Kuwait frees 10 Americans in 2nd release of detainees

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials say Kuwait has released 10 more American detainees in an apparent goodwill gesture. It brings to nearly two dozen the total number freed from Kuwait in the past two months.

Taken together, the pardons of 23 Americans since March — done as a goodwill gesture by a U.S. ally — amounted to the largest release of U.S. citizens by a single foreign country in years. Ten others were released on March 12, weeks after a visit to Kuwait by Adam Boehler, who is serving as the Trump administration’s envoy for hostage affairs. The releases weren’t done as part of a swap, and the U.S. wasn’t asked to give up anything in return.

Trump on tariffs: Children

will get 2 dolls instead of 30

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is acknowledging that his tariffs could result in fewer and costlier products in the United States. He says American kids might “have two dolls instead of 30 dolls.”

But he’s also insisting China will suffer more from his trade war. The Republican president has tried to reassure a nervous country that his tariffs won’t provoke a recession.

But a new government report shows the U.S. economy shrank during the first three months of the year.

Trump told his Cabinet on Wednesday that his tariffs meant China was “having tremendous difficulty because their factories are not doing business.” He said the U.S. didn’t really need imports from the world’s dominant manufacturer.

Storms knock out power

to thousands in Ohio, Pa.

Tuesday night’s powerful storms knocked out power to more than 425,000 customers in Pennsylvania and 40,000 in Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.

Neighboring states also reported thousands of outages. About 300,000 Pennsylvania customers and nearly 19,000 in Ohio were without power late Wednesday.

A spokesperson for Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Light called the storm’s damage “unprecedented” for knocking out electricity for some 250,000 of its customers and toppling trees and snapping power poles. The utility was bringing in outside help to restore electricity, and outages could last a week, the spokesperson said.

The Associated Press

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro surveyed damage in Allegheny County on Wednesday and stopped by Fiori’s, a popular pizzeria that had had its roof ripped off by the storm.