AP National Business

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn’t make many headlines. Charged with keeping America’s workplaces safe, it sets and enforces standards for goggles, hardhats and ladders. Now the tiny Labor Department agency has been tossed into the raging national debate over federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates. President

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats are calling top executives at ExxonMobil and other oil giants to testify about what lawmakers say is a long-running, industry-wide campaign to spread disinformation about the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming. The House Oversight Committee on Thursday requested that executives at ExxonMobil,

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is reviewing the ethics policies that cover the financial holdings of its senior officials in the wake of disclosures that two regional Fed presidents engaged in extensive trading last year. Robert Kaplan, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, in 2020 traded millions

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Colleen Hoover’s years as a published — and self-published — fiction writer have been one long, pleasant surprise. The Texas-based Hoover broke through in January 2012 when she released her novel “Slammed” through an Amazon.com program. It became a showcase for how an author in

By DAVID McHUGH and ARITZ PARRA MADRID (AP) — Gas and electric prices are spiking in Europe. Consumers are already finding higher bills in their mailboxes and jumps in prices on wholesale markets in recent days are expected to send costs higher still. Governments in Spain, Greece and Italy are taking steps to cap the

By GILLIAN FLACCUS and BRITTANY PETERSON Associated Press MADRAS, Ore. (AP) — Oregon farmers who grow 60% of the world’s carrot seed have been without irrigation water for weeks as drought ravages the American West. But just down the road, sprinklers douse crops and cattle graze in green pastures. The stark contrast is a consequence

By KATHERINE ROTH Associated Press Gas-powered home lawn-care machines for mowing, trimming and blowing have generally been accompanied by deafening roars and fumes. There’s now a lower-decibel lawn-care revolution going on. Quieter, zero- to low-emissions electric lawn-care tools now have better batteries that last longer. The changes so far seem more popular among homeowners than

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ Associated Press HAVANA (AP) — Opening a small business is a bureaucratic headache in many parts of the world. In Cuba, it’s an adventure in largely unknown territory. Most sorts of private businesses have been banned for more than 50 years, even if hundreds of thousands of Cubans in recent years have

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer A poll shows that most Americans don’t believe their personal information is secure online and they aren’t satisfied with the federal government’s efforts to protect their digital privacy. The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and MeriTalk shows that about half of Americans believe that

By JOSEPH PISANI AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Americans kept shopping last month, despite a rise in COVID-19 cases. Retail sales rose a seasonal adjusted 0.7% in August from the month before, the U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday. It was much better that the 0.85% decline Wall Street analysts had expected.  But Thursday’s

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits moved up last week to 332,000 from a pandemic low, a sign that worsening COVID-19 infections may have slightly increased layoffs. Applications for jobless aid rose from 312,000 the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday. Jobless claims, which

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AP Business Writer The gulf between record job openings and a lack of people taking those jobs is forcing Wall Street to reassess the pace of the economic recovery. Jobs were gutted during the pandemic and employment growth has been a closely watched gauge for investors. Increasing employment eventually results in

By RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union says it will fund its new health preparedness and rapid response agency to the tune of 30 billion euros over the next six years. It’s even higher if individual efforts from the member nations and private sector are taken into account. The EU was

LONDON (AP) — British retailer Marks & Spencer is to close 11 of its stores in France, mainly in Paris, as a result of fresh and chilled food supply issues related to Britain’s departure from the European Union. The group blamed Brexit disruption to exports to Europe for its decision to shut all franchised shops

By FARAI MUTSAKA Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe has told all government employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or they will not be allowed to come to work. It wasn’t made clear what would happen to those who refused to be vaccinated. State-owned newspaper The Herald reported that the government would adopt a

By JERRY HARMER Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Taxi fleets in Thailand are giving new meaning to the term “rooftop garden,” as they utilize the roofs of cabs idled by the coronavirus crisis to serve as small vegetable plots. Workers from two taxi cooperatives assembled the miniature gardens this week using black plastic garbage bags

By VESELIN TOSHKOV Associated Press SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has reappointed a retired general as interim prime minister to lead a new caretaker government until the next early election is held in November. The Balkan country is the European Union’s poorest member. It is gearing up for its third parliamentary election

LONDON (AP) — Irish airline Ryanair is planning to create 5,000 jobs over the next five years as part of its recovery from the shock of the coronavirus pandemic. The additional pilots, cabin crew and engineers will mean that the company will have more than recouped the 3,000 jobs it got rid of at the

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says dozens of his staff have been infected with the coronavirus and that he will continue his self-isolation because of the outbreak. The Kremlin announced earlier this week that he would self-isolate after someone in his inner circle was infected although Putin had tested negative for the virus

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s biggest rail operator and a labor union representing train drivers say they have agreed on a pay raise to end a series of strikes that had caused chaos for commuters and vacationers over the summer. The GDL union said Thursday that it secured assurances over pensions, a raise of about 3.3%