AP National Business

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — A new European Union plan to improve conditions for the growing number of gig economy workers could mean millions more of them are classified as employees entitled to benefits. It’s the latest setback for digital platforms that rely on independent contractors to deliver food and offer

By SYLVIE CORBET The Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French President Macron is planning to present the priorities for France’s upcoming presidency of the European Union. France’s turn in the European Council’s rotating six-month presidency starts Jan. 1. and overlaps with the country’s presidential election. Macron has a news conference about the EU presidency scheduled

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has reached a political agreement to extend cuts to costly mobile-phone roaming costs in the bloc for another decade. It affects travel for tens of millions of EU citizens. The deal will allow EU consumers to continue to make mobile calls, send text messages and use the internet in

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks are mostly higher as investors wait for U.S. inflation data that might influence the Federal Reserve’s decision on when to roll back economic stimulus. London and Frankfurt opened higher while Tokyo declined. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul also advanced. Wall Street futures were lower

By OLEKSANDR STASHEVSKYI and YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press MORSHYN, Ukraine (AP) — A small spa town in western Ukraine is standing out in a country where only 29% of the population has received coronavirus vaccine shots. In Morshyn, a scenic town nestled at the Carpathian foothills, 74% of 3,439 residents have been fully vaccinated. While

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A conservation group is planning to purchase a 5-mile stretch of the Lost Coast in remote Northern California that has been logged for more than a century. Save the Redwoods League planned to announce Thursday that it’s trying to raise millions of dollars by the end

By NICK PERRY Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government believes it has come up with a unique plan to end tobacco smoking — a lifetime ban for those aged 14 or younger. Under a new law the government plans to pass next year, the minimum age to buy cigarettes would keep

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer LONDON (AP) — A new report group says digital contact tracing apps, artificial intelligence and other tech tools that European governments rolled out to combat COVID-19 failed to play a key role in solving the pandemic and now threaten to make such monitoring widely accepted. The nonprofit research group

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets are mixed as investors wait for U.S. inflation data that might influence the Federal Reserve’s decision on when to roll back economic stimulus. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul advanced. Tokyo and Sydney declined. Wall Street rose for a third day as anxiety about

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE Associated Press DAVIS, Calif. (AP) — Banana peels, chicken bones and leftover veggies won’t have a place in California trashcans under a mandatory residential food waste recycling program set to go into effect across the state in January. It’s designed to keep landfills clear of food waste that emits methane, a potent

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Once-lionized entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes wrapped up seven days of testimony Wednesday in her criminal fraud trial, defending her actions as CEO of the startup Theranos. The company she founded soared on the promise of its innovative blood-testing technology only to crash in a sordid

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Business Writer A growing effort to unionize Starbucks stores is facing its first major test. The National Labor Relations Board is scheduled to count ballots Thursday from union elections held at three separate Starbucks stores in the Buffalo, New York, area. Around 111 Starbucks workers from the three stores were eligible

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets have followed Wall Street higher as investors wait for U.S. inflation data that might influence the Federal Reserve’s decision on when to roll back economic stimulus. Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney advanced. Tokyo declined. Wall Street rose for a third day as

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has narrowly approved a resolution to nullify the Biden administration’s requirement that businesses with 100 or more workers have their employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to weekly testing. The Democratic-led House is unlikely to take it up, which means the mandate would

By MARCY GORDON and BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Business Writers WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of Instagram, appearing before a Senate panel, met with deep skepticism over new measures the platform is adopting to protect young users nd the company’s commitment to transparency. Adam Mosseri faced off with senators angry over revelations of how the photo-sharing

By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin is promising to use his executive powers to withdraw the commonwealth from a multistate carbon cap-and-trade program he says has overburdened ratepayers and businesses. Youngkin said during a speech Wednesday that he would pull Virginia out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — President Joe Biden is rebranding his bipartisan infrastructure package with the new slogan “Building a Better America.” The White House unveiled the slogan as Biden visited Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday to promote the new $1 trillion infrastructure law. The law’s spending will cover upgrades

By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Native corporations face a year-end deadline to use federal coronavirus relief funds that the U.S. Supreme Court in late June ruled they were entitled to. But an official with the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association says some corporations have yet to receive funds and others

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials have authorized a new COVID-19 antibody drug for people with serious health problems or allergies who can’t get adequate protection from vaccination. The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use Wednesday to the drug combo made by AstraZeneca. The drug could benefit cancer patients,