Fed chief supports interest rate hike in March despite Russia-Ukraine war | outstanding | Spanish edition

The chairman of the United States Federal Reserve said Wednesday he will support an interest rate hike of 25 basis points at this month’s meeting of the central bank’s monetary policy-making body.

Jerome Powell made those remarks to the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services, saying he continues to support tighter credit conditions despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Iran Justice Workers Hold Rare Protests for Wage Hike

TEHRAN — 

Civil servants in one of Iran’s most powerful sectors, the judiciary, held rare demonstrations on Sunday against the government’s refusal to increase their pay.

Ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi, who assumed his post in August, had proposed a salary hike in the last weeks of his previous job as judicial chief.

But the new government which he leads changed its mind.

Hit by severe economic sanctions imposed since 2018 by the United States, Iran has seen its inflation rate surge to close to 60%.

Shargh, a newspaper representing the reformist viewpoint, on Sunday published video of a protest by hundreds of men and women in front of parliament in Tehran.

“If our problem is not resolved, we will shut down the justice system!” they chanted.

Another reformist paper, Arman Melli, reported: “Some judicial personnel organized rallies yesterday [Saturday] in most of the country’s cities to protest the rejection of the plan for parliament to increase their salaries.”

The demonstrators held up signs with slogans declaring that “justice workers are unable to support themselves” and decrying the “hypocrisy of the government and parliament.”

Meysam Latifi, head of the Administrative and Recruitment Affairs Organization, angered judiciary employees with his remarks in parliament on Wednesday, when the increase was rejected.

“We are concerned about the demand to raise judicial salaries because that would lead to the same thing at other agencies,” he said.