AP National Business

DARLENE SUPERVILLE and ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press NANTUCKET, Mass. (AP) — President Joe Biden is nominating Shalanda Young to head the Office of Management and Budget. He’s also nominating Nani Coloretti to serve as Young’s deputy. Biden made the announcement in a video released Wednesday by the White House. It would be the first time

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plummeted last week to the lowest level in more than half a century, another sign that the U.S. job market is rebounding rapidly from last year’s coronavirus recession. Jobless claims dropped by 71,000 to 199,000, the lowest since mid-November

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plummeted last week to the lowest level in more than half a century, another sign that the U.S. job market is rebounding rapidly from last year’s coronavirus recession. Jobless claims dropped by 71,000 to 199,000, the lowest since mid-November

By ZEKE MILLER and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for millions of federal workers seems to be working, with no apparent disruption to law enforcement, intelligence-gathering or holiday travel. The White House says 92% of the 3.5 million federal workers covered by Biden’s mandate reported to the government

By GEOFF MULVIHILL and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press CLEVELAND (AP) — Pharmacies have lost in a groundbreaking trial in Ohio over the toll of opioids, but there’s no assurance the results will hold up on appeal. Tuesday’s verdict was the first in a wave of opioid lawsuits involving pharmacies and the first to be decided

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy slowed to a modest annual rate of 2.1% in the July-September quarter, slightly better than first reported. But economists are predicting a solid rebound in the current quarter as long as rising inflation and a recent uptick in COVID cases do not derail

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE and DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to nominate Shalanda Young to head the Office of Management and Budget. That’s according to a person familiar with his plans. Young has served as the office’s acting director for much of 2021. Biden’s first nominee for the position,

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press ROME (AP) — Twenty small towns in northern Italy’s autonomous South Tyrol province have imposed new anti-coronavirus restrictions. The partial lockdown is aimed at containing rising coronavirus infections and saving the key winter tourism season in one of the least-vaccinated parts of Italy. The restrictions in towns north of Bolzano

By LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is appealing to the European Union not to forget the plight of ordinary citizens and political prisoners in the former Soviet country. The EU is focused on a security crisis at its borders that it blames on President Alexander Lukashenko. It’s preparing

By ANNA HELHOSKI of NerdWallet Workers seeking a new career may face challenges if they’re looking to retrain, labor experts say. That’s because there are few social supports in place that allow career-change aspirants the time and financial help to do it. The “Great Resignation” won’t necessarily lead to a “great retraining,” but there are

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia has set another record for coronavirus infections as the government discusses whether to impose a national lockdown to tame the surge. The Health Ministry said Wednesday that daily infections surpassed 10,000 for the first time as 10,315 tested positive Tuesday. That’s over 1,000 more than the previous record registered Friday.

By RONALD MONTOYA Edmunds This has been a tough year to buy a new or used car in America. With COVID-19 factory shutdowns, semiconductor chip shortages, rising prices and supply chain issues, it’s been nothing but bad news for car shoppers. And for those who’ve waited, hoping Black Friday sales would bring some reprieve from

BERLIN (AP) — A closely watched survey shows that German business confidence has dropped for the fifth consecutive month amid persistent supply-chain bottlenecks and a resurgence of coronavirus infections in Europe’s biggest economy. The Ifo institute said Wednesday that its monthy confidence index dropped to 96.5 points in November from 97.7 last month. Companies’ assessment

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden is recommending that everyone between the ages of 18 and 65 should get a booster shot against COVID-19 six months after having gotten the second jab. Swedish Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren said Wednesday about 7 million people in Sweden out of a total population of 10 million have had

By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden’s parliament has approved Magdalena Andersson as the country’s first female prime minister. Lawmakers on Wednesday tapped the finance minister who recently became the new leader of the Social Democratic party. Andersson was picked to replace Stefan Lofven as party leader and prime minister. Those

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Global shares are mixed as worries about inflation set off expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve might accelerate its plans to raise interest rates. Benchmarks in France, Britain and Germany are higher in early trading. Shares fell in Japan, Australia and South Korea. The Fed will release

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — Millions of Americans are loading up their cars or piling onto planes, determined to reclaim Thanksgiving traditions that were put on pause last year by the pandemic. The number of air travelers this week is expected to approach or even exceed pre-pandemic levels. Auto club AAA

By ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats have finally driven President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion package of family services, health care and climate initiatives through the House. Now the focus turns to the Senate, where painful Republican amendments, restrictive rules and moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin lurk. It took Democrats six months, but

By JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — NASA has launched a spacecraft on a mission to smash into an asteroid and test whether it would be possible to knock a speeding space rock off course if one were to threaten Earth. The spacecraft is called DART, for Double Asteroid Redirection Test. It lifted

By MARK PRATT Associated Press The city manager in Newport, Rhode Island, is standing by the city police department’s review of the 1966 death of an employee of wealthy heiress Doris Duke. The city manager in a statement Tuesday said there is no new evidence that would suggest that the death of Eduardo Tirella after