USA

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s political crisis appeared to deepen on Wednesday as the island’s outgoing governor and legislators — including those from his own party — clashed over who should be the next leader of a U.S. territory unbalanced by massive protests.

The upheaval has raised fears that a government in chaos will have trouble negotiating for more federal funding for recovery from Hurricane Maria and coping with the island’s grave economic woes.

NEW YORK (AP) — 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 after the 66-year-old financier was found on the floor of his cell last week with neck bruises.

Epstein’s lawyer, Martin Weinberg, refused to say what might have left his client with the bruises after the court hearing.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A U.S. Navy fighter jet crashed Wednesday in Death Valley National Park, injuring seven people who were at a scenic overlook where aviation enthusiasts watch military pilots speeding low through a chasm dubbed Star Wars Canyon, officials said.

The crash sent dark smoke billowing in the air, said Aaron Cassell, who was working at his family’s Panamint Springs Resort about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away and was the first to report the crash to park dispatch.

1 Aug 2019; MEMO: The United States will renew sanctions waivers for Iranian nuclear programs that allow Russia, China and European countries to continue their civilian nuclear cooperation with Tehran, White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

“I think the idea here is we are watching those nuclear activities very, very closely,” Bolton said in an interview on Fox Business Network. “So this is a short 90-day extension,” he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for the first time in a decade to try to counter the impact of President Donald Trump’s trade wars, stubbornly low inflation and global weakness.

It left open the possibility of future rate cuts, but perhaps not as many as Wall Street had been hoping for. During a news conference, Chairman Jerome Powell struggled to find just the right words to articulate the Fed’s strategy and what might prompt future rate cuts at a time when the risk of a recession in the United States seems relatively low.

DETROIT (AP) — The ideological divisions gripping the Democratic Party intensified on Wednesday as presidential candidates waged an acrimonious battle over health care, immigration and race that tested the strength of early front-runner Joe Biden’s candidacy.

The former vice president was repeatedly forced to defend his decades-old political record against pointed attacks from his younger, diverse rivals, who charged that Biden’s eight-year relationship with President Barack Obama was not reason enough to earn the Democratic nomination.

SEATTLE (AP) — 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 a life of tumult, with frequent job changes, reported estrangement from family and self-described emotional problems and drug use. 

PHOENIX (AP) — Three American Legion posts stand within miles of each other in central Phoenix, a curious reminder of how segregation once ruled the U.S. Southwest as well as the Deep South.

Soldiers returning after World War I in 1919 chartered one of the first posts of the U.S. veterans organization near downtown. But when black and Mexican American men returned from World War II, they opened their own posts, in their own neighborhoods farther south.

CINCINNATI (AP) — President Donald Trump’s latest rally will be a test for both candidate and crowd.

The Cincinnati gathering Thursday night will be Trump’s first since his audience chanted “Send her back!” about a Somali-born congresswoman during a July rally in North Carolina, raising the prospect of a 2020 presidential campaign increasingly fought along racial lines.

WASHINGTON, July 31. /TASS/: China confirmed its commitment to increase purchases of US agricultural exports during the 12th round of trade and economic consultations with the United States, the White House says on Wednesday.

"The Chinese side confirmed their commitment to increase purchases of United States agricultural exports," the statement says.