AP National Business

By ANDREW MELDRUM Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Worried scientists in South Africa are scrambling to combat the lightning spread across the country of the new and highly transmissible omicron COVID-19 variant as the world grapples with its emergence. The omicron variant has sent South Africa from a period of low transmission to rapid growth

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain has become the latest country to report cases of the new potentially more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus as world governments sought to shore up their defenses by slapping restrictions on travel from nations in southern Africa. U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed Saturday that

By MIKE CORDER and PAN PYLAS Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — With each passing hour, new restrictions were being slapped on travel from countries in southern Africa as the world scurried to contain a new variant of the coronavirus that has the potential to be more resistant to the protection offered by vaccines.

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal investigators say an oil tanker hit an oil platform at night off Louisiana because its Turkish operating company didn’t give the ship’s master time to recover from 50 hours of sleepless travel. Nobody was hurt in the crash early Oct. 17, 2020. But the National

By ELODIE SOUPAMA and ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press LE GOSIER, Guadeloupe (AP) — France’s government is offering to discuss greater autonomy for the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. The island has been wracked by virus-related rioting and strikes that reflect long-running frustrations over inequality with the French mainland. The overnight offer by the government minister

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Postal workers who recall packages and letters piled up in distribution hubs a year ago are gearing up for another holiday crush. The Postal Service and private shippers UPS and FedEx are bolstering their hiring by bringing in about 230,000 seasonal workers to ensure they don’t

BEIJING (AP) — Macao police have detained the head of Macao’s biggest casino junket organizer and others after Chinese authorities issued an arrest warrant for them over accusations that they ran an illegal cross-border gambling syndicate. The arrests in the gambling enclave came after prosecutors in Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang on Friday

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian government has asked Starlink Internet Services of Elon Musk’s SpaceX aerospace company to comply with the country’s regulatory framework before offering its satellite-based internet services. A Communications Ministry statement late Friday said that because Starlink is not the holder of a license, the public is advised not to subscribe

BEIJING (AP) — Macao police have detained the head of Macao’s biggest junket organizer and others after Chinese authorities issued an arrest warrant for them over accusations that they ran an illegal cross-border gambling syndicate. The arrests in the gambling enclave came after prosecutors in Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang on Friday accused

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The World Trade Organization is postponing its conference set to open Tuesday after Switzerland initiated new travel restrictions following the emergence of a worrying new coronavirus variant, officials said. The MC12 conference at WTO headquarters in Geneva was set to take up key issues like a long-awaited

By JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press GENEVA (AP) — The World Trade Organization is postponing its conference set to open Tuesday after Switzerland initiated new travel restrictions following the emergence of a worrying new coronavirus variant, a Geneva-based trade official said. The MC12 conference at WTO headquarters in Geneva was set to take up key issues

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s government has launched measures to discourage foreign travel as a way to protect the country’s thin dollar reserves ahead of heavy debt payments. The Central Bank on Friday banned use of credit card installment payments for airline flights and other tourist services abroad. Argentina is trying to renegotiate repayment

By TALI ARBEL and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — On this year’s Black Friday, things almost seem normal. Malls and stores report decent-sized crowds, if not the floods of people that used to fight over the latest toys and electronics. Online shopping is much too common for that now, and big

Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Friday: Delta, Carnival fall; Moderna, Clorox rise.

By KEN SWEET and PAUL WISEMAN NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks sank Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly falling more than 1,000 points, as a new coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa appeared to be spreading across the globe. The S&P 500 index fell 2.3%, its worst day since February and the

By MARIA CHENG and HALELUYA HADERO A coronavirus variant recently identified in South Africa is leading to a new round of travel restrictions just as many had finally begun to ease. The risks of the new variant are largely unknown, but governments around the world are not waiting for scientists to better understand the variant

By KEN SWEET and PAUL WISEMAN NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market’s losses accelerated on Wall Street Friday, after a coronavirus variant from South Africa appeared to be spreading across the globe and the European Union proposed suspending air travel from southern Africa. The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly lost more than 1,000 points.

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has recommended an overhaul of the nation’s oil and gas leasing program to focus on areas that are most suitable for energy development and raise costs for energy companies to drill on public lands and water. The long-awaited report by the Interior Department on