QUICK HITS

1 PUERTO RICO: Walter Mercado, a flamboyant astrologer whose daily TV appearances entertained many across Latin America and the U.S. for more than a decade, died late Saturday from kidney failure in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was 88. Mercado was born in Puerto Rico and worked briefly for TV stations in the U.S. territory before moving to South Florida. There, he gained fame for his daily horoscope segment on Spanishlanguage TV.

2 NEW YORK: McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook has left the company after violating policy by engaging in a consensual romantic relationship with an employee, the corporation said. In an email to employees, Easterbrook acknowledged a relationship, said it was a mistake and said “I agree with the board (of directors) that it is time for me to move on.”The board named Chris Kempczinski, who recently served as president of McDonald’s USA, as its new president and CEO.

3 LOUISIANA: An explosion at a Dow chemical plant near Plaquemine rattled windows in nearby homes but caused no injuries, the company said. Local news outlets reported that residents several miles from the plant reported hearing a loud boom just after 8 a.m.

4 BRITAIN: Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would apologize to Conservatives for failing to take the U.K. out of the European Union by Oct. 31 and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said he won’t personally run for a seat in Parliament. Johnson’s promise to have Britain leave the bloc by Oct. 31 with or without a divorce deal had been the central plank in the party leadership competition that brought him to power in July.

5 GERMANY: Chancellor Angela Merkel said she wants to drastically increase the nation’s number of electric car charging stations — to 1 million stations by 2030, up from about 21,000 now.