VOL. 47 | NO. 20 | Friday, May 12, 2023
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average rate on a long-term U.S. home loan is down to the lowest level in five weeks, welcome news for house hunters facing a market constrained by persistently high prices and a near-historic low number of homes for sale.
NEWSMAKERS
Barnes & Thornburg LLP is opening a new office in Nashville that will be anchored by the arrival of five partners: capital markets partners Jay H. Knight and Taylor K. Wirth, health care partners J.D. Thomas and Elisa Harris, and white-collar litigation partner Joy Boyd Longnecker.
BRIEFS
Parnassus Books, owned by novelist Ann Patchett, has acquired Hooks Book Events, a provider of nonfiction book and author programs for businesses and organizational teams. Hooks Book Events will operate as a division of Parnassus.
BEHIND THE WHEEL
It seems there’s a new electric luxury SUV introduced every couple of months. But if you’re seeking old-school opulence, a luxury sedan might be more your speed. Luckily, automakers haven’t completely forsaken that category.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
You know the drill: wrestle your roll-on, carry-on, a jacket, phone and a book, fast-walk like an Olympian down a hallway and pass through a hobbit-sized door. Heave one bag up and one down before plopping yourself into a minuscule seat, ready to go.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Are you thinking about taking the family on vacation this summer? You are not alone. Demand for air travel is up in 2023, KAYAK reports, with domestic and international prices up 52% and 29%, respectively, compared to last year.
To create a fun but affordable summer for her daughters, ages 11 and 13, Flossie McCowald plans out camps well in advance. The Pennsylvania resident snags early bird discounts, takes advantage of a church-based sleepaway camp that offers scholarships and leverages sibling discounts.
CAREER CORNER
Most people don’t sufficiently plan for switching jobs as they have a personal connection to the job opening. This makes the process is fairly straightforward and relatively painless.
VANDERBILT SPORTS
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Texas Rangers pitching prospect Kumar Rocker, a top-10 pick in each of the past two MLB drafts, has a torn ligament in his right elbow and will need Tommy John surgery.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Treylon Burks didn't exactly make the best first impression as a rookie with the Tennessee Titans.
AUTO RACING
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Josef Newgarden walks into an interview at Indianapolis Motor Speedway waiting for the question. Again.
COURTS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes will remain free through the Memorial Day weekend before surrendering to authorities on May 30 to begin her more than 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors in a blood-testing scam.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, who has announced her resignation, tried to use her position to influence the outcome of a race for Boston's district attorney by leaking information aimed at sabotaging the campaign of her preferred candidate's rival, the Justice Department's internal watchdog said in a report released Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Wednesday that Illinois can, for now, keep in place a new law that bars the sale of certain semiautomatic guns and large-capacity magazines.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A key lawyer for former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was leaving the legal team, a move that comes as a special counsel investigation into the retention of classified documents shows signs of being in its final stages.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday declined to let a former Tennessee state senator withdraw his guilty plea on federal campaign finance charges.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Legal arguments over women's access to a drug used in the most common method of abortion move to a federal appeals court in New Orleans on Wednesday, in a case challenging a Food and Drug Administration decision made more than two decades ago.
AUTO INDUSTRY
LONDON (AP) — The world's fourth-biggest carmaker by sales has warned of a potential existential threat to large parts of the British car industry unless the government moves to alter the terms of its post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union.
MEDIA
WASHINGTON (AP) — Emily Reed lost her younger sister Jessica more than 10 years ago. For much of the last decade, she's visited Jessica's Twitter page to help "keep her memory alive."
Elon Musk on Tuesday dismissed speculation that he might step down as Tesla's CEO and told the company's annual shareholders meeting that the electric car and solar panel company would start doing some advertising.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil and gas producers talk up technological breakthroughs they say will soon allow the world to drill and burn fossil fuels without worsening global warming. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry says the time is here for the industry to prove it can make the technology happen — at scale, affordably and quickly — to stave off climate disaster.
PERSONAL FINANCE
NEW YORK (AP) — Most taxpayers are interested in filing their taxes directly to the IRS for free, a new report says, and that option will be tested next year.
ECONOMY
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's economy grew at an annual pace of 1.6% in the quarter through March as private demand rebounded after COVID-19-related restrictions were eased, according to data released Wednesday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street rallied Wednesday on hopes the U.S. government can avoid a potentially disastrous default on its debt.
NEW YORK (AP) — Target on Wednesday reported another quarterly profit decline and issued a cautious sales and profit outlook for the current period.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — An optimistic President Joe Biden declared Wednesday he is confident the U.S. will avoid an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic debt default, saying talks with congressional Republicans have been productive. He left for a G-7 summit in Japan but planned to return by the weekend in hopes of approving a solid agreement.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said there's "work to do" on the global stage as he headed to Japan on Wednesday to consult with allies on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and China's assertiveness in the Pacific at the same time that a debt limit standoff looms at home.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Debt-limit talks shifted into an encouraging new phase Tuesday as President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy named top emissaries to negotiate a deal to avert an unprecedented national default. Biden cut short an upcoming overseas trip in hopes of closing an agreement before a June 1 deadline.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday he's curtailing his upcoming trip to the Indo-Pacific, scrapping what was to be a historic stop in Papua New Guinea as well as a visit to Australia for a gathering with fellow leaders of the so-called Quad partnership so he can focus on debt limit talks in Washington.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden marked Jewish American Heritage Month on Tuesday by highlighting his administration's efforts to combat rising antisemitism, at a White House reception that featured performances from the stars of the Broadway revival of "Parade."
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats took steps Tuesday to force a vote on expelling New York Rep. George Santos from Congress, an effort that is expected to be defeated but puts Republicans in the uncomfortable position of taking a stand on an indicted colleague.
TUESDAY, MAY 16
RELIGION
Saddleback Church, the Southern California megachurch founded by best-selling author Rick Warren, is appealing its ouster from the Southern Baptist Convention for having women pastors on staff, according to the denomination.
COURTS
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Disney on Tuesday asked a state judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a governing board appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to oversee Disney World, claiming the company has been the victim of the "weaponizing" powers of government aimed at punishing it for opposing a law dubbed "Don't Say Gay" by critics.
NEW YORK (AP) — A woman who says she worked as an off-the-books employee for Rudy Giuliani during his stint as Donald Trump's personal lawyer alleges in court papers that the former New York City mayor coerced her into sex and owes her nearly $2 million in unpaid wages.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department announced a series of criminal cases Tuesday tracing the illegal flow of sensitive technology, including Apple's software code for self-driving cars and materials used for missiles, to foreign adversaries like Russia, China and Iran.
NEW YORK (AP) — The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands is trying to subpoena billionaire Elon Musk for documents in its lawsuit seeking to hold JPMorgan Chase liable for sex trafficking acts committed by businessman Jeffrey Epstein.
HEALTH CARE
Jessica Tincopa may leave the photography business she spent 14 years building for one reason: to find coverage for fertility treatment.
LONDON (AP) — The number of people in the U.K. not working because of long-term sickness has risen to a record high partly because of ongoing health problems related to the coronavirus pandemic, official figures showed Tuesday.
AUTO INDUSTRY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The former head of Volkswagen's luxury division Audi pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges tied to the automaker's diesel emissions scandal, becoming the highest-ranking executive convicted over cars that cheated on emissions tests with the help of illegal software.
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Delaware's Supreme Court on Monday overturned a judge's ruling upholding a decision by state officials to prohibit electric vehicle maker Tesla from selling its cars directly to customers.
MEDIA
The NFL is taking another big step into streaming by putting one of its playoff games exclusively on a digital platform for the first time.
NEW YORK (AP) — The impact of the Hollywood writers strike was felt as major television networks began their annual week of sales presentations to advertisers on Monday, with news personalities like Willie Geist and Stephanie Ruhle left to hawk comedies and dramas for NBC Universal.
ENVIRONMENT
BRUSSELS (AP) — The 27 European Union countries on Tuesday formally adopted new rules that should help the bloc reduce its contribution to global deforestation by regulating the trade in a series of products driving the decrease in forested areas across the world.
BANKING
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett recommitted to his favorite bank stock, Bank of America, during the first quarter while dumping two other banks as part of a number of moves in Berkshire Hathaway's stock portfolio.
NEW YORK (AP) — The recent failures of a trio of midsize banks has once again raised questions about whether senior executives in the U.S. are being rewarded more for short-term gains — like rising stock prices — than for ensuring their companies' long-term health.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Most stocks fell on Wall Street after Home Depot warned of flagging sales, the latest discouraging signal for an economy under pressure.
The U.S. is attempting to block the proposed acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics for more than $26 billion by biotech drug developer Amgen on antitrust grounds.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans picked up their spending modestly in April, spending money online and dining out, buoyed by a solid job market and a retreat in prices for some things.
LONDON (AP) — The European Union's sweeping set of beefed-up cryptocurrency rules got final approval from member states Tuesday, giving the 27-nation bloc a global lead in regulating the freewheeling sector.
After years of explosive growth during the pandemic, Home Depot's revenue during the first quarter fell short of expectations and the company cut its profit and sales outlook for the year, sending shares skidding before the opening bell Tuesday.
LONDON (AP) — Wireless carrier Vodafone said Tuesday that it's laying off 11,000 workers as part of a major revamp aimed at cutting costs and boosting flagging financial performance.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and top congressional leaders opened their second meeting on talks over raising the debt limit as the White House said it is reevaluating parts of Biden's overseas trip that is scheduled to begin later this week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — All the hand-wringing in Washington over raising the debt limit can seem far removed from the lives of everyday Americans, but they could end up facing huge consequences.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday vetoed a congressional resolution that would have reinstated tariffs on solar panel imports from Southeast Asia, settling for now a long-running dispute over whether to punish China for trade violations that bypass U.S. rules limiting imports of cheap solar panels from Asia.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will mark Jewish American Heritage Month on Tuesday by highlighting his administration's efforts to combat rising antisemitism when he speaks at a White House reception that will feature performances from the stars of the Broadway revival of "Parade."
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump called into an event hosted by his former national security adviser Michael Flynn over the weekend, telling his ex-adviser, "We're going to bring you back."
WASHINGTON (AP) — A special prosecutor found that the FBI rushed into its investigation of ties between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and relied too much on raw and unconfirmed intelligence as he concluded a four-year probe that fell far short of the former president's prediction that the "crime of the century" would be uncovered.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bungled applications to eavesdrop on a former aide of then-candidate Donald Trump. Flawed research by a former British spy tasked with a sensitive, and political, assignment. And an FBI scrambling against the election-season clock to untangle suspicions about foreign government collusion that it feared could have grave national security implications.
MONDAY, MAY 15
MUSIC INDUSTRY
MEMPHIS (AP) — Blues mainstays Buddy Guy, Albert Castiglia and John Nemeth each won two awards and Tommy Castro took home the prize of B.B. King Entertainer of the Year at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis, Tennessee.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed off on additional protections for gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers against lawsuits within a bill that lawmakers passed after a deadly school shooting in March.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A special prosecutor has ended his four-year investigation into possible FBI misconduct in its probe of ties between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 campaign with withering criticism of the bureau but a meager court record that fell far short of the former president's prediction he would uncover the "crime of the century."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a Biden administration appeal to limit lawsuits filed by members of Congress against the federal government, in a case that stems from disputes over what was the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk cannot back out of a settlement with securities regulators that was reached after his 2018 tweets claiming he had secured funding to take Tesla private caused the electric vehicle maker's share price to jump and led to a temporary halt in trading, an appeals court ruled Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether South Carolina's congressional districts need to be redrawn because they discriminate against Black voters.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Monday that he plans to nominate cancer specialist Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to become director of the National Institutes of Health.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vending machines that have long been stocked with snacks are getting repurposed to distribute life-saving supplies to help fight the opioid epidemic.
MEDIA
LONDON (AP) — The European Union on Monday approved Microsoft's $69 billion purchase of video game maker Activision Blizzard, deciding the deal won't stifle competition for popular console titles like Call of Duty and accepting the U.S. tech company's remedies to boost competition in cloud gaming.
Musk declared that whoever took over as the company's CEO " must like pain a lot." Then he promised he'd step down as soon as he found a replacement "foolish enough" to want the job.
NEW YORK (AP) — Vice Media is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the latest digital media company to falter after a meteoric rise.
ENVIRONMENT
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Biden administration wants to put conserving vast government-owned lands on equal footing with oil drilling, livestock grazing and other interests, according to a top administration official who defended the idea against criticism that it would interfere with industry.
AUTO INDUSTRY
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — With new and used cars still painfully expensive, Ryan Holdsworth says he plans to keep his 9-year-old Chevy Cruze for at least four more years. Limiting his car payments and his overall debt is a bigger priority for him than having a new vehicle.
ECONOMY
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Union's executive body raised its economic growth forecast, saying Europe had dodged a winter recession that was feared amid an energy crisis but warning that stubbornly high inflation is likely to keep hurting the economy by sapping people's ability to spend.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street drifted higher ahead of reports that will show how much a slowing economy is hurting what's prevented a recession so far: solid spending by U.S. households. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% Monday. The Dow edged higher, while the Nasdaq rose 0.7%. Some of the sharper moves came from companies announcing takeovers of rivals, but the larger market remained listless as several worries hang over Wall Street. They include fears about a possible recession and a countdown to a possible default by the U.S. government. The latest discouraging report on manufacturing showed a plunge in New York state.
DUNKIRK, France (AP) — Building factories to boost job creation and make France more independent — that's President Emmanuel Macron's ambition for the French economy.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of migrants encountered at the southern border fell 50% during the last three days compared with the days leading up to the end of a key pandemic-era regulation, but it's too early to draw firm conclusions about what this means long term, U.S. officials said Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Monday there's been "no progress" on debt ceiling talks ahead of a meeting with President Joe Biden and other congressional leaders scheduled for Tuesday at the White House, as the country pushes closer to a crisis over the need to raise its legal borrowing limit.
FRIDAY, MAY 12
MUSIC INDUSTRY
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Lainey Wilson was seemingly everywhere at the Academy of Country Music Awards, collecting four trophies on a night that saw Chris Stapleton win the entertainer of the year honor.
STATE GOVERNMENT
There have been a few cracks in the predictable pattern of Republican-controlled states loosening gun laws while Democratic states tighten them. But it's far too soon to say the GOP is changing direction even amid a record-setting pace for mass killings in the United States.
COURTS
CHATTANOOGA (AP) — A judge dismissed a 44-court indictment on Friday against a former Tennessee sheriff's deputy that included charges of rape, sexual battery, oppression and extortion.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An ex-prosecutor who once oversaw Manhattan's yearslong investigation of former President Donald Trump repeatedly declined to substantively answer questions at a closed-door deposition Friday of the House Judiciary Committee, according to a Republican lawmaker in the meeting.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — McDonald's and a franchise holder are at fault after a hot Chicken McNugget from a Happy Meal fell on a little girl's leg and caused second-degree burns, a jury in South Florida has found.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department asked a judge Thursday to put on hold a scheduled deposition of Donald Trump in a lawsuit brought by an FBI agent who was fired over text messages critical of the former president.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Cassandra Nuñez and her grandmother cast their first ballots in a U.S. presidential election in 2016. She was a first-year college student; her grandmother, a newly minted citizen. They both hoped to elect the first woman president over a man who bragged about grabbing and kissing women at will.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was ordered Thursday to appear by video at a May 23 hearing in his Manhattan criminal case after a judge this week set rules barring him from using evidence in the case to attack witnesses.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — A decade-long data breach in Toyota's much-touted online service put some information on more than 2 million vehicles at risk, the Japanese automaker said Friday.
MEDIA
NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk is welcoming a veteran ad executive to the helm of Twitter, the social media site the billionaire Tesla CEO had been running since he bought it last fall.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter launched encrypted messaging Wednesday, offering select users the ability to communicate more securely. But its new service is much more of a baby step than a giant leap forward.
TRENDS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dutton and Wrenlee are on the rise but they're no match for champs Liam and Olivia as the top baby names in the U.S. last year.
TRAVEL
DALLAS (AP) — Just ahead of what could be a record-breaking summer travel season, pilots from one of the nation's biggest airlines are preparing to march in picket lines at major airports on Friday as they push for higher pay.
RELIGION
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis joined Italy's conservative premier on Friday in encouraging Italians to have more children, denouncing the financial precariousness facing young couples and "selfish, egotistical" choices that have led to a record low birth rate that is threatening the country's economic future.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has nominated Philip Jefferson, a member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, to serve as vice chair of the board, the White House announced Friday.
NIIGATA, Japan (AP) — Bank runs, cyber security and building more reliable supply chains to ensure economic security were among items on the agenda of closed-door financial talks Friday in Japan by the Group of Seven advanced economies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Commerce Department on Friday is launching the application process for cities to receive a total of $500 million in grants to become technology hubs.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — This year's projected government budget deficit has jumped by $130 billion, due in part to a proposed change to student loan repayment plans and a series of bank rescues organized by federal regulators, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday .
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration's number two diplomat is retiring after decades of U.S. government service.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans passed a sweeping bill Thursday to build more U.S.-Mexico border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hard-line counter to President Joe Biden's policies just as migrants are amassing along the border with the end of coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is putting new restrictions into place at its southern border to try to to stop migrants from crossing illegally and encourage them instead to apply for asylum online through a new process.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez are set to hold talks Friday as their countries are collaborating along with Canada to establish migration hubs in Latin America where asylum seekers fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries can go to apply for protection.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Joe Biden was running for president three years ago, he flew on a white private jet with his campaign logo painted on the side.
THURSDAY, MAY 11
MUSIC INDUSTRY
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — It'll be a new experience for Garth Brooks when he steps onto the stage Thursday at the Academy of Country Music Awards — it's his first time hosting an awards show.
COURTS
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York's attorney general sued a gun accessory manufacturer Thursday for selling a lock that can be easily removed to attach high-capacity magazines, which are illegal in the state.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday against an organization of Puerto Rican journalists in its quest for documents from the financial oversight board created to deal with the island territory's bankruptcy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for a onetime top aide to ex-Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and for others who were convicted of corruption related to an economic development project known as the "Buffalo Billion."
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of a transgender Guatemalan woman who is fighting deportation on the grounds that she would face persecution if returned to her native country.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to a California animal cruelty law that affects the pork industry, ruling that the case was properly dismissed by lower courts. Pork producers had said that the law could force industry-wide changes and raise the cost of bacon and other pork products nationwide.
An Idaho man who traveled to Washington in a car loaded with weapons and was photographed dangling from the Senate balcony during the Capitol riot was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison.
DOVER, Del. (AP) — A Delaware judge on Wednesday refused to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit alleging that Facebook officers and directors violated both the law and their fiduciary duties in failing for years to protect the privacy of user data.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships can give blood in the U.S. without abstaining from sex under updated federal health guidelines that focus on donors' behavior, not their sexual orientation.
LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization said Thursday that the global outbreak of mpox, which initially baffled experts when the smallpox-related disease spread to more than 100 countries last year, is no longer an international emergency, after a dramatic drop in cases in recent months.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The formal end of the national Public Health Emergency on Thursday is largely a symbolic and psychological step, representing the country's formal emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic.
AUTO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tesla shouldn't be calling its partially automated driving system Autopilot because the cars can't drive themselves, the top U.S. transportation official says.
TOKYO (AP) — Honda's profit for the fiscal year that ended in March dropped 1.7% as sales took a hit from a semiconductor shortage and restrictions in China related to the coronavirus pandemic.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration proposed new limits Thursday on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, its most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the nation's second-largest contributor to climate change.
TRAVEL
DALLAS (AP) — Pilots at Southwest Airlines voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, their union said Thursday, a move that is unlikely to lead to a walkout in the near future but is designed to put more pressure on the airline during contract negotiations.
MEDIA
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Chinese police said they recently detained a ChatGPT user for allegedly using the AI-powered chatbot to create a fake news story about a nonexistent train crash. It's one of the first enforcement actions under a recently enacted Chinese law regulating AI-generated "deepfakes" — seemingly realistic but fabricated digital images, video or other media.
BANKING
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group reported Thursday a loss of 970 billion yen ($7 billion) for the fiscal year that just ended — the second year in a row of red ink.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices in the United States rose modestly last month, the latest sign that inflationary pressures may be easing more than a year after the Federal Reserve unleashed an aggressive campaign of steadily higher interest rates.
The number of Americans filing for jobless claims last week rose to its highest level in a year-and-a-half, though the labor market remains healthy by historical standards.
LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England raised interest rates to their highest level since late 2008 as it continues to combat stubbornly high inflation in the U.K.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street slipped, sending the S&P 500 down 0.2%. Disney was one of the heaviest forces dragging the market lower on Thursday after it lost streaming subscribers during the latest quarter.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — If the fight with Congress over raising the government's debt limit is such a dire threat, why doesn't President Joe Biden just raise the borrowing ceiling himself? It's theoretically possible, but he's skeptical.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans were on track Thursday to pass a sweeping bill to build more U.S.-Mexico border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hard-line counter to President Joe Biden's policies just as migrants are amassing along the border with the end of coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
NIIGATA, Japan (AP) — After dozens of standoffs with Congress over government spending in recent decades, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that in her opinion, the United States should adopt a different system for national finances.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Protecting a narrow, four-vote majority, Republican leaders in the House are making clear that they intend to let the legal process play out with New York Rep. George Santos before they take steps to force his resignation or expel him.
During a contentious CNN town hall Wednesday night, former President Donald Trump dug in on his lies about the 2020 election, downplayed the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, and repeatedly insulted the woman whom a civil jury this week found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's primetime return to CNN Wednesday for the first time since 2016 felt like a throwback: Trump with the long, twisting answers; the interviewer at times struggling to fact-check him or return his focus to the question at hand; and then, eventually, both talking over each other as Trump flings insults her way.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are seeking Thursday to pass a sweeping bill to build more border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hardline counter to President Joe Biden's policies just as migrants are amassing along the border with the end of pandemic restrictions.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that he won't support a fellow GOP senator's blockade of military nominees, backing Democrats and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin who have said that the holdup is harming national security.