AP National Business

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The International Monetary Fund has approved a $1 billion loan as part of a bailout package to Pakistan, following reforms to rein in state spending, increase tax collection and make the central bank more independent, the IMF and the country’s finance minister said. The much-needed tranche was initially to be released last

By AMY TAXIN Associated Press Many American hospitals are looking abroad for health care workers, saying they’re facing a dire shortage of nurses amid the slogging pandemic. It could be just in time as there’s an unusually high number of green cards available this year for foreign professionals seeking to move to the United States.

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The largest natural lake west of the Mississippi is shrinking past its lowest levels in recorded history, raising fears about toxic dust, ecological collapse and economic consequences. But the Great Salt Lake may have some new allies: conservative Republican lawmakers. The new burst of energy

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of foreigners have been denied entry to study, work or visit families in Japan, which has kept its doors closed to most overseas visitors during the pandemic. Foreign students and scholars say the measures are unfair and force talented visitors elsewhere. Some excluded students

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — A maritime intelligence company whose data is used by the U.S. government to investigate sanctions violations says that since January 2020 it has detected more than 200 vessels using technology to hide a ship location that was previously available only to militaries. The Windward company says the

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares are mixed in Asia, with markets in China still closed for Lunar New Year holidays. Tokyo and Sydney declined, while Seoul advanced as markets there reopened. Shares rose Wednesday on Wall Street as the latest batch of company earnings reports kept investors in a buying

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, saw its stock plunge in after-hours trading after reporting a rare decline in its fourth quarter profit due to a sharp increase in expenses. Meta Platforms Inc., which renamed itself during the quarter to reflect CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s ambition of

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president says he will create a state-owned company to mine lithium and appears to suggest he will seek to cancel one of the few existing permits held by a Chinese company. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had said in October he wants to declare lithium a “strategic mineral,” but it

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government will end its quarantine requirements for incoming travelers and reopen its borders. The change is welcomed by thousands of citizens abroad who have endured long waits to return home. Since the start of the pandemic, New Zealand has enacted some of the

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency says a U.S. Postal Service plan to replace its huge fleet of mail-delivery trucks has too few electric vehicles and falls short of President Joe Biden’s goals to slow global warming. In a sharply worded letter, the EPA says the Postal Service plan

By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Three federal agencies have promised to help modernize Puerto Rico’s outage-plagued power grid and speed up efforts to strengthen it more than four years after Hurricane Maria razed it. More than $12 billion in federal recovery funds are available for projects scheduled to start

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, saw its stock plunge after-hours Wednesday after reporting a rare decline in its fourth quarter profit due to a sharp increase in expenses. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company said it earned $10.29 billion, or $3.67 per share, in the final

Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Wednesday: Alphabet, Brinker International rise; PayPal, Gilead fall.

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — The travel industry is lobbying Washington for changes it thinks will get more people on airplanes and staying in hotels. Airline and tourism groups want the U.S. to eliminate its requirement that travelers provide a negative test for COVID-19 before boarding a U.S.-bound plane. The United

By FRANK BAJAK and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has confirmed purchasing NSO Group’s powerful spyware tool Pegasus, whose chronic abuse to hack journalists, dissidents and human rights activists has long been established. The FBI suggested its motivation was to “stay abreast of emerging technologies and tradecraft.” It said in a

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — A classified satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office was launched into space from California. The NROL-85 satellite lifted off at 6:13 a.m. Sunday from Vandenberg Space Force Base aboard a two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Vandenberg says it was the first mission by the NRO to reuse

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press An energy company already charged with violating Pennsylvania environmental laws during construction of the multibillion-dollar Mariner East pipeline system is facing more legal trouble. Prosecutors on Wednesday filed a new criminal case alleging the company’s negligence led to the 2018 explosion of a different pipeline near Pittsburgh. The state attorney