AP National Business

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new homes rose a modest 1% in July after a string of declines while new home prices set records. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that July sales increase left sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 708,000. Sales had fallen in April, May

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Best Buy Co. has raising its full-year sales outlook after the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain posted fiscal second-quarter results that beat Wall Street’s projections. Best Buy joins other retailers including Walmart, Target and Macy’s that have posted strong results for the quarter, an indication

By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president has urged closer ties between the ex-Soviet nation and NATO and the European Union in a speech marking the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence. Ukraine celebrated its independence day on Tuesday with a military parade in the capital Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that

By CHALIDA EKVITTHAYAVECHNUKUL Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand has decriminalized the possession and sale of kratom, a plant that’s native to Southeast Asia whose leaves are used as a mild stimulant and painkiller. Kratom also has a following in the United States for its pain-relieving qualities. Thailand’s justice minister says thousands of legal cases

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer Airbnb is offering free housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees globally and sought more assistance from hosts who rent property through the home-sharing company. In a tweet early Tuesday, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky wrote, “The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the U.S. and elsewhere is one of the

BERLIN (AP) — The head of Germany’s national labor agency says the country needs significantly more immigrants to plug gaps in the work force as the population ages. The chairman of the Federal Labor Agency said in Tuesday’s edition of the daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung that he expects the number of working-age people in Europe’s

LONDON (AP) — McDonald’s says it has pulled milkshakes from the menu in all 1,250 of its British restaurants because of supply problems stemming from a shortage of truck drivers. The fast-food chain says it is also experiencing shortages of bottled drinks. McDonald’s says that “we are currently experiencing some supply chain issues, impacting the

By ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s health minister has announced plans to impose new testing requirements and attendance restrictions on people who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. The measures will be in effect from Sept. 13 until March 31. They include requiring weekly or twice-weekly testing for unvaccinated workers and allowing

By AMRITA JAYAKUMAR of NerdWallet Financial literacy hasn’t traditionally been a high priority in schools, but that is changing. The number of states that now require some form of personal finance instruction in schools more than doubled over the past decade. Since the Great Recession, growing student loan debt and advocacy efforts, there’s greater awareness

By ALAN SUDERMAN Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Nine activists from Bahrain had their iPhones hacked by advanced spyware made by the Israeli company NSO Group, the world’s most infamous hacker-for-hire firm, a cybersecurity watchdog reported on Tuesday. Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto says NSO Group’s Pegasus malware successfully hacked the phones

BERLIN (AP) — Official statistics show that Germany’s economy grew by 1.6% between April and June compared with the previous quarter, a slightly better showing than initially reported. The Federal Statistical Office said Tuesday that the gain followed a decline of 2% in the first quarter. In preliminary figures at the end of July, it

By UROOBA JAMAL Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A breed of gig apps tailored for short-term work slots — from Stint to Instawork to Gigpro — is gaining popularity in the United Kingdom as well as in the United States as one response to the peculiar ways in which economies have been rebounding from the

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government has adopted an interim plan that it hopes will win support from fishermen and other concerned groups for a planned release into the sea of treated but still radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. The government decided in April to start discharging the

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets are mixed after Wall Street hit a new high as investors looked ahead to a Federal Reserve gathering for an update on U.S. stimulus. Shanghai and Sydney advanced while Hong Kong and South Korea declined. Tokyo was unchanged. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500

By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democratic leaders have compromised with moderates and muscled President Joe Biden’s multitrillion-dollar budget blueprint over a key hurdle. Biden praised Tuesday’s 220-to-212 vote as a step toward “truly investing in the American people.” A band of moderate lawmakers had been threatening to withhold

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart says it will start farming out its delivery service. It plans to use contract workers, autonomous vehicles and other means to transport rival retailers’ products directly to their customers’ homes as fast as just a few hours. The nation’s largest retailer said it will

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Scientists say global warming makes the kind of extreme rainfall that caused deadly flash flooding in western Europe last month more likely. The floods killed at least 220 people and caused billions of dollars in damage in Germany and Belgium. A study released Tuesday by the World

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — Drone pilots, beware. Authorities at one of the nation’s top nuclear weapons laboratories issued a warning Monday that airspace over Los Alamos National Laboratory is off limits. As the birthplace of the atomic bomb, the lab has reported that recent unauthorized drone flights have been detected in restricted airspace in

The Associated Press Major U.S. stock indexes closed higher Monday, allowing the S&P 500 to regain the ground it lost last week and bringing it just shy of another record high. The benchmark index added 0.9%, driven by gains in a broad range of technology, financial and communication stocks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed at a

By JOHN SEEWER Associated Press TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Investigators in Ohio say a piece of metal that flew off the world’s second-tallest roller coaster and hit a woman in line came from the back of the coaster’s train. The head of the state’s amusement safety office said Monday that the metal piece hit the