Blinken: Technology Must Sustain Values03/18 06:02
Blinken: Technology Must Sustain Values03/18 06:02 U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the need to make sure that technologies sustain democratic values, telling a democracy summit on Monday that authoritarian regimes deploy them to undermine democracy and human rights. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the need to make sure that technologies sustain democratic values, telling a democracy summit on Monday that authoritarian regimes deploy them to undermine democracy and human rights. Blinken spoke at the ministerial conference of the third Summit for Democracy, a U.S.-led initiative held in Seoul, South Korea, this year. "Revitalizing democracy will also require us to shape the technological future, that's inclusive, that's rights respecting, directed at driving progress in people's lives," Blinken said. "As authoritarian and repressive regimes deploy technologies to undermine democracy and human rights, we need to ensure that technology sustains and supports democratic values and norms," he said. U.S. President Joe Biden first proposed the idea of a democracy summit during his 2020 campaign and has called for the U.S. and like-minded allies to show the world that democracies serve societies better than autocracies. Also Monday, Blinken met South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and President Yoon Suk Yeol for talks on North Korea and the U.S.-South Korea alliance, according to the South Korean government.
SKorea: North Sent Munitions to Russia 03/18 06:06
SKorea: North Sent Munitions to Russia 03/18 06:06 SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea has shipped around 7,000 containers filled with munitions and other military equipment to Russia since last year to help support its war in Ukraine, South Korea's defense minister said Monday. Shin Won-sik shared the assessment at a news conference hours after the South Korean and Japanese militaries said the North fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters, adding to a streak of weapons displays amid growing tensions with rivals. Since the start of 2022, North Korea has used Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a distraction to ramp up its weapons tests and has also aligned with Moscow over the conflict, as leader Kim Jong Un tries to break out of diplomatic isolation and join a united front against the United States. U.S. and South Korean officials have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with artillery shells, missiles and other equipment in recent months to help fuel its war on Ukraine, saying that such arms transfers accelerated after a rare summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin in September. North Korea in exchange possibly received badly needed food and economic aid and military assistance aimed at upgrading Kim's forces, according to South Korean officials and private experts. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the existence of an arms deal between the countries. During a news conference in Seoul, Shin said the South Korean military believes the North, after initially relying on ships, has been increasingly using its rail networks to send arms supplies to Russia through their land border. In exchange for sending possibly several million artillery shells and other supplies, North Korea has received more than 9,000 Russian containers likely filled with aid, Shin said. He raised suspicions that Russia could be providing North Korea with fuel, possibly in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions that tightly cap the country's imports of oil and petroleum products. While fuel shortages likely forced North Korea to scale back winter training activities for its soldiers in recent years, South Korea's military assesses that the North expanded such drills this January and February, Shin said. North Korea's latest missile launches came days after the end of the latest South Korean-U.S. combined military drills that the North portrays as an invasion rehearsal. Shin said the North may dial up its testing activity before the April 10 parliamentary elections in South Korea, which is shaping up as a confidence vote for conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has taken a harder line than his liberal predecessor over North Korean nuclear ambitions and threats. Animosity between the war-divided Koreans has recently worsened, with both countries taking steps to breach a 2018 bilateral military agreement on reducing border tensions. Kim vowed in January to abandon the North's long-standing goal of reconciliation and to rewrite its constitution to declare the South its most hostile adversary. While most of North Korea's recent missile tests seem aligned with its stated goals of augmenting its frontline forces with new weapons systems, the South Korean and U.S. militaries are also evaluating whether some North Korean tests are aimed at verifying the performance of weapons it intends to send to Russia, Shin said. North Korean state media said Monday that Kim sent a message of congratulations to Putin over his reelection as Russia's president. On Saturday, Kim's sister issued a statement through state media saying that her brother has used a Russian luxury limousine recently gifted by Putin and praised the car's "special function," in another effort to boost the visibility of the countries' bilateral ties.
Biden to Sign EO on Women's Health 03/18 06:07
Biden to Sign EO on Women's Health 03/18 06:07 President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order Monday aimed at advancing the study of women's health in part by strengthening data collection and providing easier and better funding opportunities for biomedical research. WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order Monday aimed at advancing the study of women's health in part by strengthening data collection and providing easier and better funding opportunities for biomedical research. Women make up half the population, but their health is underfunded and understudied. It wasn't until the 1990s that the federal government mandated women be included in federally funded medical research; for most of medical history, though, scientific study was based almost entirely on men. Today, research often fails to properly track differences between women and men, and does not represent women equally particularly for illnesses more common to them. Biden's executive order is aiming to change that, aides said. "We still know too little about how to effectively prevent, diagnose and treat a wide array of health conditions in women," said Dr. Carolyn Mazure, the head of the White House initiative on women's health. Biden said he's long been a believer in the "power of research" to help save lives and get high-quality health care to the people who need it. But the executive order also checks off a political box, too, during an election year when women will be crucial to his reelection efforts. First lady Jill Biden is leading both the effort to organize and mobilize female voters and the White House Initiative on Women's Health Research. And the announcement comes as the ripple effects spread from the Supreme Court's decision that overturned federal abortion rights, touching on medical issues for women who never intended to end their pregnancies. In Alabama, for example, the future of IVF was thrown into question statewide after a judge's ruling. Women were a critical part of the coalition that elected Biden in 2020, giving him 55% of their vote, according to AP VoteCast. Black women and suburban women were pillars of Biden's coalition while Trump had a modest advantage among white women and a much wider share of white women without college degrees, according to the AP survey of more than 110,000 voters in that year's election. The National Institutes of Health is also launching a new effort around menopause and the treatment of menopausal symptoms that will identify research gaps and work to close them, said White House adviser Jennifer Klein. Biden and Jill Biden, the first lady, were expected to announce the measures at a Women's History Month reception on Monday at the White House. NIH funds a huge amount of biomedical research, imperative for the understanding of how medications affect the human body and for deciding eventually how to dose medicine. Some conditions have different symptoms for women and men, such as heart disease. Others are more common in women, like Alzheimer's disease, and some are unique to women -- such as endometriosis, uterine cancers and fibroids found in the uterus. It's all ripe for study, Mazure said. And uneven research can have profound effects; a 2020 study by researchers at the University of Chicago and University of California, Berkeley found that women were being overmedicated and suffering side effects from common medications, because most of the dosage trials were done only on men. The first lady announced $100 million in funding last month for women's health.
Putin Wins 5th Term in Russian Election03/18 06:10
Putin Wins 5th Term in Russian Election03/18 06:10 (AP) -- President Vladimir Putin sealed his control over Russia for six more years on Monday with a predetermined landslide in an election that followed the harshest crackdown on the opposition andfree speech since Soviet times. While the result was never in doubt, Russians attempted to defy the inevitable outcome, heeding a call to protest Putin's repression at home and his war in Ukraine by showing up at polling stations at noon on Sunday. But from the earliest returns, it was clear Putin would extend his nearly quarter-century rule with a fifth term. With nearly all the precincts counted Monday, election officials said Putin had secured a record number of votes -- an unsurprising development underlining the Russian leader's total control of the country's political system. Putin has led Russia as president or prime minister since December 1999, a tenure marked by international military aggression and an increasing intolerance for dissent. As early results came in, the Russian leader hailed them as an indication of "trust" and "hope" in him -- while critics saw them as another reflection of the highly orchestrated nature of the election. "Of course, we have lots of tasks ahead. But I want to make it clear for everyone: When we were consolidated, no one has ever managed to frighten us, to suppress our will and our self-conscience. They failed in the past and they will fail in the future," Putin said at a meeting with his campaign staff after polls closed. Any public criticism of Putin or his war in Ukraine has been stifled. Independent media have been crippled. His fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile. Beyond the fact that voters had virtually no choice, independent monitoring of the election was extremely limited. Russia's Central Election Commission said Monday that with nearly 100% of precincts counted, Putin got 87% of the vote. Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova said that nearly 76 million voters cast their ballots for Putin, his highest vote tally ever. Western leaders have denounced the election as a sham, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy particularly criticized voting in Ukrainian areas that Russia has illegally annexed, saying "everything Russia does on the occupied territory of Ukraine is a crime." France's Foreign Ministry said "the conditions for a free, pluralist and democratic election were not met," while paying tribute to "the courage of many Russian citizens who peacefully show their opposition." Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un quickly congratulated Putin, along with some Central and South American leaders and presidents of nations that have historic and close current ties to Russia, such as Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In the tightly controlled environment, Navalny's associates urged those unhappy with Putin or the war to go to the polls at noon on Sunday -- and lines outside a number of polling stations both inside Russia and at its embassies around the world appeared to swell at that time. Among those heeding call was Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny's widow, who spent more than five hours in the line at the Russian Embassy in Berlin. She told reporters that she wrote her late husband's name on her ballot. Asked whether she had a message for Putin, Navalnaya replied: "Please stop asking for messages from me or from somebody for Mr. Putin. There could be no negotiations and nothing with Mr. Putin, because he's a killer, he's a gangster." A voter in Moscow, who identified himself only as Vadim, said he hoped for change, but added that "unfortunately, it's unlikely." Like others, he didn't give his full name because of security concerns. Meanwhile, supporters of Navalny streamed to his grave in Moscow, some bringing ballots with his name written on them. Putin brushed off the effectiveness of the apparent protest and rejected Western criticism of the vote as he tried to turn the tables on the West, charging that the four criminal cases against U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump were a use of the judiciary for political aims and describing denigrating democracy in the U.S. as a "catastrophe." "The whole world is laughing at it," he said. Putin referenced Navalny by name for the first time in public at the news conference, declaring that he was ready to release him in a swap for unidentified inmates in Western custody just days before the opposition leader's death. Some people told the AP that they were happy to vote for Putin -- unsurprising in a country where state TV airs a drumbeat of praise for the Russian leader and voicing any other opinion is risky. Dmitry Sergienko, who cast his ballot in Moscow, said, "I am happy with everything and want everything to continue as it is now." Voting took place over three days at polling stations across the vast country, in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine and online. Several people were arrested, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg, after they tried to start fires or set off explosives at polling stations while others were detained for throwing green antiseptic or ink into ballot boxes. Stanislav Andreychuk, co-chair of the Golos independent election watchdog, said Russians were searched when entering polling stations, there were attempts to check filled-out ballots before they were cast, and one report said police demanded a ballot box be opened to remove a ballot. That left little room for people to express themselves. Still, huge lines formed around noon outside diplomatic missions in London, Berlin, Paris and other cities with large Russian communities, many of whom left home after Putin's invasion of Ukraine. "If we have some option to protest I think it's important to utilize any opportunity," said 23-year-old Tatiana, who was voting in the Estonian capital of Tallinn and said she came to take part in the protest.
Netanyahu Snaps Back Against Criticism 03/18 06:11
Netanyahu Snaps Back Against Criticism 03/18 06:11 TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed Sunday against growing criticism from top ally the United States against his leadership amid the devastating war with Hamas, describing calls for a new election as "wholly inappropriate." In recent days, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the country and a strong Israel supporter, called on Israel to hold a new election, saying Netanyahu had "lost his way." President Joe Biden expressed support for Schumer's "good speech," and earlier accused Netanyahu of hurting Israel because of the huge civilian death toll in Gaza. Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel never would have called for a new U.S. election after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, and denounced Schumer's comments as inappropriate. "We're not a banana republic," he said. "The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they'll elect, and it's not something that will be foisted on us." When asked by CNN whether he would commit to a new election after the war ends, Netanyahu said: "I think that's something for the Israeli public to decide." The U.S., which has provided key military and diplomatic support to Israel, also has expressed concerns about a planned Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. The spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, told Fox the U.S. still hasn't seen an Israeli plan for Rafah. The U.S. supports a new round of talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in exchange for the return of Israeli hostages taken in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. The Israeli delegation to those talks was expected to leave for Qatar after Sunday evening meetings of the Security Cabinet and War Cabinet, which will give directions for negotiations. Despite the talks, Netanyahu made it clear he would not back down from the fighting that has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. More than five months have passed since Hamas attacked southern Israel, killed 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage. Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu said calls for an election now -- which polls show he would lose badly -- would force Israel to stop fighting and paralyze the country for six months. Netanyahu also reiterated his determination to attack Hamas in Rafah and said that his government approved military plans for such an operation. "We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen," he said. The operation is supposed to include the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of civilians, but it is not clear how Israel will do that. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi reiterated his warning that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah would have "grave repercussions on the whole region." Egypt says pushing Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula would jeopardize its peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of regional stability. "We are also very concerned about the risks a full-scale offensive in Rafah would have on the vulnerable civilian population. This needs to be avoided at all costs," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after meeting with el-Sissi. And German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, after meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday, warned that "the more desperate the situation of people in Gaza becomes, the more this begs the question: No matter how important the goal, can it justify such terribly high costs, or are there other ways to achieve your goal?" Germany is one of Israel's closest allies in Europe and, given memories of the Holocaust, often treads carefully when criticizing Israel. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, in Washington for St. Patrick's Day, said during a White House reception that the Irish people were "deeply troubled" by what's unfolding in Gaza. He said there was much to learn from Ireland's peace process and the critical U.S. involvement in it. Varadkar said he's often asked why the Irish are so empathetic to the Palestinians. "We see our history in their eyes. A story of displacement, dispossession, and national identity questioned and denied forced emigration, discrimination and now hunger," he said. Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul-general in New York and an outspoken critic of Netanyahu, said that the prime minister's comments fit with his efforts to find someone else to blame if Israel doesn't achieve its goal of destroying Hamas. "He's looking on purpose for a conflict with the U.S. so that he can blame Biden," Pinkas said. Both sides have something to gain politically from the dispute. The Biden administration is under increasing pressure from progressive Democrats and some Arab-American supporters to restrain Israel's war against Hamas. Netanyahu, meanwhile, wants to show his nationalist base that he can withstand global pressure, even from Israel's closest ally. But pressure also comes from home, with thousands protesting again in Tel Aviv on Saturday night against Netanyahu's government and calling for a new election and a deal for the release of hostages. Large parts of the Israeli public want a deal, fearing that hostages are held in poor conditions and time is running out to bring them home alive. Israel's offensive has driven most of Gaza's 2.3 million people from their homes. A quarter of Gaza's population is starving, according to the U.N. Airdrops by the U.S. and other nations continue, while deliveries on a new sea route have begun, but aid groups say more ground routes and fewer Israeli restrictions on them are needed to meet humanitarian needs in any significant way. "Of course we should be bringing humanitarian aid by road. Of course by now we should be having at least two, three other entry points into Gaza," chef Jos Andrs with World Central Kitchen, which organized the tons of food delivered by sea, told NBC. The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 31,645 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. Israel says Hamas is responsible for civilian deaths because it operates in dense residential areas. The Health Ministry on Sunday said that the bodies of 92 people killed in Israel's bombardment had been brought to hospitals in Gaza in the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 130 wounded, it said. At least 11 people from the Thabet family, including five children and one woman, were killed in an airstrike in Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and an Associated Press journalist. The body of an infant lay among the dead.
UN: Famine Imminent in Northern Gaza 03/18 06:16
UN: Famine Imminent in Northern Gaza 03/18 06:16 RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israeli forces launched another raid on the Gaza Strip's largest hospital early Monday, saying Hamas militants had regrouped there and had fired on them from inside the compound, where Palestinian officials say tens of thousands of people have been sheltering. The U.N. food agency, meanwhile, said "famine is imminent" in northern Gaza, where over 200,000 people are believed to be experiencing catastrophic hunger. The World Food Program said a further escalation of the war, now in its sixth month, could push nearly half of Gaza's population to the brink of starvation. The army last raided Shifa Hospital in November after claiming that Hamas maintained an elaborate command center within and beneath the facility. The military revealed a tunnel leading to some underground rooms, as well as weapons it said were found inside the hospital. But the evidence fell short of the earlier claims, and critics accused the army of recklessly endangering the lives of civilians. People sheltering in the hospital said Israeli forces backed by tanks and artillery had surrounded the medical complex and that snipers were shooting at people inside. They said the army raided a number of buildings and detained dozens of people. "We're trapped inside," said Abdel-Hady Sayed, who has been sheltering in the medical facility for over three months. "They fire at anything moving. ... Doctors and ambulances can't move." Gaza's Health Ministry said the Israeli army was directing gun and missile fire at a building used for specialized surgeries. It said a fire broke out at the hospital's gate. The ministry said around 30,000 people are sheltering at the hospital, including patients, medical staff and people who have fled their homes seeking safety. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief Israeli military spokesperson, said the army launched a "high-precision operation" in parts of the medical complex. He said senior Hamas militants had regrouped there and were directing attacks from the compound. The army released a grainy aerial video of what it said were militants firing on its forces from inside the hospital, as well as video of a rocket-propelled grenade striking an armored vehicle. It said its forces had detained around 80 people. Hagari said the patients and medical staff could remain in the medical complex and that a safe passage was available for civilians who wanted to leave. HOSPITALS OUT OF SERVICE AS TOLL MOUNTS Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian facilities to shield its fighters, and the Israeli military has raided several hospitals since the start of the war, which was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel. Most of Gaza's medical facilities have been forced to shut down for lack of fuel and medical supplies, even as scores of people are killed and wounded each day in Israeli strikes. The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that at least 31,726 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including 81 in the past 24 hours. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people in the surprise attack out of Gaza that triggered the war, and took another 250 people hostage. Hamas is still believed to be holding about 100 captives, as well as the remains of 30 others, after most of the rest were freed during a cease-fire last year in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent weeks trying to broker another cease-fire and hostage release, but the gulf between the two sides remains wide, with Hamas demanding guarantees for an end to the war and Israel vowing to continue the offensive until it destroys the militant group. Israel's offensive has driven most of Gaza's 2.3 million people from their homes and the U.N. says a quarter of the population is starving. HARSH CONDEMNATION FROM EU DIPLOMAT Northern Gaza, including Gaza City, was the first target of the invasion and suffered widespread destruction. The military said late last year that it had dismantled most of Hamas' military infrastructure in the north and withdrew thousands of forces, but sporadic fighting has continued. The north is the epicenter of Gaza's humanitarian catastrophe, with many residents reduced to eating animal feed. At least 20 people, mostly children, have died from malnutrition and dehydration in the north, the Health Ministry said earlier this month. Airdrops by the U.S. and other nations continue, while deliveries on a new sea route have begun, but aid groups say it's essential that Israel open up more ground routes and ease restrictions to meet the mounting humanitarian needs. "We are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at an international aid conference in Brussels. "Starvation is used as a weapon of war." He went on to call for greater efficiency at the two functioning border crossings and for Israel to open additional ones. "Israel has to do it. It is not a question of logistics. It is not because the United Nations has not provided enough support," he said. "The support is there, waiting. Trucks are stopped. People are dying, while the land crossings are artificially closed." Israeli authorities say they place no limits on the entry of aid and accuse U.N. bodies of failing to distribute it in a timely manner, saying aid piles up on the Gaza side of the crossings. Aid groups say distribution is impossible in much of Gaza because of ongoing hostilities, the difficulty of coordinating with the military and the breakdown of law and order. The international aid group Oxfam said Sunday that a "dysfunctional and undersized inspection system" snarls the entry of aid, with trucks stranded in long lines for 20 days on average The group says it has an entire warehouse filled with goods that were rejected, including oxygen, incubators and water and sanitation gear. "Israeli authorities are not only failing to facilitate the international aid effort but are actively hindering it," said Oxfam Mideast director Sally Abi Khalil.
Fed Likely to Preach Patience on Rates 03/18 06:17
Fed Likely to Preach Patience on Rates 03/18 06:17 Across the United States, many people are eagerly anticipating the Federal Reserve's first cut to its benchmark interest rate this year: Prospective home buyers hope for lower mortgage rates. Wall Street traders envision higher stock prices. Consumers are looking for a break on credit card debt at record-high interest rates. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Across the United States, many people are eagerly anticipating the Federal Reserve's first cut to its benchmark interest rate this year: Prospective home buyers hope for lower mortgage rates. Wall Street traders envision higher stock prices. Consumers are looking for a break on credit card debt at record-high interest rates. Not to mention President Joe Biden, whose re-election campaign would likely benefit from an economic jolt stemming from lower borrowing rates. Yet Chair Jerome Powell and his fellow Fed officials are expected to play it safe when they meet his week, keeping their rate unchanged for a fifth straight time and signaling that they still need further evidence that inflation is returning sustainably to their 2% target. The Fed's cautious approach illustrates what's unusual about this round of potential rate cuts. Vincent Reinhart, chief economist at Dreyfus-Mellon and a former Fed economist, notes that the Fed typically cuts rates quickly as the economy deteriorates in an often-futile effort to prevent a recession. But this time, the economy is still healthy. The Fed is considering rate cuts only because inflation has steadily fallen from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022. As a result, it is approaching rate cuts the way it usually does rate hikes: Slowly and methodically, while trying to divine the economy's direction from often-conflicting data. "The Fed is driving events, not events driving the Fed," Reinhart said. "That's why this task is different than others." The central bank's policymakers had said after their last meeting in January that they needed "greater confidence" that inflation was cooling decisively toward their 2% target. Since then, the government has issued two inflation reports that showed the pace of price increases remaining sticky-high. In most respects, the U.S. economy remains remarkably heathy. Employers keep hiring, unemployment remains low, the stock market is hovering near record highs and inflation has plummeted from its highs. Yet average prices remain much higher than they were before the pandemic -- a source of unhappiness for many Americans for which Republicans have sought to pin blame on Biden. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called "core" prices rose at a monthly pace of 0.4% in both January and February, a pace far higher than is consistent with the Fed's inflation target. Compared with a year earlier, core prices rose 3.8% in February. Core prices are considered a good signal of where inflation is likely headed. But in February, a measure of housing costs slowed, a notable trend because housing is among the "stickiest" price categories that the government tracks. At the same time, more volatile categories, like clothing, used cars and airline tickets, drove up prices in February, and they may well reverse course in coming months. "Nothing about those two data prints made you feel substantially better about" inflation reaching the Fed's target soon, said Seth Carpenter, chief global economist at Morgan Stanley and also a former Fed economist. "But it's not at all enough to make you change your view on the fundamental direction of travel" for inflation. Indeed, several Fed officials have said in recent speeches that they expect inflation to keep declining this year, though likely more slowly than in 2023. The Fed has also built in some expectation that price increases would ease only gradually this year. In December, it projected that core inflation would reach 2.4% by the end of 2024. That's not far from its current 2.8%, according to the Fed's preferred measure. On Wednesday, the Fed's policymakers will update their quarterly economic projections, which are expected to repeat their December forecast for three rate cuts by the end of 2024. Still, it would take only two of the 19 Fed officials to change their forecast to one fewer rate cut for the central bank's overall projection to downshift to just two rate cuts for 2024. Some economists expect that to happen, given that inflation has remained persistent at the start of this year. The Fed's benchmark rate stands at about 5.4%, the highest level in 23 years, after a series of 11 rate hikes that were intended to curb the worst inflation in four decades but have also made borrowing much more expensive for consumers and businesses. Like the Fed, other major central banks are keeping rates high to ensure that they have a firm handle on consumer price spikes. In Europe, pressure is building to lower borrowing costs as inflation drops and economic growth has stalled, unlike in the United States. The European Central Bank's leader hinted this month that a possible rate cut wouldn't come until June, while the Bank of England isn't expected to open the door to any imminent cut at its meeting Thursday. Most economists expect the Fed to implement its first rate cut at its June meeting, which would mean that in May, the Fed would signal such a coming move. By June, the policymakers will have in hand three more inflation readings and three more jobs reports. Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo, said that timetable leaves plenty of time for inflation to resume its downward path. A rate reduction would likely lead, over time, to lower rates for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and many business loans. "They certainly need to see something better than the past couple of months, but they can get it," she said.
Wall Street Rises Back Toward Records 03/18 09:07
Wall Street Rises Back Toward Records 03/18 09:07 Stocks are rising Monday ahead of a busy week for central banks around the world that could dictate where interest rates go. NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks are rising Monday ahead of a busy week for central banks around the world that could dictate where interest rates go. The S&P 500 was 0.9% higher in early trading, coming off its first back-to-back weekly loss since October. It's pulling close to its all-time high set early last week. Nvidia and other big technology stocks are leading the way, as has usually been the case. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 80 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:40 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.6% higher. The highlight for Wall Street this week will likely be the Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates, which ends on Wednesday. The widespread expectation is for the central bank to hold its main interest rate steady at its highest level since 2001. But Fed officials will also give updated forecasts for where they see interest rates heading over the course of this year and in the long run. They earlier had penciled in three cuts to rates this year, which would relieve pressure on the economy and financial system. Recent reports on inflation have consistently been coming in worse than expected, though. That could force the Fed to say fewer rate cuts will come this year. Such a move would be a sore disappointment for Wall Street, where stock prices have already run up partly on expectations for lower rates. Treasury yields in the bond market have also eased since last autumn on such expectations, though they've pared those losses on worries about stubbornly high inflation. Across the Pacific, the Bank of Japan will also announce its latest decision on interest rates on Tuesday. It hasn't touched its benchmark interest rate for 17 years, as it's kept rates below zero in hopes of goosing the economy and inflation. Speculation is rising that wages for Japanese workers are rising enough for the Bank of Japan to finally move rates higher. Across the Atlantic, the Bank of England will announce its latest decision on rates later in the week. On Wall Street, Nvidia rose 4.8% as it kicked off its annual conference for developers. Analysts say the widespread expectation is for Nvidia to unveil its next generation artificial-intelligence architecture, along with the growing use cases for AI. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will give a keynote address after trading closes for the day on Wall Street, while holding a Q&A with financial analysts Tuesday morning. A frenzy around AI technology on Wall Street has sent the stocks of Nvidia and other players zooming so high that critics call it a bubble. Nvidia has grown into the U.S. stock market's third-largest stock. Nvidia once again was the strongest force pushing the S&P 500 higher Monday. On the losing end of Wall Street was Hertz Global Holdings, which skidded 7% to bring its loss for the year so far to 43%. Its chair and CEO, Stephen Scherr, will resign at the end of March. The company named Wayne "Gil" West as its CEO. He's a former executive at Cruise, the self-driving car company, and at Delta Air Lines. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was holding steady at 4.31%, where it was late Friday. In stock markets abroad, Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 2.7%. Shares of both Nissan Motor and Honda Motor Co.'s shares climbed after the two automakers agreed on a partnership in electric vehicles. Outside of a 1% jump for stocks in Shanghai, moves were much more modest elsewhere across Asia and Europe.