LONDON — The coach of Oxford’s crew taking part in the Boat Race described the pollution in London’s River Thames as a “national disgrace.” Testing by a campaign group has found high levels of E.coli along a section of the Thames in southwest London that will be used for the historic race on Saturday. Crew members have been warned about the risks of entering the…

Home Depot will buy SRS Distribution, a materials provider for professionals, in a deal valued at approximately $18.25 billion including debt. It is Home Depot’s largest acquisition in its history and with it, it steps more aggressively into the fast growing professional builder and contactor business. Retail sales that boomed during the pandemic have faded and the company has intensified its focus on the professional…

DETROIT — About 1,400 workers at a Ford factory in Michigan that makes the F-150 Lightning will move to new jobs or take retirement packages next week as sales of the electric pickup trucks slow. The changes announced in January will take effect Monday, Ford spokeswoman Jessica Enoch said. Ford began the year by cutting production of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup after weaker-than-expected electric…

FLORENCE, Italy — Michelangelo’s David has been a towering figure in Italian culture since its completion in 1504. But in the current era of the quick buck, curators worry the marble statue’s religious and political significance is being diminished by the thousands of refrigerator magnets and other souvenirs sold around Florence focusing on David’s genitalia. The Galleria dell’Accademia’s director, Cecilie Hollberg, has positioned herself as…

ACCRA, Ghana — Shoppers may get a bitter surprise in their Easter baskets this year. Chocolate eggs and bunnies are more expensive than ever as changing climate patterns eat into global cocoa supplies and the earnings of farmers in West Africa. About three-quarters of the world’s cocoa — the main ingredient in chocolate — are produced on cacao trees in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and…

ORLANDO, Fla. — For the first time in 27 years, the U.S. government is changing how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity, an effort that federal officials believe will more accurately count residents who identify as Hispanic and of Middle Eastern and North African heritage. The revisions to the minimum categories on race and ethnicity, announced Thursday by the Office of Management and Budget,…

In the week since a line of Japanese health supplements began being recalled, five people have died and more than 100 people are hospitalized ByYURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO — Five people who took a Japanese health supplement have died and more than 100 have been hospitalized as of Friday, a week after a pharmaceutical company issued a recall of the products, officials said. Osaka-based…

BANGKOK — Asian shares were mostly higher Friday in quiet holiday trading, with markets closed in Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore and India, among other places. Many financial markets are closed on Friday for Good Friday. In India, markets were closed for the Holi holiday. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% to 40,316.56 and the Kospi in Seoul edged 0.1% higher, to 2,748.55. The Shanghai Composite index…

Chinese telecoms gear company Huawei Technologies has reported its profit more than doubled last year as its cloud and digital businesses thrived in spite of U.S. sanctions ByZEN SOO AP technology writer HONG KONG — Chinese telecoms gear company Huawei Technologies has reported its profit more than doubled last year as its cloud and digital businesses thrived in spite of U.S. sanctions. The Shenzhen-based company…

BRUSSELS — The European Union intends to fast-track some of its aid money to Egypt using an urgent funding procedure that bypasses parliamentary oversight and other safeguards, according to the president of the bloc’s executive branch. The 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) intended for this is part of a larger package of 7.4 billion euros ($8 billion) in financial assistance to the North African country…