VOL. 45 | NO. 51 | Friday, December 17, 2021
REAL ESTATE
Top commercial real estate sales, November 2021, for Davidson County, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. homebuilder stocks have outpaced the broader market this year, and analysts are bullish on the prospects for more gains in 2022, despite expectations of continued supply chain woes.
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — New home construction in the U.S. rebounded 11.8% in November as strong demand continues to boost builder confidence even with the slower winter season approaching.
TENNESSEE TITANS
Through eight years, Taylor Lewan has had an up-and-down career for the Tennessee Titans.
The Tennessee Titans are going to have to win games with the defense for the foreseeable future.
Things are about to get tougher for the Titans, who snapped a two-game skid coming off their bye week with a shutout against Jacksonville last week. They now head to Heinz Field to play a desperate Pittsburgh Steelers team that is in danger of missing the postseason. Let’s look at the Titans’ mission for Sunday.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Zach Cunningham landed in a somewhat familiar place last week when Tennessee claimed him off waivers from the Houston Texans.
UT SPORTS
After a fall filled with offensive electricity on the football field, the Tennessee basketball programs are shining a light on the other side of the ball.
NEWSMAKERS
Centerstone, a not-for-profit health system specializing in mental health and substance use disorder services, has selected Andy Garlington as the new chief financial officer.
BRIEFS
Ascension Saint Thomas and Three Rivers Hospital have signed a definitive agreement for the Waverly facility to become part of Ascension Saint Thomas. The transaction is expected to be completed in spring 2022.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
One of the perks of buying a new vehicle is that it offers features that promise a safer and more convenient driving experience. Some technologies have trickled down from luxury to mainstream segments, while others have been introduced quickly across the market.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Age brings unique opportunities and obligations, including some important year-end tasks that can help you make the most of your money.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
With an $82,000 pile of debt, buying a house seemed far in the distance for Ehren Sixon and his wife, Florida residents who embarked on a debt-free journey in 2016.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee officials are halting nearly all construction-related lane closures on interstates and state highways for Christmas and New Year's holiday travelers.
COURTS
A New York man pleaded guilty Wednesday to storming the U.S. Capitol with fellow members of the far-right Proud Boys, a milestone in the Justice Department's prosecution of extremists who joined the Jan. 6 insurrection.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The state of Tennessee is facing a lawsuit over its decision to deny public access to a report recommending how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic that a contractor undertook at the request of Gov. Bill Lee's administration.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday reversed its own legal opinion and said it would allow federal inmates released on home confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic to stay out of prison.
REAL ESTATE
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose for the third straight month in November, reflecting strong demand, low mortgage rates and intense competition for a relatively few number of properties on the market.
AUTO INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal labor board is reviewing a decision by one of its regional officials to deny a union from trying to organize fewer than 100 of the thousands of employees at Nissan's auto assembly plant in Tennessee.
ATHENS, Ohio (AP) — The U.S. has opened a formal investigation into a report that Tesla vehicles allow people to play video games on a center touch screen while they are driving.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators on Wednesday authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans will be able to take at home to head off the worst effects of the virus.
BERLIN (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization warned Wednesday that blanket booster programs in rich countries risk prolonging the world's battle with COVID-19 and said that "no country can boost its way out of the pandemic."
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fighting the omicron variant surging through the country, President Joe Biden announced the government will provide 500 million free rapid home-testing kits, increase support for hospitals under strain and redouble vaccination and boosting efforts.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Stocks closed higher on Wall Street Wednesday, adding to the week's gains ahead of the Christmas holiday.
A trademark tiff between America's oldest beer maker and America's best-selling beer brand appears to be over before it really began.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence rose this month as Americans shrugged off concerns about rising prices and COVID'-19's highly contagious omicron variant.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.3% rate in the third quarter, slightly better than previously thought, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. But prospects for a solid rebound going forward are being clouded by the rapid spread of the latest variant of the coronavirus.
NEW YORK (AP) — After a wearying nearly two years of the pandemic, independent retailers are cautiously hoping their holiday seasons will be bright, despite the challenges this year ranging from supply chain snags to shortages of hot holiday items.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection requested an interview and information from Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio on Wednesday, the second time this week the committee publicly sought to interview a sitting member of Congress.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitch McConnell is done with subtleties. The Senate Republican leader is putting his party's courtship of Joe Manchin on full public display after the West Virginia Democrat's fractious split with the White House over the president's big social and environmental spending package.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Wednesday extended a student loan moratorium that has allowed tens of millions of Americans to put off debt payments during the pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden, along with progressive and moderate Democrats, appears determined to return to the negotiating table with Sen. Joe Manchin, the holdout Democrat who effectively tanked the party's signature $2 trillion domestic policy initiative.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian and U.S. negotiators will sit down for talks early next year to discuss Moscow's demand for Western guarantees precluding NATO's expansion to Ukraine, Russia's top diplomat said Wednesday.
Nearly $100 billion at minimum has been stolen from COVID-19 relief programs set up to help businesses and people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21
VANDERBILT SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Vanderbilt has signed Tim Corbin to a contract extension going into his 20th season running the Commodores' baseball program.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee denied Tuesday that his plan to revamp how Tennessee funds its multibillion dollar K-12 education system will make it easier to implement school voucher programs while responding to concerns submitted by the public following the process.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The National Weather Service on Monday confirmed that nearly 21 inches of rain fell in 24 hours over the summer, leading to deadly flooding in Middle Tennessee and marking a state record.
COURTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the mask requirement for Knox County Schools.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Monday appointed Mark Hayes as circuit court judge for the 29th Judicial District.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Retail giant Walmart illegally dumps more than 1 million batteries, aerosol cans of insect killer and other products, toxic cleaning supplies, electronic waste, latex paints and other hazardous waste into California landfills each year, state prosecutors alleged Monday in a lawsuit that the company labeled "unjustified."
AUTO INDUSTRY
Electric and hydrogen-powered truck startup Nikola has agreed to a $125 million settlement over charges that it defrauded investors after misleading them about its products, technical advances, and financial prospects.
TRENDS
U.S. population growth dipped to its lowest rate since the nation's founding during the first year of the pandemic as the coronavirus curtailed immigration, delayed pregnancies and killed hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents, according to figures released Tuesday.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Intel has told workers that unvaccinated people who don't get an exemption for religious or medical reasons will be on unpaid leave beginning in April.
NEW YORK (AP) — Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the U.S., accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fighting the omicron variant surging through the country, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that the government would provide 500 million free rapid tests, increase support for hospitals under strain and redouble vaccination and boosting efforts.
The NFL's decision to reduce COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic, vaccinated players could signal a trend for pro sports leagues and provide an example for society to follow heading into 2022.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Just as Americans and Europeans were eagerly awaiting their most normal holiday season in a couple of years, the omicron variant has unleashed a fresh round of fear and uncertainty — for travelers, shoppers, party-goers and their economies as a whole.
Stocks closed solidly higher on Wall Street Tuesday, more than regaining the ground they had lost a day earlier.
NEW YORK (AP) — A strike at Kellogg that has gone on since early October has ended after workers voted to ratify a new labor contract at the company's four U.S. cereal plants.
LONDON (AP) — Britain announced 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) in grants and loans to help the hospitality industry survive the onslaught of the omicron variant of COVID-19, bowing to days of pressure from pubs, restaurants and other businesses that have seen their income plunge following public health warnings.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania on Tuesday rebuffed a request for him to sit down for an interview and turn over documents to the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection, joining other allies of former President Donald Trump in trying to stonewall the committee.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are struggling to pick up the pieces after Sen. Joe Manchin effectively crushed President Joe Biden's big domestic policy bill. But they face serious questions whether the $2 trillion initiative can be refashioned to win his crucial vote or the party will be saddled with a devastating defeat.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection requested an interview and documents from Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania on Monday, marking the first time the committee publicly sought to sit down with a sitting member of Congress.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 20
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans had the AFC's No. 1 seed in their hands once again along with a chance to move a win away from clinching their second straight AFC South title.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The sight of the ball bounding out of his grasp is becoming far too familiar to Tennessee quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Brig. Gen. Cassandra Howard will be the new director of the Joint Staff for the Tennessee National Guard, Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Jeff Holmes said.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major step to fight climate change, the Biden administration is raising vehicle mileage standards to significantly reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases, reversing a Trump-era rollback that loosened fuel efficiency standards.
HEALTH CARE
Biogen is slashing the price of its Alzheimer's treatment in half months after it debuted to widespread criticism for an initial cost that could reach $56,000 annually.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — YouTube TV began restoring access to Disney content after a dispute between the companies led to an interruption of service over the weekend.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The COVID-19 omicron variant is "just raging around the world," the White House's top medical adviser said Sunday as President Joe Biden prepares to issue "a stark warning of what the winter will look like" for unvaccinated Americans.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The European Union's drugs regulator gave the green light Monday to a fifth COVID-19 vaccine for use in the 27-nation bloc, granting conditional marketing authorization to the two-dose vaccine made by U.S. biotech company Novavax.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli ministers on Monday agreed to ban travel to the United States, Canada and eight other countries amid the rapid, global spread of the omicron variant.
Moderna said Monday that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine should offer protection against the rapidly spreading omicron variant.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's main nurses' union warned Monday that exhaustion and surging coronavirus cases among medical staff are pushing them to breaking point, adding to pressure on the government for new restrictions to bring down record-high infection numbers driven by the omicron variant.
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration said Saturday that it would not issue citations tied to its coronavirus vaccination mandate before Jan. 10, so that companies have time to adjust to and implement the requirements.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wall Street joined a worldwide slump for financial markets on Monday amid worries about how badly the omicron variant, inflation and other forces will hit the economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Emarilis Velazquez is paying higher prices on everything from food to clothing.
GENEVA (AP) — The World Economic Forum is again delaying its much-ballyhooed annual meeting of world leaders, business executives and other elites in Davos, Switzerland, amid new uncertainties about the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline dropped by 6 cents over the past two weeks to $3.41 per gallon.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Warning that extremism in the ranks is increasing, Pentagon officials are issuing detailed new rules prohibiting service members from actively engaging in extremist activities. The new guidelines come nearly a year after some current and former service members participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, triggering a broad department review.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin all but delivered a death blow to President Joe Biden's $2 trillion domestic initiative, throwing his party's agenda into jeopardy, infuriating the White House and leaving angry colleagues desperate to salvage what's left of a top priority.
DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — Stacey Abrams, who built her national reputation by advocating for voting rights, is calling on Congress to take action on federal voting rules as the Democrat launches a second bid to become Georgia's governor.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two U.S. senators and a third lawmaker say they have tested positive for COVID-19 after having been vaccinated, as the nation deals with another surge in cases and the emergence of the omicron variant.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17
PREDATORS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Filip Forsberg had two goals and an assist and the Nashville Predators beat the streaking Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Thursday night in a game between rosters wrecked by COVID-19 outbreaks.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee House panel on Friday advanced a new map of the state representative districts despite objections from some lawmakers concerned that the proposal places several Democratic incumbents into the same districts.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee plan to invest $15 million in improvements at 18 lakes that will be branded after bass fishing superstar Bill Dance.
EDUCATION
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover has been appointed vice chair of the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities by President Joe Biden. TSU announced the appointment in a news release this week.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Capitol rioter who attacked police officers working to hold back the angry pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6 was sentenced Friday to more than five years behind bars, the most so far for anyone sentenced in the insurrection.
A federal judge rejected OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy settlement of thousands of lawsuits over the opioid epidemic Thursday because of a provision that would protect members of the Sackler family from facing litigation of their own.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge Thursday rejected a motion by Fox News to dismiss a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought against the cable news giant by Dominion Voting Systems over claims about the 2020 presidential election.
AUTO INDUSTRY
ATLANTA (AP) — Rivian Automotive was attracted to Georgia's education system, resources and talent when choosing a site for its $5 billion battery and assembly plant, a company official said Thursday as the project was officially announced.
ENVIRONMENT
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Conservationists are suing three federal agencies over the adequacy of an environmental review the government has said satisfies requirements to resume killing coyotes, mountain lions and other wildlife in federally protected wilderness areas in Nevada.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday permanently removed a major obstacle for women seeking abortion pills, eliminating a long-standing requirement that they pick up the medication in person.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
When you saw the packed stadiums and arenas, when you knew that nearly all athletes had been vaccinated, when there was little mention of positive tests or quarantines, it was so easy to believe the worst was over.
SEATTLE (AP) — Aerospace giant Boeing said Friday it's suspending a company vaccination requirement for all U.S.-based employees.
Pfizer said Friday it was changing plans and testing three doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in babies and preschoolers instead of the usual two.
Lines again stretch around blocks at some COVID-19 testing sites. Refrigerated mobile morgues are on order, and parts of Europe are re-tightening borders amid a winter spike in coronavirus infections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — All of the U.S. military services have now begun disciplinary actions and discharges for troops who have refused to get the mandated coronavirus vaccine, officials said, with as many as 20,000 unvaccinated forces at risk of being removed from service.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration late Thursday asked the Supreme Court to block lower court orders that are keeping President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for health care workers from going into effect in about half of the states.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Banks led another pullback for stocks on Wall Street Friday, as the market racked up its third losing week in the last four.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The National Labor Relations Board confirmed a vote Friday to form a union at a Starbucks store in Buffalo, meaning the coffee retailer, for the first time, will have to bargain with organized labor at a company-owned U.S. store.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Leading California cannabis companies warned Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday that the state's legal industry was on the verge of collapse and needed immediate tax cuts and a rapid expansion of retail outlets to steady the shaky marketplace.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's top financial regulators told Congress Friday that threats to U.S. financial stability remain elevated even though the country has recovered from what appears to be the worst economic shocks from the pandemic.
Employees at a fast-food restaurant in Sacramento, California, exasperated over working in stifling heat for low wages, demanded more pay and a new air conditioner — and got both.
Surging prices are haunting consumers and confounding economic planners in the U.S. and other countries, but not in Japan, where sparking inflation has proven an elusive goal.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — During a private meeting in July, Sen. Joe Manchin and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sat down to negotiate what exactly it would take for Democrats to unlock Manchin's vote to start the process of considering President Joe Biden's massive social and environmental bill.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone says he has asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in an interview with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has all but acknowledged negotiations over his sweeping domestic policy package will likely push into the new year, as he does not yet have the votes in the Senate to lift the roughly $2 trillion bill to passage.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Joe Manchin settled in at President Joe Biden's family home in Delaware on a Sunday morning in the fall as the Democrats worked furiously to gain his support on their far-reaching domestic package.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Joe Manchin's reluctance to endorse the Biden administration's expanded child tax credit program is rippling through his home state of West Virginia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats must drop an effort to let millions of immigrants remain temporarily in the U.S. from their expansive social and environment bill, the Senate parliamentarian decided Thursday, dealing the latest blow to a longtime priority of the party, migrant advocates and progressives.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on Friday published draft security pacts demanding NATO deny membership to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet countries and to roll back its military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe — bold demands that the U.S. and its allies already have rejected.
BEIJING (AP) — China will take all necessary measures to safeguard its institutions and enterprises, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday after the U.S. Senate passed a law barring imports from the Xinjiang region unless businesses can prove they were made without forced labor.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday announced that the state would increase the salary for correctional officers amid an ongoing national staffing shortage for prison agencies.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee prison officials on Wednesday agreed to ease restrictions on a prison reform advocate in pre-trial custody at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
REGION
DAWSON SPRINGS, Ky. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday pledged to do "whatever it takes, as long as it takes" to help Kentucky and other states after a series of deadly tornadoes that he said left a trail of unimaginable devastation. "You will recover and rebuild," he said.
DAWSON SPRINGS, Ky. (AP) — Tight-knit communities still digging out from the deadly tornadoes that killed dozens of people across eight states in the South and Midwest are turning to another heavy-hearted task: honoring and burying their dead.
COURTS
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court in New Orleans is the latest to uphold a federal ban on "bump stocks" — devices attached to semiautomatic firearms so that a shooter can fire multiple rounds with a single trigger pull.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has formally returned a lawsuit over Texas' six-week abortion ban to a federal appeals court that has twice allowed the law to stay in effect, rather than to a district judge who sought to block it.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government withdrew Thursday from settlement negotiations to end lawsuits filed on behalf of parents and children who were forcibly separated under the Trump administration's zero-tolerance border policy, the American Civil Liberties Union said.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Supreme Court has picked Deputy Director Michelle Long to become the next director of the state's Administrative Office of the Courts.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's pick to run the nation's highway safety agency pledged Thursday to attack a crisis of fatal car crashes by implementing safety rules to deter impaired driving while scrutinizing fast-emerging automated technologies, such as in Tesla vehicles, that could put people at risk.
TRANSPORTATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — Airlines are having trouble hiring pilots, flight attendants and other personnel, and that's part of what is causing canceled flights and scrapping of service to some airports, executives told legislators on Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration took steps Thursday aimed at reducing lead in drinking water, releasing $2.9 billion in infrastructure bill funds for lead pipe removal and announcing plans by the Environmental Protection Agency to impose stricter rules to limit exposure to the health hazard.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
Most Americans should be given the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead of the Johnson & Johnson shot that can cause rare but serious blood clots, U.S. health advisers recommended Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Army officials said Thursday that 98% of their active duty force had gotten at least one dose of the mandatory coronavirus vaccine as of this week's deadline for the shots but that more than 3,800 soldiers flatly refused and could start being removed from the military next month.
The new omicron coronavirus mutant speeding around the world may bring another wave of chaos, threatening to further stretch hospital workers already struggling with a surge of delta cases and upend holiday plans for the second year in a row.
BRUSSELS (AP) — A summit of European Union leaders on Thursday is trying to coordinate action to tackle the surge of coronavirus infections across the continent and the emergence of the new omicron variant while keeping borders open.
LONDON (AP) — Spiraling infections in Britain driven in part by the new omicron variant of the coronavirus sent shockwaves Thursday into the rest of Europe, fueling a familiar dread that tighter restrictions will scuttle holiday plans again this year.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Technology companies led stocks lower on Wall Street Thursday as investors weighed the implications of higher interest rates as the Federal Reserve prepares to begin raising rates next year to fight inflation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators gave final congressional approval Thursday to a bill barring imports from China's Xinjiang region unless businesses can prove they were produced without forced labor, overcoming initial hesitation from the White House and what supporters said was opposition from corporations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. industrial production increased 0.5% in November as output at the nation's factories reached the highest level since January 2019.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week despite signs that the U.S. labor market is rebounding from last year's coronavirus recession.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For months, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell responded to surging inflation by counseling patience and stressing that the Fed wanted to see unemployment return to near-pre-pandemic levels before it would raise interest rates.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A big postal rate increase over the summer hasn't stopped catalog retailers from stuffing mailboxes this holiday season.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank has decided against an abrupt pullback of its pandemic support for the economy as the new omicron variant of COVID-19 stirs uncertainty about the continent's recovery.
LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England raised interest rates in the United Kingdom on Thursday to combat surging consumer prices, becoming the first central bank among the world's leading economies to do so since the coronavirus pandemic began.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's exports jumped 20% and imports rose at an even faster pace in November as disruptions to manufacturing supply chains eased.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats' vast social and environment package was stuck in the Senate Thursday as leaders' hopes for an accord with holdout Sen. Joe Manchin and approval of their flagship domestic measure in the year's waning days seemed all but dead.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The defense bill Congress has sent to President Joe Biden prohibits using private funds for interstate National Guard deployments like South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem did this year.
NEW YORK (AP) — The federal agency overseeing the lease of the luxury hotel that Donald Trump's family company runs in the nation's capital failed to carry out its basic responsibilities because it never tracked the millions of dollars from foreign governments patronizing the hotel or examined the origins of a $75 million loan that helped keep its doors open, according to a congressional report Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday signed a bill raising the nation's borrowing limit by $2.5 trillion, avoiding a potentially catastrophic default and resolving the turbulent issue until after the 2022 midterm elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Thursday it is imposing new sanctions on several Chinese biotech and surveillance companies and government entities for actions in Xinjiang province, the latest step against Beijing over human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims in the country's western region.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Oversight Committee is demanding the Justice Department provide answers about whether Biden administration officials have any plans to procure the drug used in federal executions despite an ongoing moratorium on capital punishment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — There are plenty of reasons for Sebastian Garcia to feel downbeat about the future.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden unveiled two more ambassador nominees Wednesday, but the White House and Democrats warned that maneuvering by some Senate Republicans to block all but a small fraction of diplomatic and other national security appointees is doing serious harm to U.S. efforts around the globe.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Wednesday he's nominating Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy who served as ambassador to Japan during the Obama administration, to serve as ambassador to Australia and Michelle Kwan, the renowned U.S. Olympic figure skater, to serve as his chief envoy to Belize.