Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged today, a reflection of cooling inflation and a decision designed to give them more time to assess their next step. At the same time, they hinted that another rate hike would arrive later this year and projected that interest rates would remain high for longer than they had previously expected.

Fed officials now expect to lower borrowing costs to 5.1 percent next year, rather than 4.6 percent as they previously projected. They remain, as my colleague Jeanna Smialek described, “firmly in inflation-fighting mode.”

Still, the central bankers appear optimistic about the resilience of the economy, and its staying power has surprised them. Despite the higher-than-normal borrowing rates, they projected stronger growth, lower unemployment and slower inflation at the end of 2023 than they had anticipated.

The Fed will have two more meetings this year in early November and mid-December, when it can raise rates. Until then, the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, said officials will keep their options open as they look at data in the months ahead.

House Republicans grilled the attorney general

Republican lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee spent much of a routine oversight hearing, which in years past would center on policy, crime and law enforcement initiatives, peppering Attorney General Merrick Garland with questions about Hunter Biden, the president’s son.

The lawmakers focused on unproven claims that the Justice Department is unfairly protecting President Biden and his son, and an accusation that investigators had been blocked from fully investigating the president’s son — a central assertion in the push to impeach Biden.

Garland repeatedly declined to respond to Republican accusations, largely citing what is already in the public record. But he did take a more aggressive approach in his opening remarks, denouncing escalating threats by Trump supporters against prosecutors and F.B.I. agents as “dangerous.”

Zelensky denounced Moscow’s veto power at the U.N.

During his first in-person address to the U.N. Security Council today, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine criticized the body for failing to prevent conflicts like the war ravaging his country and called for Russia to be stripped of its power to veto the resolutions of the council.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, who later addressed the same council, used his remarks to blame the U.S. and its Western allies for the war in Ukraine. He also suggested that the U.S. could “command” Kyiv to negotiate with Moscow.

Separately, President Biden met Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and offered a mix of encouragement and criticism that both soothed and aggravated monthslong tensions between the two leaders. And the U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, hosted a climate summit where the world’s biggest polluters — the U.S. and China — were not allowed to speak.

Azerbaijan reclaimed an Armenian enclave

Azerbaijan said that it had restored full control over Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway Armenian enclave that had been under the control of Armenian separatists for more than three decades. The development could create thousands of new refugees and alter the power dynamics in a region that for centuries has been at the crossroads of geopolitical interests of Russia, Turkey and Western nations.

More top news

Is it OK to lie during a stand-up gig?

Stand-up comedy was never expected to be factually accurate, and because of that, embellishment has long been part of the trade. Jerry Seinfeld once said that all his comedy was made up, even his opinions.

But sometimes, lies can go too far, our critic Jason Zinoman wrote. After The New Yorker found that the comedian Hasan Minhaj had fabricated several stories in his specials, including some involving real people, Jason said he reconsidered the relationship between truth and comedy. He added that when the comedy is about grave social issues, getting facts right matters.

How rap is written today

Picture a rapper writing a song — but without the pen and paper. In fact, in a recording studio these days, there may be no actual writing at all.

Much of modern rap music is composed via an improvisational studio technique known as “punching in” — a freestyle approach to every line, one at a time, until a song is fully formed. Watch how it’s done.

Cook: Real-deal Tunisian harissa is a bright, specific accent to countless dishes.

Read: If you’re new to J.M. Coetzee, whose books explore humanity’s most serious themes, here’s where to start.

Woodworking may be older than we thought

The oldest known examples of structural woodworking were 9,000-year-old platforms that were found on the edge of a lake in Britain. But according to a new study, humans in Africa were building large structures out of wood nearly 500,000 years ago. The remnants of those works were unearthed in modern-day Zambia, and are now by far the oldest historical record of structural woodworking.

It’s not exactly clear what early humans were building in Africa. But one archaeologist said that the new discovery suggests that early humans used wood not just for spears or digging sticks, but also for more ambitious creations such as platforms or walkways.

Have a crafty evening.

Thanks for reading. Liz Sanders was our photo editor today. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

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