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Wire stories category, Page 107

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
U.S. expands probe into air bag failures to 12.3M vehicles
DETROIT — U.S. auto safety regulators have expanded an investigation into malfunctioning air bag controls to include 12.3 million vehicles because the bags may not inflate in a crash. The problem could be responsible for as many as eight deaths. Vehicles made by Toyota, Honda, Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Fiat...
America’s elderly are twice as likely to work now than in 1985 
Just as single-income families began to vanish in the last century, many of America’s elderly are now forgoing retirement for the same reason: They don’t have enough money. Rickety social safety nets, inadequate retirement savings plans and sky high health-care costs are all conspiring to make the concept of leaving...
Starbucks adding needle-disposal boxes to restrooms
Starbucks, recognizing it’s often a safe space for the most vulnerable visitors, has installed needle-disposal boxes in some locations. The coffee giant started adding the boxes in several U.S. markets in January after receiving requests from employees last year, a spokeswoman said. It will add them to any store where...
Tesla gears up for fully self-driving cars amid skepticism
SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla CEO Elon Musk appears poised to transform the company’s electric cars into driverless vehicles in a risky bid to realize a bold vision that he has been floating for years. The technology required to make that quantum leap is scheduled to be shown off to Tesla...
Earth, meet Polo: Ralph Lauren unveils plastic bottle shirt
NEW YORK — Polo Ralph Lauren on Thursday launched a version of its iconic polo shirt made entirely of recycled plastic bottles and dyed through a process that uses zero water. David Lauren, the youngest son of the company’s founder and its chief innovation officer, told The Associated Press ahead...
U.S. trade deficit narrows to $49.4 billion in February
WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit fell for the second straight month in February, and the politically sensitive deficit in the trade of goods with China narrowed. The Commerce Department says the gap between the goods and services that the United States sells and what it buys from the rest...
Bulging stockpiles to weigh on 2019 U.S. growth
The rising stockpiles of cars, furniture and other goods that helped the U.S. economy boom in 2018 are poised to cause a hangover this year. Inventory accumulation added an average 1.2 percentage point to U.S. growth in the third and fourth quarters, government figures show, and were a key to...
Banks lead U.S. stocks to slight gains amid mixed earnings
Stocks closed slightly higher on Wall Street on Tuesday, erasing the market’s modest losses from a day earlier. The gains, which followed a rally in overseas stock indexes, came as investors sized up the latest batch of company earnings reports. Financial stocks led the way higher as bond yields rose,...
It’s ‘up to Herman Cain’ if he wants to pursue Fed seat, White House says
WASHINGTON — The White House appears to be giving Herman Cain an out in his candidacy for a seat on the Federal Reserve board of governors amid Republican senators’ mounting opposition. President Trump said this month he is considering Cain for the central bank’s leadership. The president has voiced his...
Apple, Qualcomm settle bitter dispute over iPhone technology
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple and mobile chip maker Qualcomm have settled a bitter financial dispute centered on some of the technology that enables iPhones to connect to the internet. The surprise truce announced Tuesday came just as the former allies turned antagonists were facing off in a federal court trial...
Russian company to invest in Kentucky aluminum mill
FRANKFORT, Ky. — An aluminum company planning to build a $1.7 billion plant in Appalachia said Monday it’s forging a partnership with a Russian company that until recently faced U.S. sanctions. Russian aluminum giant Rusal wants to invest $200 million in a Kentucky taxpayer-backed aluminum rolling mill that Braidy Industries...
GM to reveal next-generation Corvette in July
FRANKFORT, Ky. — It’s just the thing to make the hearts of Corvette fans race: A new rendition of the classic sports car is coming. And General Motors has a big change in store for the eighth generation Corvette being revealed July 18. The engine in the new model is...
China’s auto show highlights electric ambitions
BEIJING — This year’s Shanghai auto show highlights the global industry’s race to make electric cars Chinese drivers want to buy as Beijing winds down subsidies that promoted sales. Communist leaders are shifting the burden to automakers by imposing mandatory sales targets for electrics, adding to financial pressure on them...
As cashless stores grow, so does the backlash
NEW YORK — Hembert Figueroa just wanted a taco. So he was surprised to learn the dollar bills in his pocket were no good at Dos Toros Taqueria in Manhattan, one of a small but growing number of establishments across the U.S. where customers can only pay by card or...
Uber to go public at last in what could be one of the biggest IPOs
The biggest IPO of the year is on its way. Uber’s initial public offering, expected to value the company at about $100 billion, could be among the largest in history, and will likely compete with Alibaba for the biggest tech IPO ever. Uber’s debut also would dwarf Facebook’s as the...
Amazon workers are listening to what you tell Alexa
Tens of millions of people use smart speakers and their voice software to play games, find music or trawl for trivia. Millions more are reluctant to invite the devices and their powerful microphones into their homes out of concern that someone might be listening. Sometimes, someone is. Amazon.com employs thousands...
Who’s winning, losing from coffee’s drop to a 13-year low
Coffee has been among the worst-performing commodities in the past few years as the world became awash with beans, and there are few signs of a meaningful rebound any time soon. With arabica languishing near a 13-year low and robusta futures also performing poorly, there are concerns that the industry’s...
Apple takes step toward curbing climate-warming emissions from its supply chain
Apple announced Thursday that 21 manufacturers in its supply chain have recently vowed to obtain all their electricity from renewable sources, bringing to more than 5 gigawatts the total amount of renewable energy that will be used by the company and its suppliers by 2020. That would bring the use...
Boeing makes 96 flights to test software on troubled Max jet
DALLAS — Boeing has made 96 flights to test a software update for its troubled 737 Max jet, according to the company’s CEO. Dennis Muilenburg said Thursday that more test flights are planned in the coming weeks as Boeing attempts to convince regulators that the plane is safe. The Max...
Jeff Bezos challenges retail rivals to match Amazon’s $15 minimum wage
Just five months after Amazon moved to a $15 minimum wage, chief executive Jeff Bezos has called on other retailers to match it. “Today I challenge our top retail competitors (you know who you are!) to match our employee benefits and our $15 minimum wage,” Bezos said in a letter...
Amazon, Microsoft finalists for Pentagon contract; ‘potential ethical violations’ noted
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has narrowed the field of potential awardees for its $10 billion cloud computing contract to two companies: Amazon and Microsoft, Defense Department spokeswoman Elissa Smith said Wednesday. The Pentagon separately determined that alleged conflicts of interest on the part of Amazon Web Services did not adversely...
National Enquirer parent explores possible sale of tabloid
NEW YORK — The supermarket tabloid under fire for paying hush money to a former Playboy model to help Donald Trump in his 2016 presidential campaign is on the auction block. The parent of the National Enquirer said Wednesday that it is exploring a possible sale as part of a...
U.S. budget deficit running 15% higher than a year ago
WASHINGTON — The federal government reported a $146.9 billion deficit in March, causing annual debt to rise 15% for the first half of the budget year compared to the same period in 2018. The Treasury Department said Wednesday in its monthly report that the fiscal year deficit has so far...
Hormel lawsuit reveals what ‘natural’ meat really means
Consumers want “natural” meat — and the biggest meat companies want to sell it to them. American shoppers are reaching for healthier, more environmentally and animal-friendly meat products, with 39 percent saying “all-natural” is the most important claim when purchasing red meat, according to a recent survey by Mintel. But...
Ghost of Toys R Us still haunts toy makers
NEW YORK — This year, children will have a hard time finding Uncle Milton’s glow-in-the-dark ant farm, or the gel and ant village version. Basic Fun, the parent company behind the brand, has stopped producing them and now makes just three versions — basic, giant and retro. Who’s to blame?...


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