The Federal Reserve on Wednesday made only minor changes to help it better manage its benchmark interest rate after the U.S. central bank briefly lost control of it earlier in the week.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States supports Saudi Arabia's "right to defend itself" and said Iran's behavior would "not be tolerated" in a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to a statement on his official Twitter account on Thursday.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP on Wednesday asked a U.S. bankruptcy judge to halt for roughly nine months more than 2,600 lawsuits alleging the company and its controlling Sackler family helped fuel the U.S. opioid crisis, according to court documents.

U.S. President Donald Trump's top negotiator for Afghanistan will hold a briefing for the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, the panel said on Wednesday, after the committee subpoenaed him in frustration at his refusal to meet with its members.

President Donald Trump said the Federal Reserve's decision on Wednesday to lower interest rates was "fine" but the central bank should have acted sooner.

Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who has inspired a global movement for climate change, delivered a strong message to U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday: "Wake up."

Huawei [HWT.UL] launches what could be the world's most powerful and feature-packed 5G smartphone on Thursday, but the fate of the device in Europe will hang on whether it can overcome a U.S. ban to give customers the Google software they expect.

President Donald Trump will visit a section of wall along the U.S. border with Mexico on Wednesday in a bid to illustrate his commitment to crack down on illegal border crossings as he raises money in California for his re-election campaign.

The leader of the Northern Ireland party whose support is crucial to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government met with the Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar in Dublin on Wednesday evening, national broadcaster RTE reported.

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed into law a controversial labor bill, AB 5, which spells out when companies must treat "gig economy" contract workers as employees.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday there were many options short of war with Iran after U.S. ally Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of drones and missiles it said were used in a crippling attack on its oil sites that was "unquestionably sponsored" by Tehran.

The strike against General Motors Co's U.S. operations has led to a parts shortage, the automaker said on Wednesday, and as a result it announced the temporary lay-offs of 1,200 workers at its Oshawa assembly plant in Canada.

The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates again on Wednesday to help sustain a record-long economic expansion but signaled a higher bar to further reductions in borrowing costs, eliciting a fast and sharp rebuke from President Donald Trump.

Tucked into Fed Chair Jerome Powell's news conference on Wednesday was a not-so-subtle message for President Donald Trump: the economy is holding up because the U.S. central bank has acted to support it through a volatile patch, and whether that continues is now in the president's lap.

The S&P 500 ended marginally higher on Wednesday after Federal Reserve policymakers cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, as expected, but gave mixed signals about their next move.

The S&P 500 and the Dow reversed losses to close higher on Wednesday and U.S. Treasury yields slipped after remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell tempered the market's initial reaction to the U.S. central bank's policy statement.

The Northern Ireland party whose support is crucial to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government said on Wednesday it believed a deal could be secured for an orderly British exit from the European Union if flexibility is shown by all sides.

Documents from the Pentagon show that "far more taxpayer funds" were spent by the U.S. military on overnight stays at a Trump resort in Scotland than previously known, two Democratic lawmakers said on Wednesday, as they demanded more evidence from the Defense Department as part of their investigation.

The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point for the second time this year on Wednesday in a widely expected move meant to sustain a decade-long economic expansion, but gave mixed signals about what may happen next.

U.S. stocks extended their losses and the U.S. Treasury yield curve flattened on Wednesday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates, as expected, but gave mixed signals regarding future rate moves.