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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- If the world's investors are right, the Federal Reserve is about to take a bold new step to try to invigorate the U.S. economy.
• And many expect the Fed to unleash its most potent weapon: a third round of bond purchases meant to ease long-term interest rates and spur borrowing and spending. It's called "quantitative easing," or QE.
• Others foresee a more measured response when the Fed ends a two-day policy meeting Thursday. They think it will extend its timetable for any rise in record-low short-term rates beyond the current target of late 2014 at the earliest.
• On one point few disagree: The Fed feels driven to act now because the U.S. economy is still growing too slowly to reduce high unemployment. The unemployment rate has topped 8 percent every month since the Great Recession officially ended more than three years ago.
• In August, job growth slowed sharply. The unemployment rate did fall to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent. But that was because many Americans stopped looking for work, so they were no longer counted as unemployed.
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• LONDON (AP) -- At the King Ecgbert School in Sheffield, teens who go to the loos are never really alone -- video cameras are inside all 12 bathrooms.
• Citing findings gathered via freedom-of-information requests, privacy activists Wednesday identified King Ecgbert as one of more than 200 high schools across Britain that have installed surveillance cameras in bathrooms or locker rooms.
• The group behind the report, Big Brother Watch, said a powerful watchdog is needed to ensure that students' privacy is protected.
• The report "will come as a shock to many parents," said director Nick Pickles. "Schools need to come clean about why they are using these cameras and what is happening to the footage."
• Lesley Bowes, King Ecgbert's principal, argued that the cameras help keep her students safe.
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