The Federal Reserve intensified its drive to tame high inflation by raising its key interest rate by three-quarters of a point — its largest hike in nearly three decades — and signaling more large rate increases to come that would raise the risk of another recession.
The move the Fed announced after its latest policy meeting will increase its benchmark short-term rate, which affects many consumer and business loans.
The central bank is ramping up its drive to tighten credit and slow growth with inflation having reached a four-decade high of 8.6%, spreading to more areas of the economy and showing no sign of slowing.
The gunman who is accused of killing 10 Black people in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket has been charged with federal hate crimes that could potentially carry a death penalty. The filing of the new charges against 18-year-old Payton Gendron on Monday coincided with a visit to Buffalo by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
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Garland met with families and laid flowers at a memorial outside the Tops Friendly Market. Investigators say Gendron’s radical, racist worldview and extensive preparation for the May 14 mass shooting are laid out in online documents.
Garland said “families and the survivors will be consulted†as the Justice Department weighs whether to seek capital punishment. Gendron's lawyer declined to comment.
Officials say a Michigan police officer charged with murder after shooting Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head has been fired. Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington said Wednesday that Christopher Schurr waived his right to a hearing and was dismissed, effective last Friday.
Schurr was a Grand Rapids officer for seven years. Police Chief Eric Winstrom recommended Schurr’s dismissal after a second-degree murder charge was filed Thursday.
Lyoya, a Black man, was killed at the end of a traffic stop on April 4. He ran and physically resisted Schurr after failing to produce a driver’s license. Schurr, who is white, has claimed Lyoya had control of his Taser when he shot him. Defense lawyers say the officer feared for his safety.
The U.S. says it will send an additional $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine, as America and its allies work to provide longer-range weapons they say can make a difference in a fight where Ukrainian forces are outnumbered and outgunned by their Russian invaders.
President Joe Biden and his top national security leaders say the U.S. is moving as fast as possible to get critical weapons into the fight, even as Ukrainian officials protest that they need more, and faster, in order to survive.
The aid will include anti-ship missile launchers, howitzers and more rounds for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems that U.S. forces are training Ukrainian troops on now.
John Hinckley Jr. has been freed from court oversight. The action ends decades of supervision by legal and mental health professionals. Hinckley shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
The European Central Bank has vowed to come up with a new, unspecified market backstop that could be used to buffer some countries against bond market turmoil similar to what shook the 19-country eurozone during a debt crisis more than a decade ago.
The statement came after an unscheduled meeting of the bank’s governing council Wednesday. It aims to address a selloff in Italian and Spanish government debt in the wake of the bank’s decision to start raising interest rates in July for the first time in 11 years.
The Environmental Protection Agency is warning that two nonstick and stain-resistant compounds in drinking water pose health risks at levels so low they cannot currently be detected. Most uses of so-called “forever chemicals†known as PFOA and PFOS have been voluntarily phased out by U.S. manufacturers.
Americans trimmed their spending unexpectedly in May compared with the month before, underscoring how surging inflation on daily necessities like gas is causing them to be more cautious about buying discretionary items. U.S. retail sales fell 0.3% last month, down from a revised 0.7% increase in April.
A third arrest has been made in a mass shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where three people died and 14 were injured. News outlets cited an affidavit filed with the U.S. District Court for Eastern Tennessee in reporting that 31-year-old Rodney Harris was charged Tuesday in federal court with possession of a firearm by a felon.
Ford is recalling over 2.9 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix a transmission problem that can increase the risk of inadvertent rollaway crashes. The recall covers certain 2013 to 2019 Escape, 2013 to 2018 C-Max, 2013 to 2016 Fusion, 2013 to 2021 Transit Connect, and 2015 to 2018 Edge vehicles.
Automakers reported nearly 400 crashes of vehicles with partially automated driver-assist systems, including 273 involving Teslas, according to new statistics from U.S. safety regulators.
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