No interest rate hikes for now, more Canadian wildfire smoke in the US and a

Saturn moon with all the elements of life. Take that Earth. That's some of what we'll get to on

the seven from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn filling in while Jeff is

out. It's Thursday June 15th. Let's get you caught up with today's seven

stories.

Number one, the Federal Reserve decided to leave interest rates alone yesterday. This was the first time since March 2022 that the nation's Central Bank

decided against a rate hike. It's been raising rates aggressively to fight

rising prices. But these rate increases can take time to trickle through the economy, which continues to show signs of strength.

The goal is to slow things down just enough without tipping the U.S. into a recession.

So the Fed wants to wait and see whether the increases are doing their job,

but it does expect more hikes later this year. At least 79 people are dead after a boat carrying migrants

sank off the coast of Greece.

That's our second story.

Passengers were traveling from Libya to Italy

when the boat sank yesterday.

Over a hundred survivors were rescued,

but hundreds more are feared missing.

Record numbers of people are traveling across the Mediterranean Sea to escape war or poverty,

but the journey can be treacherous. Number three, Canadian wildfire smoke is back in the U.S. It appeared in Northern Minnesota

yesterday morning, causing air quality to drop to unhealthy

code red levels.

By the afternoon, the smoke had spread south to Minneapolis and parts of Wisconsin.

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