AP National Business

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan officials say the island has applied to join an 11-nation Pacific trade group. That sets up a potential clash with rival Beijing. The Chinese government, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, gave no details of how it might respond but said the island has no right to join

BEIJING (AP) — China’s central bank will soon have access to the private credit information of hundreds of millions of users of Ant Group’s online credit service, in a move signaling more regulatory oversight of the financial technology sector. Huabei, Ant Group’s credit service, says consumer credit data it has collected will be included in

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares are mixed amid concerns over troubled Chinese real estate developer Evergrande and over the pandemic. Japan’s benchmark jumped after reopening from Thursday’s national holiday, but shares were little changed in South Korea and China. Australia’s index fell. On Wall Street, stocks rose broadly for

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press NEWTON, Mass. (AP) — A Rwandan woman who was orphaned during her country’s genocide and lost part of her leg to childhood cancer has been fitted with a new prosthetic leg. Claudine Humure travelled from the African nation to Massachusetts for a final fitting at Next Step Bionics and Prosthetics

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN and DAVID PORTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — As residents across the Northeast U.S. recover from the catastrophic flooding from recent storms, they are being hit with another unexpected blow: Without flood coverage, their homeowners and renters insurance won’t cover their losses. While officials continue to calculate the value of

By NOAH BERGER Associated Press QUINCY, Calif. (AP) — A man and his daughter are bringing donated motorhomes to people who have lost everything in wildfires in the American West. Woody Faircloth and 9-year-old Luna mainly have been driving the recreational vehicles from Colorado to California to give a quick place to live to people

By LISA MASCARO and ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Top congressional Democrats say they and the White House have agreed to a framework of tax options to pay for their emerging $3.5 trillion social and environment bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi revealed the development to reporters on

By JUAN A. LOZANO, MARIA VERZA and JULIE WATSON Associated Press DEL RIO, Texas (AP) — A confluence of factors caused the sudden arrival of thousands of mostly Haitian migrants on the Texas border this month. Descriptions from Haitian migrants and advocates in contact with them reveal a phenomena produced by confusion over the Biden

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — A foreign business group in China says the ruling Communist Party’s campaign to tighten control over China’s industries and reduce use of foreign technology is denting its economic growth. The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China appealed to Beijing to reverse course and open state-dominated

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Three people have been indicted in a multi-state conspiracy involving the forced labor of Mexican agricultural immigrants. A federal grand jury in Tampa formally charged Bladimir Moreno, Christina Gamez and Guadalupe Mendes Mendoza under a six-count indictment last week. According to the indictment, Moreno, Gamez and Mendes Mendoza ran a labor

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will be the first state to bar mega-retailers from firing warehouse workers for missing quotas that interfere with bathroom and rest breaks. The legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom grew from Amazon’s drive to speed goods to consumers. The measure also prohibits disciplining workers

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer Tim Sweeney, CEO of Fortnite maker Epic, said Wednesday it’s been told by Apple that the game will be “blacklisted from the Apple ecosystem” until the companies’ legal case is resolved and all appeals are exhausted, which could take as long as five years. Sweeney posted on Twitter that

By MATTHEW PERRONE, LAURAN NEERGAARD and MIKE STOBBE Associated Press The U.S. has moved a step closer to offering booster doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to seniors and others at high risk from the virus. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday signed off on such shots as a way to shore up protection in

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The U.S. government has released projections that indicate an even more troubling outlook for a river that serves 40 million people in the American West. The grim outlook Wednesday from the Bureau of Reclamation comes after it recently declared the first-ever shortage on the Colorado River. That means Arizona, Nevada and

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer is stepping down from the social media company, taking on a part time role while longtime executive Andrew Bosworth will replace him next year. Schroepfer, known as “Schrep,” has been at Facebook for 13 years and is a close friend of CEO Mark

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank will overhaul its financial ethics policies in response to growing questions about investing and trading decisions by high-ranking Fed officials that raise potential conflicts of interest. Powell stopped short of saying explicitly that the trading moves were

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Former U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis testified Wednesday in the trial of fallen tech star Elizabeth Holmes, saying the entrepreneur misled him into believing she was on the verge of rolling out a blood-testing breakthrough that he hoped would help save lives of

The Associated Press Stocks held on to their gains on Wall Street Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled it may begin easing its extraordinary support measures for the economy later this year. The central bank said it may start raising its benchmark interest rate sometime next year, earlier than it envisioned three months ago. The

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Wednesday: Stitch Fix, Sonic Automotive rise; FedEx, Facebook fall.

By COLLEEN BARRY AP Fashion Writer MILAN (AP) — Italy’s fashion capital is again alive with the sound of shoppers swarming boutiques and editors filling socially distanced fashion week venues, a sign of a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.  Milan Fashion Week opened Wednesday with 42 live runway shows, led by Fendi