BEIJING (AP) -- Global stock markets and US futures rose Tuesday on investor hopes that a possible victory by challenger Joe Biden in the American presidential election might lead to more economic stimulus. Dow futures were up 1.6% while those for the S&P 500 were 1.3 percent higher ahead of the start of trading on Wall Street. European indexes were up firmly in midday trading, while Asian markets closed higher. Traders are betting Biden might push for a bigger US stimulus package if

World Business Nov. 3, 2020

VIENNA (AP) -- Gunmen opened fire on people enjoying a last night out at Vienna's cafes and restaurants before a coronavirus lockdown Monday in what authorities said was a terrorist attack that left at least two dead -- including one of the assailants -- and 15 wounded. "We are victims of a despicable terror attack in the federal capital that is still ongoing," Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said hours after the gunfire erupted. "One of the perpetrators was neutralized

World News Nov. 3, 2020

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- In the closing hours of a campaign shadowed by a once-in-a-century pandemic, President Donald Trump charged across the nation Monday delivering an incendiary but unsupported allegation that the election is rigged, while Democratic challenger Joe Biden pushed to claim states once seen as safely Republican. America stood at a crossroads. Never before in modern history have voters faced a choice between candidates offering such opposite visions as the nation confronts a virus th

World News Nov. 3, 2020

LONDON (AP) -- Sean Connery, the charismatic Scottish actor who rose to international superstardom as the suave secret agent James Bond and then abandoned the role to carve out an Oscar-winning career in other rugged roles, has died. He was 90. Connery's wife and two sons said he "died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by family" in the Bahamas, where he lived. Son Jason Connery said his father had been "unwell for some time." Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara B

World News Nov. 1, 2020

SANFORD (AP) -- Defiant as ever about the coronavirus, President Donald Trump on Monday turned his first campaign rally since contracting COVID-19 into a full-throated defense of his handling of the pandemic that has killed 215,000 Americans, joking that he was healthy enough to plunge into the crowd and give voters "a big fat kiss." There was no social distancing and mask-wearing was spotty among the thousands who came to see Trump's return to Florida. He held forth for an hour, tryi

World News Oct. 13, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House doctor said Saturday night that President Donald Trump is no longer at risk of transmitting the coronavirus, a diagnosis that comes as the president prepares to resume campaign rallies and other activities. In a memo released by the White House, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley said Trump meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by "currently recognized standards'" he is no longer consid

World News Oct. 11, 2020

AP -- World shares were mostly lower on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump ordered a stop to talks on another round of aid for the economy.  US futures were up slightly after dropping on Trump's announcement the day before. Markets were down slightly in Germany, France and Japan but closed higher in Hong Kong. Hours after his tweets about ending the stimulus talks, Trump appeared to edge back a bit, calling on Congress to send him a "Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,20

World News Oct. 7, 2020

BETHESDA (AP) -- President Donald Trump staged a dramatic return to the White House Monday night after leaving the military hospital where he was receiving an unprecedented level of care for COVID-19. He immediately ignited a new controversy by declaring that despite his illness the nation should not fear the virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans -- and then he entered the White House without a protective mask. Trump's message alarmed infectious disease experts and suggested th

World News Oct. 6, 2020

SEATTLE (AP) -- Amazon has introduced new palm reading technology in a pair of Seattle stores and sees broader uses in places like stadiums and offices. Customers at the stores near Amazon's campus in Washington can flash a palm for entry and to buy goods. The company chose palm recognition, according to Dilip Kumar, vice president of Physical Retail & Technology, because it's more private than other biometric technology, and a person would be required to purposefully flash a palm at the

World Business Sept. 29, 2020

President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times. Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years. The details of the tax filings complicate Trump's description of himself as a shrewd and patriotic businessman, revealing instead a series o

World News Sept. 28, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Saturday, capping a dramatic reshaping of the federal judiciary that will resonate for a generation and that he hopes will provide a needed boost to his reelection effort. Barrett, a former clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, said she was "truly humbled" by the nomination and quickly aligned herself with Scalia's conservative approach to the law, saying his "judicial philosop

World News Sept. 27, 2020

TOKYO (AP) -- New Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in talks Friday to work closely together by holding high-level meetings including summits, but did not discuss the possibility of a visit by Xi to Japan. "I told (Xi) that the stability of Japan-China relations is crucial, not only for the two countries but also for the region and for international society," Suga told reporters after their phone conversation.  His talks with

World News Sept. 26, 2020

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Kept apart by a devastating pandemic and dispersed across the globe, world leaders convened electronically Tuesday for an unprecedented high-level meeting, where the UN chief exhorted them to unite and tackle the era's towering problems: the coronavirus, the "economic calamity" it unleashed and the risk of a new Cold War between the United States and China. As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the first virtual "general debate" of the UN Gener

World News Sept. 23, 2020

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The UN's first virtual meeting of world leaders was set to start Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. Among those expected to speak Tuesday are US President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose countries have reported the highest and second-highest coronavirus death tolls, respectively. Also on dec

World News Sept. 22, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Saturday promised to put forth a female nominee in the coming week to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, pushing the Republican-controlled Senate to consider the pick without delay. Taking the stage at a North Carolina rally to chants of "Fill that seat," the president said he would nominate his selection despite Democrats' objections. And, after conducting what he joked was a "very sci

World News Sept. 20, 2020