WASHINGTON — Having all but tamed inflation, the Federal Reserve is poised to do something Wednesday it hasn’t done in more than four years: Cut its benchmark interest rate, a step that should lead to lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses just weeks before the presidential election. And yet an unusual air of uncertainty … Read more
SPRING VALLEY, Sri Lanka — Whoever Sri Lanka’s next president is, Muthuthevarkittan Manohari isn’t expecting much to change in her daily struggle to feed the four children and elderly mother with whom she lives in a dilapidated room in a tea plantation. Both leading candidates in Saturday’s presidential election are promising to give land to … Read more
TOKYO — Japan posted a trade deficit for a second straight month in August, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday, despite signs of sluggish consumer spending that weighed on imports. Japan’s trade deficit totaled 695 billion yen, or $4.9 billion, down 26% from a year earlier, the ministry said. Exports totaled 8.4 trillion yen ($59 billion), … Read more
K0TWA, Zimbabwe — Since childhood, Loveness Bhitoni has collected fruit from the gigantic baobab trees surrounding her homestead in Zimbabwe to add variety to the family’s staple corn and millet diet. The 50-year-old Bhitoni never saw them as a source of cash, until now. Climate change-induced droughts have decimated her crops. Meanwhile, the world has … Read more
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The U.S. Department of Energy announced Tuesday that it is teaming up with yet another energy company as part of a mission to transform portions of government-owned property once used for the nation’s nuclear weapons program into prime real estate for renewable energy endeavors. The federal agency will be negotiating a lease … Read more
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels shot down two American MQ-9 Reaper drones in under a week, the United States military acknowledged Wednesday, further highlighting the regional spread of the Israel-Hamas war. As the one-year anniversary of the war approaches, Houthis continue a campaign to target ships … Read more
TOKYO — Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday as markets focused on prospects for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s first cut to interest rates in more than four years. The Bank of Japan and the Bank of England are also holding monetary policy meetings later this week. But neither central bank is expected to move on … Read more
DETROIT — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday repeated false claims that Chinese automakers are putting up large factories in Mexico, vowing during a stop in the automaking state of Michigan to slap 200% tariffs on any vehicles the unbuilt plants make and ship to the United States. Trump also claimed during an event in … Read more
IBADAN, Nigeria — In her cramped, dimly lit kitchen, Idowu Bello leans over a gas cooker while stirring a pot of eba, the thick starchy West African staple made from cassava root. Kidney problems and chronic exhaustion forced the 56-year-old Nigerian woman to retire from teaching, and she switches between cooking with gas or over … Read more
Instagram is making teen accounts private by default as it tries to make the platform safer for children amid a growing backlash against how social media affects young people’s lives. Beginning Tuesday in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, anyone under under 18 who signs up for Instagram will be placed into restrictive teen accounts … Read more