ADDERLY SELVER APPOINTED AS CHIEF FIRE OFFICER
The Office of the Deputy Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Adderly Selver as the new Chief Fire Officer in the Department of Fire and Safety in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Transportation, Broadcasting, Energy and Utilities and Telecommunications Commission.
Mr. Selver was born on the island of Salt Cay and is a graduate of the Helena Jones Robinson High School (HJRHS) on Grand Turk.
Mr. Selver has over 37 years of experience in Fire Safety and Protection, having begun his career with the Turks and Caicos Islands Public Service as a Fireman in 1985.
In 1999 he was promoted to the post of: Leading Fireman; in 2001 to the post of Subofficer; in 2005 to the post of Station Officer and from 2006 to 2012 he served in the post of Divisional Officer.
In 2012 Mr. Selver transitioned to the Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority as Station Manager and was later promoted to the post of Training Manager from 2018 to 2023; becoming the first local to hold that position.
Mr. Selver has acted as Deputy Chief Fire Officer (TCIG) and Fire Service Manager(TCIAA) on numerous occasions.
His dedication to his career is apparent in his extensive training:
▪ Level 3 Award I Education and Training (QRF) Online 2022
▪ Supervisory Revalidation - International Fire Training College (November 2021) U.K
▪ Fire Instructor 1 Revalidation - Divisional State Fire Marshal (2016) (2020)
▪ Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Award in Understanding the Principles and Practices of Assessment (QCF)-2016.
▪ Compartment Fire Instructor – 2016 (Devon and Somerset ) U.K
▪ Breathing Apparatus Instructor – 2016 ( Devon and Somerset ) U.K
▪ FFP 2740 – Fire Service Course Designing – Florida State College 2016
▪ FFP 1790 – Fire Service Course Delivery – Florida State College 2016
▪ Emergency Response Driving Instructor Course - 2016
▪ Supervisory Initial - International Training Fire College 2016
▪ Incident Command Management Bronze - Peter Stanley 2015
▪ Managing Safety - Institute Of Occupations Safety And Health 2014
▪ CMD-110 Incident Commander System Level 100 - 2014
▪ National Oil Spill Contingency Plan Workshop (Rac/Rempetic-Caribe) – 2012 Providenciales.
▪ Emergency Telecommunication Course - Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency 2005
▪ Road Traffic Accident Extrication Technician - Turks & Caicos Fire Service/ London Fire Bridgade 2005
▪ Watch Commander Initial Course - International Fire Training Center England 2004
▪ BAA Junior Officer’s Course - Providenciales International Airport 2002
▪ Junior Officer’s Course - International Fire Training Center England 1999
▪ Basic Aerodrome Fire Fighting Course - Canadian Forces Air Academy 1987 (Toronto Canada)
Commenting on his appointment Mr. Selver stated: “I would like to express my thanks to the Turks and Caicos Islands Public Service for the opportunity to advance to the post of Chief Fire Officer and to be of service to my country.
I have commenced the role of Chief Fire Officer with great gratitude and pride. An extensive portion of my life has been dedicated to protecting the Residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands and I will continue to demonstrate my expertise with pride and dignity. My profound thanks to: God, my family, most especially my children; my friends, my colleagues, and the community for your continuous support. I look forward to serving my country in this new role.”
Deputy Governor and Head of the Public Service Her Excellency Anya Williams in extending congratulatory remarks to Mr. Selver stated:
“It gives me great pleasure to officially announce and to congratulate Mr. Adderly Selver on his appointment as the new Chief Fire Officer in the Fire and Safety Department in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Transportation, Broadcasting, Energy and Utilities and Telecommunications Commission. We express our thanks and appreciation as well to our former Chief Fire Officer Mr. Carlton Jennings for his decades of service to the Fire and Safety Department and by extension the Turks and Caicos Islands and wish him well on his retirement from the public service.
Mr. Selver having completed extensive training in fire and safety and with over thirty years of dedicated service in this profession, is well-equipped for the role of Chief Fire Officer.
We wish him well on his promotion and look forward to supporting the work of this vital department going forward.
Congratulations Fire Chief Selver!”
Lionel Messi failed to be the catalyst the PSG fans were hoping for as they took their 7th defeat
Lionel Messi's name was met by whistles from some Paris St-Germain fans before they fell to a seventh defeat of 2023 at home to Lyon.
The Argentine, linked to Barcelona when his contract expires this summer, has seen two Champions League last-16 exits in his two seasons at the club.
Whistles could be heard as his name was announced beforehand, although some fans chanted his name in support.
Lyon forward Bradley Barcola scored the only goal as PSG was booed off.
The game kicked off 10 minutes late as Lyon's bus could not fit under a bridge so they had to drive around the capital.
Alexandre Lacazette had earlier struck a post with a penalty for the ninth-placed visitors.
Kylian Mbappe, PSG's all-time top scorer, almost rescued a point late on, but his shot was saved.
The perennial French champions are now only six points above Lens and Marseille with nine games left.
PSG have lost seven of their 18 matches in all competitions since the end of the World Cup, having been unbeaten in all 22 games before the break.
Messi is in talks with PSG about extending his contract, but Barcelona has also approached him about a return to the club where he spent the bulk of his career. He has scored 29 goals in 67 games for the club.
Source- BBC
The other Chinese apps taking the US and UK by storm
TikTok, the most popular free app in the US, has in recent days been making headlines not for its content but for alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party.
Its boss, Shou Zi Chew, appeared before US politicians at Congress where he fielded hostile questions about Chinese parent company ByteDance and how much access China has to the app's data.
But the platform is far from the only Chinese-owned mobile app to conquer Western markets.
Analytics firm Apptopia estimates that another three of the top 10 free mobile apps in the US are also owned by Chinese firms. Two of them are also among the most downloaded in the UK.
So what are these apps and what makes Chinese ones so successful?
Video editing app CapCut is often pitched as a companion editor for TikTok content creators and it was downloaded 13 million times in February alone, according to Sensor Tower.
The video editing tool is optimized for mobile editing on the go and offers a range of features designed to make your videos go viral, like adding popular songs, filters, and special effects.
CapCut is also owned by TikTok's parent company, ByteDance.
Shein is a global fashion brand that was founded in 2012 and now boasts a nearly $15 billion valuation, according to Forbes.
It was founded by Chinese billionaire Chris Xu and is headquartered in Singapore.
A quick search of the #Shein hashtag on TikTok and Instagram will surface hundreds of videos from popular influencers boasting of their recent #Sheinhaul. It uses social media to target GenZ users with hundreds of new products daily at low-cost prices.
The success of Chinese apps in the US is partly down to the fierce competition that exists in their domestic market where US apps are banned, experts say.
"The tech companies from China have had such an intense period of competition at home that has made them as good or better, in some ways, than American apps," said Zeyi Yang, a journalist, and researcher for the MIT Review who specializes in Chinese technology.
These Chinese companies have also been leaders in developing recommendation algorithms that are highly tailored to meet the needs of users, such as those used by TikTok and the instant messaging app WeChat.
TikTok is the first Chinese-owned app to enjoy major success in the global market, but US lawmakers and national security experts have cautioned that Chinese-owned apps could be vulnerable to data privacy breaches and censorship from the Chinese Communist Party.
This same concern has led the European Commission, the UK, and Canada to ban TikTok from the phones of government employees.
"How the US and other democratic countries address the challenge of Chinese apps like TikTok breaking outside of China has really profound consequences for free speech and the freedom of information globally," said Paul Scherer, author of the book Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
US-based tech firms like Apple have fought lengthy court battles to block government requests for their user's data, but Mr. Scherer said no such channels exist in China.
"At the end of the day, if the Chinese Communist Party tells [a Chinese-owned company], they have to do something, they don't have an option", he said.
TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew sought to reassure lawmakers about security concerns by explaining there is a "firewall" to protect Americans.
A statement sent to the BBC by TikTok said US user data was outside the reach of foreign governments. The BBC also reached out to the other apps for comment.
Mr. Scherer says that until US lawmakers pass comprehensive data privacy laws, any app could be vulnerable to data breaches, no matter which country owns them.
"There is a danger of a knee-jerk reaction that anything Chinese is bad," he said.
"I think people should be skeptical of all apps. People give up a lot of data on their phones, without fully understanding what they're accepting, what information that company is pulling, or how they're using it."
Source- BBC
Oil price surges
Oil prices have surged after several of the world's largest exporters announced surprise cuts in production.
The price of Brent crude oil is trading close to $85 a barrel after jumping by almost 6%.
Economists warned that higher oil prices could make it harder to bring down the cost of living.
But the RAC motoring group said it does not expect petrol prices to rise unless the higher oil price is sustained over several days.
Brent crude prices rose after Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and several Gulf states said on Sunday they were cutting output by more than one million barrels of oil a day.
In addition, Russia said it will extend its cut of half a million barrels per day until the end of the year.
Energy giants BP and Shell saw their share prices rise on Monday, with both rising more than 4%.
Oil prices soared when Russia invaded Ukraine, but are now back at levels seen before the conflict began.
However, the US has been calling for producers to increase output in order to push energy prices lower. A spokesperson for the US National Security Council said: "We don't think cuts are advisable at this moment given market uncertainty - and we've made that clear."
High energy and fuel prices have helped to drive up inflation - the rate at which prices rise - putting pressure on many households' finances.
Yael Selfin, the chief economist at KPMG, warned that the oil price surge could make the battle to bring down inflation harder.
However, she said that rising oil prices won't necessarily lead to higher household energy bills.
"The energy price cap, that households benefit from, has already been determined using earlier market expectations," she said. "Plus, when you look at energy use in households, it tends to be more gas-heavy rather than oil."
There have also been fears that there could be an impact on transport costs if fuel prices rise.
The RAC said it does not expect this to happen in the short term.
"Any sudden increase in the cost of oil shouldn't result in a rise in the UK average price of petrol for a fortnight unless of course, the barrel price stays higher for several days," RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams told the BBC.
The reduction in output is being made by members of the Opec+ oil producers. The group accounts for about 40% of the world's crude oil output.
Saudi Arabia is reducing output by 500,000 barrels per day and Iraq by 211,000. The UAE, Kuwait, Algeria, and Oman are also making cuts.
A Saudi energy ministry official said the move was "a precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil market", the official Saudi Press Agency said.
Nathan Piper, an independent oil analyst, told the BBC the move by Opec+ appeared to be an attempt to keep the oil price above $80 a barrel in the medium term, given that demand could be hit by a weakening global economy and sanctions have had a "limited impact" on restricting Russian oil supplies.
Source- BBC
Ziggy Marley says luxury villa discriminated against him because he’s Jamaican
Eight-time Grammy Award winner Ziggy Marley, son of the late reggae legend Bob Marley, is complaining that Sea Salt Villa, a posh property based in St Ann, has discriminated against him, merely because he is “Jamaican”. The villa has denied the claim.
"Bob go through it, this come in like the same thing we go through, nothing no really change, is like the same thing Rasta did face, discrimination, but now anno Rasta, ah Jamaican. It really strange to me, that in this 2024 or whatever, dem kinda ting we haffi a deal wid, inna Jamaica, discrimination against Jamaicans," Ziggy Marley said during a discussion with Kabu on Irie FM over the weekend.
"The only reason mi ah get it is because I am Jamaican, wah dat? That's the only reason. Yu have a prison record or something? Just because mi a Jamaican, yu ah go deny me that. How yu can discriminate against Jamaicans in Jamaica. Mi glad mi have the experience caw now mi know. Mi tell dem seh yp mi glad, because now mi know. Mi experience it now, suh mi can deal wid it now in a different level, so yeah yeah,” he said.
Ziggy was speaking on a program called “The Africa Forum: Running African” during which there was a discussion regarding the privatization of local beaches.
“Listen, Jamaicans are being discriminated against in dem own country… by a certain class…," an upset Ziggy Marley said.
"I don’t know what it is but we are being discriminated against. And wi can’t stand fi dat. This is our country. How yuh a discriminate against we so we can’t do this or we can’t do dat? Even though me can pay, you still a discriminate against mi? Fi wha? 'Cause mi a Jamaican? No man. Dat caan work."
Sea Salt Villa is a luxury beachfront villa in Old Fort Bay, located close to Ocho Rios in St Ann. According to the posh villa's website, a one-week stay at the property costs between US$29,000 to US$33,000 per week for a five-bedroom villa. It offers its guests access to a staff that includes a butler, a chef, housekeepers, a gardener, and a laundress.
Efforts by OBSERVER ONLINE to contact the management proved futile as multiple calls to a listed number went unanswered up to publication time.
However, the villa reportedly denied the discrimination claims elsewhere in the media. The management also reportedly revealed to the media sources that Rita Marley stayed at the same hotel recently and gave it her stamp of approval. Despite that, Ziggy Marley appeared to double down on his claims.
“Unuh know me naah lie. Why would I? We have the witnesses and the evidence. Dem try to whitewash it now. They know the truth and so do I as well as those who witnessed and pleaded with them about their disgraceful policy,” he responded online.
Sea Salt has a standard rule that "there are no outside visitors allowed during a rental”, a policy Marley said he was willing to comply with.
“I was more than willing to follow dem rules. It’s a disgrace how they think about Jamaicans as if we don’t have any class or respect. I found another place that was cool with a Jamaican renting their villa. We have to stop the discrimination against Jamaicans in Jamaica. Hopefully, Sea Salt will no longer have a policy of no Jamaicans allowed. We must test dem and see.”
Source- Jamaica Observer
Russia releases video of detained cafe bomb suspect
Russian investigators have detained a woman in their hunt for the killers of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a blast at a St Petersburg cafe.
In the video released by authorities - most likely recorded under duress - Darya Trepova is heard admitting she handed over a statuette that later blew up.
But in the footage, she does not say she knew there would be an explosion, nor does she admit any further role.
Investigators said they had evidence the attack was organized from Ukraine.
However, Kyiv officials said it was a case of Russian infighting.
More than 30 people were wounded in the bombing in Russia's second city.
Tatarsky had been attending a patriotic meeting with supporters in the cafe as a guest speaker late on Sunday afternoon.
A video circulating on social media showed a young woman in a brown coat apparently entering the cafe with a cardboard box.
Images showed the box being placed on a table in the cafe before the woman sat down. Another video showed a statue being handed to Tatarsky.
In a brief excerpt of her interrogation released by the ministry, Darya Trepova, 26, appeared under duress as she sighed repeatedly.
When her interrogator asked if she knew why she was detained, she replied: "I would say for being at the scene of Vladlen Tatarsky's murder... I brought the statuette there which blew up."
Asked who gave it to her she responded: "Can I tell you later please?"
Russia's anti-terrorism committee alleged the "terror attack" was organized by Ukrainian special services "with people co-operating with" opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The investigative committee later went further, saying it had evidence it was "planned and organized from Ukrainian territory". It was working to establish the "entire chain" of people involved, it added.
Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, which has released a series of exposés of corruption involving the Putin entourage, said it was "very convenient" for the Kremlin to blame its critics when Navalny was due to go on trial soon for extremism.
Navalny has been in jail ever since he returned to Russia from Germany in January 2021. He survived a nerve agent attack in Russia in August 2020, which was blamed on Russian FSB security service agents.
Foundation head Ivan Zhdanov said everything pointed to FSB agents themselves. "Naturally we have nothing to do with this," he said, adding that Russia needed an external enemy in the form of Ukraine and a domestic one in Navalny's team.
Ms. Trepova was detained in a St Petersburg flat owned by a friend of her husband's, Russian reports said.
On the day of Russia's full-scale invasion last year, she was reportedly detained for a number of days for taking part in an anti-war protest.
The cafe, Street Food Bar No 1 near the River Neva, was once owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin - who runs Russia's notorious Wagner mercenary group which has taken part in much of the fighting in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
Prigozhin said he had handed it over to Cyber Front Z, a group that calls itself "Russia's information troops" and said it had hired out the cafe for the evening.
Prigozhin paid tribute to Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, in a late-night video which he declared was filmed from the town hall in Bakhmut.
He displayed a flag that he said had the words "in good memory of Vladlen Tatarsky".
Tatarsky was also awarded the posthumous Order of Courage by President Vladimir Putin, the Tass news agency reported on Monday.
Tatarsky, a vocal supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine, was neither a Russian official nor a military officer. He was a well-known blogger with more than half a million followers and, like Prigozhin, had a criminal past.
Born in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, he said he joined Russian-backed separatists when they released him from jail, where he was serving time for armed robbery.
He was part of a pro-Kremlin military blogger community that has taken on a relatively high-profile role since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Tatarsky is among those who have gone so far as to criticize the Russian authorities, slamming the military and even Mr. Putin for setbacks on the battlefield.
Unusually, Tatarsky took up arms in combat operations and reported from the front line. He claimed to have helped launch combat drones and build fortifications.
Last September, he posted a video inside the Kremlin where Mr. Putin was proclaiming the annexation of four part-occupied Ukrainian regions.
"We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone as necessary. Just as we like it," Tatarsky told his followers.
Military bloggers have provided information about the war in a country where many have become frustrated with the lack of accurate information from official sources.
Information provided by the Russian military, Kremlin-controlled television, and state officials has been criticized for being inaccurate.
Last week, several official Russian sources shared a video allegedly showing Ukrainian troops harassing civilians. Western analysts proved using open-source information that the video had been staged.
Some pro-Kremlin bloggers also slammed the video as a crude fake. Much of the bloggers' pro-Russian material is not factual either.
Who was behind Tatarsky's murder is unclear, but it is reminiscent of the killing of Darya Dugina, a vocal supporter of the war and the daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist. She died in a car bomb attack near Moscow last August.
While Russian officials pinned the blame firmly on Ukraine, in Kyiv presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the blast was part of a Russian "internal political fight", tweeting: "Spiders are eating each other in a jar."
The Ukrainians have proved themselves as more than capable of carrying out drone attacks and explosions deep inside Russian territory in recent months. They rarely admit involvement but often drop hints.
Yevgeny Prigozhin said he did not think it was the Ukrainian government: "I think there is a group of radicals operating, which unlikely has something to do with the government."
The blast could be linked to Russian political infighting. There are now a lot of angry men carrying guns in Russia.
With the military running low on troops, convicts have been let out of prison, handed weapons, and sent to the front. Russian authorities have also conducted large-scale recruitment campaigns for volunteer fighters and recruited some 300,000 men in a "partial mobilization".
The Kommersant newspaper recently reported that the number of murders committed in Russia last year rose for the first time in 20 years.
Source- BBC
Egyptian referee Farouk suspended for using spectator's mobile phone to disallow goal
Egyptian referee Mohamed Farouk has been suspended for using a spectator's mobile phone to disallow a goal in a league match.
Al-Nasr thought they had scored a late equalizer away to Suez in a second-division match last Friday.
There is no video assistant referee (VAR) in Egypt's second tier, but Farouk used the phone to watch a replay after the home side protested there was a handball.
Farouk then ruled the goal out.
The Egyptian Football Association said in a statement that Vitor Pereira, who replaced Mark Clattenburg as head of the Egyptian Referees Committee earlier this month, decided to suspend the entire refereeing staff for an "indefinite period".
"The committee decided to investigate the incident when Mohamed Farouk, the referee of the match, used a mobile phone to review footage of the match's events," the Egyptian FA added.
Suez scored their third goal shortly after the disallowed goal to seal a 3-1 win, with 15 minutes of stoppage time being played.
Farouk left the pitch under police protection, amid protests from Al-Nasr players and officials, who have threatened to take legal action against the referee for violating the regulations.
Source- BBC
Tekashi 6ix9ine hospitalized after being attacked in Florida gym
Tekashi 6ix9ine was reportedly rushed to the hospital Tuesday night after being attacked at a gym.
The 26-year-old rapper was in the sauna of a LA Fitness when he was "savagely beaten by a group of men," TMZ reports. He was without security when he was suddenly attacked.
Upon hearing the commotion, gym staff alerted a manager. Police and EMS were then called and Tekashi was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He reportedly suffered injuries to his jaw, ribs, and back.
The controversial MC's attorney, Lance Lazzaro, told TMZ he plans to contact the appropriate authorities to get Tekashi the protection he needs. The attack comes after the rapper was granted early release from federal prison for cooperating with authorities to help put several other gang members behind bars.
The motive for the attack is unknown.
Source- ABC
James Webb telescope detects dust storm on distant world
A raging dust storm has been observed on a planet outside our Solar System for the first time.
It was detected on the exoplanet known as VHS 1256b, which is about 40 light-years from Earth.
It took the remarkable capabilities of the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to make the discovery.
The dust particles are silicates - small grains comprising silicon and oxygen, which form the basis of most rocky minerals.
But the storm detected by Webb isn't quite the same phenomenon you would get in an arid, desert region on our planet. It's more of a rocky mist.
"It's kind of like if you took sand grains, but much finer. We're talking silicate grains the size of smoke particles," explained Prof Beth Biller from the University of Edinburgh and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, UK.
"That's what the clouds on VHS 1256b would be like, but a lot hotter. This planet is a hot, young object. The cloud-top temperature is maybe similar to the temperature of a candle flame," she told BBC News.
VHS 1256b was first identified by the UK-developed Vista telescope in Chile in 2015.
It's what's termed a "super Jupiter" - a planet similar to the gas giant in our own Solar System, but a lot bigger, perhaps 12 to 18 times the mass.
It circles a couple of stars at great distances - about four times the distance that Pluto is from our Sun.
Earlier observations of VHS 1256b showed it to be red-looking, hinting that it might have dust in its atmosphere. The Webb study confirms it.
"It's fascinating because it illustrates how different clouds on another planet can be from the water vapour clouds we are familiar with on the Earth," said Prof Biller.
"We see carbon monoxide (CO) and methane in the atmosphere, which is indicative of it being hot and turbulent, with the material being drawn up from deep.
"There are probably multiple layers of silicate grains. The ones that we're seeing are some of the very, very fine grains that are higher up in the atmosphere, but there may be bigger grains deeper down in the atmosphere."
Telescopes have previously detected silicates in so-called brown dwarfs. These are essentially star-like objects that have failed to ignite properly. But this is a first for a planet-sized object.
To make the detection, Webb used its Mid-Infrared Instrument (Miri), part-built in the UK, and its Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NirSpec).
They didn't take pretty pictures of the planet, at least not in this instance. What they did was tease apart the light coming from VHS 1256b into its component colours as a way to discern the composition of the atmosphere.
"JWST is the only telescope that can measure all these molecular and dust features together," said Miri co-principal investigator Prof Gillian Wright, who directs the STFC UK Astronomy Technology Centre, also in Edinburgh.
"The dynamic picture of the atmosphere of VHS 1256b provided by this study is a prime example of the discoveries enabled by using the advanced capabilities of Miri and NirSpec together."
JWST's primary mission is to observe the pioneer stars and galaxies that first shone just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. But a key objective is to investigate exoplanets. Miri and NirSpec it has the tools to study their atmospheres in unprecedented detail.
Scientists hope they might even be able to tell whether some exoplanets have conditions suitable to host life.
Source- BBC
US raises interest rates
The US central bank has raised interest rates again, despite fears that the move could add to financial turmoil after a string of recent bank failures.
The Federal Reserve increased its key rate by 0.25 percentage points and said more action could be "appropriate" as consumer prices continue to climb.
The Fed has been raising borrowing costs to try to slow the economy and ease pressures pushing up prices.
But sharp rate rises have led to strains in the banking system.
Two US banks - Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank - collapsed this month, buckling in part due to problems caused by higher interest rates.
But authorities around the world have said they do not think the failures threaten widespread financial stability and need not distract from efforts to bring inflation under control.
Last week, the European Central Bank raised its key interest rate by 0.5 percentage points.
The Bank of England is due to make its own interest rate decision on Thursday, a day after official figures showed that inflation unexpectedly shot up in February to 10.4%.
In a statement, the Fed said the US banking system was "sound and resilient".
But it said the banking turmoil could drag on growth and toned down earlier statements which said higher interest rates were likely to be needed in the months ahead.
Instead, the Fed said: "some additional policy firming may be appropriate".
Wednesday's move marks the ninth rate rise in a row by the Fed. It lifts its key interest rate to 4.75%-5%, up from near zero a year ago - the highest level since 2007.
Higher interest rates mean the cost to buy a home, borrow to expand a business, or take on other debt goes up.
By making the such activity more expensive, the Fed expects demand to fall, cooling prices.
That has started to happen in the US housing market, where purchases have slowed sharply over the last year and the median sales price in February was lower than it was a year ago - the first such decline in more than a decade.
But overall the economy has held up better than expected and prices continue to climb faster than the 2% rate considered healthy.
Inflation, the rate at which prices climb, jumped 6% in the 12 months to February. The cost of some items, including food and airfare, is surging even faster.
Earlier this month, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell warned that officials might need to push interest rates higher than expected to bring the situation under control.
Source- BBC