NC COVID-19 Jan. 18 Update: Positivity rate rises to 33.3%, over 4,600 currently hospitalized

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, keeping the market on track for its fifth gain in a row. The S&P 500 was up 0.1% in early trading Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 65 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite edged up 0.1%. Gap soared 9% after reporting […]

LONDON (AP) — Indigenous leaders from the Wampis Nation in Peru are urging lawmakers at the House of Commons in London to ban international banks’ support for Amazon oil activities they say harm their ancestral rainforests. HSBC bank, based in the United Kingdom, JPMorgan Chase in the United States and Santander in Spain helped finance […]

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — ExxonMobil could partner up with a consortium composed of Eni of Italy and Total of France to jointly develop gas deposits they’ve discovered close to each other off Cyprus’ southern coast, the Cypriot energy minister said Friday. Minister George Papanastasiou said ExxonMobil is in talks with the Eni-Total consortium on working […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Bitcoin extended its streak of record highs after ticking above $99,000 for the first time overnight. The cryptocurrency has rocketed more than 40% in just two weeks. Now, bitcoin is at the doorstep of $100,000, just two years after dropping below $17,000 following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. The dramatic […]

DALLAS (AP) — Delta and United have become the most profitable U.S. airlines by targeting premium customers while also winning back a significant share of travelers on a tight budget. That is squeezing smaller low-fare carriers like Spirit Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. Some travel-industry experts think Spirit’s troubles indicate that travelers […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House passed legislation Thursday that would give the Treasury Department unilateral authority to strip the tax-exempt status of nonprofits it claims support terrorism, alarming civil liberties groups about how a second Trump presidency could invoke it to punish political opponents. The bill passed 219-184, with the majority of the support […]

A deadly outbreak of listeria food poisoning tied to a massive recall of popular Boar’s Head deli meats is over, federal health officials said Thursday. Ten people died and 61 were sickened in 19 states after eating listeria-contaminated Boar’s Head products, including liverwurst. Illnesses were reported between late May and mid-September, according to the U.S. […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Sneaking a little ahead of line to get on that plane faster? American Airlines might stop you. In an apparent effort to reduce the headaches caused by airport line cutting, American has rolled out boarding technology that alerts gate agents with an audible sound if a passenger tries to scan a […]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Oil company Phillips 66 has been federally indicted in connection with alleged violations of the Clean Water Act in California, authorities said Thursday. The Texas-based company is accused of discharging hundreds of thousands of gallons of industrial wastewater containing excessive amounts of oil and grease, the U.S. Department of Justice said. […]

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. edged closer to 7% this week, climbing to its highest level since July. The rate rose to 6.84% from 6.78% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. That’s still down from a year ago, when the rate averaged 7.29%. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate […]

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks climbed Thursday after market superstar Nvidia and another round of companies said they’re making even fatter profits than expected. The S&P 500 pulled 0.5% higher after flipping between gains and losses several times during the day. Banks, smaller companies and other areas of the stock market that tend to […]

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, who was aggressive in his oversight of cryptocurrencies and other financial markets, will step down from his post on Jan. 20. Gensler pushed changes that he said protected investors, but the industry and many Republicans bristled at what they saw as overreach. President-elect Donald Trump had promised during […]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in October, the first annual gain in more than three years, with home shoppers encouraged by easing rates and a pickup in properties on the market. Existing home sales rose 3.4% last month, from September, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.96 million, […]

U.S. regulators are proposing aggressive measures to restore competition to the online search market after a federal judge ruled Google maintained an illegal monopoly for the last decade. The sweeping set of recommendations filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice could radically alter Google’s business, including possibly spinning off the Chrome web browser […]

The U.S. leads the world in developing artificial intelligence technology, surpassing China in research and other important measures of AI innovation, according to a newly released Stanford University index. There’s no surefire way to rank global AI leadership but Stanford researchers have made an attempt by measuring the “vibrancy” of the AI industry across various […]

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell again last week, remaining near seven-month lows. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claim applications fell by 6,000 to 213,000 for the week of Nov. 16. That’s fewer than the 220,000 analysts forecast. However, continuing claims, the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits, rose […]

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — In the sprawling pavilion section of the United Nations climate talks, where countries, nonprofits and tech companies use big, flashy signs to get the attention of the thousands of people walking through, small aqua and purple beverage cans sit conspicuously on a counter at the Singapore display. Those who approach learn […]