AP National Business

By CARLA K. JOHNSON and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press A survey of Americans on President Joe Biden’s plan to require most workers to get either vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19 finds a deep and familiar divide: Democrats are overwhelmingly for it, while most Republicans are against it. With the highly contagious delta variant driving

The Associated Press KENILWORTH, New Jersey (AP) — Merck will spend about $11.5 billion to acquire Acceleron Pharma and it’s treatment for high pressure in vessels that carry blood to the lungs from the heart. Merck will pay $180 per share in cash for each Acceleron share, the Kenilworth, New Jersey, company said Thursday. The

By ROSALIE MURPHY of NerdWallet In the last two years, banks and companies of all sizes have pledged billions of dollars to support business owners of color. But that support typically isn’t in the form of grants or other money put directly in business owners’ pockets. Rather, many of those pledges have been investments in

By PAN PYLAS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The British economy is no longer the worst performing Group of Seven economy after second quarter growth was revised higher Thursday to reflect a bigger than foreseen increase in consumer spending following the lifting of lockdown restrictions. However, there are growing concerns that the recovery will lose

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Diana Gaglio has been in the economic crosshairs of the pandemic for the past 18 months. The 53-year-old from Bedfordshire, north of London, was furloughed from her job as entertainment manager for a holiday company when COVID-19 gutted the travel industry, then lost her job altogether just

By ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister said Thursday that he has no intention of competing against Turkey in an arms race and hopes to resolve differences with the neighboring country through dialogue, but that Greece must defend its territory and sovereignty. Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ comments Thursday came two days after

By SYLVIE CORBET and NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY Associated Press PARIS (AP) — French ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was convicted Thursday and sentenced to a year of house arrest for illegal campaign financing of his unsuccessful 2012 reelection bid, will appeal the ruling, his lawyer said. The court said Sarkozy would be allowed to serve the one-year

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer European shares and U.S. futures climbed Thursday after U.S. lawmakers moved to avert a government shutdown. Germany’s DAX edged 0.1% higher to 15,378.85 while the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.5% to 6,593.48. In London, the FTSE 100 also gained 0.5%, to 7,146.51. The future for the Dow industrials

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Low-cost fashion brand Hennes & Mauritz AB has seen its in-store sales rise 14% to 55.6 million kronor ($6.3 million) in the third quarter as pandemic restrictions are eased in many markets. The Stockholm-based retailing group said about 100 stores remain closed. It added that online sales soared 22%. H&M CEO Helena

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer MITO, Japan (AP) — Fumio Kishida, the man soon to become Japan’s prime minister, says he believes raising incomes is the only way to get the world’s third-largest economy growing again. Kishida says he wants to promote a “new capitalism” that would be more equitable, with fairer distribution of

By DAVID RISING and ANNABELLE LIANG Associated Press SINGAPORE (AP) — Living through the coronavirus pandemic in Singapore, Joys Tan followed the rules that helped the city-state keep its cases low: keeping her distance from others, wearing a mask and getting herself vaccinated. Nobody in her family had contracted the virus, and it was with

By MARCY GORDON AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Political adversaries in Congress are united in outrage against Facebook for privately compiling information that its Instagram photo-sharing service appears to grievously harm some teens, especially girls, while publicly downplaying the popular platform’s negative impact. Mounting public pressure over the revelations have prompted Facebook to put

By HAU DINH Associated Press VUNG TAU, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam will lift the lockdown in its largest city on Friday, ending nearly three months of restrictions on movement to curb a coronavirus surge. People in Ho Chi Minh City, a metropolis of 10 million, will be able to leave their homes, restaurants can serve

By MOHAMMAD NASIRI Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — As U.S. sanctions strangle Iran’s economy, record inflation is causing stunned shoppers in the country to cut meat and dairy from their diets and to purchase less each month. Those who previously hauled sacks of staples from grocery stores now struggle to scrape together meals. Iran’s

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer Asian shares were mostly higher on Thursday after a mixed trading session on Wall Street. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index was little changed after the release of disappointing factory and retail sales data. Shares fell in Hong Kong but most other regional benchmarks advanced. Japanese investors appeared to take in

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Droughts that cause leaves to turn brown and wither before they can reach peak color. Heat waves prompting leaves to fall before autumn even arrives. Extreme weather events like hurricanes that strip trees of their leaves altogether. For a cheery autumnal activity, leaf peeping is facing

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are debating how to divide up what could be a smaller serving of health care spending in President Joe Biden’s domestic policy bill, pitting the needs of older adults who can’t afford their dentures against the plight of uninsured low-income people in the South. “There’s always

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s Victoria state on Thursday reported a jump of more than 50% in daily COVID-19 cases, which authorities largely blame on Australian Rules Football parties last weekend that breached pandemic regulations. State capital Melbourne traditionally hosts the annual grand final which the football-obsessed city celebrates with

By JUSTIN PRITCHARD and KRISTIN M. HALL Associated Press The Associated Press has found that a technology some units in the U.S. military are using to keep track of guns could let enemies detect troops on the battlefield. The rollout continues — even though the Pentagon itself called use of the tech in firearms a

By JAMES LAPORTA, JUSTIN PRITCHARD and KRISTIN M. HALL Associated Press The Associated Press has found that a technology some units in the U.S. military are using to keep track of guns could let enemies detect troops on the battlefield. The rollout continues — even though the Pentagon itself called use of the tech in