Washington (AFP) – The Federal Reserve escalated its battle against the wave of prices increases battering the US economy on Wednesday by raising the benchmark interest even as it acknowledged the risk posed by the war in Ukraine. At the conclusion of its two-day meeting, the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced a quarter-point rate hike, the first since 2018 and since it cut the rate to zero at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The central bank is walking a tightrope to ensure its efforts don’t derail the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic even as Russia’s invasion…