Americans’ refusal to keep paying higher prices may be dealing a final blow to US inflation spike.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The great inflation spike of the past three years is nearly spent — and economists credit American consumers for helping slay it. Some of America’s largest companies say their customers are increasingly seeking cheaper alternative products and services, searching for bargains or just avoiding items they deem too expensive. Consumers aren’t cutting back enough to cause an economic downturn. Rather, the economy appears to be returning to pre-pandemic norms, when most companies felt they couldn’t raise prices much without losing business. A more price-sensitive consumer helps explain why inflation has appeared to be steadily falling toward the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, ending a period of painfully high prices that strained people’s budgets and darkened their outlooks on the economy.
US beefs up posture in Middle East, warns an Iran-backed attack on Israel could come this week.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is telling the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area. This, as the U.S. on Monday says it believes Iran or its proxies may launch a strike against Israel as soon as this week. The moves come as the U.S. and other allies have pushed for Israel and Hamas to achieve a cease-fire agreement that could help calm soaring tensions in the region following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
From Biden to Gabbard, here’s what Harris’ past debates show before a faceoff with Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is a former San Francisco prosecutor and California attorney general, and she’s long seen her debating skills as a strength. Her sharp public questioning has some highlights of her political career. But there have also been testy debate exchanges that didn’t play as well. And expectations that she will outperform former President Donald Trump might backfire. With Election Day now beginning to loom, the debate may also be one of the last chances Harris and her truncated campaign have to define the opponent and the race they want to run against him for a national audience.
Donald Trump is returning to X for a live interview with the platform’s owner, Elon Musk.
Donald Trump is returning — at least for one night — to X, the platform from which he was banned for nearly two years following the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol. Trump and Elon Musk, X’s owner, are slated to have a live conversation Monday night that the tech titan says will be “unscripted with no limits on subject matter.” Musk endorsed Trump’s candidacy two days after the former president was wounded during an attempted assassination at a Pennsylvania rally last month. Shortly after buying Twitter and rebranding it as X, he reinstated Trump to the platform.
Trump and his allies once cheered hacked materials. No longer, now that they say he’s a target.
Donald Trump has changed his position on whether a presidential campaign’s hacked materials should be published. In 2016 he cheered the Russian hacking of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the outlet that published some of the documents, Wikileaks. But this weekend the Trump campaign said it was hacked by Iran. It warned that any publication of its compromised documents would be doing what “America’s enemies” want. The details on the current hack are murky but the compromised Clinton material was important in the 2016 campaign. Trump showed no compunction about publicizing it to win the White House.
New Mars study suggests an ocean’s worth of water may be hiding beneath the red dusty surface.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A new study suggests Mars may be drenched beneath its surface, with enough water hiding in the cracks of underground rocks to form a global ocean. The findings, published Monday, are based on computer modeling as well as seismic measurements from NASA’s InSight lander. The spacecraft detected more than 1,300 marsquakes before shutting down two years ago. Scientists say the water is believed to be seven miles to 12 miles down in the Martian crust. It most likely would have seeped from the surface billions of years ago when Mars harbored rivers and lakes.
Pacific Northwest tribes are battered by climate change but fight to get money meant to help them.
SEATTLE (AP) — A report shows that coastal tribes in the Pacific Northwest experience some of the most severe effects of climate change but face an array of bureaucratic barriers when it comes to accessing government funds meant to help them adapt. The challenges in the report released Monday range from rising seas and erosion to warming waters and severe heat. The authors interviewed 13 tribes along the coast of Oregon and Washington for the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative’s report. They found the tribes face many challenges in accessing grant money. The report highlights the need for a more coordinated federal response and more money for tribal adaptation to the impacts of climate change.
Site of deadliest church shooting in US history is torn down over protests by some Texas families.
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (AP) — Crews have torn down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017. The crews used heavy machinery Monday to raze the small building in Sutherland Springs even after some families sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history. A judge last month cleared the way for the sanctuary of the First Baptist Church to be torn down. Members of First Baptist voted in 2021 to tear down the building. Authorities say 26 people, including a pregnant woman and her unborn baby, died in the Nov. 5, 2017, shooting.
Top Ukrainian commander says his forces now control almost 390 square miles of Russia’s Kursk region.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s top military commander says his forces now control 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russia’s neighboring Kursk region. His statement marked the first time a Ukrainian military official has publicly commented on the gains of the lightning incursion that has embarrassed the Kremlin. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi made the comment in a video posted Monday to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel. Russian forces are still scrambling to respond to the surprise Ukrainian attack after almost a week of fierce fighting. Zelenskyy confirmed for the first time that the Ukrainian military is operating inside the Kursk region and praised the country’s soldiers and commanders.
Georgia No. 1 in preseason AP Top 25 and Ohio State No. 2 as expanded SEC, Big Ten flex muscles.
Georgia is No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason college football poll for the second straight year. The Bulldogs received 46 first-place votes to finish comfortably ahead of No. 2 Ohio State, which got 15 top votes. Oregon is No. 3 while Texas is fourth and Alabama is fifth. Conference realignment created an unprecedented preseason poll with just four conferences represented: The SEC has nine ranked teams. The Big Ten has six, the Big 12 has five and the ACC has four. Notre Dame, an independent, is ranked seventh.
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