WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered only tepid support for Herman Cain, one of his picks for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, who faces an uncertain path to confirmation in the Republican-led Senate.

Trump has yet to formally nominate the former pizza chain executive and 2012 Republican presidential candidate, but Cain already is facing head winds. Asked about Cain’s prospects, Trump signaled it would be up to Cain whether to proceed.

“I like Herman Cain, and Herman will make that determination,” Trump said. “He’s just somebody I like a lot. As to how he’s doing in the process, that I don’t know. … Herman’s a great guy and I hope he does well.”

Trump has also indicated that he would like to put conservative economist Stephen Moore on the Fed’s board, giving him two allies to stake out his interests at an institution Trump has frequently criticized.

Republicans have privately expressed concern that selecting ideological partisans for the board risks politicizing the Fed, which is designed to be an independent governing body. Also, neither man is particularly well-versed in monetary policy.

Additionally, sexual misconduct allegations all but ended Cain’s presidential campaign in the 2012 cycle. If Cain is nominated by Trump, that history would be a focal point of his confirmation hearings.

Cain has denied the accusations, but the political climate has changed in eight years. In a post-#MeToo movement era, Republicans may not be eager to bring up a nominee who will face scrutiny over his treatment of women.

IRS head: Average 2018 tax refund little changed at $2,833

WASHINGTON — The head of the IRS, who is overseeing the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code in three decades, says the $2,833 average refund in this year’s tax-filing season worked out to be close to last year’s.

Taxes and returns for 2018 are due on Monday.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig also told Congress on Wednesday that an increase is urgently needed in the agency’s budget to modernize computer systems and protect taxpayers’ data.

Rettig testified that some 65 million refunds totaling about $191 billion have been issued as of March 22. The average last year was $2,864.

The administration is asking for an increase of $170 million, or 1.5 percent, in the IRS budget for the fiscal year starting in October, which would make it about $11.5 billion.

Algeria, under interim chief, sets presidential vote July 4

ALGIERS, Algeria — Algeria’s newly appointed interim leader on Wednesday set the date for a presidential election as July 4, the day before the nation celebrates its independence day.

Abdelkader Bensalah was appointed on Tuesday to replace former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was pressured by widespread protests to step down after two decades in office. Protests have continued, however, with people on the streets demanding that Bensalah, the government and all those linked to Bouteflika’s reign should also leave.

The choice of the date seemed chosen to pass a message of a fully transparent democratic process and the birth of a new era for gas-rich Algeria, which gained independence from France in 1962 after a brutal, seven-year war.

Gas explosion in Durham, N.C., kills 1, sends 17 to hospital

DURHAM, N.C. — A leaking gas line exploded Wednesday in a Durham shopping district, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others as firefighters were evacuating people from buildings near the rupture, authorities said.

The blast turned one building to rubble, shattered windows blocks away and filled the air with acrid smoke.

Durham Fire Chief Robert Zoldos said the midmorning blast involved five buildings on the block. The leak was reported during construction a half-hour earlier, prompting the evacuations.

A total of 17 people were taken to hospitals — six in critical condition and one transported to a burn center. Zoldos said one firefighter was injured and had surgery but is expected to recover.

WikiLeaks accuses Ecuador of spying on Assange

LONDON — WikiLeaks on Wednesday accused the Ecuadorian government of spying on Julian Assange as tensions mounted between the WikiLeaks founder and his hosts.

The group’s editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, told a news conference that Assange’s meetings with lawyers and a doctor had been secretly filmed by Ecuadorian authorities.

Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 and has been living there ever since.

Sweden has dropped an investigation into rape allegations against Assange, but he refuses to come out for fear of facing U.S. charges related to WikiLeaks’ publication of classified documents.

Relations between Assange and his Ecuadorian hosts have turned sour in recent weeks with a series of accusations from both sides. Assange’s team fears he may be expelled.

Trump signs orders making it harder to block pipelines

CROSBY, Texas — President Donald Trump’s support for shifting more power to states took a back seat Wednesday to his affinity for oil and gas production as he aimed to make it harder for states to block pipelines and other energy projects due to environmental concerns.

At the urging of business groups, Trump signed two executive orders designed to speed up oil and gas pipeline projects. The action came after officials in Washington state and New York used the permitting process to stop new energy projects in recent years.

The White House insisted it was not trying to strip power from states but, rather, trying to make state actions follow the Clean Water Act’s intent.

Environmental groups described Trump’s order as an effort to short-circuit a state’s ability to review complicated projects.

In Sudan: Clashes between national security forces and protesters holding a large anti-government sit-in outside the military’s headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, killed at least 11 people including six security forces, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

He did not give further details on the violence a day earlier.

The demonstration is the latest in nearly four months of anti-government protests that have plunged Sudan into its worst crisis in years. The protests initially erupted last December with demonstrations against a spiraling economy, but quickly escalated into calls for an end to embattled President Omar al-Bashir’s 30-year rule.