ATLANTA (AP) — Now that Georgia Republicans have settled on businessman David Perdue as their nominee for the state's open Senate seat, the real battle begins with a marquee match-up in the fall against Democrat Michelle Nunn that could help determine control of the chamber.

Bank of England officials discussed this month whether there was a case for an early interest rate rise, but there were concerns about hurting the recovery, minutes of their policy meeting showed on Wednesday. The nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep interest rates on hold, as expected by economists in a Reuters poll. The policymakers agreed that the recovery was looking more assured, though there were some tentative signs of a slight slowdown that had been forecast for the second half of the year. The ongoing weakness of wage growth was becoming more striking - especially against a backdrop of strong employment growth - making it hard to judge the degree of slack in the labour market.