BUSINESS DIGEST ||

Area auto sales down by 639

YOUNGSTOWN

September new and used auto sales in the Mahoning Valley were down by 639 to 4,484 from 5,123 sales made last September, according to the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers’ Association.

For the year so far, auto sales in the Mahoning Valley are down by 2,691 to 40,511.

Business class offered Wednesday

YOUNGSTOWN

The Greater Warren-Youngstown Urban League will offer a business class in workforce management from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Eastern Gateway Community College Valley Center room A102, 101 E. Federal St.

Call Teresa Hosey at 330-394-4316 ext. 105 to reserve a seat.

Schools warn of ‘virtual kidnapping’ scam across US

Schools across the U.S. are warning about a scam to convince parents that their children have been kidnapped – even though they haven’t.

Cases of so-called virtual kidnapping have been reported recently in states including Virginia, California and Texas. Authorities say the scam often targets the parents of college students, tricking some into paying thousands of dollars.

In the scam, parents receive a call from a stranger who claims to have kidnapped their child, and demands that they wire a ransom. The FBI says the ransom is usually between $600 and $1,300.

Georgetown University and several other colleges have issued alerts about the scam.

Police say that if parents get one of the calls, they should text their child or contact the child through social media.

US accuses Russia of war crimes in Syria, political hacking

WASHINGTON

The U.S. on Friday bluntly accused Russia of war crimes in Syria and then pointed a finger directly at the Kremlin for hacking American political sites and email accounts to interfere with the upcoming presidential election.

Moscow dismissed the accusations, which come at a low point in U.S.-Russia relations. On Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the U.S. was trying to divert attention from its own failure to uphold a cease-fire in the bloody war. Moscow called the hacking accusations “some kind of nonsense.”

The accusations were issued in a one-two punch.

Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday morning that Russian and Syrian military strikes against civilians and medical facilities in Syria should be investigated as war crimes. The situation in Syria has dramatically deteriorated since the collapse of a U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire two weeks ago.

“These are acts that beg for an appropriate investigation of war crimes,” Kerry said. “They’re beyond the accidental now, way beyond, years beyond the accidental. This is a targeted strategy to terrorize civilians and to kill anybody and everybody who is in the way of their military objectives.”

Staff/wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Alcoa Inc., .1231.37-0.41

Aqua America, .71 29.11-0.25

Avalon Holdings,2.970.00

Cortland Bancorp, .2816.300.00

Farmers Nat., .1610.58-0.22

First Energy, 1.44 31.32-0.15

Fifth/Third, .5220.69-0.05

FirstMerit Corp.,21.610.37

First Niles Financial, .1211.000.00

FNB Corp., .4812.520.03

General Motors, 1.5232.34-0.19

General Electric, .9229.08-0.19

Huntington Bank, .28 10.170.01

iHeartMedia Inc.,1.37-0.11

JP Morgan Chase, 1.9268.110.24

Key Corp, .3412.68-0.05

LaFarge, .3417.570.00

Macy’s, 1.51 38.040.36

Parker Hannifin, 2.52 124.66-2.26

PNC, 2.2091.42-0.40

Simon Prop. Grp., 6.60196.810.33

Stoneridge 18.13-0.02

Talmer Bank, 23.34-0.36

United Comm. Fin., .12 7.15-0.03

Selected prices from Friday’s 4 p.m. close.