Federal Reserve keeps interest rates unchanged

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve pushed the pause button on its interest rate cuts Wednesday, leaving its key rate unchanged at about 3.6% after lowering it three times last year. With the economy growing at a healthy pace and no signs of deterioration in hiring, Fed officials likely see little reason to rush any further rate cuts. While most policymakers do expect to reduce borrowing costs further this year, many want to see evidence that stubbornly-elevated inflation is moving closer to the central bank’s target of 2%. According to the Fed’s preferred measure, inflation was 2.8% in November, slightly higher than a year ago.

Rubio defends Trump on Venezuela while trying to allay fears about Greenland and NATO

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio has given a full-throated defense of President Donald Trump’s military operation to oust and arrest then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Rubio also used his wide-ranging congressional testimony Wednesday to touch on Greenland, NATO, Iran and China. In the first public hearing since the Jan. 3 intervention to depose Maduro, Rubio said Trump had acted to take out a major U.S. national security threat in the Western Hemisphere. Rubio said America was safer and more secure as a result and that the Republican administration would work with interim authorities to stabilize the South American country.

Amazon cuts about 16,000 corporate jobs in the latest round of layoffs

(AP) — Amazon is slashing about 16,000 corporate jobs in the second round of mass layoffs for the ecommerce company in three months. The tech giant has said it plans to use generative artificial intelligence to replace corporate workers. It has also been reducing a workforce that swelled during the pandemic. Beth Galetti, a senior vice president at Amazon, said in a blog post Wednesday that the company has been “reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.” The company did not say what business units would be impacted, or where the job cuts would occur. The latest reductions follow a round of job cuts in October, when Amazon said it was laying off 14,000 workers.

Partial federal shutdown seems increasingly likely as Dems demand major changes to ICE

WASHINGTON (AP) — As a partial government shutdown looms at week’s end, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has laid out a list of demands for the Department of Homeland Security, including an enforceable code of conduct for federal agents conducting immigration arrests and a requirement that they identify themselves to the public. Republicans will need Democratic votes to keep the government open when funding runs at midnight Friday. But Democrats have pledged to block a spending bill for the department, hoping to pressure the GOP and President Donald Trump for major change at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies as the country reels from the deaths of two people at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis. Democratic senators met on Wednesday before a crucial Thursday vote on whether to move forward with the spending legislation that funds DHS and a swath of other government agencies.