Beginning Monday, a California law will require credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard to provide banks with special retail codes that can be assigned to gun stores in order to track their sales. But new laws will do the exact opposite in Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee and Wyoming by banning the use of specific gun shop codes. The conflicting laws highlight what has quietly emerged…

PARIS — The far-right National Rally leaped into a strong lead Sunday in France’s first round of legislative elections, polling agencies projected, bringing the party closer to being able to form a government in round two and dealing a major slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron and his risky decision to call the surprise ballot. When he dissolved the National Assembly on June 9, after…

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Beryl grew into a hurricane Saturday as it churned toward the southeastern Caribbean, with forecasters warning it was expected to strengthen into a dangerous major storm before reaching Barbados late Sunday or early Monday. A major hurricane is considered Category 3 or higher, with winds of at least 111 mph (178 kph). On Saturday night, Beryl was a Category 1…

HONG KONG — Asian stocks were mixed Tuesday after stocks advanced on Wall Street and yields jumped in the U.S. bond market as election-related issues swayed markets worldwide. U.S. futures fell and oil prices rose. The Japanese yen fell to near a fresh 38-year low, reaching 161.66 yen to the dollar early Tuesday. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 1.1% to 40,062.42, as the weaker yen…

France held the first round of an early parliamentary election on Sunday that could bring the country’s first far-right government since Nazi occupation during World War II. The second round will come on July 7. The outcome of the vote is highly uncertain. Turnout is unusually high. Three major political blocs are: The far-right National Rally, President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance and the New Popular…

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court opened the door Monday to new, broad challenges to regulations long after they take effect, the third blow in a week to federal agencies. The justices ruled 6-3 in favor of a truck stop in North Dakota that wants to sue over a regulation on debit card swipe fees that the federal appeals court in Washington upheld 10 years ago….

PARIS — With the ultimate outcome still up in the air, France’s fiercely anti-immigration National Rally and opponents of the long-taboo far-right party scrambled Monday to capitalize on an indecisive first round of voting in surprise legislative elections. Round one on Sunday propelled the National Rally closer than ever to government but also left open the possibility that voters could yet block its path to…

Shares of Chewy have fallen in volatile trading after a regulatory filing revealed that Roaring Kitty, an investor at the center of the meme stock craze, has taken a 6.6% stake in the online pet retailer ByWYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP business writer NEW YORK — Shares of Chewy fell Monday in volatile trading after a regulatory filing revealed that Roaring Kitty, an investor at the center…

HARTLEPOOL, England — A lot of politicians have promised change to voters in Hartlepool, a wind-whipped port town in northeast England. For decades, Labour Party representatives said they would fight for working people, even as well-paid industrial jobs disappeared. Later, Conservatives under then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to bring new money and opportunities on the back of Brexit. But as British voters prepare to elect…

The U.S. government will pay the vaccine maker Moderna $176 million to accelerate development of a pandemic influenza vaccine that could be used to treat bird flu in people, as concern grows about cases in dairy cows across the country, federal officials announced Tuesday. Moderna already has a bird flu vaccine in very early-stage testing that uses the same mRNA technology that allowed rapid development…