DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. is cutting about 3,000 white-collar workers as it moves to reduce costs and make the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles. Leaders of the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker made the announcement Monday in a companywide email, saying that 2,000 full-time salaried workers would be let go along with another 1,000 contract workers.

Walmart, the nation’s largest employer, is expanding its abortion coverage for employees after staying largely mum on the issue following the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. In a memo sent to employees on Friday, the company said its health care plans will now cover abortion for employees “when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or lack of fetal viability.”

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple has disclosed serious security vulnerabilities for iPhones, iPads and Macs. The software flaws could potentially allow attackers to take complete control of these devices, Apple said Wednesday. The company said in a security statement that it is “aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.” Security experts have advised users to update affected devices — the iPhone6S and later models, newer iPads and Mac computers running MacOS Monterey.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific has already lost three lawsuits over the way it removes employees with health conditions because of safety concerns, and the prospect of hundreds more lawsuits looms over the railroad. The lawsuits were originally going to be part of a class-action case before a federal appeals court decided the cases must be pursued individually.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates came back down slightly this week after the key 30-year loan rate jumped nearly a quarter point last week. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reports that the 30-year rate fell to 5.13% from 5.22% last week. The rate stood at 2.86% a year ago. The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular among those looking to refinance their homes, inched down to 4.55% last week.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed for the sixth consecutive month in July, deepening the housing market’s slowdown from a high-flying pace at the start of this year. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that existing home sales fell 5.9% last month from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Slightly fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as the labor market continues to be the strongest segment of the U.S. economy. Applications for jobless aid for the week ending August 13 fell by 2,000 to 250,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Thundering gas-powered muscle cars will be closing in on their final Saturday-night cruises in the coming years. That's because automakers are replacing the vehicles with super-fast cars that run on batteries. Stellantis’ Dodge brand has long been the performance flag-bearer of the company formerly known as Fiat Chrysler. Now it is officially moving toward electricity.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The major freight railroads signaled they’re ready to negotiate a new deal based on a presidential report that calls for 24% raises, but the 12 unions involved in the stalled talks covering 115,000 workers still haven’t commented on the recommendations. The group that represents BNSF, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, CSX and other railroads in the talks said Wednesday said even though the report issued by the Presidential Emergency Board that Joe Biden appointed last month calls for higher raises than the companies had proposed they want to reach an agreement to avoid a strike.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The pace of sales at U.S. retailers was unchanged last month as persistently high inflation and rising interest rates forced many households to spend more cautiously. Retail purchases were flat in July after having risen 0.8% in June, the Commerce Department reported.

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon workers in upstate New York filed a petition for a union election on Tuesday, launching a major labor fight against the company. A spokesperson for the National Labor Relations Board says the petition was filed for a warehouse in the town of Schodack, near Albany. To qualify for a union election, the NLRB requires signatures from 30% of eligible voters. The agency now has to verify if the workers are qualified to seek an election.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The chief executive of Dubai International Airport says the hub saw a surge in passengers over the first half of 2022 as pandemic restrictions eased. Paul Griffiths, who oversees the world's busiest airport for international travel, told The Associated Press Wednesday that he expects the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar to further boost traffic to the city-state's airfield.

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart reported better-than-expected second-quarter results as more Americans looked to cut costs on groceries at the nation’s largest retailer in the face of surging inflation. Those rising prices, however, meant that customers were cutting back on non-necessary purchases.

DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines says it has agreed to buy up to 20 supersonic jets that are still on the drawing board and years away from flying. American announced the deal Tuesday with Boom Supersonic. Neither company is giving financial details, such as how much American is paying in what they call a non-refundable deposit. It has been nearly 20 years since the last supersonic passenger flight by Concorde, the British-French plane.

Home Depot’s sales rose in its fiscal second quarter, buoyed by continued demand for items related to home improvement projects. Revenue for the three months ended July 31 rose 6.5% to $43.79 billion. This beat the $43.35 billion that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research were calling for.

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline plummeted 45 cents over the past three weeks to $4.10 per gallon. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey says Sunday that the continued decline comes as crude oil costs also remain low. The average price at the pump is down a dollar over the past nine weeks, but it’s still 85 cents higher than it was one year ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With inflation raging near its highest level in four decades, the House gave final approval to President Joe Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act. Its title raises a tantalizing question: Will the measure actually do what it says? Economic analyses suggest that the answer is likely no.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union says a new U.S. tax credit plan aimed at encouraging Americans to buy electric vehicles could discriminate against European producers and break world trade rules. The Inflation Reduction Act is nearing approval in Congress. It would grant a tax credit of up to $7,500 to lower the cost of an electric vehicle. To qualify, electric vehicles should contain a battery built in North America with minerals mined or recycled on the continent.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Falling gas prices gave Americans a slight break from the pain of high inflation last month, though the surge in overall prices slowed only modestly from the four-decade high it reached in June. Consumer prices jumped 8.5% in July compared with a year earlier, the government said Wednesday, down from a 9.1% year-over-year jump in June.

Elon Musk has sold nearly $7 billion worth of shares in Tesla as the billionaire gets his finances in order ahead of his court battle with Twitter. Musk disclosed in a series of regulatory filings that he unloaded about 8 million shares of his company Tesla in recent days. He is attempting to back out of an agreement to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Musk is by far the largest individual shareholder in both Tesla and Twitter.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans may finally be catching a break from relentlessly surging prices — if just a slight one — even as inflation is expected to remain painfully high for months. Thanks largely to falling gas prices, the government’s inflation report for July, to be released Wednesday morning, is expected to show that prices jumped 8.7% from a year earlier — still a sizzling pace but a slowdown from the 9.1% year-over-year figure in June, which was the highest in four decades.

DETROIT (AP) — A tax credit of up to $7,500 could be used to defray the cost of an electric vehicle under the Inflation Reduction Act now moving toward final approval in Congress. But the auto industry warns that the vast majority of EV purchases won’t qualify for a tax credit that large. That’s mainly because of the bill’s requirement that, to qualify for the credit, an electric vehicle must contain a battery built in North America with minerals mined or recycled on the continent.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary has accused Ryanair of consumer protection violations after it raised ticket prices to cope with a tax on what the government calls “extra profits.” Justice Minister Judit Varga wrote Monday on Facebook that an investigation found “unfair trade practices,” leading to a $777,058 fine. It's the first tied to the new tax, which led Ryanair and others to increase prices.

Pfizer is buying sickle cell drug maker Global Blood Therapeutics in an approximately $5.4 billion deal as it looks to accelerate growth after its revenue soared during the pandemic. Pfizer will pay $68.50 per share in cash for each GBT share. GBT is the developer of Oxbryta tablets, which directly target the root cause of sickle cell disease.

Elon Musk said Saturday that his planned $44 billion takeover of Twitter should move forward if the company can confirm some details about how it measures whether user accounts are ‘spam bots’ or real people. The billionaire and Tesla CEO has been trying to back out of his April agreement to buy the social media company, leading Twitter to sue him last month to complete the acquisition.