Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard pleads guilty in Quebec sex assault case

MONTREAL (AP) – Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard pleaded guilty Monday to sexual assault and forcible confinement in Quebec, the latest conviction in the downfall of the founder of the once-global Nygard International clothing company. Nygard also faces U.S. racketeering and sex trafficking charges.

US cracks down on bank lending to borrowers living illegally in US

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration is taking additional steps to prevent people living in the U.S. illegally from using the nation’s banking system, cracking down on financial institutions that are lending money to them.

Volkswagen CEO looks to avoid plant closures as automaker moves to cut costs

BERLIN (AP) – Volkswagen’s CEO indicated in comments published Sunday that he’s trying to avoid closing plants as he seeks to turn around the automaker’s performance.

Editorials from The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian and others

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

SK Hynix rises nearly 13% in debut on Wall Street as demand for memory chips soars amid AI frenzy

NEW YORK (AP) – Shares of South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix rose 12.8% as they made their debut on Wall Street, at a time when demand for chips is surging thanks to the frenzy around artificial intelligence.

Major German carmakers hit by steep China sales plunge

HONG KONG (AP) – Major German carmakers saw sharp quarterly sales declines in China as domestic demand weakened and competition heated up in the world’s biggest auto market. At Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche, China sales for the April-June quarter plummeted between 30% and 41% compared with the same period a year ago.

Meta reins in new AI tool that automatically accessed public Instagram images

Meta has pulled the plug on a feature of a recently launched AI tool following criticism that it made Instagram accounts fodder for use in creating AI-generated images.

Keystone Pipeline system's operator agrees to pay a $26.9M penalty over a major Kansas oil spill

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A proposed legal settlement with the U.S. government would require the Keystone Pipeline system’s operator to pay a $26.9 million civil penalty over a major oil spill in Kansas in December 2022 and spend about $40 million more to prevent future accidents.

Global oil demand is dropping, but US drivers keep buying more gas

NEW YORK (AP) – Global oil demand is set to decline this year for the first time since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to a report from the International Energy Agency. The drop, which the agency expects to amount to about 1 million barrels per day in 2026, is due to higher oil prices and disruptions to physical supply.