AP National Business

Associated Press BENGALURU, India (AP) — Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced several new clean energy initiatives in her annual federal budget speech on Wednesday, saying “green growth” is a top priority for the country. More than $8 billion dollars were announced for projects like mangrove restoration which help suck carbon dioxide out of the

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans have begun their promised aggressive oversight of the Biden administration. The focus Wednesday was on what watchdogs describe as “indications of widespread fraud” in federal coronavirus aid programs initiated under President Donald Trump. GOP lawmakers complained that too little attention was paid to the problems

By KELVIN CHAN Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Europe’s inflation rate has dipped at the start of the year, giving some relief to consumers but still leaving them facing higher prices. The European Union statistics agency said Wednesday that the consumer price index for the 20 countries that use the euro currency reached 8.5% in

By KRUTIKA PATHI Associated Press NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government plans to ramp up capital spending by 33% in a $550 billion annual budget designed to spur economic growth and create jobs ahead of a general election next year. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says private investment has been rising after

BERLIN (AP) — Official figures show that German beer sales rose in 2022 after COVID-19 restrictions weighed on brewers in the previous two years. But the long-term trend remains downward and the World Cup soccer tournament in Qatar didn’t get the taps flowing. The Federal Statistical Office said Wednesday that German-based breweries and distributors sold

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Up to half a million workers are estimated to be on strike across the U.K. in the biggest day of industrial action Britain has seen in more than a decade. Thousands of schools closed some or all of their classrooms, train services are paralyzed and delays are

By JOE Mcdonald AP Business Writer BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets gained Thursday after the Federal Reserve said the U.S. economy is moving toward lower inflation but more interest rate hikes are planned. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Oil prices rose. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index closed 1% higher on Wednesday

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve extended its fight against high inflation Wednesday by raising its key interest rate a quarter-point, its eighth hike since March. And the Fed signaled that even though inflation is easing, it remains high enough to require further rate hikes. At the same time,

By KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has logged its biggest monthly trade deficit ever, at $12.7 billion in January, as exports of computer chips and other high-tech items sank and costs for importing oil and gas surged. The growing shortfall underscored how Russia’s war on Ukraine is straining the

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong banned CBD as a “dangerous drug” and imposed harsh penalties for its possession on Wednesday, forcing fledging businesses to shut down or revamp. Supporters say CBD, or cannabidiol, derived from the cannabis plant, can help relieve stress and inflammation without getting its users high,

By ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press BANGKOK (AP) — Two years after Myanmar’s generals ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government, thousands of people have died in civil conflict and many more have been forced from their homes in a dire humanitarian crisis. The economy lags behind where it stood before the Feb. 1, 2021, military

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An Elon Musk tweet declaring he had the financing to take Tesla private in 2018 caused billions of dollars in investor damages after the deal collapsed, according to estimates presented Tuesday at a trial examining the haphazard handling of the buyout proposal. The mind-bending estimates

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — General Motors Co. has conditionally agreed to invest $650 million in Lithium Americas Corp. in a deal that will give GM exclusive access to the first phase of a mine planned near the Nevada-Oregon line with the largest known source of lithium in the U.S. The

By LISA MASCARO and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Not so long ago, Joe Biden and Republican leader Kevin McCarthy used to talk things over at breakfast in Biden’s vice presidential home at the Naval Observatory. Biden was intent in those days on “keeping up relations with the opposition party,” as he

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer Congress is going to take another look at legislation covering the rights of airline passengers. Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Edward Markey of Massachusetts said Tuesday they re-introduced bills to increase penalties when airlines strand or delay passengers, and to limit airline fees. Both ideas have failed

In just the past month there have been about 50,000 job cuts across the technology sector. Large and small tech companies went on a hiring spree over the past several years due to a surge in demand for their products, software and services with millions of people working remotely. However, even with all of the

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — PayPal Inc. says it will trim about 7% of its total workforce, or about 2,000 full-time workers, as the digital payments company contends with a challenging economic environment. PayPal said it will make reductions over several weeks with some organizations affected more than others. The company did not further specify.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Tuesday: Caterpillar Inc., down $9.21 to $252.29. The construction equipment company’s fourth-quarter profit fell short of Wall Street forecasts. General Motors Co., up $3.03 to $39.32. The automaker beat analysts’ fourth-quarter profit and revenue forecasts. United Parcel Service Inc., up $8.26 to

The Associated Press Benchmark U.S. crude oil for March delivery rose 97 cents to $78.87 a barrel Tuesday. Brent crude for March delivery fell 41 cents to $84.49 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline for February delivery rose 4 cents to $2.54 a gallon. February heating oil rose 7 cents $3.18 a gallon. March natural gas was