Fed raises key rate by half-point and signals more to come

WORLD NEWS IN BRIEF

WASHINGTON

The Federal Reserve reinforced its inflation fight Wednesday by raising its key interest rate for the seventh time this year and signaling more hikes to come. But it announced a smaller hike than it had in its past four meetings at a time when inflation is showing signs of easing.

The Fed made clear, in a statement and a news conference by Chair Jerome Powell, that it thinks sharply higher rates are still needed to fully tame the worst inflation bout to strike the economy in four decades.

The central bank boosted its benchmark rate a half-point to a range of 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, its highest level in 15 years. Though lower than its previous three-quarter-point hikes, the latest move will further increase the costs of many consumer and business loans and the risk of a recession.

More surprisingly, the policymakers forecast that their key short-term rate will reach a range of 5 percent to 5.25 percent by the end of 2023. That suggests that the Fed is poised to raise its rate by an additional three-quarters of a point and leave it there through next year. Some economists had expected that the Fed would project only an additional half-point increase. The latest rate hike was announced one day after an encouraging report showed that inflation in the United States slowed in November for a fifth straight month. The year-over-year increase of 7.1 percent, though still high, was sharply below a recent peak of 9.1 percent in June.

KYIV, UKRAINE

Ukraine: Russian strikes thwarted, wreckage hits buildings

Ukrainian authorities said they thwarted a Russian attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region Wednesday as their air defense system destroyed 13 explosive-laden drones, although wreckage damaged five buildings, without causing casualties.

The attempted strikes underlined how vulnerable Ukraine's capital remains to the regular Russian attacks that have devastated infrastructure and population centers in recent weeks, mostly in the country's east and south.

But they also highlighted Ukraine's claims of increasing efficiency in intercepting drones and missiles, and the possibility that Patriot missiles from the U.S. may further boost defenses.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video the "terrorists" fired 13 Iranian-made drones, and all were intercepted. Such drones have been part of the firepower - along with rockets, missiles, mortars and artillery - that Russia uses to target power stations, water facilities and other public utility equipment.

The snow-covered capital remained largely calm after the foiled attack, which occurred around daybreak.

As the working day began, authorities sounded the all-clear.

The head of the Kyiv city administration, Serhii Popko, wrote on Telegram that the attempted strikes came in two waves. Wreckage from the intercepted drones damaged an administrative building and four residential buildings, he said.

NEW YORK

US deaths fell this year, but not to pre-COVID levels

The number of U.S. deaths dropped this year, but there are still more than there were before the coronavirus hit.

Preliminary data - through the first 11 months of the year - indicates 2022 will see fewer deaths than the previous two COVID-19 pandemic years. Current reports suggest deaths may be down about 3 percent from 2020 and about 7 percent vs.

2021.

U.S. deaths usually rise year-to-year, in part because the nation's population has been growing. The pandemic accelerated that trend, making last year the deadliest in U.S. history, with more than 3.4 million dying. If current trends continue, this year will mark the first annual decline in deaths since 2009.

It will be months before health officials have a full tally. The October and November numbers are not yet complete and a late-December surge could change the final picture, said Farida Ahmad, who leads mortality surveillance at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If the decline does hold, it will still be a far cry from where the nation was before the coronavirus appeared.

This year's count is likely to end up at least 13 percent higher than what it was in 2019.

WASHINGTON

Club Q shooting survivors press Congress to act on guns

Survivors of last month's deadly mass shooting at a Colorado gay nightclub testified Wednesday to Congress about the onslaught of threats and violence against members of the LGBTQ community as they urged lawmakers to pass a law banning some semiautomatic weapons.

Michael Anderson, a 25-year-old bartender at Club Q, described how his place of work was a safe haven for him and many others before a 22-year-old shooter turned a drag queen's birthday celebration into a massacre on Nov. 19. Five people were killed and 25 were injured before the shooter armed with an AR-15-style semiautomatic weapon was subdued by patrons.

"This shooter entered our safe space and our home with the intention of killing as many people as possible, as quickly as possible," Anderson said. "They used a military-style weapon that exists solely for the intention of killing other human beings, and began to hunt us down as if we were disposable, as if our lives meant nothing."

James Slaugh testified about watching his sister, Charlene, bleed on the nightclub floor after a bullet ripped through her right arm. "My heart melted as she tried to dial 911 with her good arm. I called out to her and I heard no response," he said. The siblings were there to celebrate Transgender Day of Remembrance before several pops rang out in between the pounding club music. James Slaugh also was among those shot.

Wednesday's testimony to the House Oversight Committee came as lawmakers race to finish their work for the year. To the frustration of many Democrats, the year-end agenda doesn't include legislation to ban semiautomatic firearms due to firm Republican opposition.

NEW YORK

Trump Org. was secretly held in contempt for hindering probe

Donald Trump's company impeded a grand jury investigation last year by repeatedly failing to turn over evidence in a timely fashion, leading to a secret contempt finding and a $4,000 fine, according to court records made public Tuesday.

The Trump Organization was found to have been "willfully disobeying" four grand jury subpoenas and three court orders, to the detriment of Manhattan prosecutors who were left ill-prepared to question witnesses, Judge Juan Manuel Merchan ruled.

The subpoenas, issued in March, April, May and June 2021, preceded the Trump Organization's July 2021 indictment on criminal tax fraud charges for helping executives avoid taxes on company-paid perks. The company was convicted this month and faces a fine of up to $1.6 million.

The $4,000 contempt fine was the maximum allowable by law.

It's yet another kerfuffle involving Trump and allegations of mishandling or withholding records. In April, a judge held Trump in contempt and fined him $110,000 for being slow to respond to a civil subpoena issued by New York's attorney general. The former president has also been under investigation for storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

LIMA, PERU

Peru's new government declares police state amid protests

Peru's new government declared a national emergency Wednesday as it struggled to calm violent protests over President Pedro Castillo's ouster, suspending the rights of "personal security and freedom" across the Andean nation for 30 days.

Acts of vandalism, violence and highway blockades as thousands of Peruvians are in the streets "require a forceful and authoritative response from the government," Defense Minister Luis Otarola Peñaranda said.

The declaration suspends the rights of assembly and freedom of movement and empowers the police, supported by the military, to search people's homes without permission or judicial order. Otarola said it had not been determined whether a nightly curfew would be imposed.

- The Associated Press