AP National Business

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The official two-week campaigning period for Portugal’s Jan. 30 general election is kicking off. But there will be none of the large flag-waving rallies usually associated with the buildup to the ballot because of the coronavirus pandemic. The ballot comes two years ahead of schedule after parliament rejected the minority Socialist

By TOM BOWKER and TOM KRISHER Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Tesla is turning to Mozambique for a key component in its electric car batteries in what analysts believe is a first-of-its-kind deal designed to reduce its dependence on China for graphite. Elon Musk’s company signed an agreement last month with Australia’s Syrah Resources, which

By HELINA SELEMON Associated Press Thousands of miles away from the Tigray war a lawsuit between trustees and clergy over the language of services is tearing apart an Ethiopian church in Ohio. The ethnic tensions in the church reflect how the war in Ethiopia has fueled divides across the more than 3 million members of

By LORI HINNANT Associated Press STRASBOURG, France (AP) — The omicron variant of the pandemic is exposing the vulnerabilities of European public health systems. Hospitals in France and Britain are again struggling to staff intensive care units and treat patients as their own employees get infected. Experts say the problem is that few health systems

By FRANK BAJAK Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — DirecTV says it plans to drop the right-wing TV channel One America News Network. The satellite television provider’s move is expected to significantly shrink the reach of the channel loyal to former President Donald Trump. OAN has been criticized for spreading misinformation including Trump’s claim, he won

ROME (AP) — The discovery of African swine fever in northern Italy has pork producers fearing significant damages to a major agricultural export, and is also cutting short truffle hunting. Earlier this month, a case of the virus, which can be deadly to pigs but doesn’t harm humans, was discovered in a wild boar in

By COLLEEN BARRY AP Fashion Writer MILAN (AP) — Italian media say Nino Cerruti, the Italian fashion designer credited with revolutionizing menswear in the 1960s and who gave Giorgio Armani his first fashion break, has died. He was 91.  The Italian news agency LaPresse reported that Cerruti died in northwestern Italy, where his family has

By COLLEEN BARRY AP Fashion Writer MILAN (AP) — Milan menswear designers seem to have decided on the answer, but the question remains: Have the pandemic lockdowns emboldened men to embrace a more feminine silhouette, including skirts, mini-dresses and cape coats? The Milan Fashion Week of previews for next winter and fall continued for the

LONDON (AP) — The pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline says it has rejected an unsolicited 50 billion-pound ($68.4 billion) bid from Unilever for its consumer healthcare goods unit. The unit is a joint venture in a partnership with Pfizer, which holds a minority interest. GSK said Saturday that it rejected three bids from Unilever last year –

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group and its main Shiite ally say they are ending their boycott of Cabinet meetings after three months. The deadlock has worsened the small Mideast nation’s unprecedented economic meltdown. The two Shiite groups said in a joint statement on Saturday they will attend Cabinet sessions to approve a new

ROME (AP) — The discovery of African swine fever in northern Italy has pork producers fearing significant damages to a major agricultural export. Earlier this month, a case of the virus, which can be deadly to pigs but doesn’t harm humans, was discovered in a wild boar in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy. Wild

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Environmental protesters are once again demanding the cancelation of plans for lithium mining in western Serbia. They took to the streets again Saturday in the Balkan nation, blocking roads and, for the first time, a border crossing. Traffic on Serbia’s main north-south highway was halted by the protests for more than

By ANNIE MA Associated Press Philanthropy, federal relief funding and other community driven efforts to close the digital divide in a year of remote schooling have helped significantly to bring more children online. But many families remain underconnected. They find themselves able to access the internet and the increasing number of tasks that rely on

AMSTERDAM (AP) — As stores in Amsterdam and across the Netherlands cautiously reopened after weeks of a coronavirus lockdown, the Dutch capital’s mood was further lightened by dashes of color as thousands of free bunches of tulips were handed out. National Tulip Day is usually marked by an improvised flower garden in front of the

BERLIN (AP) — A senior European Central Bank official says that raising interest rates prematurely could “choke off the recovery,” comments that come as inflation in the 19-nation euro area has hit a record rate. The European Union’s statistical office said Jan. 7 that the annual inflation rate rose to 5% in December — the

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic has forced the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of world leaders, business executives and other heavyweights to go virtual for the second year in a row. Organizers still hope to catapult the world into thinking about the future of the pandemic, climate change and

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) — About $7 million worth of surplus personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, purchased by a Northern California county earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, was damaged in recent rainstorms after it was left outside for months. San Mateo County officials acknowledged the disaster Friday following a KGO news report that showed

By DEMETRIS NELLAS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Credit ratings company Fitch has revised Greece’s outlook to positive from stable, although it kept the country’s rating at BB, two notches below investment grade. Fitch says the economy grew faster than forecast in 2021 and growth will continue to be strong in 2022 and 2023.

By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is pushing ahead with efforts to prod people to get COVID-19 shots after the Supreme Court put a halt to the administration’s sweeping vaccinate-or-test plan for large employers. At a time when hospitals are being overrun with patients and record numbers of people are