japan. >> an oil painting by an indian artist has sold for $4.4 million at christie's auction house in mumbai. it hawe'll bring you that report later. let's take you bk to the u.s. federal reserve, the chair woman janet yellen. let's listen in. >> the central open market committee decided to raise the target range. this action marks the end of a seven-year period in which the interest rate was held near zero to support the recovery of the economy from the first recession since the great depression. it recognizes the considerable progress that has been made to,d and

>> the economy judged that the fund rate market is now appropriate. recognizing even after this increase monetary policy remains accommodative. as i will explain the process of normalizing interest rates is likely to proceed gradually.

it will depend on how the economy evolves with employment and 2% inflation. it will target the range when it sees further improvement in the labor market and it was reasonbly confident that inflation would move back to its 2% objective over the medium term. in our adjustment these two criteria have now been satisfied. the labor market is clearly shown significant further improvement toward our objective of maximum employment. so far this a total of 2.3 million jobs have been added to the economy, and over the most recent three months an average of estimated 218,000 per month, similar since the beginning of the year.

the unemployment rate since november has been down .5 of an percentage point of last year and is down of last year. a broader measure of unemployment includes individuals who want and who are available to work but have not actively searched recently and for people who work part time but would rather work full times will has shown solid improvement. that said, some cyclical weakness likely remains. the labor force participation rate is still below estimates of demographic trend. and part time employment remains somewhat elevated, and wage growth has yet to show a sustained pick up. improvement in employment conditions this year has occurred amid current expansions

of economic activity. the u.s. net exports have been restrained by subdued foreign growth and the appreciation of the dollar. but this weakness has been offset by solid expansion of domestic spending. continued job gains and increases in real disposable income has supported household spending and purchases of new motor vehicles have been particularly strong. residential investment has been rising at a faster pace than last year although at the level of new home building remains low. outside of the drilling and mining sector, loyal oil prices have led to substantial cuts in investment outlays. business investment is posted solid gains. the committee currently expects

that with gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity will continue to expand at a moderate pace and labor market indicators will continue to strengthen. although developments abroad still pose risks to u.s. economic growth, these risks appear to have lessened since last summer. over all the committee sees the risk of the outlook for economic activity and the labor market as balanced. the anticipation of ongoing economic growth and additional improvement in labor market conditions is an important factor underpinning the committee's confidence that inflation will return to the two 2% objective over the medium term. over all consumer price inflation is measured for the personal consumption

expenditures was one quarter of a percent over the 12 months ending in october. however, much of the shortfall from our 2% objective reflected the sharp declines in price since the middle 6 last year and the effects of these declines should dissipate over time. the appreciation-- >> you're listening to janet yellen the chair of the federal reserve speaking a half hour after the fed announced it was the first time in ten years there was a hike to the interest rates .25%. let's go straight live to tom ackerman. he's in washington, d.c. first outside of the fed what did you make of what janet yellen had to say? >> well, i think it was a cautious statement but a confident statement. what needs to be noted is that usually or at some times you hear dissenting voices among the so-called cub dubs on the

federal resve. people who they're too cautious. there is not enough boost to encourage more jobs. but in this case there were no dissenting voices. apparently there was some consensus that this cautious first step was necessary and and not only that, but we could expect further increases, modest increases in the interest rates in the coming months in 2016. of course, the fed also has the option of reversing itself when it says that some of these measures have retarded economic growth, or have failed to contribute to reduction in unemployment. so a lot of people will be seeing--will be observing that the fed is flexible enough or

saying that it is flexible enough in the statement that it is prepared to go either way. but this is a series of increases in interest rate after having gone through three quantitative easings in which the fed injected $4.5 trillion into the economy by buying bonds, basically printing money over the last seven years or so, and adding $2.6 trillion to bank reserves to the united states to make sure that the economy was going to get out of the economic crash we observed in 2008. >> paul ackerman with the latest, tom, thank you. here in studio is michael houston, financial market analyst. we were watching the news conference together. you were shaking your head at

some bits and the focus on unemployment and inflation. first of all, what did you make about what she said about inflation. >> i think it was indictable that she said that inflation continues to run below target, but she caveated that by saying she expect th the inflation to return over time. where she gets at a confidence come, and saying that the markets have been transitory, they've been transitory over the last four years. the fed had to hike today. they built up expectations so high that if they hadn't i think all hell would have broken loose. i think that's why you didn't get any dissent because i think she sold it to the rest of the policymakers on the committee this is going to be an one-off for now. we'll play a watching brief. despite her confidence i think there are significant weak spots in the u.s. economy.

>> she did say that she was confident that the economy would continue to grow or continue to strengthen. the unemployment figures, i mean, if you look at them, they do seem positive. >> they do. certainly if you look at the headline unemployment rate that's at 5%. but the under employment rate is nearly double that. she touched upon that in her statement. people who wanted to work more. if you actually look at the unemployment rate it only targets people who are looking for work for less than two years. if you've been looking for work longer than that, then you drop out of the numbers. i'm interested in the participation rate. the participation rate is the number of economically active people who are, you know, available to work. that's at a 37-year low. >> things may not be perfect, but they're certainly better than 2008. >> yes. >> and the point is that this has been put where rates were near zero, and an emergency measure, which had been going on for years, so they had to chan

change. do you think that the timing is still wrong? >> i think the timing is slightly wrong 37 only time will tell if they erred. given how far energy prices have fallen, they have crude oil prices have fallen 20%. ms. yellen talks about domestic selling and cars sales. that's done on hp. if you look at retail sales durable goods they paint a slightly different picture. despite a significant boost from lower gasoline prices, the consumer is still very cautious about what i call discretionary spending. >> obviously this is about so much more than the u.s. economy because the u.s. economy has a huge impact across the world. the value of the dollar will increase, and i guess investments as well.

run through this for us what exactly will the impact could be across the world. >> we certainly have seen that in effects of that with the collapse of the mining industry. an awful lot of emerging countries economies have taken out u.s.-dollar loans at very cheap rates. if those rates start to become more expensive, then there is a significant chance you can could start to see those loans go bad. >> is this the end of the financial crisis? >> absolutely not. >> thank you very much. still to come, we'll speak to the children who carry on with their education despite the fear from taliban attacks. >> an equal is a must. the story can't end, not yet. >> and "star wars" mania grips the world with the latest

install that hits the screen.

this action marks the end of a seven-year period in which the interest rate was held near zero >> now a reminder of the top story on al jazeera. the u.s. federal reserve has raised interest rates by a quarter of a percent. it's the first time that it has been raised since the economic crisis in 2008. reports of possible fatalities have emerged after the islamic state in iraq and the levant launch attacks north of mosul in iraq. they starting admit base where

turkish troops and advisers are stationed. peshmerga forces are understand to be calling for reinforcement. >> they have attacked the camp to claim sunni fighters. we're hearing reports that two turkish soldiers have been killed. when we speak to the media, we find that there have been multiple fatalities. this the first time that this came under attack by isil. they attacked two peshmerga positions on the mountains and have taken them over. according to sources there is heavy fighting there, and this

is not the only attacks. isil fighters attacked another position of peshmerga soldiers with two suicide-bombers and killed six peshmerga soldiers. isil fighters are trying to push back and trying to halt advance. >> secretary of defense ash carter is in iraq. earlier this month they announced plans to sent forces to iraq to carry out raids against the group two aid agencies have made it through to areas previously controlled by

rebels. aid was able to get through in the past because syrian forces sieged the city. but this changed when they became through the area. james bays reports on the latest developments in syria. >> the latest phase of efforts to reignite the syrian peace process takes place here in new york on friday. closed meetings at a five-star hotel and then meeting of the u.n. security council. much has taken place in the last few days where there have been negotiations between the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and secretary of state john

kerry. their plan is to have face-to-face talks between the syrian government and syrian opposition and a cease-fire in january. the u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon told me that that was an ambitious goal. >> some people may think that is too ambitious, but one needs to be ambitious. we do not have much time to lose--to waste even a single minute. >> the u.s. ambassador to the united nations samantha power said that one major sticking point remains, the future role of president assad. >> there is no question from the american perspective that if you want peace for the sake of people of syria, and if you want people mobilized and activated together against a common enemy, the world's enemy, isil, there is going to have to be a political transition and assad will have to go. >> an important part of the crisis in syria and across the

border in iraq is the role of isil. and another important u.n. security council meeting will be taking place here on thursday for the first time the 15 seats around the security double table will be taken by finance ministers as they try to crackdown on the financing of isil. >> it's been one year since taliban fighters broke into a pakistani-run school in peshua. the attack led to the creation of military courts and reintroduction of the death penalty. kamal hyder has visited the school and sends us this report. >> it's now day of heavens o --of school in pershawr.

perhaps to erase the memory of what and here. taliban fighters broke into this school through a back door. they open fired indiscriminately killing students and six teachers. the attack was one of the worst in pakistan's recent history. >> it was hard breaking that my brother and his friends were killed. we're determined not to lose hope. i wanted to come back to school the day after the attack. >> it appears that these people are determined to carry on with their education. this is what got them through the dramatic experience.

thethe attack caused an outrage across pakistan. it forced the government to say that it would carry out penalties against people. bu >> i feel that pakistan has si signed the declaration of human rights, and it about right to life. everybody has a right to life. >> the government is going ahead against further attacks. ththey say there is better cooperation at all levels now. >> now we have to fight back.

and part of fighting back along. >> the government has faced criticism in its decision to bring back the death penalty. but many hearsay it's a necessary deterrence against talks like the one against this school. kamal hyder, al jazeera, peshawer. >> donald trump has defended his plan to ban muslims from entering the u.s. he spoke to al jazeera's ali velshi and michael shure after the debate of 2015. >> we have a problem. everybody, we all know this. as you know i have many great, great muslim friends. amazing people, they're incredible people. they call me, some of them, not all of them, some of them are not so happy, but many of them called me and said donachie

donald, you have done one of the great services. we do have a problem. >> can you rephrase it, though? could you do it a way that-- >> look, they are such amazing people, but we have to solve a problem. there is a problem with a certain small group, and we have to get that problem solved because that small group can cause tremendou tremendous havoc. friends of mine, successful people, by the way, i love the muslims, and i have so many unbelievable relationships. the other night on television i said to them, they've done a good job. >> have friends of yours challenged you? >> some are not so happy, but some are really happy. i'm bringing up something that has to be discussed. >> the u.s. city of flint, michigan, is under a state of emergency over the emergency of

its drinking water. from flint we have this report. >> from parents in the state of emergency over the city's water system is long over due. >> the damage has been done. >> in a statement declaring the emergency, flint's newly elected mayor karen weaver said that exposure to lead in drinking water daughters irreversible damage to children, and it means that the city will have to do more on special education an services. >> when you have 15,000 households, and you got this type of health emergency, that's devastating. and when you don't have the financial resources to make the repairs, that's a problem. so you have to call on the state

and federal partners to try to help you fix it. >> flint switched it's water supply last year from detroit's system to the flint river in order to cut costs. the change sparked protests and protests over health concerns. for months city officials said it was safe to drink the water here despite the complaints for taste, smell and appearance. in october the city of flint reverted back to the water system after some children tested positive for high levels of led. >> high levels of lead in the blood can have impact on cognition, behavior, ad hd-like systems. >> michigan is spending $1 million in free water testing for thousands of flint residents and providing filters as the system gets back on course. even with these many parents have faith in police department's water.

>> do you trust in the future there will be clean drinking water? >> i don't think so, no. >> i don't use the regular water, even though i'm paying for it, i still don't use it. >> al jazeera, flint michigan. >> a painting by the indian artist has sold for $4.4 million at christie's auction house in mumbai more than twice it's estimated value. we go to the rising popularity of indian art. >> the some gallery owners say it's not just international collectors who are driving up demand as well as prices. they say that putting the popularity down to a new diverse pool of art enthusiasts.

>> it's playing a roll, and also the younger generation that is coming in the there is an interest to elect as of now while they can collect. so all these things clear, and also rising international demand. >> while the focus is on demand, people in the art business say that it's important to remember that indian artists have been well-known and sought after for generations, particularly in the international market. but when it comes to art at home as the affluent middle class grows, art is becoming a more important investment but nonetheless across the board any record-breaking sale is good news. >> that ithat is it for this hour of news. for more you can go to our website www.aljazeera.com. you can see the top story there, and that is the u.s. federal reserve has raised interest rates by .25%.

we'll have more detail on that in just a few minutes. stay with us.

>> i'm amanda burrell. i'm a documentary filmmaker. for the last three years, i've worked with al jazeera in turkey.