AP National Business

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — Relatives, lawmakers and other supporters are pleading for clemency for a trucker sentenced to 110 years in prison after an explosive brake-failure crash that left four people dead in Colorado. Supporters of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos rallied at the state Capitol in Denver on Wednesday to make their case.

Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Wednesday: Paychex, Tesla rise; CalAmp, Allakos fall.

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a New Orleans-based company has agreed to turn over a $432 million trust fund and pay $43 million to settle a lawsuit over cleaning up the nation’s longest-running oil spill. Sixteen wells off Louisiana have been leaking since September 2004, when a subsea

By LISA MASCARO and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden, along with progressive and moderate Democrats, appears determined to return to the negotiating table with Sen. Joe Manchin. Manchin is the holdout Democrat who effectively sank the party’s signature $2 trillion domestic policy initiative. Republicans are voicing greater confidence now that

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria has had to destroy more than 1 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine that were too close to their expiry date to be used. Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said health officials were left with little choice. He said

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium has decided to further tighten restrictions in anticipation of the surging omicron variant. But the country has shied away from a full lockdown like the neighboring Netherlands has done. Belgian authorities on Wednesday decided to close cinemas, theaters and concert halls and ban most indoor activities.

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday it plans to fine the owners of the shuttered Oyster Creek nuclear power plant $150,000 for security violations at the New Jersey site. The agency would not reveal the nature of the violations, citing security concerns, but said the site’s overall security program

MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is convening a special Cabinet meeting Thursday to pass a decree-law that makes it mandatory to wear masks outdoors amid a record surge in COVID-19 cases. His office said at a meeting with the leaders of Spain’s regional governments, Sánchez offered to deploy the armed forces to

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — The family of a trucker sentenced to 110 years in prison after an explosive brake-failure accident that left four people dead has held a rally in Denver Wednesday to plead for clemency. Supporters of Rogel Aguilera-Mederos say the sentence is deeply unjust. Truck drivers around the country

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans can take at home to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death. The Food and Drug Administration announcement comes as the U.S. braces for a wave of new infections from the omicron

By THANASSIS STAVRAKIS and DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Public health authorities in Greece have stepped up a campaign to deliver booster shots to seniors and people with mobility difficulties at home, with some agencies using taxi companies to take healthcare workers to where the vaccinations are needed. The country is fighting

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks closed higher on Wall Street Wednesday, adding to the week’s gains ahead of the Christmas holiday. The S&P 500 rose 1%, the Nasdaq rose 1.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%. The Russell 2000, a measure of small-company stocks, rose 0.9%. Technology

By JONATHAN MATTISE Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal labor board is reviewing a decision by one of its regional officials to deny a union from trying to organize fewer than 100 employees at the Nissan assembly plant in Tennessee. A 3-2 decision Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board ordered a review

By AMER COHADZIC Associated Press SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Bosnian officials and religious leaders have denounced suggestions voiced by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his spokesman that the integration of Bosnia into the European Union will be challenging because of its large Muslim population. Orban spokesman Zoltan Kovacs has tweeted that the challenge with

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press A trademark tiff between America’s oldest beer maker and its best-selling beer brand appears to be over before it really began. Last week, D.G. Yuengling & Son demanded its much larger rival, Anheuser-Busch, stop using a tagline for its forthcoming Bud Light Next zero-carb beer. Bud Light had been calling

By LORNE COOK and VANESSA GERA Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is launching legal action against Poland over recent decisions by one of the country’s top courts which have raised troubling questions about the 27-nation bloc’s legal order. Poland’s constitutional court ruled in October that Polish laws have supremacy over those of