AP National Business

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A government report says U.S. health care spending rocketed to $4.1 trillion last year as Congress opened the spigot of federal dollars to battle the coronavirus pandemic across multiple fronts. National health spending jumped by 9.7% in 2020, more than double the usual growth rate, with health

By PIERRE-RICHARD LUXAMA and EVENS SANON Associated Press CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti (AP) — Nelly Joseph picked through the twisted metal roofing, overturned furnishings and rubble of her charred home, unsure of where her dead son had been buried or where she would sleep after blasts from a flipped gas tanker destroyed their house. Late Monday night,

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Nannies, house cleaners, gardeners and other San Francisco domestic workers must be given paid sick leave under a groundbreaking law approved by city leaders this week. The Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the legislation, which the San Francisco Chronicle says is the first of its kind in the U.S. The law

By KEVIN McGILL and DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court panel has lifted a nationwide ban against President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for health workers, creating the potential for patchwork enforcement across the country. Wednesday’s decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals keeps an

By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Associated Press says a freelance video journalist accredited to the AP in Ethiopia has been detained by police in the capital of Addis Ababa. Amir Aman Kiyaro was detained under the country’s new war-related state of emergency powers on Nov. 28 after returning home from

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin are said to be sharply divided over Democrats’ huge social and environment bill, with the holdout senator pushing to erase the measure’s improved child tax credit. That word comes from a person familiar with the talks who described them on

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks are higher on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve said it expects to raise interest rates three times next year as it seeks to tackle rising inflation. The central bank plans to shrink its monthly bond purchases at twice the pace it previously announced,

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The major freight railroads across North America continue to experiment with alternative locomotive fuels as a way to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. BNSF railroad said Wednesday that it plans to test out a hydrogen-powered locomotive along its lines, joining Canadian Pacific in experimenting with

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Sources briefed on the decision say electric truck maker Rivian Automotive will announce Thursday that it’s building a $5 billion battery and assembly plant east of Atlanta projected to employ 7,500 workers. Rivian is a new entrant seeking to make electric trucks and commercial vans, challenging established

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve will quicken the pace at which it’s pulling back its support for the post-pandemic U.S. economy as inflation surges, and it expects to raise interest rates three times next year. In an abrupt policy shift, the Fed announced that it will shrink its

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A judge has ordered a Dutch right-wing populist lawmaker to take down four tweets in which he drew comparisons between coronavirus lockdown measures and the treatment of Jews under the Nazi regime. The judge said Wednesday that Thierry Baudet “instrumentalized” the suffering of Jews. Two Jewish organizations and a group

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Negotiations between President Joe Biden and holdout Sen. Joe Manchin over Democrats’ $2 trillion social and environment bill are said to be going poorly. A person familiar with the talks says the West Virginia Democrat wants to drop the legislation’s extension of an expanded child tax credit.

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Housing advocates say evictions are increasing around the country, several months after a federal moratorium was allowed to end. The rise in cases, although below pre-pandemic levels in most states and cities, shows the limits on the tens of billions of dollars in federal assistance and the

ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — India has announced a $10.2 billion incentive plan in an attempt to attract global chipmakers and transform the country into a semiconductor production hub. The plan announced Wednesday by government officials comes amid a global semiconductor shortage which has delayed delivery of consumer goods including cars. The

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The countries behind a U.N. agreement on weapons have been meeting this week on the thorny issue of lethal autonomous weapons systems. Known colloquially as “killer robots,” advocacy groups want to strictly limit or ban them. The latest conference of countries behind a Convention on Certain Conventional

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Americans slowed their spending from October to November but still continued to shop ahead of the critical holiday season, brushing off rising prices and shortages. The U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday that retail sales rose a modest 0.3% in November compared with the previous month

DETROIT (AP) — Volkswagen’s Audi luxury brand is recalling 289,000 SUVs in the U.S. because water can get into a control computer under the back seats. The recall covers certain 2021 and 2022 Q5 and SQ5 Sportback models and some 2018 through 2022 Q5 and SQ5 models. The company says in documents posted by U.S.

By KEITH RIDLER Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Political hostility to public education in the Republican-dominated Idaho Legislature is causing some businesses to doubt the wisdom of moving to or expanding in a state that habitually ranks at or near the bottom in what it spends on K-12 students and has had one of

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks fell in afternoon trading on Wall Street Wednesday as investors wait to hear from the Federal Reserve after its last policy meeting of the year. The Fed is widely expected to announce a faster pullback of its stimulus measures as inflationary pressures build. The