In our news wrap Thursday, President Obama advised Russian President Vladimir Putin to avoid further sanctions, a day after new measures to punish Moscow’s support of Ukrainian rebels. Putin said the sanctions will push U.S.-Russia relations to a “dead end,”…

The U.S. economy sank at a pace of just 1 percent in the second quarter of the year, the Commerce Department reported Friday, in a better-than-expected showing that the recession could be winding down.