Stock markets recover their poise after Fed rate confusion
LONDON — Global stock markets recovered their poise Thursday after the U.S. central bank’s first rate cut in more than a decade had initially been greeted with some disappointment on Wall Street. The Fed’s quarter-point cut was widely expected so there was much more interest in the accompanying statements from...
Alleged Capital One hacker barely bothered to hide
SEATTLE — The 33-year-old former Amazon software engineer accused of hacking Capital One made little attempt to hide her attack. In fact, she effectively publicized it. It’s one of many riddles swirling around Paige Thompson, who goes by the online handle “erratic.” Well-known in Seattle’s hacker community, Thompson has lived...
Edward Snowden book coming out Sept. 17
NEW YORK — Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has written a memoir. The book by the man whose leaks of classified documents transformed the debate about government surveillance is coming out Sept. 17. Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers, announced Thursday that Snowden’s “Permanent Record” will be...
Pompeo says he was ready, but North Korea meeting unlikely
BANGKOK — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday the Trump administration remains ready to resume talks with North Korea now, although he regretted that a meeting between the two sides is unlikely at an Asian security conference this week in Thailand. Pompeo said he and the administration’s chief...
Boris Johnson’s government faces test in special election
LONDON — After a first week in office that saw him booed in Scotland and berated in Belfast, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was facing his first electoral test on Thursday — a special election that could see the Conservative government’s working majority in Parliament cut to just one vote....
Fact Check: Dems gloss over economy, migrant complexities in debate
WASHINGTON — Some of the Democratic presidential contenders dug in their heels with unsupported rhetoric about immigration, the economy and more Wednesday night as they scrambled to stay in contention for the winnowed-down debates to come. Several persisted in their distorted depiction of caged migrant children as a singular cruelty...
Kentucky: 1 dead, 5 hospitalized in gas line rupture, fire
JUNCTION CITY, Ky. — A regional gas pipeline ruptured early Thursday in Kentucky, causing a massive explosion that killed one person, hospitalized five others, destroyed railroad tracks and forced the evacuation of a nearby mobile home park, authorities said. The 30 inch (76 centimeter) wide pipeline moves natural gas under...
Biden’s ‘Go easy on me, kid’ to Kamala Harris prior to debate sparks outrage
Former Vice President Joe Biden appeared to try to diffuse tension between he and fellow Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Wednesday’s debate, but some don’t like his tactic. CNN’s microphones appeared to pick up Biden telling Harris D-Calif., “Go easy on me kid,” to which the senator appeared to...
Oklahoma woman, 65, leads police on a chase, gets Tased over $80 ticket
A confrontation between 65-year-old woman who believed she was being unfairly ticketed and an Oklahoma police officer led to a police chase that resulted in the cop pulling the woman out of the car and Tasing her — and it was all caught on camera earlier this month. Debra Hamil...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris play defense: 5 takeaways from Night 2 of the Democratic debate
At first, it looked like the rematch was on. Sen. Kamala Harris and former Vice President Joe Biden, standing at center stage at the Democratic presidential debate in Detroit, were clearly ready to reprise their prior debate face-off, training their focus on each other as the debate began. But the...
U.S. intel: Hamza bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden, believed deadVideo
The son of former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, Hamza, is believed to be dead, according to U.S. intelligence. The New York Times, quoting unnamed sources on Wednesday, reported Hamza bin Laden had been killed sometime over the past two years. The United States has obtained intelligence that the son...
Trump offered Putin U.S. help fighting wildfires, Kremlin says
WASHINGTON — President Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to offer U.S. help fighting Siberian wildfires, the Kremlin said in a statement. The White House has not issued any statement on the call and spokesmen for Trump would not immediately confirm it. White House acknowledges Russia announcement from...
11 brothers from Alabama, 158 years of U.S. military service
TUNICA, Miss. — The sons of Ben and Hattie Davis give special meaning to the term “band of brothers.” Eleven in all, their combined 158 years of service to the U.S. military make them brothers in arms as well as brothers raised on a family farm in rural Alabama. Seven...
Senate panel OKs defense pick despite sexual assault allegationVideo
WASHINGTON — A Senate committee on Wednesday approved the nomination of an Air Force general to become the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, largely discounting an aide’s allegations that he had subjected her to unwanted sexual advances. Gen. John Hyten flatly denied the allegations during a Senate...
Iceland cuts teen drinking with curfews, youth centers
REYKJAVIK, Iceland — The clock strikes 10 p.m. on a Friday when the “Parent Patrol” enters a popular playground in suburban Reykjavik. The teens turn down the music and reach for their phones to check the time: It’s ticking into curfew. Every weekend, parents all over the Icelandic capital embark...
Baltimore schools’ mission: Help students cope with trauma
BALTIMORE — When she transferred to a new K-8 school two years ago, Tinazsha Johnson was in deep distress. The Baltimore sixth-grader was crushed by the death of her mother. Her father was in and out of lockups. She’d witnessed searing violence in her neighborhood and felt overwhelmed helping her...
Video: Man who died during arrest cries, begs Dallas police to stopVideo
DALLAS — Police body camera video footage shows a man who called 911 to request help crying, pleading then going limp as arresting officers restrain him. Soon after, a paramedic says he’s dead. Dallas police released the footage Tuesday showing the August 2016 death of 32-year-old Tony Timpa. A federal...
Kentucky Democrats: ‘Just say Nyet to Moscow Mitch’Video
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Democrats in Mitch McConnell’s home state are hawking T-shirts with a barbed message — “Just say Nyet to Moscow Mitch” — as they try to capitalize on a bitter dispute involving the Republican senator over election security legislation. The Kentucky Democratic Party said Wednesday it’s launching a...
Canadian police scale down manhunt for fugitive teenagersVideo
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Canadian police said Wednesday they are scaling down but not abandoning the hunt in a remote and rugged part of northern Manitoba for two teenagers suspected of killing a college professor, a North Carolina woman and her Australian boyfriend. Over the last nine days, police and others...
Fire at Texas Exxon Mobil refinery injures dozensVideo
HOUSTON — An explosion and fire at an Exxon Mobil oil refinery in Texas on Wednesday left 37 people with minor injuries, in the latest of a series of petrochemical industry blazes this year in the Houston area. The fire began after an explosion at approximately 11:07 a.m. at an...
Judge sets tentative date for Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking trial
NEW YORK — A subdued Jeffrey Epstein listened passively in court Wednesday as a judge said he won’t face trial on sex trafficking charges before June 2020, and more likely a few months afterward. There was no mention at the Manhattan federal court appearance or any visible sign of injuries...
Organizers finally cancel troubled Woodstock 50 festival
NEW YORK — Woodstock 50 is officially canceled. Organizers announced Wednesday that the troubled festival that hit a series of setbacks in the last four months won’t take place next month. The three-day festival was originally scheduled for Aug. 16-18, but holdups included permit denials and the loss of a...
U.S. to set up plan allowing prescription meds from Canada
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Wednesday it will create a way for Americans to legally and safely import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada for the first time, reversing years of refusals by health authorities amid a public outcry over high prices for life-sustaining medications. The move is a step...
Unopened 1987 Nintendo video game could sell for $10,000
RENO, Nev. — An unopened copy of a 1987 cult-classic video game that a Nevada man found in the attic of his childhood home is expected to sell for up to $10,000 at an online auction. The boxed game cartridge of Nintendo’s “Kid Icarus” was still in the bag with...
Fed cuts key rate in its first reduction in more than decade
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for the first time in a decade to try to counter threats ranging from uncertainties caused by President Donald Trump’s trade wars to chronically low inflation and a dim global outlook. The Fed also repeated a pledge to “act...
