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Hello and welcome to your afternoon news update from AP. Today, the FBI hunts a former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist accused of transmitting national defense information to Iran; the deadly new Ebola outbreak in Congo; and a look at Jerome Powell’s tumultuous time as Fed chair.

UP FIRST

An FBI seal is displayed on a podium at the field office in Portland, Ore., 2025. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

FBI offers $200,000 reward to catch ex-Air Force specialist wanted on charges of spying for Iran

The FBI is offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to the capture and prosecution of a former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran in 2013 and was later charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government. Monica Elfriede Witt, 47, was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2019 on charges of espionage, including transmitting national defense information to the government of Iran. She remains at large. Read more.

TOP STORIES

What to know about new Ebola outbreak that has killed 65 people in Congo

Africa’s top public health body has confirmed a new Ebola outbreak in Congo’s Ituri province, the 17th since the disease first emerged in the country in 1976. A total of 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths have already been recorded in the new outbreak, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement on Friday. Read more.

Powell’s tenure as Fed chair marked by fight for independence while trying to tame inflation

The U.S. economy is very different from when Jerome Powell was sworn in eight years ago: Inflation soared after the pandemic and has remained above the Fed’s 2% target for more than five years, angering voters and making rents, cars and groceries harder to afford. Along the way, Powell pushed back against an unprecedented legal investigation by the Justice Department, becoming one of the few top officials in Washington to stand up to the Trump White House. Read more.