AP National Business

By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Stocks are mixed in Asia after shares closed mostly lower on Wall Street as traders returned from the Labor Day holiday. Shares were higher in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai but fell in Seoul and Sydney. On Tuesday, gains for some Big Tech companies nudged

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — China’s import and export growth accelerated in August despite disruptions due to the spread of the coronavirus’s delta variant. Exports rose 25.6% over a year earlier to $294.3 billion, up from July’s 18.9% growth, customs data showed Tuesday. Imports rose 33.1% to $236 billion, up from

By FRANK BAJAK AP Technology Writer BOSTON (AP) — Over two decades, the United States and its allies spent hundreds of millions of dollars building databases for the Afghan people. The nobly stated goal was to promote law and order and government accountability, and to modernize a war-ravaged land.  But in the Taliban’s lightning seizure

By MATTHEW DALY and HOPE YEN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Shaken by haunting images of surging rivers, flooded roads and subways and other damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, lawmakers from both parties are vowing to upgrade the nation’s aging infrastructure network. As the deadly storm moved from the Gulf Coast through

By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets rose Tuesday as investors watched for decisions from central banks in Europe and elsewhere about when they might start to wind down economic stimulus. Shares advanced in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong, which are the bulk of Asia’s market capitalization. Seoul and Sydney

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of jobless Americans lost their unemployment benefits on Monday, leaving only a handful of economic support programs for those who are still being hit financially by the year-and-a-half-old coronavirus pandemic. Two critical programs expired on Monday. One provided jobless aid to self-employed and gig

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain said Monday it is postponing the start of post-Brexit border checks on goods going to Northern Ireland, as it seeks breathing space in its tense standoff with the European Union over trade rules. Brexit Minister David Frost said the government would continue to trade “on the

By CHRISTINA PACIOLLA Associated Press The morning after one of the most intense tornadoes recorded in New Jersey history all but demolished the largest dairy farm in the state, owners Marianne and Wally Eachus looked at each other and just cried. “What are we going to do?” they asked one another. Just 12 hours earlier,

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities on Monday blocked access to a website affiliated with imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny that advises voters on how to undermine the dominant pro-Kremlin party in this month’s parliamentary election. The move by state communications overseer Roskomnadzor continues months of efforts to neutralize Navalny and his supporters. In June, a

By PETER DEJONG and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — The U.N.’s top climate official urged governments Monday to stop their “deferral and delay” tactics and instead embrace rapid, widespread measures to curb and adapt to global warming. Amid a season of extreme weather and new temperature records, Patricia Espinosa warned that no

By BEN FINLEY and TOM KRISHER Associated Press NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — When negotiations failed to produce a new contract at a Volvo plant in Virginia this spring, its 2,900 workers went on strike. The company soon dangled what looked like a tempting offer — at least to the United Auto Workers local leaders who

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — An International Atomic Energy Agency mission arrived in Japan on Monday to help prepare for a decades-long release into the ocean of treated but still radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, officials said. The three-member team will meet with officials in Tokyo and travel to

By PAUL WISEMAN and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers Joe Sobol, owner of Big Easy Construction in New Orleans, has bad news for homeowners who’ve been calling about roofs damaged by Hurricane Ida or to get an update on renovations that were scheduled before the storm ripped through the area. The job will cost a

By GISELA SALOMON, MARCOS ALEMAN and CLAUDIA TORRENS The Associated Press MIAMI (AP) — Several countries have dabbled in cryptocurrencies, but none has gone so far as El Salvador. It’s adopting Bitcoin as an official currency on Tuesday. The Central American nation is betting it will spur the economy and increase money sent home by

By VANESSA GERA Associated Press WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s parliament voted Monday to uphold the state of emergency along the border with Belarus that was declared last week amid migration pressure. The vote came after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told lawmakers that the country faces a threat from Russia and Belarus as he sought

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — Germany has protested to Russia over attempts to steal data from lawmakers in what it suspects may have been preparation to spread disinformation before the upcoming German election, the Foreign Ministry in Berlin said Monday. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Andrea Sasse said that a hacker outfit called Ghostwriter

By DEREK GATOPOULOS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s center-right government has created a new ministry to address the impact of climate change and named former European Union commissioner Christos Stylianides as minister. Stylianides, 63, who served as commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management between 2014 and 2019, was appointed in the wake

By MATTHEW DALY and HOPE YEN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Shaken by haunting images of surging rivers, flooded roads and subways and other damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, lawmakers from both parties are vowing to upgrade the nation’s aging infrastructure network. As the deadly storm moved from the Gulf Coast through

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer DALLAS (AP) — Ask anyone old enough to remember travel before Sept. 11, 2001, and you’re likely to get a gauzy recollection of what flying was like. There was security screening, but it wasn’t intrusive. There were no long checkpoint lines. Passengers and their families could walk right to