WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday the United States is being "very tough" as it looks into a Saudi writer missing and feared murdered in Istanbul, adding "we have investigators over there and we're working with Turkey" and with Saudi Arabia.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tens of millions of Social Security recipients and other retirees will get a 2.8 percent increase in benefits next year as inflation edges higher. For the average retired worker, it amounts to $39 a month.

After a period of low inflation, the increase for 2019 is the highest in 7 years.

The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, affects household budgets for about one in five Americans, including Social Security beneficiaries, disabled veterans and federal retirees. That's about 70 million people, enough to send ripples through the economy.

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) — A booster rocket failed less than two minutes after launching an American and a Russian toward the International Space Station on Thursday, forcing their emergency — but safe — landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

It was the latest in a recent series of failures for the troubled Russian space program, which is used by the U.S. to carry its astronauts to the station.

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — The third-most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in recorded history left a wide path of destruction, destroying homes and shopping centers and felling trees that killed at least two people in Florida and Georgia. And it's not done yet.

Hurricane Michael finally weakened to a tropical storm on Thursday, no longer a Category 4 monster packing 155 mph (250 kph) winds. But it was still menacing the Southeast with heavy rains, blustery winds and possible spinoff tornadoes, soaking areas swamped by epic flooding last month from Hurricane Florence.

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) — A grand jury has found that police officers were justified in fatally shooting a 28-year-old man in Pawtucket last month.

The state attorney general's office said Wednesday that the Providence County Grand Jury completed its investigation into the Sept. 7 fatal shooting of DaShawn Cole and determined that the actions by the three officers involved were lawful and legally justified.

NEW YORK (AP) — Eduardo Nunez charged Gleyber Torres' four-hopper toward third base and whipped the ball across the diamond . Steve Pearce stretched, falling on his chest for a sprawling catch. The umpire signaled: "Out!"

The Boston Red Sox gathered around exhausted closer Craig Kimbrel, hugging and celebrating after the New York Yankees' two-run rally in the ninth inning fell short.

But wait!

In 21st century baseball, the game doesn't always end when it seems, hanging in limbo until umpires in a downtown Manhattan replay room agree .

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — Gaining frightening fury overnight, Hurricane Michael closed in Wednesday on the Florida Panhandle with potentially catastrophic winds of 145 mph, the most powerful storm on record ever to menace the stretch of fishing villages, military bases and spring-break beaches.

With more than 375,000 people up and down the Gulf Coast warned to clear out, the hurricane's leading edge began lashing the shoreline with tropical storm-force winds, rain and rising seas before daybreak, hours before Michael's center was expected to blow ashore.

NEW YORK (AP) — The wife of a limousine driver involved in a New York state crash that killed 20 people says her late husband had expressed concerns about the company's vehicles.

Kim Lisinicchia told CBS in an interview broadcast on Wednesday that there were several times she heard her husband, Scott, state: "I'm not going to drive this, like this. You need to get me another car." But then "he trusted in what the limo company said, that the cars were all right."

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the latest shake-up for President Donald Trump's turbulent administration, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley abruptly announced she is resigning at the end of the year, raising questions about who will fill the key national security post and about the outspoken diplomat's own political ambitions.

Trump later told reporters he was considering five candidates for Haley's job, and that a successor would be named in two to three weeks — or maybe sooner.