AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT

The federal funds rate, set by the Federal Reserve, is the rate at which banks borrow and lend to one another. While the rates that consumers pay to borrow money aren’t directly linked to this rate, shifts in Fed policy affect what people pay for credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, and other financial products.

Wednesday's quarter-point cut is the first since December and lowers the Fed's short-term rate to about 4.1%, down from 4.3%. The Fed projected it will cut rates two more times before the end of the year.

The Fed has two goals when it sets the rate: one, to manage prices for goods and services, and two, to encourage full employment. This is known as the “dual mandate.” Typically, the Fed might increase the rate to try to bring down inflation and decrease it to encourage faster economic growth and more hiring. The challenge now is that inflation is higher than the Fed's 2% target but the job market is weak, putting the Fed in a difficult position.

“The dual mandate is always a balancing act," said Elizabeth Renter, senior economist at personal finance site NerdWallet.

After the royal pomp, Trump's state visit turns to politics and a meeting with Starmer

AYLESBURY, England (AP) — After the pomp, it’s time for the politics.

President Donald Trump will meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, the final day of the U.S. leader's state visit to Britain, with tech investment, steel tariffs and potentially tricky topics on the agenda.

The president and first lady Melania Trump were feted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Wednesday at Windsor Castle with all the pageantry the monarchy can muster: gold-trimmed carriages, scarlet-clad soldiers, artillery salutes and a glittering banquet in a grand ceremonial hall.

British officials have festooned the trip with the kind of superlatives Trump revels in: It's an “unprecedented” second state visit for the U.S. leader, featuring the biggest military honor guard ever assembled for such an occasion.

On Thursday it is Starmer’s turn to welcome the president to Chequers, a 16th-century manor house northwest of London that serves as a rural retreat for British leaders.

Israeli troops press forward into Gaza City as more Palestinians flee and death toll passes 65,000

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops and tanks pushed deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday as more people fled the devastated area, and strikes cut off phone and internet services, making it harder for Palestinians to summon ambulances during the military's new offensive.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 65,000, local health officials said.

The Israeli military said air force and artillery units have struck the city more than 150 times in the last few days, ahead of ground troops moving in. The strikes toppled high-rise towers in areas with densely populated tent camps. Israel claims the towers were being used by Hamas to watch troops.

Regulators said the severed phone and internet services hindered the ability of Palestinians to call for help, coordinate evacuations or share details of the offensive that began Monday and aims to take full control of the city.

Overnight strikes killed at least 16 people, including women and children, hospital officials reported. The death count in Gaza climbed to 65,062, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government. Another 165,697 Palestinians have been wounded since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that triggered the war.

Suspect in Charlie Kirk killing feared being shot by police before surrendering, sheriff says

OREM, Utah (AP) — Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk, was afraid of being shot by police and eventually agreed to surrender only if it was done peacefully, a sheriff involved with taking him into custody said Wednesday.

Robinson appeared quiet and somber when he arrived with his parents to turn himself in last Thursday at the Washington County Sheriff’s office, a day after Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University, said Sheriff Nate Brooksby.

“He didn’t want a big SWAT team at his parent’s house or his apartment,” said the sheriff, who was only involved with the surrender and not the broader investigation. “He was truly fearful about being shot by law enforcement.”

On Tuesday, prosecutors charged the 22-year-old Robinson with capital murder and announced they will seek the death penalty while revealing a series of incriminating messages and DNA evidence that they say connect Robinson to the killing of Kirk, a prominent conservative activist and confidant of President Donald Trump.

Robinson also faced his first hearing in the case Tuesday where a judge said he would appoint an attorney to represent him. A message was left Wednesday with the county’s public defender office.

Fired CDC chief Susan Monarez warns senators that RFK Jr. is endangering public health

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. public health system is headed to a “very dangerous place” with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team of anti-vaccine advisers in charge, fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Susan Monarez warned senators on Wednesday.

Describing extraordinary turmoil inside the nation's health agencies, Monarez and former CDC Chief Medical Officer Chief Debra Houry said Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, and his political advisers repeatedly rebuffed data supporting the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Monarez's revelations to senators raised serious questions, even among some Republicans, about Kennedy's self-professed commitment to employ “gold-standard science” for developing public health guidance, including around the nation's vaccination schedule. Her testimony was given to the Senate's health committee just a day before a vaccine panel is set to consider major changes to the routine vaccinations recommended for the nation's children.

Monarez, who was fired after 29 days into her tenure over vaccine policy disagreements with Kennedy, told senators that deadly infectious diseases like polio could be poised to make a devastating comeback if the health secretary and his team continue their public campaign against routine shots.

“I believe preventable diseases will return, and I believe we will have our children harmed by things they don’t need to be harmed by,” Monarez said before the Senate health committee.

ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show indefinitely over his remarks about Charlie Kirk’s death

NEW YORK (AP) — ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show indefinitely beginning Wednesday after comments that he made about Charlie Kirk's killing led a group of ABC-affiliated stations to say it would not air the show and provoked some ominous comments from a top federal regulator.

The veteran late-night comic, made several remarks about the reaction to the conservative activist's assassination last week on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Monday and Tuesday nights, including that “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.”

ABC, which has aired Kimmel's late-night show since 2003, moved swiftly after Nexstar Communications Group said it would pull the show starting Wednesday. Kimmel's comments about Kirk's death “are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar's broadcasting division. Nexstar operates 23 ABC affiliates.

There was no immediate comment from Kimmel, whose contract is up in May 2026. ABC's statement did not cite a reason for why his show was preempted.

President Donald Trump celebrated ABC's move on the social media site Truth Social, writing: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.”

German suspect in Madeleine McCann disappearance is released after serving time in unrelated case

SEHNDE, Germany (AP) — A German national who is under investigation in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann 18 years ago was released from prison Wednesday after serving his sentence in an unrelated case, police said.

The man, who has been identified by media as Christian Brückner, had been serving a seven-year sentence that stemmed from his 2019 conviction for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman in Portugal.

A car accompanied by several police vans drove out of the prison at Sehnde, near Hannover, in northern Germany, on Wednesday morning. Police confirmed that the man had left.

In June 2020, German prosecutors said the man was being investigated on suspicion of murder in connection with McCann’s disappearance on May 3, 2007, from an apartment complex in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz. They said they assumed the girl was dead.

Police have since carried out more searches in Portugal. But the suspect, who has denied any involvement in her disappearance, has not been charged in the case. The investigation is not affected by his release. He also remains a suspect in an investigation into McCann’s disappearance being conducted by Britain’s Metropolitan Police, who say he refused their request for an interview.

Republican Brad Raffensperger to run for Georgia governor after defying Trump over 2020 election

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger, the Republican secretary of state who rejected Donald Trump’s call to help overturn the state’s 2020 election results, said Wednesday that he’s running for governor in 2026.

The wealthy engineering entrepreneur might appeal most to business-oriented Republicans who once dominated GOP primaries in Georgia, but he is pledging a strongly conservative campaign even while he remains scorned by Trump and his allies. Raffensperger's entry into the field intensifies the primary in a state with an unbroken line of Republican governors since 2002.

“I’m a conservative Republican, and I’m prepared to make the tough decisions. I follow the law and the Constitution, and I’ll always do the right thing for Georgia no matter what," Raffensperger said in an announcement video.

Raffensperger defied Trump’s wrath to win reelection in 2022, but he will again test GOP primary voters’ tolerance for a candidate so clearly targeted by the president. His first challenge may be to even qualify for the primary. Georgia’s Republican Party voted in June to ban Raffensperger from running under its banner, although the party chairman said that attempt might not go anywhere.

Two other top Republicans are already in the race — Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Attorney General Chris Carr. Jones swore himself to be a “duly elected and qualified” elector for Trump in 2020 even though Democrat Joe Biden had been declared the state’s winner. Carr sided with Raffensperger in rejecting challenges to the results. Other Republicans include Clark Dean, Scott Ellison and Gregg Kirkpatrick.

Jerry quits Ben & Jerry's, saying its independence on social issues has been stifled

Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield is leaving the ice cream brand after 47 years, saying that the independence it once had to speak up on social issues has been stifled by its parent company Unilever.

In a letter, which co-founder Ben Cohen posted on social media on Greenfield's behalf, Greenfield said he could not “in good conscience” remain at Ben & Jerry's — citing a loss of independence to Unilever, which he said had once agreed to give Ben & Jerry's autonomy around its social mission when it acquired the brand more than two decades ago.

“For more than 20 years under their ownership, Ben & Jerry's stood up and spoke out in support of peace, justice and human rights, not as abstract concepts, but in relation to real events happening in our world,” Greenfield wrote “It's profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone.”

Ben & Jerry’s, famous for its colorful ice cream containers with flavor names such as Cherry Garcia and Phish Food, has also long been known for its progressive political values — speaking out on a range of social issues over the years. And in his letter late Tuesday, Greenfield noted that the brand's loss of independence arrived at time in the U.S. when the Trump administration “is attacking civil rights, voting rights, the rights of immigrants, women and the LGBTQ community."

"Standing up for the values of justice, equity, and our shared humanity has never been more important, and yet Ben & Jerry's has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power," he wrote.

Despair deepens for a Palestinian family forced to flee across Gaza yet again

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Exhaustion, despair and anger are grinding away at Ne'man Abu Jarad. Once again, for the 11th time, he and his family have been forced to uproot and move across the Gaza Strip.

“It’s a renewal of the torture. We’re not being displaced, we’re dying,” Ne'man said last week as the family packed up their possessions and tents in Gaza City to escape escalating Israel bombardment ahead of a planned invasion of the city.

The next day, they unpacked in southern Gaza on barren former agricultural land outside the city of Khan Younis, unsure where they would now find food and water.

This has been the Abu Jarads’ life for nearly two years, since fleeing their home in the far north of Gaza days after Israel launched its onslaught in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Like countless Palestinian families, they have fled the length of Gaza and back, forced to move every few months as Israel attacks each new shelter. The Associated Press has chronicled much of their journey.

During the ceasefire that began in January, they had a bittersweet return to their home, which was damaged but still standing. But within two months, Israel broke the ceasefire, and the Abu Jarads had to wrench themselves away.