Dallas Fed’s Kaplan Ready to Discuss Pulling Back on Bond Buying
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas leader Robert Kaplan reiterated Thursday he is ready to talk with his colleagues about pulling back on the central bank’s bond buying stimulus, in comments that flagged some concerns about the Fed’s purchases of mortgage bonds.
“I think it would be wise sooner rather than later to begin gently taking our foot off the accelerator, so we can avoid and reduce the probability of having to apply the brakes down the road,” Mr. Kaplan said on CNBC.
NASHVILLE — She struggled through the night as she had so many times before, restless from sickle cell pain that felt like knives stabbing her bones. When morning broke, she wept at the edge of her hotel-room bed, her stomach wrenched in a complicated knot of anger, trepidation and hope.
It was a gray January morning, and Lisa Craig was in Nashville, three hours from her home in Knoxville, Tenn., preparing to see a sickle cell specialist she hoped could do something so many physicians had been unable to do: bring her painful disease under control.
Ms. Craig, 48, had clashed with doctors over her treatment for years. Those tensions had only increased as the medical consensus around pain treatment shifted and regulations for opioid use became more stringent. Her anguish had grown so persistent and draining that she sometimes thought she’d be better off dead.
A single rocket struck close to a military base hosting U.S. troops in western Iraq on Monday without causing any injuries, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said.
The rocket struck near Ain al-Asad air base, a sprawling complex in Anbar province, at 1:35 p.m., Col. Wayne Marotto said on Twitter. He said damages were being assessed and an investigation was launched.
An Iraqi security official said the rocket struck close to a village outside the base. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
This December 2019, aerial file photo taken from a helicopter shows Ain al-Asad air base in the western Anbar desert, Iraq. (AP)
A single rocket struck close to a military base hosting U.S. troops in western Iraq on Monday without causing any injuries, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said.
The rocket struck near Ain al-Asad air base, a sprawling complex in Anbar province, at 1:35 p.m., Col. Wayne Marotto said on Twitter. He said damages were being assessed and an investigation was launched.
An Iraqi security official said the rocket struck close to a village outside the base. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Rocket and missile attacks against U.S. installations have been frequent since a Washington-directed strike against top Iranian general Qassim Soleimani outside Baghdad airport last year. That operation also killed powerful Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The attacks have continued since U.S. President Joe Biden assumed office this year.
No one claimed responsibility for Monday's attack, but U.S. officials have previously blamed Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups for assaults against the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and other military bases hosting American forces.
Recent attacks have been more sophisticated with the use of drones. Earlier this month, a drone targeted Ain al-Asad base causing minor damage.
The killing of Soleimani on Iraqi soil sparked the anger of mostly Shiite lawmakers who passed a non-binding resolution calling for the ousting of U.S. forces from the country.
The future of the U.S. 's military presence in Iraq has been the focus of strategic talks between Baghdad and Washington, with Shiite militia groups insisting on a timeline for withdrawal.
Hatem al-Showaiter with his daughter in Djibouti, when his daughter was three and half years old. She is now aged seven and half.
But now, almost four years later, that hope has largely vanished. The Showaiters are still living in Yemen. They are among thousands who won a U.S. government lottery but were later denied entry to the U.S. due to the travel ban imposed in 2017 by the Trump administration, which targeted citizens of Yemen and several other Muslim-majority or African countries.
On his first day in office, President Biden repealed the ban, calling it "a stain" on America's national consciousness. But his administration is still denying entry to some of the most vulnerable people affected by that ban — people such as the Showaiters.
The family's home city of Taiz has been devastated, and they've been rendered destitute since they were first promised a better life in the United States. Showaiter, 36, says he spends nights listening to the shellfire that sometimes lands close to home. "Stray bombs hit in residential areas," he tells NPR, speaking via an internet connection he had to walk more than a mile to find. "They've killed children. This is our day to day."
In 2017, the Showaiters were invited to apply for the U.S. Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, which grants up to 50,000 visas to people from countries underrepresented in the U.S. immigrant population. Applicants often come from impoverished countries or war zones.