1 US Fed hikes rates to 1% (Khaleej Times) The Federal
Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate for the second time in three
months and signaled that any further hikes this year will be gradual. The move
reflects a consistently solid US economy and will likely mean higher rates on
some consumer and business loans.
The Fed's key short-term rate is rising by a
quarter-point to a still-low range of 0.75 percent to 1 percent. The central
bank said in a statement that a strengthening job market and rising prices had
moved it closer to its targets for employment and inflation.
The message the Fed sent is that nearly eight years
after the Great Recession ended, the economy no longer needs the support of
ultra-low borrowing rates and is healthy enough to withstand steadily tighter
credit.
The Fed's forecast for future hikes, drawn from the
views of 17 officials, still projects that it will raise rates three times this
year, unchanged from the last forecast in December. But the number of Fed
officials who think three rate hikes will be appropriate rose from six to nine.
The central bank's outlook for the economy changed
little, with officials expecting economic growth of 2.1 percent this year and
next year before slipping to 1.9 percent in 2019. Those forecasts are far below
the 4 percent growth that President Donald Trump has said he can produce with
his economic program.
2 Trump travel ban blocked again (BBC) A Federal judge
in Hawaii has blocked President Donald Trump's new travel ban, hours before it
was due to begin at midnight on Thursday. US District Judge Derrick Watson
cited "questionable evidence" in the government's argument that the
ban was a matter of national security.
President Trump described the ruling as
"unprecedented judicial overreach". The order would have placed a
90-day ban on people from six mainly Muslim nations and a 120-day ban on
refugees. Mr Trump insists the move is to stop terrorists from entering the US
but critics say it is discriminatory.
An earlier version of the order, issued in late
January, sparked confusion and protests, and was blocked by a judge in Seattle.
Hawaii is one of several US states trying to stop the ban. Lawyers had argued
that the ban would violate the US constitution by discriminating against people
on the grounds of their national origin.
3 Kenya bans plastic bags (San Francisco Chronicle) Kenya
has become the latest African nation to ban the manufacture and import of all
plastic bags used for commercial and household packaging.
Environment Minister Judi W. Wakhungu gave the order
published in a gazette notice dated Feb. 28 and released to the public. The new
measures will take effect six months from the date of the notice. Thin plastic
shopping bags litter the streets of Kenya's capital, Nairobi. They have created
towering piles at dump sites.
Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda,
Ethiopia, Mauritania and Malawi are among the countries that have adopted or
announced such bans. Some 100 million plastic bags are handed out every year in
Kenya by supermarkets alone, the UN Environmental Program said in a statement.
It called plastic bags the top challenge for urban waste disposal in Kenya,
particularly in the poorest communities where access to disposal systems is
limited.
Plastic bags contribute to the 8 million tons of
plastic that leak into the ocean every year. At current rates, by 2050 there
will be more plastic in the oceans than fish, according to UNEP.
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