AP National Business

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — A United Nations report says the prolonged pandemic and surging prices are undermining food security for millions of people in Asia. The report by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization released Wednesday says access to food worsened in 2020, with more than 375 million people facing

By KRUTIKA PATHI and ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — The luxury fashion house Chanel has chosen Leena Nair, an industry outsider from India and longtime executive at Unilever, to be its new CEO. Analysts say her hiring signals how the brand is accounting for changing consumer awareness of the industry’s environmental impact

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — World shares are mixed as traders await the outcome of the last Federal Reserve meeting of this year. Benchmarks rose in Paris, Tokyo and Frankfurt but fell in Hong Kong and Shanghai after the U.S. Labor Department reported wholesale prices jumped a record 9.6% in November

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz is vowing that his new government will win the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and make Germany “structurally fit” for the 21st century. He promised Wednesday that efforts to combat climate change will be central to its agenda as he made his first major

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The head of the European Union’s executive branch says omicron is expected to be the dominant coronavirus variant in the 27-nation bloc by mid-January. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU is well prepared to fight omicron with 66.6% of the bloc’s population fully

By ALEX TURNBULL Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Harry’s Bar in Paris is celebrating the 100th birthday of the bloody mary, the vodka-tomato juice cocktail believed to have been invented at the iconic watering hole in 1921. The bar known for hosting F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway plans a centenary celebration on Thursday night

LONDON (AP) — Barclays is doubling its investment in English women’s football as part of its sponsorship of the top two divisions. The bank has extended a deal through 2025 to be the title sponsor of the Football Association-run Women’s Super League and it will also now be linked to the second-tier Championship. Barclays says

By The Associated Press The luxury fashion house Chanel has chosen Leena Nair, an industry outsider from India and longtime executive at Unilever, to be its new CEO. Nair said in a Twitter post that she was “humbled and honored to be appointed the Global Chief Executive Officer of @CHANEL, an iconic and admired company.”

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Human rights activists are lobbying major jewelers to stop buying gems sourced in Myanmar as a way to put pressure on Myanmar’s military leaders by limiting profits from the country’s lucrative mining industry. A report by the group Global Witness released Wednesday outlines how the army

By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The prosecution has made its case against Ghislaine Maxwell. Starting Thursday, her defense takes its turn. Maxwell has denied all charges levied against her. Her defense contends she’s being victimized by a need to make someone pay for the alleged crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — New York City lawmakers are poised to decide whether to prohibit most new buildings from using natural gas. The move would make the most populous U.S. city a showcase for a climate-change-fighting policy that has been both embraced and blocked elsewhere in the country. The measure

By MALLIKA SEN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The case for and against Ghislaine Maxwell has been made, and as soon as Monday, her fate will rest squarely in the jury’s hands. Maxwell has denied all charges levied against her. Her defense contends she’s being victimized by a need to make someone pay for

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — Shares are mostly lower in Asia as traders await the outcome of the last Federal Reserve meeting of this year. Hong Kong and Shanghai gave up early gains and Tokyo and Seoul were little changed after the U.S. Labor Department reported that inflation was still running

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration’s plan for health insurers to reimburse consumers for over-the-counter COVID-19 tests is recalling the model of a bygone era when the companies processed large volumes of claims from individuals — with paper receipts. It’s unclear if the buy-first, get-paid-later approach will spur people to

By BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has approved a $2.5 trillion debt limit hike, sending legislation to avert a catastrophic default to President Joe Biden for his signature. The flurry of action, which stretched into Wednesday’s early morning hours, came just shy of a deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, VICTORIA MILKO and LORI HINNANT Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — In February, Myanmar’s military took over the country’s government and its bank accounts, including those that receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year from a gas field called Yadana. Now there is a groundswell of support in Myanmar for targeted

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, VICTORIA MILKO and LORI HINNANT Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — In February, Myanmar’s military took over the country’s government and its bank accounts, including those that receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year from a gas field called Yadana. Now there is a groundswell of support in Myanmar for targeted