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The Environmental Protection Agency announced a commitment to fully eliminate animal testing by 2035."This is a longstanding personal belief on my behalf," EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said Tuesday, recalling an op-ed he wrote for his college newspaper, The Observer, at Case Western Reserve University, in 1987, which the agency handed out to reporters.The EPA has relied on animal testing to evaluate the risks of chemicals and pesticides to human health but has taken steps in recent years to move toward new alternatives and technologies. The Toxic Substances Control Act that was amended in 2016 to reduce reliance on animal testing as well.Animal rights groups, including the Humane Society and PETA, praised the move."PETA is celebrating the EPA's decision to protect animals certainly, but also humans and the environment, by switching from cruel and scientifically flawed animal tests in favor of modern, non-animal testing methods," said Dr. Amy Clippinger, director of PETA's regulatory testing department.Wheeler said the agency will provide .25 million in grant funding to five universities, Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Oregon State University and University of California Riverside, to research alternative test methods, like computer modeling and invitro testing.However environmental groups slammed the EPA's directive, raising concerns about the adequacy of the alternative test methods for all chemicals, and arguing the move largely benefits chemical companies more than the public."EPA is eliminating tools that lay the groundwork for protecting the public from dangers like chlorpyrifos, formaldehyde and PFAS. Phasing out foundational scientific testing methods can make it much harder to identify toxic chemicals -- and protect human health," Jennifer Sass, senior scientist for the Healthy People and Thriving Communities program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. 1993

The billionaires behind many of France's top luxury brands have pledged €300 million (9 million) to help reconstruct Paris' Notre Dame cathedral following a devastating fire.LVMH Group ( 201

The man accused of abducting Barron County, Wisconsin, teen Jayme Closs sent a letter to a Minnesota news station saying he plans to plead guilty to the charges against him. A letter sent to 203

The Dow fell more than 800 points Wednesday after the bond market, for the first time in over a decade, flashed a warning signal that has an eerily accurate track record for predicting recessions.Here's what happened: The 10-year Treasury bond yield fell below 1.6% Wednesday morning, dropping just below the yield of the 2-year Treasury bond. It marked the first time since 2007 that 10-year bond yields fell below 2-year yields.US stocks fell as investors sold stock in companies and moved it into bonds. The Dow was about 2.8% lower. The broader S&P 500 was also down 2.8% and the Nasdaq sank 3.1% Wednesday.CNN Business' Fear and Greed Index signaled investors were fearful. The VIX volatility index spiked 26%.Investors are on edge because the German economy shrank in the second quarter, and the US-China trade war still looms large over markets despite the latest truce. Industrial production in China grew at the weakest rate in 17 years in July.As the global economy sputters, investors are plowing money into long-term US bonds. The 30-year Treasury yield fell to 2.05%, the lowest rate on record.Government bonds ¡ª particularly US Treasuries ¡ª are classic "safe-haven" assets that investors like to hold in their portfolios when they're nervous about the economy. Stocks, by contrast, are riskier assets that tend to be more volatile during economic slowdowns.Gold, another safe-haven asset, rose 1% Wednesday.Here's what this all means: Normally, long-term bonds pay out more than short-term bonds because investors demand to be paid more to tie up their money for a long time. But that key "yield curve" inverted on Wednesday. That means investors are nervous about the near-term prospects for the US economy. Bonds and yields trade in opposite directions, so yields sink when investors buy bonds.Part of the yield curve has been inverted for several months. In March, the yield on the 3-month Treasury bill rose above the rate on the 10-year Treasury note for the first time since 2007. It inverted again on July 24 and has remained negative. But Wednesday marked the first time in over a decade that the "main" yield curve ¡ª the 2-year / 10-year ratio ¡ª had inverted.That spooked Wall Street, because an inversion of the 2/10 curve has preceded every recession in modern history. That doesn't mean a recession is imminent, however: The Great Recession started nearly two years after the December 2005 yield-curve inversion.William Foster, Moody's lead US analyst, predicts the US economy will avoid a recession in 2019 and in 2020, despite the yield curve inversion's warning sign. He expects growth to slow in the second half this year into 2020.The US economy remains strong: Unemployment is historically low, consumer spending is booming, and the financial system is healthy."Even though we're discouraged by the yield curve's shape right now, we see few signs of danger ahead," said John Lynch, LPL Research chief investment strategist, in a blog post.Stocks have grown volatile lately, with the Dow plunging and rising more than 350 points in each session this week. But the yield curve inversion doesn't mean the stock market is about to collapse. The S&P 500 has rallied 22% on average between the first time a yield curve inverts and the start of a recession, Lynch noted.Following the last yield curve inversion in 2005, stocks rose for 12 straight months. 3400

The college admissions scheme revealed Tuesday is the largest of its kind ever prosecuted, federal prosecutors said, and features 50 defendants across six states, millions of dollars in illegally funneled funds and a handful of the country's most selective universities.But at its core, the alleged scheme is remarkably simple -- and brazen.Cheat on standardized tests. Bribe the people who decide which students get admitted. All the while pretending that money was for charity."I'll speak more broadly, there were essentially two kinds of fraud that Singer was selling," US Attorney Andrew Lelling said, referring to William Rick Singer, the figure at the center of the scheme."One was to cheat on the SAT or ACT, and the other was to use his connections with Division I coaches and use bribes to get these parents' kids into school with fake athletic credentials," Lelling said at a press conference in Boston.A total of 50 people were charged in the case. Those arrested include two SAT/ACT administrators, one exam proctor, nine coaches at elite schools, one college administrator and 33 parents, according to Lelling.Here's how the plan worked, according to prosecutors.Cheating on the ACTs and SATsOf course, students who score higher on standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT are more likely to get into selective colleges.Given that, Singer facilitated cheating on those exams for students whose wealthy parents paid for his services.Singer pleaded guilty in court on Tuesday to four federal charges and admitted that the case against him was accurate.According to the indictment, he arranged for a third-party -- generally Mark Riddell, who is 1670

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