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Chapter 1: What are the Federal Reserve's current interest rate decisions?
Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates where they are for now, reporting on the Fed's two-day meeting that concluded this afternoon. NPR's Scott Horsley says policymakers want to take their time to assess how President Trump's policies are affecting the course of the U.S. economy.
Fed policymakers voted to hold interest rates steady. Their benchmark rate helps determine borrowing costs for a wide range of credit, including car loans, business financing, and personal credit cards. Updated forecasts show members of the Fed's rate-setting committee still expect to lower interest rates by an average of half a percent later this year if inflation continues to ease.
Chapter 2: How might President Trump's tariffs affect inflation and economic growth?
President Trump's tariffs could interrupt that progress on inflation, though. Trump's already imposed taxes on goods from China and all imported steel and aluminum. He's also promised to impose more tariffs next month. In addition to raising prices, those tariffs could slow economic growth.
Fed policymakers lowered their forecast for GDP growth this year while raising their forecast for unemployment. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
Chapter 3: What is the significance of President Trump's call with President Zelensky?
Major market indices are up more than 1 percent to 1.8 percent. President Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today was the subject of a flurry of questions at this afternoon's White House press briefing. Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt read a statement from National Security Advisor Mike Walton, Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Highlights including... President Zelensky asked for additional air defense systems to protect his civilians, particularly Patriot missile systems, and President Trump agreed to work with him to find what was available, particularly in Europe.
Chapter 4: What are the discrepancies in readouts from Trump and Putin's meeting?
Trump says he fully briefed Zelensky on his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday. At today's briefing, Levitt was repeatedly asked about discrepancies between each government's readouts on the specifics of the ceasefire Putin agreed to.
She pointed reporters to the White House readout that said steps toward an end to the Russia-Ukraine war will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire. But the Kremlin readout only specified one focus, the energy infrastructure.
The Israeli military says it launched a new ground offensive into Gaza, sending troops back into areas they had retreated from during a nearly two-month-long ceasefire, coming a day after Israel broke the ceasefire with a series of airstrikes. We have more from NPR's Kat Lonsdorf.
In a statement, the Israeli military called it a, quote, targeted ground operation, saying the aim is to expand what it calls the security perimeter, separating the enclave from southern Israel. The actions come as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz released a video statement addressed to, quote, Gaza residents.
Speaking in Hebrew with Arabic subtitles, Katz said the video was the, quote, final warning to return all the hostages and remove Hamas from power. What comes next will be much harsher, and you will bear the full consequences, he said, warning of more evacuation orders. He said that Israel will, quote, act with force beyond anything you have ever seen. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
This is NPR News.
A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration's ban on transgender troops serving in the U.S. military. NPR's Quill Lawrence has details.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said the Trump administration's attempt to prevent trans Americans from serving in the military violates their constitutional rights, which she called a cruel irony since, quote, "...thousands of transgender service members have sacrificed, some risking their lives, to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the military ban seeks to deny them."
The judge's order temporarily blocks the Pentagon's policy from going into effect. The ban stems from a White House executive order that denies any difference between gender and sex and calls trans people dishonest for claiming otherwise. Of the nearly 1.3 million active duty U.S. troops, 1% or less identify as trans. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
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