Markets shudder on dashed inflation hopes; Dow falls 1,250
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market fell the most since June 2020 following Wall Street’s humbling realization that inflation is not slowing as much as hoped. The Dow lost more than 1,250 points and the S&P 500 sank 4.3%. A hotter-than-expected report on inflation Tuesday has traders bracing for the Federal Reserve to ultimately raise interest rates even higher than expected, with all the risks for the economy that entails. Bond prices also tumbled, sending yields sharply higher, after the government reported inflation decelerated last month by less than economists forecast. The drop didn’t quite knock out the market’s gains over the past four days.
Ukrainian troops keep up pressure on fleeing Russian forces
KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops are piling pressure on retreating Russian forces, pressing deeper into occupied territory and sending more Kremlin troops fleeing ahead of the counteroffensive that has inflicted a stunning blow on Moscow’s military prestige. As the advance continued Tuesday, Ukraine’s border guard services said the army took control of Vovchansk — a town just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Russia seized on the first day of the war. Russian troops were also pulling out of the southern city of Melitopol and heading toward Moscow-annexed Crimea. That’s according to the city’s pre-occupation mayor. His claim could not be verified. Melitopol is the second-largest city in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region.
Casket of Queen Elizabeth II arrives at Buckingham Palace
LONDON (AP) — The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II has arrived at Buckingham Palace after traveling through a drizzly London as crowds lined the route to bid her a final farewell. The military C-17 Globemaster touched down at RAF Northolt which is an air force base in the west of the city about an hour after it left Edinburgh in Scotland. The queen’s body made the final journey from Balmoral Castle in northern Scotland, where the monarch died Thursday at age 96 after 70 years on the throne. King Charles III and other members of the late queen’s close family awaited the casket at the palace.
What’s left as Jan. 6 panel sprints to year-end finish
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee is eyeing a close to its work and a final report laying out its findings about the U.S. Capitol insurrection by the end of the year. But the investigation is not over. The committee has already revealed much of its investigative work at eight hearings over the summer, but lawmakers say there is more to come. The panel of seven Democrats and two Republicans interviewed witnesses through all of August, and they are planning at least one additional hearing this month. The panel is also planning to issue a final report by the end of December.
Ken Starr, whose probe led to Clinton impeachment, dies
Ken Starr, a former federal appellate judge and a prominent attorney whose criminal investigation of Bill Clinton led to the president’s impeachment, died Tuesday at age 76, his family says. A former colleague, attorney Mark Lanier, says Starr died at a hospital of complications from surgery. In a probe that lasted five years during the 1990s, Starr looked into fraudulent real estate deals involving a long-time Clinton associate, delved into the removal of documents from the office of deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster after his suicide and assembled evidence of Clinton’s sexual encounters with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern. In 2020, he was recruited to help represent President Donald Trump in the nation’s third impeachment trial.
Woman’s rape cries go unheard in unmonitored drug sting
ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — An Associated Press investigation found a woman informant was allegedly raped twice during an undercover drug sting last year in which her law enforcement handlers left her unmonitored and unprotected. Details of the sting conducted by sheriff’s deputies in the central Louisiana city of Alexandria showed authorities never considered such an attack could happen, didn’t provide the woman with recording devices that could transmit in real time and continued to charge her with drug crimes despite her cooperation. The case highlights the perils police informants face around the country seeking to “work off” charges in often loosely regulated, secretive arrangements.
Whistleblower: China, India had agents working for Twitter
WASHINGTON (AP) — Twitter’s former security chief told Congress Tuesday there was “at least one agent” from China’s intelligence service on Twitter’s payroll — and that the company knowingly allowed India to add agents to the company roster as well. These were some of the troubling revelations from Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, a respected cybersecurity expert and Twitter whistleblower who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to lay out his allegations against the company. Zatko, who was fired earlier this year, said Twitter’s leadership is “misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors.”
Jury gets R. Kelly’s child pornography and trial-fixing case
CHICAGO (AP) — Jurors have begun deliberating in R. Kelly’s federal trial in Chicago on charges accusing him of making child pornography and rigging his 2008 child porn trial. The trial went to the jurors on Tuesday after the singer’s lead attorney told them that the prosecution’s case is largely based on the testimony of perjurers and blackmailers. Prosecutors have accused Kelly of videotaping himself having sex with girls, using his fame to entice minors for sex and rigging his 2008 trial, where ended in his acquittal. His lead attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, noted during her closing argument that many key government witnesses testified with immunity to ensure they wouldn’t be charged with previously lying to authorities.
In Northern Ireland, praise for monarchy vies with disdain
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — It’s less than ten minutes walk from the Falls Road to the Shankhill Road in Northern Ireland’s capital. In the two neighborhoods, Catholics and Protestants still live in segregated enclaves. But to hear people in these adjoining neighborhoods explain their opposite views of the British monarchy, they might as well be 1,000 miles apart. As King Charles III arrived in Northern Ireland for the first visit since his mother’s death elevated him to the throne, the voices of Belfast offered a sharp reminder of the country’s complicated bloody political realities.
A piece of the queen: New souvenirs mark monarch’s death
LONDON (AP) — Just days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, unofficial souvenirs have rolled out at royal-themed gift shops in London and online marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy. One shop near Buckingham Palace says it pushed its suppliers to work overnight to get mementos ready by Saturday, just two days after the death of Britain’s longest-serving monarch. Now, people have the option to buy fridge magnets, flags, mugs and T-shirts with the queen’s likeness and the dates of her 70-year reign. Some shops say items depicting the new monarch, King Charles III, are on their way. Official merchandise will take longer to arrive to approved vendors, who have suspended sales of royal souvenirs out of respect for the mourning period.