VOL. 47 | NO. 29 | Friday, July 14, 2023
JOE ROGERS: MY TAKE
Mississippians referring to our home state – and, for all I know, Tennesseans, Alaskans and everyone else when referring to theirs – tend to use the term “God’s country.”
RICHARD COURTNEY: REALTY CHECK
The news is dismal as far as year-to-year transaction comparisons go. But home prices continue to rise, reinforcing residential real estate as a profitable investment.
REAL ESTATE
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to just under 7%, the highest level since November and the latest setback for homebuyers already grappling with a tough housing market constrained by a dearth of homes for sale.
NEWSMAKERS
McGlinchey Stafford has added Will Wojcik as a member and Cole Hodge as associate in its Nashville office. Both will serve the firm’s litigation practice.
BRIEFS
Standard and Poor’s Global Ratings has upgraded Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County’s general obligation debt to AA+ rating. This upgrade marks the first upgrade Metro has received from S&P in as far back as Metro’s records show (to 1981).
BEHIND THE WHEEL
A few years into a new model’s launch, automakers will often update it with new features to spur interest and sales before it receives a full redesign. This update, commonly referred to as a midcycle refresh, can vary in scope from revised styling to new engines and updated technology.
CAREER CORNER
Receiving a rejection after a job interview can be devastating. Whether you had three interviews or 10, you were all in. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have snuck away from your existing job to interview.
PERSONAL FINANCE
The Secure Act 2.0 legislation that passed late last year added new retirement savings options but also has a few potential catches for unsuspecting savers. Understanding these possible pitfalls may help you make better decisions, or at least be prepared for what’s to come.
TOKYO (AP) — The highest-ranking U.S. military officer on Friday encouraged Japan's commitment to doubling its defense spending over the next five years, calling Tokyo's controversial push for a stronger military crucial to confront rising threats from North Korea and China.
MILLENNIAL MONEY
Sure, you’re probably not using paper checks for most things. But are you returning payments to medical providers and insurance companies in the mail? Paying by check for the random parking ticket or your child’s piano lessons? Now is a good time to stop.
TENNESSEE TITANS
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The misdemeanor simple-assault case against Tennessee Titans linebacker Rashad Weaver has been closed.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A military veteran who stormed the U.S. Capitol with a loaded pistol, metal-plated body armor and a gas mask was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years in prison, one of the longest among hundreds of Jan. 6 riot cases.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hush-money payments. Classified records. And now, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election that led to the Capitol attack. Already facing criminal cases in New York and Florida, Donald Trump faces increasing legal peril as investigations into his struggle to cling to power after his election loss appear to be coming to a head.
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump can't make a federal case out of this one.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A target letter sent to Donald Trump suggests that a sprawling Justice Department investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election is zeroing in on him after more than a year of interviews with top aides to the former president and state officials from across the country.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Former President Donald Trump joked about his legal challenges while campaigning in eastern Iowa on Tuesday night, just hours after announcing he'd received a target letter in the Justice Department's investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge signaled Tuesday that December may be too soon to begin former President Donald Trump's landmark criminal trial concerning the mishandling of classified documents, but did not say whether she would agree to Trump's request to put the trial off until after the 2024 election.
REAL ESTATE
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A new law that bans citizens of China and some other countries from purchasing property in large swaths of Florida violates federal housing discrimination laws, a lawyer representing Chinese nationals living and working in the state told a federal judge Tuesday.
TECHNOLOGY
A first-generation iPhone has sold at auction for $190,373, almost 380 times its original price of $499 when the groundbreaking device went for sale in 2007.
AUTO INDUSTRY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk's big bet that Tesla price cuts could boost sales and profits amid increasing competition and poor economic sentiment appears to be yielding mixed results. The company beat analyst expectations for net income in the April-June quarter, although its shares barely budged.
LONDON (AP) — India's Tata Sons plans to build a 4-billion-pound ($5.2 billion) electric car battery factory in the U.K., the conglomerate said Wednesday. The plant is expected to become one of Europe's largest battery cell manufacturing sites when it begins production in 2026.
MEDIA
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix enjoyed its biggest springtime spurt in subscribers since the early days of the pandemic three years ago, providing the latest sign that a recent crackdown on password sharing and the rollout of a cheaper version of its video streaming service are paying off.
You watch movies. You watch TV. And now you're wondering how the dual Hollywood strikes — a pitched battle with actors and writers on one side, and studios and streaming services on the other — will affect you. We have answers.
The deadline for Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzard has been extended as the companies seek to close a deal that has been challenged by regulators in the U.S., as well as by U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Another tick higher for Wall Street Wednesday added to its big rally for the year following profit reports from a spate of banks and other big U.S. companies.
United Airlines said Wednesday it earned more than $1 billion in the second quarter despite canceling 3,800 flights in the last two weeks of June, when it struggled to recover from storms that crippled its key operation in the New York City area.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Teamsters said Wednesday they will resume contract negotiations with UPS next week, marking an end to a stalemate that began two weeks ago when both sides walked away from talks while blaming each other.
LONDON (AP) — Computer chip and software maker Broadcom's $61 billion plan to buy cloud technology company VMware cleared another hurdle Wednesday after Britain's competition regulator gave the deal provisional clearance.
LONDON (AP) — The president and CEO of Gucci is stepping down later this year, the latest shakeup to the luxury fashion brand and coming as part of a series of changes to its parent company, the French conglomerate Kering.
HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese e-commerce retailer Temu has filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts accusing its rival Shein of violating U.S. antitrust law by preventing garment makers from working with it.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon announced a new $1.3 billion package of long-term military aid to Ukraine on Wednesday, including four air defense systems and an undisclosed number of drones.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden 's administration is hosting state legislators from 41 states to the White House on Wednesday for discussions on how legislatures can make child care more affordable for families, the White House said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed new guidelines for corporate mergers, took steps to disclose the junk fees charged by landlords and launched a crackdown on price-gouging in the food industry.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge will hear arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit opposing an asylum rule that is a key part of the Biden administration's immigration policy. Critics say the rule endangers migrants trying to cross the southern border and is against the law, while the administration argues that it encourages migrants to use lawful pathways into the U.S. and prevents chaos at the southern border.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog sought to reassure Congress on Wednesday about the state of Israel's democracy and the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship, acknowledging "heated and painful debate" at home and criticism abroad over actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline government.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans raised unsubstantiated allegations Wednesday against President Joe Biden over his family's finances as they summoned IRS whistleblowers to testify publicly for the first time about claims the Justice Department improperly interfered with a tax investigation into Biden's son Hunter.
BRUSSELS (AP) — One day after French President Emmanuel Macron criticized her appointment because of her nationality, the American candidate to become one of the European Union's chief economists will now not take up the position because of the political controversy it stirred, the bloc announced Wednesday.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the BRICS economic summit in Johannesburg next month, the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement Wednesday.
TUESDAY, JULY 18
TENNESSEE TITANS
The Titans have a new GM after ending the 2022 season on a seven-game skid that kept them out of the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey made clear Monday that only Congress can truly set a national standard for name, image and likeness compensation in college athletics.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Congratulations are in order for Taylor Swift and her loyal fans, known as Swifties. The pop star officially has more No. 1 albums than any woman in history.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville music executive Jerry Bradley, who signed Alabama and Ronnie Milsap and helped brand the outlaws style of country music during a 40-year career, died Monday. He was 83.
NASHVILLE AREA
NEW YORK (AP) — Dollar General violated federal labor law and "clearly intended to interfere" with worker rights in efforts to quell unionization at a Connecticut store, a National Labor Relations Board judge said Monday.
STATE GOVERNMENT
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee state Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones have raised more than $2 million combined through about 70,400 campaign donations after Republican lawmakers abruptly expelled the Democrats this spring for their gun control protest on the House floor.
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has received a letter informing him that he is a target of the Justice Department's investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, an indication he could soon be charged by U.S. prosecutors.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida judge who issued a court ruling last year that critics said was unduly favorable to Donald Trump is set to preside Tuesday over the first pretrial conference in his landmark criminal case concerning the mishandling of classified documents.
NEW YORK (AP) — Jury selection began Monday in Michael Cohen's civil lawsuit against the Trump Organization, in which the former president's personal attorney and fixer claims he is owed more than $1 million.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Taco Bell rang up a win Tuesday in its quest to make "Taco Tuesday" free of trademark restrictions, with Taco John's formally abandoning its decades-old claim to own the phrase amid a challenge from its bigger rival.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Current and former directors of electric-vehicle maker Tesla Inc. have agreed to return more than $735 million to the company to settle a shareholder lawsuit alleging that they unjustly enriched themselves with excessive compensation.
TECHNOLOGY
MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — Facebook parent company Meta Platforms has built an artificial intelligence system that rivals the likes of ChatGPT and Google's Bard but it's taking a different approach: releasing it for free.
LONDON (AP) — TikTok needs to do more to get ready for new European Union digital rules designed to keep users safe online, a top official said Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration and major consumer technology players on Tuesday launched an effort to put a nationwide cybersecurity certification and labeling program in place to help consumers choose smart devices that are less vulnerable to hacking.
ECONOMY
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans increased their spending last month as inflation eased in many areas, and the job market remained remarkably strong.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street's growing frenzy around artificial intelligence pushed stocks to their best level in more than 15 months. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% Tuesday to its highest finish since early April 2022. The Dow added 366 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8%. Microsoft was the biggest force pushing the S&P 500 higher by far with a 4% gain after announcing the pricing for some artificial-intelligence services. Financial industry stocks also drove the market higher after reporting stronger profits for the spring than expected. Charles Schwab rallied 12.6% and Bank of America rose 4.4%.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — AAA won't renew "a very small percentage" of homeowners and auto insurance policies in hurricane-wracked Florida, joining other insurers in limiting their exposure in the Sunshine State despite efforts by lawmakers to calm the volatile insurance market, the company said Tuesday.
MADRID (AP) — Amazon and Apple were fined a total of 194 million euros ($218 million) Tuesday for colluding to box out competitors by favoring sales of Apple products directly from the online retail giant, Spain's antitrust watchdog said.
In March 2020, an experiment in science philanthropy was hatched in the span of a five-minute call.
Major American providers of oilfield services supplied Russia with millions of dollars in equipment for months after its invasion of Ukraine, helping to sustain a critical part of its economy even as Western nations launched sanctions aimed at starving the Russian war effort.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Solidarity and stamina were picket-line themes Monday as striking screenwriters and actors in New York and Los Angeles braced for a long, hot summer standoff with studios.
NEW YORK (AP) — The common refrain is that there's nothing Hollywood loves so much as its own history — but that's a history inextricable from its labor movements.
Bank of America said its profits grew 19% in its most recent quarter, the latest of the big banks to see its bottom line boosted by higher interest rates.
AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch bicycle maker VanMoof has been declared bankrupt, slamming the brakes on a company that won design awards for its stylish, minimalist electric bikes but struggled to meet soaring demand and fix glitches with the app powering its service.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel's figurehead president Isaac Herzog sought to assure President Joe Biden that Israel remains committed to democracy amid deepening U.S. concerns over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial plans to overhaul his country's judicial system and ongoing settlement construction in the West Bank.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House will vote Tuesday on a Republican-led resolution reaffirming support for Israel, an implicit rebuke of a leading Democrat who, over the weekend, called the country a "racist state" but later apologized.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With labor turmoil roiling industries from coast to coast, President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders met with organizers at the White House on Monday to talk about ways to boost union membership.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Speaker Kevin McCarthy visited a natural gas drilling site in northeast Ohio to promote House Republicans' plan to sharply increase domestic production of energy from fossil fuels last month, the signs of rising global temperatures could not be ignored. Smoke from Canadian wildfires hung in the air.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday is hosting Israel's figurehead president Isaac Herzog at the White House, as they seek to sustain ties despite U.S. concerns over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial plans to overhaul his country's judicial system and ongoing settlement construction in the West Bank.
BRUSSELS (AP) — High anxiety set in on the closing day of a summit between European Union and Latin American leaders that was supposed to be a love-in but turned into a diplomatic fracas over the war in Ukraine.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kamala Harris, who made history as the first woman, the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president, has made history again by matching the record for most tiebreaking votes in the Senate.
MONDAY, JULY 17
VANDERBILT SPORTS
NASHVILLE (AP) — John Calipari's son is joining a Southeastern Conference staff, just not at Kentucky.
TENNESSEE TITANS
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Titans hope they've filled their major need at wide receiver with three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, agreeing to terms on a two-year deal worth $26 million with incentives that could push that to $32 million, a person familiar with the agreement said Sunday.
UT SPORTS
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's football program must vacate all 11 of its wins from the 2019 and 2020 seasons under coach Jeremy Pruitt as part of penalties handed down by the NCAA for multiple violations.
COURTS
MEMPHIS (AP) — Republican lawmakers violated the Tennessee Constitution when they passed a law this spring giving the state attorney general more authority to argue certain death penalty cases, according to a judge's ruling Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Justice Department's criminal division is leaving at the end of July after two years of overseeing work that ranged from corporate fraud prosecution to war crimes investigations.
MIAMI (AP) — A month after former President Donald Trump was charged with mishandling classified documents, the judge presiding over the case is set to take on a more visible role as she weighs competing requests on a trial date and hears arguments this week on a procedural, but potentially crucial, area of the law.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials on Monday approved the first long-acting drug to protect babies and toddlers against a respiratory virus that sends tens of thousands of American children to the hospital each year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Another experimental Alzheimer's drug can modestly slow patients' inevitable worsening — by about four to seven months, researchers reported Monday.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is closing higher ahead of a week full of updates about where profits for U.S. companies are heading.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean "Diddy" Combs wants to strengthen the Black dollar: The music mogul is spearheading a new online marketplace called Empower Global that will specifically feature Black-owned businesses.
NEW YORK (AP) — Meta will face a hefty fine over advertising practices that violate user privacy, Norway's data protection authority said Monday, unless the Facebook and Instagram owner takes action to comply with the law.
NEW YORK (AP) — To get a sense of just how much animosity is flying around Hollywood these days, watch how Ron Perlman responded to a report that the studios aimed to prolong a strike long enough for writers to lose their homes.
NEW YORK (AP) — The head of the Teamsters said Sunday that he has asked the White House not to intervene if unionized UPS workers end up going on strike.
HONG KONG (AP) — Schools and the stock market were closed in Hong Kong on Monday as Typhoon Talim sideswiped the city and headed toward landfall on the Chinese mainland and the island province of Hainan.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged the Senate to move forward with votes on more than 60 diplomatic nominations, including 38 ambassadors, that have been stalled due to objections by individual lawmakers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After having just four official staffers on the payroll last quarter, President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection campaign on Monday announced that former White House aide and congressman Cedric Richmond is joining as co-chair and that two veteran Democratic fundraisers are signing on to lead outreach to donors.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested recently he might stop the FBI from relocating its downtown headquarters to a new facility planned for the Washington suburbs, it was more than idle thinking about an office renovation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Raised on welfare by his grandmother, Joseph Sais relied so much on food stamps as a college student that he thought about quitting school when his eligibility was revoked.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Leaders from the European Union and Latin America gingerly hugged and huddled at a major two-day summit of long-lost relatives Monday. Whether it will be a joyful reunion of friends remains to be seen.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the United Arab Emirates on Monday as part of a swing through the Arab Gulf states focused on energy and commerce.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations meeting in India on Monday are poised to address critical global economic challenges, including the threats posed by climate change and rising debt among low-income countries.
FRIDAY, JULY 14
NASHVILLE AREA
NEW YORK (AP) — Slain at the hands of strangers or gunned down by loved ones. Massacred in small towns, in big cities, inside their own homes or outside in broad daylight. This year's unrelenting bloodshed across the U.S. has led to the grimmest of milestones: The deadliest six months of mass killings recorded since at least 2006.
The latest mass killing in the United States happened on July 4 in Shreveport, Louisiana, at an annual Independence Day block party just before midnight. It's believed that multiple males exchanged gunfire, leaving at least four people dead and at least seven others injured, the local police chief said at a news conference. Suspects were not immediately identified, and arrests were not immediately made.
COURTS
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Disney asked a Florida judge on Friday to toss out a lawsuit against the company's efforts to neutralize a takeover of Disney World's governing district by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his appointees.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department urged a judge Thursday to reject Donald Trump's efforts to postpone his classified documents trial, saying there was no basis for an "open-ended" delay sought by the former president's lawyers.
NEW YORK (AP) — The founder of student aid startup Frank shook her head repeatedly Thursday as a prosecutor claimed that she tricked J.P. Morgan Chase into paying $175 million for her business by lying about its client base.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A professional butcher whose bloody, wild-eyed face became one of the most memorable images of the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced Thursday to more than seven years in prison for hurling a bow like a spear at police and attacking several other officers.
MEDIA
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and The Associated Press said Thursday that they've made a deal for the artificial intelligence company to license AP's archive of news stories.
PERSONAL FINANCE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS is showcasing its new capability to aggressively audit high-income tax dodgers as it makes the case for sustained funding and tries to avert budget cuts sought by Republicans who want to gut the agency.
HEALTH CARE
UnitedHealth beat second-quarter expectations as an acquisition and more Medicare Advantage customers helped balance a jump in care use.
ENVIRONMENT
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is making available $20 billion from a federal "green bank" for clean energy projects such as residential heat pumps, electric vehicle charging stations and community cooling centers.
ECONOMY
NEW YORK (AP) — Falling crude oil prices and lingering worries about the global economy have been sapping power from energy stocks throughout 2023.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Another winning week for Wall Street drifted to a quiet close following profit reports from several big U.S. companies that topped expectations.
JPMorgan's second-quarter profits rose by 67% as the nation's largest bank made more loans to customers, took advantage of higher interest rates, and got a boost from its recent acquisition of First Republic Bank.
Wells Fargo's profits jumped 57% in the second quarter thanks to higher interest rates and loan balances, the bank said Friday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some of the nation's top movie stars could be on the picket lines Friday when striking screen actors protest alongside writers on the first full day of a walkout that has become Hollywood's biggest labor fight in decades.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood actors are joining screenwriters in the first dual strike from the two unions in more than six decades, with huge consequences for the film and television industry. Here is a look at how it has played out, why it's happening, and what could come next.
Hollywood productions and promotional tours around the world have been put on indefinite hold as actors join writers on the picket lines as they seek new contracts with studios and streaming services.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A tentative deal was reached Thursday between employers and workers in a strike that has halted shipments in and out of ports in Canada's west coast region of British Columbia for nearly two weeks.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $72 million for his reelection in the 10 weeks since he announced his 2024 candidacy, his campaign announced Friday, in a strong but not record performance by an incumbent.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration calls it a "student loan safety net." Opponents call it a backdoor attempt to make college free. And it could be the next battleground in the legal fight over student loan relief.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House on Friday approved a sweeping annual defense bill that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members but strays from traditional military policy with political add-ons from Republicans to block abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender issues that deeply divided the chamber.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults give high ratings to the way democracy is working in the United States or how well it represents the interests of most Americans, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Wagner private military company "simply doesn't exist" as a legal entity, in comments adding to the series of often bizarre twists that have followed the group's abortive revolt last month — the most serious threat to Putin's 23-year rule amid the war in Ukraine.
THURSDAY, JULY 13
NASHVILLE SC
NASHVILLE (AP) — Dániel Gazdag scored on a penalty kick in each half and the Philadelphia Union beat Nashville SC 2-0 on Wednesday night in a match that saw three players exit in the second half due to red cards
COURTS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former California police chief was convicted on Thursday of joining the riot at the U.S. Capitol with a hatchet in his backpack and plotting to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.
NEW YORK (AP) — The founder and former CEO of the failed cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network was arrested Thursday on federal fraud charges alleging that he schemed to defraud customers by misleading them about key aspects of the business.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A retired Army colonel has reached a court settlement of nearly $1 million in a sexual assault lawsuit against Air Force Gen. John Hyten, who served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is appealing the 18-year-prison sentence handed down for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, as well as other far-right extremists' punishments that were shorter than what prosecutors had sought, according to court papers filed Wednesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump lashed out on social media against the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday after it stopped supporting his claim that the presidency shields him from liability against a defamation lawsuit brought by a woman who says he sexually attacked her in the mid-1990s.
Ask ChatGPT about comedian Sarah Silverman's memoir "The Bedwetter" and the artificial intelligence chatbot can come up with a detailed synopsis of every part of the book.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A former Mozambique finance minister who has been held in prison in South Africa for nearly five years was extradited Wednesday to the United States to face a fraud and corruption trial over a $2 billion scandal involving fraudulent government loans.
ENVIRONMENT
BERLIN (AP) — The head of this year's United Nations' climate talks called Thursday for governments and businesses to tackle global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in all regions and sectors if they want to stop the planet from passing a key temperature limit agreed on more than seven years ago.
TECHNOLOGY
LONDON (AP) — Google said Thursday that it's rolling out its AI-powered chatbot Bard across Europe and in Brazil, expanding its availability to hundreds of millions more users.
WASHINGTON (AP) — State-backed Chinese hackers foiled Microsoft's cloud-based security in hacking the email accounts of officials at multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to Beijing last month, officials said Wednesday.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators on Thursday approved the nation's first over-the-counter birth control pill in a landmark decision that will soon allow American women and girls to obtain contraceptive medication as easily as they buy aspirin and eyedrops.
TRAVEL
Delta Air Lines executives say they're not seeing the drop in average airfares that federal officials believe are contributing to lower inflation.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices in the United States decelerated again last month, the latest sign that inflationary pressures are easing in the face of the Federal Reserve's streak of interest rate hikes.
The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits fell again last week as the labor market continues defy the Federal Reserve's attempt to cool it through higher interest rates.
HONG KONG (AP) — China's exports tumbled 12.4% in June from a year earlier as demand weakened after central banks raised interest rates to curb inflation even as Chinese leaders struggled to keep a post-COVID recovery from faltering.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street's winning streak barreled into a fourth day Thursday following the latest signal that inflation is easing its chokehold on the economy.
St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard, one of the most hawkish members of the central bank since it started it aggressive rate-hiking campaign, is stepping down.
Bob Iger will remain as CEO of The Walt Disney Co. through the end of 2026, agreeing to a two-year contract extension that will give the entertainment and theme park company some breathing room to find his successor.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Leaders of a Hollywood's actors union voted Thursday to join screenwriters in the first joint strike in more than six decades, shutting down production across the entertainment industry after talks for a new contract with studios and streaming services broke down.
Delta Air Lines soared to a record quarterly profit of more than $1.8 billion as summer vacationers packed planes, especially to international destinations, and the airline enjoyed a tailwind from falling fuel prices.
PepsiCo saw lower demand for its drinks and snacks in the second quarter, but higher prices continued to boost its bottom line.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. climate envoy John Kerry defended his negotiations with China — and angrily rebuffed what he called a "stupid" lie that he routinely travels by private jet — during a grilling by House Republicans on Thursday before he sets out on his next climate mission to Beijing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — No fingerprints or DNA turned up on the baggie of cocaine found in a lobby at the White House last week despite a sophisticated FBI crime lab analysis, and surveillance footage of the area didn't identify a suspect, according to a summary of the Secret Service investigation obtained by The Associated Press. There are no leads on who brought the drugs into the building.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chair of the Federal Trade Commission defended her aggressive legal strategy toward the country's biggest technology companies Thursday as House Republicans charged that the agency has become overzealous and politicized under President Joe Biden.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The International Monetary Fund approved a much-awaited $3 billion bailout for Pakistan on Wednesday, the global lender said, a move that's likely to save the nation from defaulting on its debt repayments.
AUTO INDUSTRY