

By ROB GILLIES and TOM KRISHER Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — A blockade of the bridge between Canada and Detroit by protesters demanding an end to Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions has forced the shutdown of a Ford plant and is beginning to have broader implications on the North American auto industry.  Canada has been beset in

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Police arrested dozens of protesters camping on the grounds of New Zealand’s Parliament on the third day of a protest against coronavirus mandates. Police called in extra officers but seemed prepared to wait out the protesters. About 120 had been arrested by evening, many charged