The Federal Reserve's determination to crush inflation at home by raising interest rates is inflicting profound pain in other countries - pushing up prices, ballooning the size of debt payments and increasing the risk of a deep recession. Those interest rate increases are pumping up the value of the dollar - the go-to currency for much of the world's trade and transactions - and causing economic turmoil in both rich and poor nations. In Britain and across much of the European continent, the dollar's acceleration is helping feed stinging inflation. On Monday, the British pound touched a record low against the dollar as investors balked at a government tax cut and spending plan. And China, which tightly controls its currency, fixed the yuan, also known as the renminbi, at its lowest level in two years while taking steps to manage its decline.