By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a $10 billion lawsuit Mexico filed against top firearm manufacturers in the U.S. alleging the companies’ business practices have fueled tremendous cartel violence and bloodshed.

The unanimous ruling tossed out the case under U.S. laws that largely shield gunmakers from liability when their firearms are used in crime.

Big-name manufacturers like Smith & Wesson had appealed to the justices after a lower court let the suit go forward under an exception for situations in which the companies themselves are accused of violating the law.

But the justices found that Mexico hadn’t made a plausible argument that the companies had knowingly allowed guns to be trafficked into the country. “It does not pinpoint, as most aiding-and-abetting claims do, any specific criminal transactions that the defendants (allegedly) assisted,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the court’s opinion.

Mexico had asked the justices to let the case play out, saying it was still in its early stages.

The case began in 2021, when the Mexican government filed a blockbuster suit against some of the biggest gun companies, including Smith & Wesson, Beretta, Colt and Glock.

Mexico has strict gun laws and has just one store where people can legally buy firearms. But thousands of guns are smuggled in by the country’s powerful drug cartels every year.

The Mexican government says at least 70% of those weapons come from the United States. The lawsuit claims that companies knew weapons were being sold to traffickers who smuggled them into Mexico and decided to cash in on that market.

The companies reject Mexico’s allegations, arguing the country’s lawsuit comes nowhere close to showing they’re responsible for a relatively few people using their products to commit violence.

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A federal judge tossed out the lawsuit under a 2005 law that protects gun companies from most civil lawsuits, but an appeals court revived it. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston found it fell under an exception to the shield law for situations in which firearm companies are accused of knowingly breaking laws in their business practices.

That exception has come up in other cases, including in lawsuits stemming from mass shootings.

Families of victims of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, for example, argued it applied to their lawsuit because the gunmaker had violated state law in the marketing of the AR-15 rifle used in the shooting, in which 20 first graders and six educators were killed.

The families eventually secured a landmark $73 million settlement with Remington, the maker of the rifle.

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court made it easier Thursday to bring lawsuits over so-called reverse discrimination, siding with an Ohio woman who claims she didn’t get a job and then was demoted because she is straight.

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The justices’ decision affects lawsuits in 20 states and the District of Columbia where, until now, courts had set a higher bar when members of a majority group, including those who are white and heterosexual, sue for discrimination under federal law.

The court ruled in an appeal from Marlean Ames, who has worked for the Ohio Department of Youth Services for more than 20 years.

Ames contends she was passed over for a promotion and then demoted because she is heterosexual. Both the job she sought and the one she had held were given to LGBTQ people.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars sex discrimination in the workplace. A trial court and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Ames.

The 6th circuit is among the courts that had required an additional requirement for people like Ames, showing “background circumstances” that might include that LGBTQ people made the decisions affecting Ames or statistical evidence of a pattern of discrimination against members of the majority group.

The appeals court noted that Ames didn’t provide any such circumstances.

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street remains listless on Thursday, as the countdown ticks toward Friday’s highly anticipated jobs report.

The S&P 500 was edging up by 0.1% in early trading. After sprinting through May and rallying within a couple good days’ worth of gains of its all-time high, the index at the center of many 401(k) accounts has lost momentum as financial markets wait for the next big trigger to move, up or down.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 10 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher.

Trading activity in options markets suggests investors believe the next big move for the S&P 500 could come on Friday, when the U.S. Labor Department will say how many more jobs U.S. employers created than destroyed during May. The expectation on Wall Street is for a slowdown in hiring from April.

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A resilient job market has been one of the linchpins that’s propped up the U.S. economy, and the worry is that all the uncertainty created by President Donald Trump’s on-and-off tariffs could cause businesses to freeze their hiring.

A report on Thursday said that more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. It still remains relatively low compared with history, but it hit its highest level in eight months.

A separate report said that U.S. workers overall produced less stuff per hour during the start of the year than economists expected. The drop in productivity is a potentially discouraging trend for inflation.

On Wall Street, Five Below rallied 9.9% after the retailer, which sells products priced between $1 and $5, reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Winnie Park credited broad-based strength across most of its merchandise.

MongoDB jumped 16.6% after the database company likewise delivered a stronger profit than analysts expected.

On the losing side of Wall Street was Brown-Forman, the company behind Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve. Its profit and revenue for the latest quarter fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, and the company said it expects its upcoming fiscal year to be challenging because of “consumer uncertainty, the potential impact from currently unknown tariffs” and other potential challenges. Its stock fell 15.7%.

The CEO of PVH, the company behind the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, likewise cited challenges from “an increasingly uncertain consumer and macroeconomic backdrop.”

Its stock fell 16.3% even though it reported stronger revenue and profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company cut its profit forecast for its full fiscal year, saying it will likely be able to offset only some of the potential hit it will take because of tariffs.

Hopes that Trump would lower his tariffs after reaching trade deals with other countries have been among the main reasons the S&P 500 has rallied back after dropping roughly 20% below its record two months ago. But talks are still ongoing, and nothing is assured. In the meantime, many companies have been cutting or withdrawing their forecasts for profit this upcoming year because of all the uncertainty.

Trump spoke with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Thursday as the world hopes for progress between its two largest economies. The conversation was confirmed by the Chinese foreign ministry, which said Trump initiated the call. The White House did not immediately comment.

Expectations are also building that the Federal Reserve will need to cut interest rates later this year in order to prop up the economy. Yields took a sharp turn lower on Wednesday after reports came in weaker than expected on the U.S. job market and on activity among U.S. services businesses.

The Fed has yet to cut interest rates this year after slashing them through the end of 2024. Part of the reason for the pause is that the Fed wants to see how much Trump’s tariffs will hurt the economy and raise inflation. While lower interest rates could boost the economy, they also tend to give inflation more fuel.

In the bond market, Treasury yields were a bit steadier on Thursday ahead of Friday’s jobs report. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.35% from 4.37% late Wednesday and from 4.46% the day before that.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across much of Europe and Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.5% for one of the biggest moves after the country’s new president and leading liberal politician Lee Jae-myung began his term, vowing to restart talks with North Korea and beef up a trilateral partnership with the U.S. and Japan.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

By MONIKA PRONCZUK, Associated Press

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Citing national security concerns, President Donald Trump on Wednesday banned citizens of 12 countries, primarily in Africa and the Middle East, from entering the United States and restricted access for citizens of seven other nations, resurrecting and expanding a hallmark policy of his first term.

The travel ban applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The policy change restricts entry for citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and do not hold a valid visa.

The policy takes effect Monday at 12:01 a.m. and does not have an end date.

Here’s what to know about the new rules:

How Trump justified the ban

Since returning to the White House, Trump has launched an unprecedented campaign of immigration enforcement that has pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him.

The travel ban results from a Jan. 20 executive order Trump issued requiring the departments of State and Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence to compile a report on “hostile attitudes” toward the U.S.

The aim is to “protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes,” the administration said.

In a video released on social media, Trump tied the new ban to a terror attack Sunday in Boulder, Colorado, saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. The suspect in the attack is from Egypt, a country that is not on Trump’s restricted list. The Department of Homeland Security says he overstayed a tourist visa.

Who is exempt from the ban

1. Lawful residents: citizens of designated countries who have obtained legal residency in the U.S.
2. Dual citizens: U.S. citizens who also have citizenship of one of the banned countries.
3. Some athletes: athletes and their coaches traveling to the U.S. for the World Cup, Olympics or other major sporting event as determined by the U.S. secretary of state.
4. Afghans who worked for the U.S. government or its allies in Afghanistan and are holders of Afghan Special Immigrant Visas.
5. Iranians belonging to an ethnic or religious minority who are fleeing prosecution.
6. Certain foreign national employees of the U.S. government who have served abroad for at least 15 years and their spouses and children.
7. Refugees: Those who were granted asylum or admitted to the U.S. as refugees before the ban entered into force.
8. Individuals with U.S. family members who apply for visas in connection to their spouses, children or parents.
9. Diplomats and foreign government officials on official visits.
10. Those transiting the U.S. to the U.N. headquarters solely for official business related to the U.N.
11. Representatives of international organizations and NATO on official visits in the U.S.
12. Children adopted by U.S. citizens.

Which countries are affected

Trump said nationals of countries included in the ban pose “terrorism-related” and “public-safety” risks, as well as risks of overstaying their visas. He also said some of these countries had “deficient” screening and vetting or have historically refused to take back their own citizens.

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His findings rely extensively on an annual Homeland Security report of visa overstays of tourists, business visitors and students who arrive by air and sea, singling out countries with high percentages of remaining after their visas expired.

“We don’t want them,” Trump said.

The inclusion of Afghanistan angered some supporters who have worked to resettle its people. The ban makes exceptions for Afghans on Special Immigrant Visas, generally people who worked most closely with the U.S. government during the two-decade war there.

The list can be changed, the administration said in a document circulated Wednesday evening, if authorities of designated countries make “material improvements” to their own rules and procedures. New countries can be added “as threats emerge around the world.”

Early reactions to the ban

International aid groups and refugee resettlement organizations roundly condemned the new ban.

“This policy is not about national security — it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,” said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America.

The African Union Commission expressed concern Thursday about the “the potential negative impact” of the ban on educational exchanges, business ties and broader diplomatic relations.

“The African Union Commission respectfully calls upon the U.S. administration to consider adopting a more consultative approach and to engage in constructive dialogue with the countries concerned,” the commission said in a statement.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, called the order “unnecessary, overbroad and ideologically motivated.”

How the ban is different from 2017

During his first term, Trump issued an executive order in January 2017 banning travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

It was one of the most chaotic and confusing moments of his young presidency. Travelers from those nations were either barred from getting on their flights to the U.S. or detained at U.S. airports after they landed. They included students and faculty, as well as businesspeople, tourists and people visiting friends and family.

The order, often referred to as the “Muslim ban” or the “travel ban,” was retooled amid legal challenges until a version was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

The ban affected various categories of travelers and immigrants from Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Libya, plus North Koreans and some Venezuelan government officials and their families.

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