Important Takeaways:
- Consumer prices rose 3.5% from a year ago in March, more than expected
- The CPI, a broad measure of goods and services costs across the economy, rose 0.4% for the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 3.5%, or 0.3 percentage point higher than in February, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
- Excluding volatile food and energy components, core CPI also accelerated 0.4% on a monthly basis while rising 3.8% from a year ago, compared with respective estimates for 0.3% and 3.7%.
- Energy rose 1.1% after climbing 2.3% in February, while shelter costs, which make up about one-third of the weighting in the CPI, were higher by 0.4% on the month and up 5.7% from a year ago.
- The measure for meat, fish, poultry and eggs climbed 0.9%, pushed by a 4.6% jump in egg prices. Butter fell 5% and cereal and bakery products declined by 0.9%. Food away from home increased 0.3%.
- Elsewhere, used vehicle prices fell 1.1% and medical care services prices rose 0.6%.
- Multiple Fed officials in recent days have expressed skepticism about lowering rates.
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Important Takeaways:
- FBI says China is ‘defining threat of our generation’ with hackers ready to ‘wreak havoc’ in US
- FBI Director Christopher Wray has said the national security threats in the US are ‘more complex and sophisticated than ever’ as he claimed China is ‘becoming more aggressive’
- He said: “Today’s national security threats are more complex and sophisticated than ever. We’re seeing hostile nation-states becoming more aggressive in their efforts to steal our secrets and our innovation, target our critical infrastructure, and export their repression to our shores.
- “Front and center is China—the defining threat of our generation. To put it simply, the CCP [Communist Party of China] is throwing its whole government at undermining the security and economy of the rule-of-law world.”
- Wray warned officials that “China’s hacking program is larger than that of every other major nation combined.”
- “If each one of the FBI’s cyber agents and intelligence analysts focused exclusively on the China threat, China’s hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to 1”, he added.
- In the alarming speech, the FBI claimed China is engaging in “traditional espionage and economic espionage, foreign malign influence, election interference, and transnational repression—often working in tandem.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Nuclear deal in tatters, Iran edges close to weapons capability
- For the past 15 years, the most important clues about Iran’s nuclear program have lain deep underground, in a factory built inside a mountain on the edge of Iran’s Great Salt Desert. The facility, known as Fordow, is the heavily protected inner sanctum of Iran’s nuclear complex and a frequent destination for international inspectors whose visits are meant to ensure against any secret effort by Iran to make nuclear bombs.
- The inspectors’ latest trek, in February, yielded the usual matrices of readings and measurements, couched in the clinical language of a U.N. nuclear watchdog report. But within the document’s dry prose were indications of alarming change.
- In factory chambers that had ceased making enriched uranium under a 2015 nuclear accord, the inspectors now witnessed frenzied activity: newly installed equipment, producing enriched uranium at ever faster speeds, and an expansion underway that could soon double the plant’s output. More worryingly, Fordow was scaling up production of a more dangerous form of nuclear fuel — a kind of highly enriched uranium, just shy of weapons grade. Iranian officials in charge of the plant, meanwhile, had begun talking openly about achieving “deterrence,” suggesting that Tehran now had everything it needed to build a bomb if it chose.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Parkfield section of the San Andreas fault is sending mixed messages before a time of expected increased seismic risk.
- A section of the San Andreas fault where earthquakes occur regularly may give off a distinct signal before it trembles to life, new research finds. The signal hints at the opening and closing of cracks beneath the subsurface.
- This section of Faultline, known as Parkfield in Central California, shakes regularly about every 22 years. It last ruptured in 2004, so another earthquake may be imminent. However, the signal is not currently occurring at the fault segment, and the section isn’t behaving exactly like it did the last time it ruptured, according to a study published March 22 in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science.
- The differences might mean the next quake won’t happen right away, or they might mean that the epicenter of the quake will be different from 2004’s epicenter, which was just southeast of the tiny town of Parkfield. There will be no way to know until the next quake actually happens, said study lead author Luca Malagnini, the director of research at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy.
- “We are waiting,” Malagnini told Live Science.
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Important Takeaways:
- On March 5th, 2024, World Bank Group President, Ajay Banga, and Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon, were guest panelists at the Global Digital Summit in Washington D.C., discussing “the power of digital technologies to accelerate poverty reduction on a livable planet and how the public and private sectors can collaborate to accelerate this mission.”
- The World Bank added that the summit ‘highlighted forward-thinking perspectives, cutting-edge technologies, and new insights centered on three pillars: (1) Connect, (2) Innovate, and (3) Transform.”
- With the digital landscape transforming so rapidly, Banga believes that these new investments in the digital space is needed for “governance.” He said, “I think that if governments embrace digital, they create transparency, they create clean governance, they create citizen engagement, and I think that is a very important part of digital that we are keen to be a part of.”
- Later in the conversation Banga was asked how they should go pitching their emphasis on governments making deeper and long term investments to build a sustainable digital framework. One of these things includes “a sense of crisis,” he claims.
- “A sense of crisis is your best friend. Never let a crisis go waste. A sense of crisis is your best friend in getting people to agree to tackle this triangle, along with the enabling tool of technology and the biggest headroom is geopolitics and fractionizing of the global order. That’s why I believe in digital for us.”
- “I think providing infrastructure is a core element. But on top of that, creating a digital identity platform for citizenry is kind of foundational. I believe your government should be the owner of your digital ID.” Vestberg agreed: “Absolutely, 100%,” he remarked.
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Important Takeaways:
- ‘Social order could collapse, sparking wars’ if AI is not restrained, two of Japan’s most influential companies warn
- Two leading Japanese communications and media companies have warned that AI could cause ‘social collapse and wars’ if governments do not act to regulate the technology.
- Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) – Japan’s biggest telecoms firm – and Yomiuri Shimbun Group Holdings – the owners of the nation’s largest newspaper – today published a joint manifesto on the rapid development of generative AI.
- The media giants recognize the benefits of the technology, describing it as ‘already indispensable to society’, specifically because of its accessibility and ease of use for consumers and its potential for boosting productivity.
- But the declaration said AI could ‘confidently lie and easily deceive’ users, and may be used for nefarious purposes, including the undermining of democratic order by interfering ‘in the areas of elections and security… to cause enormous and irreversible damage’.
- In response, the Japanese firms said countries worldwide must ensure that education around the benefits and drawbacks of AI must be incorporated into compulsory school curriculums and declared ‘a need for strong legal restrictions on the use of generative AI – hard laws with enforcement powers’.
- It comes as the EU prepares to implement new legislation seen as the most comprehensive regulation of AI the world has seen thus far.
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Important Takeaways:
- FBI arrests Idaho 18-year-old for ‘violent plot’ to attack churches on behalf of ISIS, Justice Department says
- Alexander Mercurio is now facing a federal charge of attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization after the FBI says he devised a plan to “incapacitate his father, restrain him using handcuffs, and steal his firearms to use for maximum casualties” in an attack he had been planning to carry out in the northern Idaho resort city on Sunday, April 7.
- “The defendant allegedly pledged loyalty to ISIS and sought to attack people attending churches in Idaho, a truly horrific plan which was detected and thwarted by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
- “His attack plan involved using flame-covered weapons, explosives, knives, a machete, a pipe and ultimately firearms,” the investigator added. “His plan grew more precise as he eventually identified the specific church and date on which he planned to attack.”
- Mercurio now faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted on the federal charge.
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Important Takeaways:
- Support for US-Israel peace deal drops if Hamas is included – poll
- Initially, the survey indicated a majority of American voters favored the US role in brokering a peace agreement. However, support notably waned after respondents were informed of the PA’s plans to form a unity government with Hamas, which included cabinet positions to members of the organization, which widely condemned for involvement in terrorist activities and particularly for perpetrating the October 7 massacre in Israel.
- This shift in public sentiment was particularly pronounced among Democratic voters, where support for the peace deal plummeted by 30 points from 73% to 43%. This stark reversal underscores the deep concerns among Americans regarding negotiations that could potentially empower a group with a history of terrorism.
- “Voters are clearly opposed to any deal that would force Israel into an agreement with terrorists, or those who endorse terror,” stated Matthew Faraci, President of Gideon300. “Our elected officials need to look beyond the rhetoric and consider the real public sentiment on this issue.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Netanyahu Sets Date for Rafah Invasion, Rejects Ceasefire Deals that Don’t Include Victory over Hamas
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that a date has been set to invade Rafah, Hamas’ last stronghold.
- The prime minister insists Israel won’t accept a ceasefire deal that prevents such an invasion and the achievement of total victory over Hamas.
- He made the announcement Monday, declaring, “We are working all the time to achieve our goals – primarily the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas. This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen – there is a date.”
- The U.S. has also reportedly proposed a new ceasefire deal. It would seek a six-week halt in the fighting, exchange 40 of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas for 900 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, including some who have murdered Israelis.
- Hamas is expected to respond to this latest proposal by Tuesday night. If they agree, the truce could begin as soon as Wednesday.
- The White House indicated President Joe Biden has assured Israel the U.S. will stand with it if Iran launches directly at the Jewish State.
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Important Takeaways:
- Hunter Biden-linked Ukrainian company used for terror attacks in Russia – Moscow
- Multiple entities, including Burisma Holdings, have been involved in funding terrorism, Russian investigators are claiming
- So far, investigators have “established that the funds, flowing through commercial organizations, including the oil and gas conglomerate Burisma Holdings, operating in Ukraine, have been used in recent years to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia,” committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said. Terrorist activities have also reached beyond the country, aimed at the “elimination of prominent political and public figures, as well as causing economic damage,” she added.
- The committee’s specialists have been working “in cooperation with other intelligence services and financial intelligence,” Petrenko noted. The scrutiny currently revolves around “checking sources of income and further movement of funds in the amount of several million US dollars,” and examining the potential involvement of “specific individuals from among government officials, people with civic and commercial organizations of Western countries,” the spokeswoman stated.
- Burisma is probably best known internationally for its controversial ties to the current first family in the US. In the spring of 2014, following the US-backed coup in Kiev, the Ukrainian energy firm hired Hunter Biden and his business partner Devon Archer on its board of directors, offering $1 million a year in pay. Biden’s father Joe was President Barack Obama’s vice president at the time, and oversaw Washington’s Ukraine policy. He once famously bragged about getting a corruption prosecutor fired – which just happened to occur after that prosecutor began investigating Burisma.
- Nikolay Zlochevsky’s company also offered protection payments to the government in Kiev, according to former Ukrainian MP Andrey Derkach. Zlochevsky paid some “800 million hryvnias [over $21 million] for terrorism financing” in “various jurisdictions,” Derkach claimed in January.
- “The leaders of Ukraine’s security services make no secret of the fact that they carry out terrorist acts and political assassinations for extra-budgetary cash,” he said at the time. “Once again: Biden’s partners in the corruption business in Ukraine finance terrorist acts, thus avoiding responsibility for corruption in Ukraine.”
- Derkach claimed it was common practice for the owners of large businesses in Ukraine to ‘donate’ to the war effort in exchange for immunity from prosecution. He pointed to a criminal case against Zlochevsky relating to a $6 million cash bribe that ended with the Burisma owner paying a $1,800 fine.
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