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Tentative labor deal averts threat of nationwide rail strike

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rail companies and their workers reached a tentative agreement to avert a nationwide strike that could have shut down the nation’s freight trains and devastated the economy less than two months before the midterm elections. President Joe Biden announced the deal Thursday. It emerged from a marathon 20-hour negotiating session at the Labor Department and came just one day before the threatened walkout. The deal includes a 24% pay raise and relaxes strict railroad attendance policies. It will go to union members for a vote after a cooling-off period of several weeks.

Retail sales up 0.3% in Aug. from July amid inflation

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans picked up their spending a bit in August from July even as surging inflation on household necessities like rent and food take a toll on household budgets. The U.S. retail sales rose an unexpected 0.3% last month, from being down 0.4% in July,  the Commerce Department said Thursday. Excluding business at gas stations, sales rose 0.8%.Sales at grocery stores rose 0.5% , helped by rising prices in food. Business at restaurants rose 1.1%, while online sales fell 0.7%.  Business at clothing stores rose 0.4% while sales at furniture stores fell 1.3%.

Amtrak works to restore routes after rail labor accord

Amtrak says it is working to quickly restore canceled trains after President Joe Biden announced that a tentative railway labor agreement has been reached. Amtrak said Thursday that it is reaching out to impacted customers to accommodate on first available departures. Amtrak had canceled a number of its long-distance trains this week as a potential strike loomed. A strike would have disrupted passenger traffic as well as freight rail lines, because Amtrak and many commuter railroads operate on tracks owned by the freight railroads.

Commuters dodge headaches as freight-rail strike averted

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — President Joe Biden says a deal has been reached to avert a looming freight rail strike that could have disrupted numerous commuter rail services across the country. Commuter rail services in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere would have been forced into full or partial shutdowns if there was a strike because they use tracks owned by the freight railroads. Big commuter rail systems in the New York metro area would have been unaffected.

Uber responding to unspecified 'cybersecurity incident'

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Uber says it is responding to an unspecified “cybersecurity incident.” The San Francisco-based ride-hailing service said on Twitter Thursday night that it is in touch with law enforcement and will have updates as soon as they are available. The company confirmed in an email to The Associated Press Thursday night that the tweet is authentic. It did not answer questions about what exactly was breached or whether the ride-hailing platform was affected. The email said that updates would be posted on its Uber Comms twitter feed.

Asian stocks follow Wall St lower amid inflation pressure

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets have followed Wall Street lower after higher-than-expected U.S. inflation dashed hopes the Federal Reserve might ease off more interest rate hikes. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney declined. Oil edged higher. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 is down 4.1% this week after government data showing inflation stayed near a four-decade high in August despite rate hikes to slow the economy. U.S. government data showed unemployment claims last week declined while August consumer sales rose. That gives ammunition to Federal Reserve officials who say the economy can tolerate higher interest rates.

Biden, Dems see both political, economic wins in rail deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is hailing a labor agreement that avoided a strike that would have shut down railroads across the country as a win for America. It's also a win for him politically, allowing Democrats to sidestep what could have been an economic debacle before November’s midterm elections. Pressured to choose between labor and business, Biden lobbied them to work together. By keeping the trains running, Biden overcame a major economic threat that doubled as a political risk. His fellow Democrats face an uphill climb to maintain their narrow hold on power in Congress amid soaring inflation and as Biden’s approval rating is improving, but still remains underwater.

Mortgage rates hit 6%, first time since 2008 housing crash

WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates climbed over 6% this week for the first time since the housing crash of 2008, threatening to sideline even more homebuyers from a rapidly cooling housing market. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year rate rose to 6.02% from 5.89% last week. The long-term average rate has more than doubled since a year ago and is the highest it’s been since November of 2008, just after the housing market collapse triggered the Great Recession. Most economists forecast that the Federal Reserve will jack up its primary lending rate another three-quarters of a point when it meets next week.

EXPLAINER: Ethereum is ditching its 'miners.' Why?

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A major software change to the cryptocurrency ethereum holds the potential to dramatically reduce its energy consumption and resulting climate effects. Ethereum — the world's second most valuable cryptocurrency after bitcoin — has effectively eliminated the energy-intensive task of “mining” new coins on the ethereum blockchain. Mining requires enormous computing power, which translates to huge energy consumption and, in many areas, greater greenhouse gas emissions. By itself, however, the ethereum change won't eliminate crypto's expected environmental impact. Backers of bitcoin, for instance, have shown little interest in doing away with mining, fearing that the alternative could open the door to government regulation and control.

EXPLAINER: What to know about 'buy now, pay later'

NEW YORK (AP) — If you shop online for clothes or furniture, sneakers or concert tickets, you’ve seen the option at checkout to “buy now, pay later” by breaking the cost into smaller installments over time. Companies like Afterpay, Affirm, Klarna, and Paypal all offer the service, with Apple due to enter the market later this year. Since the start of the pandemic, the option has skyrocketed in popularity, especially among younger and lower-income consumers who may not have ready access to traditional credit. But with economic instability rising, so are delinquencies. Here’s what you should know.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) — Nimi Rama started working at McDonald’s at age 14. His career at McDonald’s has taken him throughout the East Coast and …

A single strike of lightning from a small Oregon storm and the ensuing thunder shook the city of Portland on Sunday afternoon. The National Weather Service called it an unexpected “one-hit wonder” lightning strike that came from a small storm cell. Meteorologist Tyler Kranz said no more lightning was expected. The boom at 2:13 p.m. led to social media posts questioning whether it was thunder or possibly a meteorite. Kranz said a lightning detector registered a single strike of lightning at the same time the thunder was reported. He said it was a positive-charged, cloud-to-ground flash with a strong current, causing the unexpected boom.

The Biden administration will transfer $3.5 billion in frozen Afghan central bank funds to benefit the Afghan people as hunger grips every province there. In an announcement Wednesday, a year after the tumultuous U.S. withdrawal, the U.S. said the Taliban government will not have access to the fund, which will be held at the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland. The Biden administration says robust safeguards have been put in place "to prevent the funds from being used for illicit activity.” Funds will be dispersed after trustees of the new Afghan Fund meet to determine a timetable. The trustees are two Afghan economists, a U.S. government representative and a Swiss government representative.

A visit to Houston by the Dutch queen has highlighted a long friendship between Texas and the Netherlands that grew from their fight against a mutual enemy: flooding. Queen Maxima on Friday visited Houston, where she met with the mayor and other officials and heard about how the Netherlands has helped the fourth largest U.S. city become more resilient to flooding following the devastation of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The queen also met with state and federal officials and heard about the help Dutch engineers and academics have given to Texas in the development of what could be the largest storm surge barrier in the world.

The founder of outdoor gear company Patagonia says the company is transferring all of its voting shares into a trust dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature. In a letter posted on the privately held company’s website, founder Yvon Chouinard said the 50-year-old company would transfer 100% of the its voting stock to the Patagonia Purpose Trust. All of its nonvoting stock has been given to the Holdfast Collective. And each year after reinvesting profits back into the company, remaining funds will be distributed as a dividend to the trusts in their ongoing efforts to fight the climate crisis.

A Lebanese activist group says they will continue to organize bank heists to help people retrieve their trapped savings in this crisis-hit Mideast country. Activists from the Depositors' Outcry group made these remarks at a press conference on Thursday, after the group had helped Sali Hafez retrieve $13,000 in her savings to help fund her sister's cancer treatment on Wednesday. The group told The Associated Press that they had also coordinated with a man who tried to take some of his money from a bank in the mountainous town of Aley. Lebanon’s cash-strapped banks have imposed strict limits on withdrawals of foreign currency since 2019, tying up the savings of millions. About three-quarters of the population has slipped into poverty as Lebanon's economy continues to spiral.

Thousands of nurses in Minnesota launched a three-day strike Monday, pressing for salary increases they say will help improve patient care by resolving understaffing stresses that have worsened in the coronavirus pandemic. Some 15,000 nurses at seven health care systems in the Minneapolis and Duluth areas walked out, a number the union says makes it the largest strike ever by private-sector nurses. The affected hospitals said they have recruited temporary nurses and expected to maintain most services. Nurses are seeking pay raises of more than 30% over three years, while hospitals have offered 10% to 12%. The hospital systems say the nurses' demands are unrealistic.

Members of one union have rejected a tentative deal with the largest U.S. freight railroads, while two ratified agreements and three other unions remained at the bargaining table just days ahead of a national strike deadline. A strike would intensify snarls in the nation’s supply chain that have contributed to rising prices. But the IAM agreed to delay any strike by its members until Sept. 29 to allow more time for negotiations and to allow other unions to vote. Amtrak has already cancelled a number of its long-distance trains this week, and it said the rest of its long-distance trains would stop Thursday ahead of the strike deadline.

Unions blast rail move to delay shipments before deadline

The European Central Bank has made its largest-ever interest rate increase to combat record inflation that is squeezing consumers and pushing the 19 countries that use the euro currency toward recession. The bank’s 25-member governing council raised its key benchmarks by an unprecedented three-quarters of a percentage point Thursday. The ECB joined the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks in the global stampede of rapid rate hikes. Russia’s war in Ukraine has fueled inflation in Europe, with Russia sharply reducing supplies of cheap natural gas used to heat homes, generate electricity and run factories. That has driven up gas prices by 10 times or more.

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