Business News

The Supreme Court is taking up a case that could rule out a tax on wealth favored by some Democrats

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up a case over a Washington couple’s $15,000 tax bill that is widely seen as a test of a never-enacted tax on wealth. Arguments are being heard Tuesday. A decision in favor of Charles and Kathleen Moore of Redmond, Washington, could strike down a provision of the 2017 tax bill that is expected to bring in $340 billion, threaten other provisions of the tax code and rule out a wealth tax that is favored by some Democrats who argue that the wealthiest Americans don’t pay their fair share of taxes. The couple is backed by conservative political groups and business interests, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Stock market today: Wall Street retreats after Moody’s downgrades China’s credit rating

Wall Street is heading lower after Moody’s Investor Service downgraded China’s sovereign debt rating as the country’s real estate crisis seeps into its local government and private financing. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3% before the bell Tuesday and futures for the S&P 500 were 0.4% lower. The Institute for Supply Management was due to release its November report on the U.S. services sector, which accounts for the majority of the nation’s jobs. The U.S. government will release an update on job openings, followed by its weekly report on applications for unemployment benefits on Thursday.

US unveils global strategy to commercialize fusion as source of clean energy during COP28

The United States will work with other governments to speed up efforts to make nuclear fusion a new source of carbon-free energy, U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry said Tuesday, while in Dubai for U.N. climate talks. Nuclear fusion melds two hydrogen atoms together to produce a helium atom and a lot of energy. Some say it is at best years away. But if achieved, it could be a major solution to climate change, which is caused largely by the burning of fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal, leaking natural gas as well as some livestock practices. Globally, there are more than 40 fusion companies now.

In the salt deserts bordering Pakistan, India builds its largest renewable energy project

KHAVDA, India (AP) — Shifting to renewable energy is a key issue at the ongoing COP28 climate summit. Some leaders have voiced support for a target of tripling renewable energy worldwide in any final agreement while curbing use of coal, oil and natural gas, which spew planet-warming gases into the atmosphere. Shifting to renewable energy is a key issue at the ongoing COP28 climate summit. Some leaders have voiced support for a target of tripling renewable energy worldwide in any final agreement while curbing use of coal, oil and natural gas, which spew planet-warming gases into the atmosphere.

Danish union to take action against Tesla in solidarity with Swedes demanding collective bargaining

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The conflict against Tesla in Sweden is spreading to neighboring Denmark. Transport workers there say they will take industrial action in solidarity with workers in Sweden against the Texas-based automaker. Tesla is non-unionized globally, but the Swedish workers are demanding that the carmaker sign a collective bargaining agreement, which most employees in Sweden have. Tesla has no manufacturing plant in Sweden but has several service centers. The United Federation of Workers in Denmark which has some 262,000 members, said Tuesday there had been speculation that Tesla would deliver its cars to Danish ports and transport them on trucks to Sweden after Swedish dock workers blocked the reception of Tesla cars there. The sympathy action starts Dec. 20.

Wikipedia, wrapped. Here are 2023’s most-viewed articles on the internet’s encyclopedia

NEW YORK (AP) — Remember what you searched for in 2023? Well, Wikipedia has the receipts. English Wikipedia raked in more than 84 billion views this year. That’s according to numbers collected by the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind the free, publicly edited online encyclopedia. And the most popular article was about ChatGPT (yes, the AI chatbot that’s seemingly everywhere today). The second most-read article on Wikipedia in 2023 was the annual list of deaths, which sees high traffic year after year. Meanwhile, the highly anticipated 2023 Cricket World Cup took third place — and “Barbenheimer,” Taylor Swift and more also appeared to sway our 2023 internet-reading habits.

Europe’s world-leading artificial intelligence rules are facing a do-or-die moment

LONDON (AP) — Hailed as a world first, European Union artificial intelligence rules are facing a make-or-break moment. Negotiators will meet to hammer out the draft’s final details this week, but the talks have been complicated by the sudden rise of generative AI. First suggested in 2019, the AI Act was expected to be the world’s first such comprehensive regulations. But the process has been bogged down by a last-minute battle over how to govern systems that underpin general purpose AI services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard chatbot. Big tech companies are lobbying against what they see as overregulation that stifles innovation. European lawmakers, meanwhile, want added safeguards for the cutting-edge AI systems those companies are developing.

Alaska Air to buy Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9 billion deal that may attract regulator scrutiny

SEATTLE (AP) — Alaska Air Group has agreed to buy Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9 billion deal including debt. The airlines announced the agreement Sunday. Alaska will pay $18 in cash for each share of Hawaiian, whose stock closed Friday at $4.86. The deal includes $900 million in Hawaiian debt. The acquisition still needs the blessing of U.S. regulators, which have shown resistance to more consolidation within the airline industry out of fear it could lead to higher airfares. Alaska and Hawaiian are both leading carriers between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, which could raise worries about the combination hurting competition.

Alaska Airlines is buying Hawaiian Airlines. Will the Biden administration let the merger fly?

Alaska Airlines says it will buy Hawaiian Airlines for $1 billion. That’s raising questions about how antitrust regulators will view the deal, and whether past airline mergers have hurt consumers. The Alaska-Hawaiian deal would be much smaller than a series of mergers that reshaped the airline industry in recent years. But the Biden administration is already challenging another smallish deal — JetBlue’s proposed $3.8 billion takeover of Spirit Airlines.

Lawmakers in Norway make a deal opening up for deep sea mining in Arctic Ocean

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway’s government has made a deal with two large opposition parties to open the Arctic Ocean to seabed mineral exploration despite warnings by environmental groups that it would threaten the region’s biodiversity. Norway said in June it wanted to open parts of the Norwegian continental shelf for commercial deep sea mining in line with the country’s strategy to seek new economic opportunities and reduce its reliance on oil and gas. The head of the local chapter of Greenpeace says Norway is now allowing irreversible interventions in areas where nature is completely unknown. According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, there are metals and minerals on the seabed that are crucial for making batteries, wind turbines, PCs and mobile phones.