Digest

Report: US inflation eases again in August

WASHINGTON - Inflation in the U.S. eased further last month as year-over-year price increases reached a three-year low, clearing the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and likely shaping the economic debate in the final weeks of the presidential race.

Wednesday's report from the Labor Department showed that consumer prices rose 2.5% in August from a year earlier, down from 2.9% in July. It was the fifth straight annual drop and the smallest increase since February 2021. From July to August, prices rose just 0.2%.

Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices rose 3.2% in August from a year ago, the same as in July. On a month-to-month basis, core prices rose 0.3%, a slight pickup from July's 0.2% increase. Economists closely watch core prices, which typically provide a better read of future inflation trends.

Dozens killed in strikes in Gaza, West Bank

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip - Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight into Wednesday hit a U.N. school sheltering displaced Palestinian families as well as two homes, killing at least 34 people, including 19 women and children, hospital officials said. A U.N. official said six staffers were among the dead.

The war in Gaza is now in its 11th month, with tens of thousands of people dead. International efforts to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and the Hamas militant group repeatedly stalled.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops launched raids in several towns backed by airstrikes. One airstrike killed five people the military said were militants threatening its troops. A second strike on a car killed at least three people, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. An attacker crashed a fuel truck into a bus stop near the Israeli settlement of Givat Assaf, killing an Israeli soldier, the military said. Officials said soldiers and an armed civilian "neutralized" the attacker.

BRIEFLY

WILDFIRES: Three major wildfires in Southern California expanded dramatically - burning homes, cars and horse stables in hillside communities and injuring at least a dozen people, officials said Wednesday. Other major fires burned across the West, including in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada, where about 20,000 people fled a blaze.

UKRAINE: The U.S. and Britain pledged nearly $1.5 billion in additional aid Wednesday to Ukraine during their top diplomats' visit to Kyiv, as Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided missiles against targets deeper inside Russia.

POPE: After a record-setting Mass in East Timor, Pope Francis flew to Singapore on Wednesday for the final leg of his Asia trip.

TYRE NICHOLS: Three former Memphis police officers charged in the January 2023 death of Tyre Nichols stood by his body and laughed after they beat him in an attack that a prosecutor says was punishment because he tried to run away.

ROCKET: A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russians and an American docked at the International Space Station on Wednesday, a little more than three hours after its launch.

OFFICER DIES: Philadelphia police Officer Jaime Roman, 31, died of his wounds Tuesday night, nearly three months after he was shot in the neck after stopping a vehicle while on duty, city officials said.

- Associated Press