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an hour ago
- Business
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Fed chair tells Trump policy will not be politically influenced
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had a meeting with President Donald Trump on Thursday. File Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI | License Photo May 30 (UPI) -- The Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, has told President Donald Trump that monetary policy will not be influenced by politics. Powell and Trump had a meeting Thursday as the president has been pressuring the central bank to lower interest rates. A statement published by the Reserve following the meeting said that Powell and Trump discussed economic issues, including growth, employment and inflation. What Powell did not discuss was his expectation for monetary policy, according to the sternly worded statement, "except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook." "Chairman Powell said that he and his colleagues on the [Federal Open Market Committee] will set monetary policy, as required by law, to support maximum employment and stable prices and will make those decisions based solely on careful, objective and non-political analysis," the statement said. The meeting was held at Trump's invitation, it added. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed during a press conference Thursday that Trump saw the statement and that it was "correct." "However, the president did say that he believes the Fed chair is making a mistake by not lowering interest rates, which is putting us at an economic disadvantage to China and other countries," she said. The announcement comes as the Trump administration has been seeking to influence Powell and the Fed to lower interest rates. The Fed has steadily cut the interest rate from a high of 5.5% since the summer of 2024 but has maintained a lending rate of between 4.25% and 4.5% throughout the Trump administration due to uncertainty over the president's ever-changing tariff policies. The Fed issued its most recent hold on the interest rate earlier this month over concerns about tariff-related inflation and slower economic growth. "Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further," the Fed said in its May 7 statement. Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the Fed and Powell. On May 2, he took to his Truth Social platform to broadcast "THE FED SHOULD LOWER ITS RATE!!!" As a reason, he pointed to a recent drop in gas prices. After the Fed maintained its interest rate hold about a week later, Trump called Powell "a FOOL, who doesn't have a clue."
UPI
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
Famous birthdays for May 30: Antoine Fuqua, Idina Menzel
1 of 2 | Antoine Fuqua attends the premiere of "The Terminal List" at the DGA Theatre in Los Angeles on June 22, 2022. The filmmaker turns 60 on May 30. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
UPI
2 hours ago
- Politics
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On This Day, May 30: Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony counts in Stormy Daniels case
1 of 4 | Former President Donald Trump exits the courtroom after hearing the verdict in his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on May 30, 2024. File Photo by Steven Hirsch/UPI | License Photo On this date in history: In 1431, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen, France, at age 19. She had been convicted of wearing men's clothing. In 1783, the Pennsylvania Evening Post became the first daily newspaper published in the United States. In 1806, future U.S. President Andrew Jackson took part in a duel, killing Charles Dickinson, a Kentucky lawyer who had called Jackson's wife a bigamist. In 1868, the first major Memorial Day observance was held to honor those killed during the Civil War. It was originally known to some as Decoration Day. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI In 1911, Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500 with an average speed of 74.6 mph. In 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington. In 1934, the House of Representatives voted to create the Everglades National Park to preserve lands in Florida. President Harry Truman officially dedicated the park in 1947. In 1971, the unmanned U.S. space probe Mariner 9 was launched on a mission to gather scientific data on Mars. It was the first spacecraft to orbit a planet other than Earth. In 1972, three Japanese terrorists used automatic weapons to kill 24 people at the airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. In 2002, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the FBI would have expanded powers to monitor religious, political and other organizations as well as the Internet as a guard against terrorist attacks. File Photo by Michael Kleinfeld/UPI In 2012, former Liberian President Charles Taylor, convicted of aiding war crimes, was sentenced to 50 years in prison. In 2021, Hélio Castroneves won the 105th Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was his record-tying fourth win. Other four-time winners include A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears. In 2024, former President Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts against him in his New York hush-money trial involving actor Stormy Daniels. After winning the 2024 presidential election, Trump was sentenced in January 2025 to an unconditional discharge in the case. File Photo by Steven Hirsch/UPI
UPI
3 hours ago
- General
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6 gray whales found dead in a week in San Francisco Bay
Six gray whales were found dead in the wider San Francisco Bay Area in the last seven days. Photo by Marjorie Cox/The Marine Mammal Center/ Release May 30 (UPI) -- Six gray whales have been found dead in the wider San Francisco Bay Area in the last seven days, raising the total number of dead whales in the region to 15 for the year. According to a joint Wednesday statement from the California Academy of Sciences and The Marine Mammal Center, the most recent gray whale was found on Wednesday. The carcass was found near Alamere Falls at Point Reyes National Seashore, they said. Two whales were discovered on Monday, one near Alcatraz and the other near Point Bonita. A whale was discovered near Berkeley on Saturday, one near Fisherman's Bay on May 22 and one near Bolinas on May 21. Of the six whales, only the one found near Bolinas -- a yearling -- received a partial necropsy, the results of which were inconclusive, the organizations said. For the year, there have been 14 gray whales and one minke whale found dead in the San Francisco Bay Area. The organizations said suspected or probable vessel strikes appear to be the cause of death for three of the gray whales. "The Academy and partners at the Center have not responded to this many dead gray whales since the height of the Unusual Mortality Event in 2019," the statement said. The UME saw hundreds of gray whales become stranded along the west coat of North America between Dec. 17, 2018, to Nov. 9, 2023. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported a total 690 whales died during the UME in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The centers said they had responded to 14 stranded whales in 2019 and 15 in 2021. The increase in deaths comes amid what the organizations described as "an unusually high number" of whale sightings this year in the San Francisco Bay Area. They said 33 individual gray whales have been confirmed in the bay area via photo identification this year, which is up from six gray whales sighted in the bay for all of last year. "The reason or potential reasons behind the massive spike in sightings this year are still being investigated by researchers," it said. "It is expected that gray whales will be in the bay for another one to two weeks before continuing their annual northern migration to Arctic feeding grounds."
UPI
4 hours ago
- Politics
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American academic returning to U.S. after Thai charges dropped
Thai Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, seen here as crown prince in 2016. An American academic has been permitted to lave the country after prosecutors decided against prosecuting him on charges of insulting the monarchy. File Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/European Pressphoto Agency May 30 (UPI) -- An American academic facing up to 15 years in a Thai prison on allegations of insulting the monarchy has been permitted to leave the country, according to a nonprofit that advocates for Americans imprisoned abroad. Global Reach told UPI in an emailed statement that Paul Chambers was permitted to leave Thailand on Thursday after resolving what it called "false" lese-majeste charges. "I am relieved that this situation has been resolved," Chambers said in a statement. "I have always had great respect for the Thai royal family, and anyone who knows me understands that these charges were always based on false allegations by unnamed parties in the military." Chambers, a Thai studies scholar and lecturer at Thailand's Naresuan University, was arrested and charged by Thai authorities in April following a complaint filed against him by the military over an October online post promoting a webinar that he was to participate in. The English-language post was published on the website of Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. The academic webinar was on Thai studies, and Chambers, a leading expert on the Thai military and Southeast Asian politics, gave a talk about the Thai military. Chambers was not involved in the post's creation. According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, Chambers was allowed to leave the country after the Attorney General's Office announced Wednesday that prosecutors decided not to continue the case against the American. Prosecutors made the decision in early May, but the attorney general needed to affirm the decision. Chambers was originally detained April 9, but was later permitted to leave police custody and was required to wear an ankle monitor and surrender his U.S. passport and work visa, Global Reach said. Following his arrest, the U.S. State Department issued a statement saying it was monitoring Chambers' situation while condemning the controversial lese-majeste law. Kieran Ramsey, who worked with Chambers on behalf of Global Reach, praised the United States for its response to the case, saying, "This was one of the best responses I have ever seen from the U.S. government." According to Global Reach, Chambers will return to Oklahoma to see his family and will work from the United States. More than 270 people have been detained, prosecuted and punished under the lese-majeste laws since 2020, according to an expert panel from United Nations that said such laws "have no place in a democratic country."
