WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge ticked up in November in the latest sign that prices remain stubbornly elevated, while consumers spent at a healthy pace.
Consumer prices rose 2.8% in November from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Thursday, up from a 2.7% annual pace in October. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices also increased 2.8% in November from a year ago, slightly higher than October’s 2.7%.
Consumer spending climbed 0.5% in November from the previous month, the report also showed, a solid increase that hits at an economy growing at a healthy pace in the final three months of last year.
The figures point to a mostly strong economy with inflation still elevated, but down sharply from a four-decade peak in June 2022. Hiring has slowed to a crawl, however, leaving job-seekers frustrated even as the unemployment rate stays low. Thursday's figures suggest that the Federal Reserve will be less likely to reduce its key interest rate when it meets next week, a tact typically used if it is worried about a stumbling economy.
“Today’s data should reassure the Fed that the economy remains on a solid footing, despite a cooler labor market,” said James McCann, an economist at Edward Jones. "Indeed, there looks to be little urgency to cut rates at next week’s meeting, and the central bank could stay on hold for longer should growth remain robust into 2026 and inflation continue to run at above target rates.”
On a monthly basis prices, were milder: Both overall inflation and core inflation moved up just 0.2% in November from October. At that pace, over time inflation would move closer to the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%. Thursday’s data was delayed by the six-week government shutdown last fall.
The solid figures on consumer spending follow a separate report Thursday which showed that the economy expanded at a healthy 4.4% annual rate in the July-September quarter, the fastest growth in two years. Thursday's data points to continued solid growth in the final quarter of 2025.
FILE -A cashier rings up groceries in Dallas, Aug. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams were returned to South Korea on Friday to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad.
The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won ($33 million), according to a South Korean government statement.
Upon arrival in South Korea's Incheon airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses.
They were among about 260 South Koreans detained in a crackdown in Cambodia in recent months.
“When it comes to crimes that harm our people, we'll track down and arrest those involved to the very end and get them to face corresponding consequences," senior police officer Yoo Seung Ryul told a televised briefing at the airport.
Public outrage over scam centers in Southeast Asia flared in South Korea when a Korean student was found dead last summer after reportedly being forced to work at a scam compound in Cambodia. Authorities said at the time he died after being tortured and beaten, and South Korea sent a government delegation to Cambodia in October for talks on a joint response.
The suspects repatriated Friday include a couple who allegedly operated a deepfake romance scam to dupe 12 billion won ($8.2 million) from about 100 people in fraudulent investment schemes. South Korea has made various efforts to bring them back home, including more than 10 rounds of video meetings with Cambodian officials, the Justice Ministry said in a statement.
At the airport briefing, senior Foreign Ministry official Yoo Byung-seok expressed gratitude to the the Cambodian government over Friday's repatriation. He said South Korea hopes to continue close bilateral coordination until online scams targeting South Koreans are eradicated in Cambodia.
Cybercrime has flourished in Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia and Myanmar, as trafficked foreign nationals were employed to run romance and cryptocurrency scams, often after being recruited with false job offers and then forced to work in conditions of near-slavery. According to estimates from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, scam victims worldwide lost between $18 billion and $37 billion in 2023.
In January, Cambodia said it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon accused of running a huge online scam operation.
Since October, about 130 South Korean scam suspects from Cambodia as well as more than 20 such Korean suspects from Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines have been sent back home. After Friday's repatriation, about 60 South Koreans will remain detained in Cambodia awaiting repatriation, according to police.
South Korean officials said in October that about 1,000 South Koreans were estimated to be in scam centers in Cambodia. Some are believed to be forced laborers.
On Thursday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for stern responses to transnational cybercrimes that he said erodes mutual trust in society and triggers diplomatic disputes with other countries.
South Koreans, walking in the line at center, who are allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia, arrive at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Koreans, walking in the line at center, who are allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia, arrive at the Incheon International Airport, in Incheon, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
FILE - South Koreans, walking in the line to the left, who are allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia arrive at the Incheon International Airport, in Incheon, South Korea, Oct. 18, 2025. (Yonhap via AP, File)
