Good evening. I'm William Brangham. Jeff Bennett and Omna Nawaz are away. On the news hour tonight,

a slight uptick in inflation muddies the economic waters as the Fed chair faces White House pressure to lower interest rates.

The president's reversal on Army Ukraine sparks debate about the best way to end the war.

And we travel to Kenya to see how USAID projects to bring water and hope to a drought-ridden land

are now in peril. With the pullout of USAID, there will be a lot of dire consequences in terms of health.

People will even die.

Welcome to the NewsHour.

New data show inflation picked up last month,

and analysts believe the prices of many goods increased, in part, because of President Trump's tariffs.

Inflation rose 2.7 percent compared to a year ago, and prices increased broadly by 3 tenths of a percent last month.

While that's not a huge hike, it is the largest monthly increase since January, and it will

play into decisions by the Federal Reserve about when and whether to finally cut interest rates.

This comes as the president and his team have ramped up their pressure campaign on Federal

Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower those rates.

They've also openly speculated about firing him.

Earlier today, the president was asked about Powell and when the two had last spoken.

I told him he's doing a very bad job.

He's way late.

That's why I call him too late.

Jerome Powell is too late.

He's way late.

Interest rate should be coming down.

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