UNDATED (AP) — World stocks were mostly higher today as European shares advanced despite fresh data showing the regional economic recovery may be faltering. In early trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 2%, while the DAX in Germany added 1.5%. In Paris, the CAC 40 advanced 1.6%. In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 trimmed early losses, closing 0.1% lower. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong edged 0.1% higher. South Korea’s Kospi was almost unchanged, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.2%. Wall Street futures are higher.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats and Republicans in a bitterly divided U.S. House have voted to take a government shutdown off the table this fall, giving a big, bipartisan vote to a temporary government-wide funding bill Tuesday night. The agreement comes only after President Donald Trump prevailed in a behind-the-scenes fight over his farm bailout. The stopgap measure will keep federal agencies fully up and running into December, giving lame-duck lawmakers time to digest the election and decide whether to pass the annual government funding bills by then or kick them to the next administration.
BEIJING (AP) — China is lashing out at the passage of a bill by the U.S. House of Representatives that threatens sanctions over the alleged use of forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region, calling the allegation a lie. A foreign ministry spokesman says the bill “maliciously slandered the human rights situation in Xinjiang” and sought to curb development and progress in the region while stirring up ethnic divisions and interfering in China’s internal affairs. The House voted 406-3 to declare that any goods produced in Xinjiang are presumptively made with the forced labor of detained Uighurs and other ethnic minorities, and therefore banned from being imported to the U.S.
MIAMI (AP) — An American company has pleaded guilty to federal charges that it paid bribes to officials in Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela to get lucrative contracts, and will pay $16.6 million in fines. The U.S. Department of Justice says Sargeant Marine, Inc., paid the bribes over several years for contracts concerning the buying or selling of asphalt, used in paving roads and other construction. The Justice Department says the company’s actions violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Uncle Ben’s rice brand is changing its name to Ben’s Original. Parent company Mars Inc. is the latest company to drop a logo criticized as a racial stereotype. Mars said the Ben’s Original packaging will hit stores in 2021. Since the 1940s, the rice boxes have featured a white-haired Black man, sometimes with a bowtie. Critics have said the image evoke servitude. Global President for Mars Food Fiona Dawson says the company is still deciding on an image to accompany the new name. Pressure on brands to retire racial imagery have intensified amid the Black Lives Matter protests over police killings of unarmed African Americans. Aunt Jemima and Eskimo Pie are among other brands that are retiring racial logos.
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