War with Iran delivers another shock to the global economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — The war with Iran is doing collateral damage to the world economy. The conflict is driving up energy, grain and fertilizer prices and threatening food shortages in poor countries. It's also destabilizing fragile states such as Pakistan and complicating options for the inflation fighters at central banks like the Federal Reserve. And it's proving to be a new burden for American consumers already fed up with the high cost of living. Much of the pain is being caused by an effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of the world's oil.
FDA finds little evidence that a drug touted by Trump can help people with autism
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administation is approving a generic drug for a very rare genetic disorder, but not for autism. On Tuesday, the U.S. agency said the drug helps children and adults who cannot get enough folate into the brain. That’s a major turnaround from announcements made at a White House news conference in September. At that event, President Donald Trump and the FDA commissioner said the drug was under review for approval in patients with autism. FDA officials say they narrowed the review to the strongest evidence. They say that evidence supports use only in patients with a specific genetic mutation.
In a time of war with Iran, Americans unite in aggravation over sticker shock at the gas pump
DE SOTO, Iowa (AP) — It seems that a country divided on many fronts is finding common ground at the gas pumps. There, the cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum. That was the message from Associated Press interviews Monday with people at gas stations and beyond in five states. The national average gas price was $3.48 a gallon on Monday, up from $2.90 a month ago, before the war, according to tracking by AAA. But in interviews, some owners of electric vehicles expressed renewed gratitude for their vehicle choice as they sit out the sticker shock.
World leaders eye oil reserves, but so far hold off on tapping them
NEW YORK (AP) — A widening war in Iran has halted oil tankers, made targets of refineries and spooked investors worried about the cascading impact of spiking energy prices. If it might seem like the ideal time to dip into the world’s emergency oil stockpiles, global leaders have so far responded with reluctance. U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed the idea of turning to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the weekend, saying supplies were ample and prices would soon fall. Representatives from the Group of Seven major industrialized powers discussed the issue Monday, but likewise decided against using strategic reserves.
What to know about the Strait of Hormuz, a key passageway essential for global energy supply
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Oil prices are up swinging wildly as the widening Iran war disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting how important the passageway is to the world’s oil supply. The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Tankers traveling through the strait, which is bordered in the north by Iran, carry oil and gas from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE and Iran. Most of that oil goes to Asia. Any disruption to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is highly disruptive to the oil trade.f
US stocks hold steadier as Wall Street waits for the next signal on how long war with Iran may last
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks held steadier as Wall Street waited for the next signal on when the war with Iran may end. The S&P 500 dipped 0.2% Tuesday, a day after its latest wild swings caused by extreme moves in the oil market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34 points, and the Nasdaq composite edged higher by less than 0.1%. Oil prices remained sharply below their peaks hit the day before. They had plunged from nearly $120 per barrel toward $90 late Monday on hopes for a quick end to the war. Stocks rose in Asia and Europe in their first chance to trade after that fall for oil prices.
Smartmatic says Trump's 'campaign of retribution' is driving criminal prosecution
MIAMI (AP) — Voting technology firm Smartmatic asked a federal judge to dismiss a criminal money laundering indictment saying the case is political retaliation tied to President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about the 2020 election. The company’s parent SGO Corporation was added last year to charges accusing executives of paying bribes to election officials in the Philippines. Smartmatic said it had cooperated with investigators for years and believed it would avoid prosecution until Trump returned to power. Lawyers argue the Justice Department changed course to support Trump’s narrative that the election was stolen. Prosecutors allege payments between 2015 and 2018 helped secure a Philippine election contract.
US homes sales rose in February as homebuyers seized on easing mortgage rates
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in February from the previous month as home shoppers benefited from easing mortgage rates and a modest increase in properties on the market heading into the spring homebuying season. The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that existing home sales increased 1.7% last month from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units. Sales fell 1.4% compared with February last year. The latest sales figure topped the 3.84 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. The national median sales price increased 0.3% in February from a year earlier to $398,000.
Meta to acquire Moltbook, the social network for AI agents
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Meta is acquiring Moltbook, a social network where AI agents post and chat with each other. Meta says it is hiring Moltbook's co-founders and expects the experimental platform could open new ways to develop AI agents that could do useful things on a person's behalf. Moltbook attracted viral attention earlier this year as an unusual Reddit-like hub for AI systems trading gossip. In a similar move, OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, last month hired the creator of AI agent OpenClaw, the technology upon which Moltbook was built.
Former attorney for California solar firm sentenced in $1 billion fraud scheme
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say an attorney for a California solar power company has been sentenced to 11 years and five months in prison for helping orchestrate a $1 billion fraud scheme. Ari Lauer had pleaded guilty in October to felony counts including bank fraud. He was sentenced on Monday. Lauer was outside counsel for DC Solar. Between 2011 and 2018, the company marketed mobile solar generator units. Prosecutors say DC Solar sold more generators than it made, used phony financial statements and lease contracts to conceal the fraud and in a classic Ponzi scheme repaid early investors with money from later ones.
