week ending Mar 22

The Fed's Dilemma - As previewed earlier, today's Fed decision should be a relatively quiet affair, with the Fed still in wait-and-see mode (preview here).Meanwhile, data like that shown in the latest chart of the day from DB's Jim Reid highlights a dilemma the Fed may face in the coming months. The latest University of Michigan survey (released last Friday) revealed that consumers’ real income expectations over the next one to two years reached the lowest point in the survey’s 47-year history. Given that nominal income expectations have held up better, it’s clear that the perception of impending inflation is the primary cause. This is also reflected in the inflation expectation series. Currently, these inflation expectations are highly polarized by political affiliation, suggesting that at least half the electorate will ultimately be proven wrong regarding future inflation.However, the risk is that, in aggregate, these expectations will begin to influence behaviour.Therefore, if expectations of future real incomes are at these all-time lows due to inflation expectations, cutting rates in the future to offset declining consumer confidence becomes more complex. The Fed likely hopes that a significant portion of the population will soon feel more optimistic and less concerned about inflation, which is unlikely since it has now become vogue to express one's Trump Derangement Syndrome by predicting triple if not quadruple digit inflation, when in reality the higher inflation in decades was under the administration of Biden's autopen.One final point: as we noted earlier today on X, if Democrats truly expect 6.5% inflation in one year as they reportedly professed in the latest UMichigan survey, thenthey should be unleashing a historic spending spree that wipes out their savings as their purchasing power - assuming they are right in their inflation forecasts - will crater over the next 12 months, courtesy of orange man's evil inflation. So unless we see a massive consumption binge driven by Democrats, it is safe to say either the (very liberal) UMich survey numbers are intentionally manipulated for political reasons, or Democrats' answers are purposefully wrong and misleading, meant to influence the market and the Fed.

FOMC Statement: No Change to Fed Funds Rate; "Uncertainty Increased" -- Fed Chair Powell press conference video here or on YouTube here, starting at 2:30 PM ET. FOMC Statement: Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. The unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level in recent months, and labor market conditions remain solid. Inflation remains somewhat elevated. The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. Uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased. The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate. In support of its goals, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4-1/4 to 4-1/2 percent. In considering the extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will carefully assess incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks. The Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage‑backed securities. Beginning in April, the Committee will slow the pace of decline of its securities holdings by reducing the monthly redemption cap on Treasury securities from $25 billion to $5 billion. The Committee will maintain the monthly redemption cap on agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities at $35 billion. The Committee is strongly committed to supporting maximum employment and returning inflation to its 2 percent objective. In assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, the Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook. The Committee would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee's goals. The Committee's assessments will take into account a wide range of information, including readings on labor market conditions, inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and financial and international developments. Voting against this action was Christopher J. Waller, who supported no change for the federal funds target range but preferred to continue the current pace of decline in securities holdings.

FOMC Projections: GDP Revised Down, Inflation Revised Up -- Statement here. Fed Chair Powell press conference video here or on YouTube here, starting at 2:30 PM ET. Here are the projections. In December, the FOMC participants’ midpoint of the target level for the federal funds rate was around 3.875% at the end of 2025 (3.6%-4.1%) and the long run range was 2.8% to 3.6%. The FOMC participants’ midpoint of the target range is now at 4.0% at the end of 2025 (3.9%-4.4%) and the long run range is 2.6% to 3.6%. It appears growth slower than expected in Q1 2025, and 2025 GDP growth was revised down. GDP projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, Change in Real GDP¹ (table) ¹ Projections of change in real GDP and inflation are from the fourth quarter of the previous year to the fourth quarter of the year indicated. The unemployment rate was at 4.1% in February. Unemployment projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, Unemployment Rate² (table) ² Projections for the unemployment rate are for the average civilian unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of the year indicated. As of January 2025, PCE inflation increased 2.5 percent year-over-year (YoY). The projections for Q4 2025 PCE inflation were revised up.Inflation projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, PCE Inflation¹PCE core inflation increased 2.6 percent YoY in January and is expected to be up 2.7 percent YoY in February. The projections for core PCE inflation Q4 2025 were revised up. Core Inflation projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, Core Inflation¹ (table)

Fed Sticks to Wait-and-See, Sees Only 2 Cuts in 2025, “Dot Plot” Shifts Hawkish amid Rising Inflation & “Uncertainties.” Slows Treasury QT, Maintains MBS QT by Wolf Richter -- The FOMC voted today to keep the Fed’s five policy rates unchanged, for the second meeting in a row, after cutting by 100 basis points in 2024. All participants agreed with the rate decision. But Christopher Waller dissented because he preferred to continue the current pace of QT.

• Target range for the federal funds rate at 4.25-4.50%.
• Interest it pays the banks on reserves at 4.40%.
• Interest it pays on overnight Reverse Repos (ON RRPs) at 4.25%
• Interest it charges on overnight Repos at 4.50%.
• Interest it charges banks to borrow at the “Discount Window” at 4.50%.

And participants see only two cuts in 2025 as per the median projection in the “dot plot,” with a hawkish shift: four participants see no cut, and another four participants see only one cut.The FOMC will slow QT. After outlining it in a series of communications, the FOMC provided details today:

• It will slow the Treasury securities run-off to $5 billion a month starting April 1, from currently $25 billion a month.
• It will let MBS continue to run off. The MBS runoff, which is not capped, has been around $15 billion a month.

The Fed has outlined the reasons for slowing QT in prior communications: It now sees a risk that the massive liquidity flows around debt-ceiling dynamics, which affect the liabilities on its balance sheet, will mess up the indicators it uses to determine if QT has sufficiently reduced the reserve balances on its balance sheet to be near “ample.” The Fed has already shed $2.2 trillion in assets since it started QT in July 2022.[Update from Powell at the press conference: Powell said that after discussing these issues, participants “liked” the idea of going “slower for longer” with QT, to avoid any risks associated with withdrawing this much liquidity, and this “slower for longer” was the reason they effectively cut QT in half].Today’s meeting was one of the four per year when the FOMC releases its “Summary of Economic Projections” (SEP), which includes the “dot plot.” The prior SEP came out at the December meeting. For the SEP, each of the 19 participants jots down where they see the Fed’s policy rates, unemployment rates, GDP growth, and PCE inflation by the end of the current year and by the end of each of the next several years. The median value of these projections becomes the headline “median projection” for that metric. These projections are neither a decision nor a commitment. Members change their projections as the economic situation changes.Interest rates: only 2 cuts in 2025. The midpoint of the target range for the federal funds rate is currently 4.375%.Today’s median projection for the end of 2025 remained at 3.875%, same as in December, so only 2 cuts of 25 basis points each in 2025, reflecting the Fed’s continued “patience,” as the Fed governors are now calling this wait-and-see period.Projections by the 19 FOMC members for the midpoints of the federal funds rate by the end of 2025 (bold = median):

• 4 see 4.375%: No cuts
  4 see 4.125%: 1 cut of 25 basis points
  9 see 3.875%: 2 cuts of 25 basis points
  2 see 3.625%: 3 cuts of 25 basis points.

GDP growth: The median projection for real GDP growth for 2025 declined to 1.7%, from 2.1% at the December SEP. And 2026 growth was reduced to 1.8% (2% is the 15-year average real GDP growth of the US). Unemployment rate: The median projection for the unemployment rate at the end of 2025 rose to 4.4% (from 4.3% at the December SEP).Inflation rate, median projections continue to rise:

• “Core PCE” inflation by the end of 2025 jumped to 2.8% (from 2.5% at the December SEP). Actual core PCE price index for January was 2.6%.
• Headline PCE inflation by the end of 2025 rose to 2.7%, from 2.5% in the December SEP, and higher than it is now (2.5% in January).
• Still no 2.0% in sight until 2027.

Fed's Waller sees 'no evidence' of reserve shortage --The Federal Reserve's biggest balance sheet hawk sees no reason to slow the pace of the central bank's asset reductions next month. The Federal Reserve governor voted against the decision to slow the pace of balance sheet reduction earlier this week, preferring to allow the current pace of reduction.

Powell: Fed "strongly" wants mortgages off its balance sheet — The Federal Reserve could continue shedding mortgage-backed securities even once it stops shrinking its balance sheet. After the Federal Reserve moved to slow the pace of quantitative tightening, the Fed chair floated the idea of continuing to allow mortgage-backed securities to roll off its books even after the central bank has met its monetary policy objectives in reducing its balance sheet.

Donald Trump presses Fed for interest rate cuts: 'Do the right thing' -President Trump again pressed the Federal Reserve to cut interbank lending rates as the administration’s sweeping tariffs are set to resume next month.“The Fed would be MUCH better off CUTTING RATES as U.S. Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy. Do the right thing,” Trump wrote Wednesday night in a post on Truth Social. “April 2nd is Liberation Day in America!!!” The central bank announced earlier Wednesday that it would keep rates steady at a 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent range, even with some indications that the U.S. economy might be leaning toward a slowdown. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during a press conference Wednesday that Trump’s looming tariffs threaten to slow the economy’s growth even more, with inflation increasing back to annual 3 percent mark. Powell said while “we were getting close and closer” to stabilizing prices, “I wouldn’t say we were at that.”“I do think with the arrival of the tariff inflation, further progress may be delayed,” he addedWednesday’s decision represented the second time the Fed has paused rate cuts since Trump returned to office. Last year, the central bank cut rates three times to combat the easing of prices and weakening employment data.The Trump administration is set to unleash a new batch of reciprocal tariffs April 2. The additional taxes will be broad in scope, although the president said sector-specific tariffs will be included on steel and aluminum used for automobile production. “It’s a liberation day for our country because we’re going to be getting back a lot of the wealth that we so foolishly gave up to other countries, including friend and foe,” he told reporters Sunday.Reciprocal tariffs could encompass much more beyond equalizing the taxes on imports other nations levy on U.S. goods, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Bessent said Tuesday that the administration will take into account industrial subsidies, labor conditions, currency manipulation and other policies when determining the new figures for additional taxes.“We are going to go to them and say, ‘Look, here is where we think the tariff levels are, nontariff barriers, currency manipulation, unfair funding, labor suppression, and if you will stop this, we will not put up the tariff wall,’” Bessent told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo. If the nation’s policies remain unchanged, “then we will put up the tariff wall to protect our economy, protect our workers, and protect our industries,” he said.

Fed’s Operating Losses Declined to $78 Billion in 2024, “Unrealized Losses” Rose to $1.06 Trillion -By Wolf Richter - The Fed disclosed two types of losses in its audited annual report today: An operating loss of $77.6 billion for the year 2024, substantially less bad than its operating loss in 2023 of $114 billion. And cumulative “unrealized losses” of $1.06 trillion at the end of 2024, on its holdings of Treasury securities and MBS, up from $948 billion at the end of 2023.The operating loss of $77.6 billion derived mostly from its interest income being far lower than its interest expenses.The Fed reported:

• $158.8 billion of interest income from its shrinking portfolio of Treasury securities and MBS, whittled down by $2.2 trillion in QT
• $0.3 billion in other income and losses, including $1.4 billion in losses from “foreign currency translation,” and income from various services it provides to banks and government agencies.
• $186.4 billion in interest expense — Interest on Reserve Balances — that it paid banks
• $40.3 billion in interest expense on overnight reverse repos (ON RRPs) that it paid to its counterparties, mostly money market funds.
• $9.9 billion in operating expenses, including:
  • $2.7 billion for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors including printing and managing the Federal Reserve Notes (the paper dollars)
  • $4.2 billion in salaries
  • $663 million in costs of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Interest rates on reserves and ON RRPs, among the Fed’s five policy rates, started rising in 2022 with the rate hikes. But the dollar amounts got smaller as the Fed shed securities via its QT program: By the end of 2024, ON RRP balances were largely gone, having dropped by over $2 trillion from their peak in 2021, but reserves were roughly unchanged and still over $3 trillion.In addition, the rate cuts in late 2024 lowered the amounts in interest that the Fed paid on reserves and ON RRPs. Hence the smaller losses in 2024.On a quarterly basis, the Fed started booking operating losses in Q4 2022.The Fed’s cumulative “unrealized losses” on its holdings of Treasury securities and MBS rose to $1.06 trillion at the end of 2024, from $948 billion at the end of 2023.The losses got bigger because longer-term yields rose in the final months of 2024, following the Fed’s monster rate cut in September 2024. Higher yields mean lower market prices for longer-term bonds.These cumulative unrealized losses are the difference between the securities’ amortized cost (which will be equal to face value by the time the security matures) and their market value at the end of the year:

• Securities at amortized cost: $6.75 trillion
• Market value at year-end: $5.69 trillion
• Cumulative unrealized loss: $1.06 trillion.

The Fed bought most of these securities years ago when yields were far lower than at year-end 2024. As yields on Treasury securities and MBS rose starting in 2021, their market values declined.As Treasury securities get closer to their maturity date, the unrealized losses diminish and become zero when the securities mature because the holder gets paid face value.MBS are paid back mostly via passthrough principal payments as the underlying mortgages are paid off when the home is sold or refinanced, and as regular mortgage principal payments are made. When the pool of underlying mortgages shrinks enough, the MBS are “called,” and the holder gets paid face value for the remaining balance. It’s unlikely that any of the MBS will still exist by their maturity date; the Fed will get its money back much sooner.Unrealized losses represent the losses the Fed would have incurred if it had sold all its securities at market prices at the end of 2024.If the Fed never sells any of these securities, but waits till they mature, at which point it gets paid face value, those unrealized losses vanish without a trace.

Q1 GDP Tracking: Wide Range --From BofA: Our 1Q GDP tracking remains unchanged at 1.9% q/q saar and our 4Q GDP tracking is down two tenths to 2.3% q/q saar since our last weekly publication. [Mar 14th]
-- From Goldman: We lowered our Q1 GDP tracking estimate by 0.3pp to +1.3% last week. [Mar 10th estimate]
-- Atlanta Fed Economist Patrick Higgins put out a special note For GDP Forecasters, Some Gold Doesn't Glitter We generally take a hands-off approach in updating and distributing our GDPNow model forecasts. With one exception, once a forecast quarter begins, the code of the model does not change. Any tweaks to the model are made at the beginning of the subsequent quarter.The one exception was in spring 2020, when changes were made so that some monthly indicators showing steep declines early in the COVID-19 pandemic wouldn’t be treated as outliers and ignored as they normally would.While not on that level, the unusual widening of the January trade deficit that led to much of GDPNow’s sharp decline on February 28, and the circumstances surrounding that decline, was also unprecedented in one respect. That is, as we now know from the March 6 full international trade report—but could only strongly suspect based on anecdotal and non-US government data until then—much of the widening of the trade deficit in January was due to an increase in nonmonetary gold imports from $13.2 billion in December to $32.6 billion in January. This accounted for nearly 60 percent of the widening of the goods trade deficit. Although GDPNow does not distinguish gold from other imports, the Bureau of Economic Analysis does, intallying up the total of the net exports, subaggregate within GDP. Removing gold from imports and exports leads to an increase in both GDPNow’s topline growth forecast and the contribution of net exports to that forecast, of about 2 percentage points. The topline growth forecasts also increased today—standard model -2.4 percent to -1.6 percent, “gold adjusted” model -0.4 percent to 0.4 percent—as data from today’s labor market report came in stronger than the model was expecting based on the limited February data the model received prior to that release.The attached forecast tables include both the standard GDPNow forecast and the gold adjusted forecast. We will continue to update the standard GDPNow model through at least the end of the quarter but will add at least some occasional updates from the gold adjusted version as well.Currently the gold adjusted GDP tracking is 0.4% for Q1.

The Democrats’ Enabling Act: Senate votes to fund Trump’s dictatorship --On March 23, 1933, just seven weeks after Hitler became chancellor of Germany, the Reichstag passed what came to be known as the Enabling Act, granting him the power to rule by decree. With the act’s passage, the Weimar Constitution was nullified, giving Hitler unchecked power to enact laws without parliamentary approval. Just over seven weeks after his own election, Trump did not need to employ such measures. Given the opportunity to cut off funding for Trump’s government on Friday, the Democrats instead ensured that it remained fully operational. The vote shatters the myth that the Democratic Party is an opponent of the Trump administration, demonstrating that it is instead its enabler and collaborator. The Senate, with the support of top Democrats, passed a Republican spending bill funding the government for the next six months, through September. The bill removes all congressional spending directives, giving Trump and Elon Musk a blank check to slash social programs, purge federal employees and lay the groundwork for a police state. The bill was passed late on Friday, following a vote earlier in the day that blocked a filibuster, which would have led to a government shutdown. Ten Democrats voted with the Republicans against a filibuster. After an empty show of opposition early in the week, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer completely reversed himself, and the requisite number of Democrats (plus two additional) were assigned to ensure the bill’s passage. Schumer justified the Democrats’ actions by claiming, “I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.” He stated that there would be no “off-ramp” in the event of a shutdown, which the Trump administration would use to “decimate the federal government.” This is an absurd lie. In reality, the bill itself hands Trump the power to “decimate” social services, with no strings attached. When Schumer speaks of an “off-ramp,” his real concern is that a shutdown of the government could become a catalyst for mass opposition to Trump’s government, which the Democrats are determined to prevent. The Senate vote comes amidst a full-scale rampage by the Trump administration against the working class and democratic rights. This week, the Department of Education laid off 1,300 workers—half its staff—in preparation for its dissolution. Congress’s next priority is passing a budget that includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for the rich and $2 trillion in cuts to social programs, gutting $880 billion from Medicaid, which provides healthcare for 80 million people. Overseeing these cuts through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk has made clear that Social Security and other so-called “entitlement” programs are next.

Clyburn says he thought Senate Dems were ‘on board’ with opposing funding bill: ‘What happened?’ -- Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said he doesn’t know what happened late last week that resulted in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and nine other Senate Democrats voting to advance the GOP continuing resolution to keep the government open. In an interview on MSNBC this weekend, Clyburn said he thought Senate Democrats were “on board” with the strategy embraced by House Democrats — nearly all of whom opposed that very same bill — pointing to Schumer’s remarks on Wednesday, when he said the GOP’s continuing resolution didn’t have the votes to get through the Senate. “You know, I don’t know. I thought the Senate was on board. If you can remember when Leader Schumer announced that the votes were not there, I thought that this was the time for the whole country to focus on exactly who was where,” Clyburn said. Clyburn pointed to Quinnipiac University polling data showing a plurality of the American public would blame either President Trump or the Republicans for a government shutdown. Thirty-two percent said in the survey last week that they would blame Democrats. “When I saw the numbers, 22 percent of the American people said Trump was responsible. Around 31 percent said the Republicans were responsible. Add that up, I’m not good in math, but that’s over 50 percent of the American people blaming the Republicans.” Clyburn fiercely defended House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who Clyburn said was “blindsided” by Schumer’s support for the resolution. “For the first 24 hours, they seem to be on board. And then all of a sudden, there’s this change. What happened in the 24-hour period? I’m not sure, but nobody should be blaming Hakeem Jeffries for that,” Clyburn said.

Democrats face frustrated voters at raucous town halls -Republicans are not the only lawmakers facing confrontational town halls over the congressional recess. Democratic lawmakers are increasingly facing the ire of the party’s liberal base over their response to the Trump administration. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) clashed with pro-Palestinian attendees at a town hall on Wednesday, leading police to shut down the forum. That followed Rep. Glenn Ivey’s (D-Md.) town hall on Tuesday, where he faced criticism for being too “calm” in the face of the Trump administration. And in California, Democratic Rep. Gil Cisneros faced constituents angry about Social Security, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, potential cuts to Medicaid and fired federal workers. “I wish you’d be angry,” one woman said, according to the Los Angeles Times. And it’s not just House Democrats in safe districts taking heat from liberal constituents. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) responded to frustrated constituents at a town hall on Wednesday by saying that her job is to be “more than just an activist” and that “yelling” from progressives has not stopped President Trump. The raucous events come as Democrats have sought to use town halls to target GOP lawmakers in their own districts. The town halls have Republicans and Democrats on edge as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are put on the defensive on home turf. “If you’re home, my town halls look like a Republican town hall. I’m not taking it personally. People are scared. They want to see us do something,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) told CBS News’ Face the Nation over the weekend. Up Next - Democratic Party's favorability hits record low: Poll The confrontations also come as Democrats continue to struggle to find their footing during the second Trump administration. And recent polling paints a dismal picture of the state of the party. Sign up for the Morning Report The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Email address By signing up, I agree to the Terms of Use, have reviewed the Privacy Policy, and to receive personalized offers and communications via email, on-site notifications, and targeted advertising using my email address from The Hill, Nexstar Media Inc., and its affiliates An NBC News poll released on Sunday found that only 27 percent of voters said they had a positive view of the Democratic Party, while 55 percent of voters said they have a negative view of the party. Additionally, 20 percent of Democrats in the poll said they had a negative view of the party. A separate CNN poll also released on Sunday had similar findings, showing the party with a record low 29 percent favorability rating. Fifty-two percent of Democratic-aligned adults said the leadership of the Democratic Party is currently taking the party in the wrong direction, compared to 48 percent who said the party’s leaders were taking them in the right direction. This week’s town halls appeared to be a manifestation of that data. “[Democratic leadership] neglects to see the army of pitchforks behind them ready to fight back if they’re willing to take action,” said Sawyer Hackett, a progressive Democratic strategist. “Right now what we’re seeing is those pitchforks aren’t necessarily on our side,” he continued. “Their anger is pointed at Democratic lawmakers.” There is growing frustration from Democrats across the ideological spectrum over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), along with nine other Senate Democrats, helping Republicans advance a House GOP-drafted government funding resolution. Liberals had hoped the Democrats would use the Senate filibuster to block the bill. “We’ve had one source of leverage to push back on these people and do everything we can to grind the gears of government to a halt to fight back and we didn’t use it,” Hackett said.

Democratic Party’s favorability hits record low: Poll – The Democratic Party’s favorability rating has hit a record low, according to a CNN survey released Sunday. The survey, conducted March 6-9, shows 54 percent of surveyed U.S. adults say they have an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party, while 29 percent say they have a favorable opinion and 16 percent say they have no opinion.

Schumer postpones book tour amid progressive revolt over shutdown vote --Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is scrapping book tour events this week as progressives fume over his maneuver to avert a partial government shutdown last week, a source told The Post.The source said Schumer is blaming “security concerns.”Schumer (D-NY), 74, had scheduled events touting his forthcoming tome “Antisemitism in America: A Warning” in Baltimore, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and New York City this week while the Senate was in recess.“Senator Schumer’s book tour events during the week of March 17 are being postponed for security reasons. We will work to reschedule this event at a later date,” webpages promoting the scrapped events this week noted. Disgruntled progressive activists from his left flank were widely expected to crash his events to protest his decision to vote against blocking a GOP bill to keep the government’s lights on.A cacophony of lefty stars such as Emma Vigeland of “Majority Report” called on their followers to protest Schumer’s appearances. Multiple demonstrations against Schumer had been planned for his first stop in Baltimore Monday, including from the liberal Sunrise Movement. “Chuck Schumer is afraid to face the people he betrayed last week. Another act of cowardice. We need new leadership,” the Sunrise Movement, an activist group that focuses on combating climate change, said.Many Democrats in Congress — most prominently “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) and her allies — saw last week’s government shutdown fight as rare leverage to extract concessions from Republicans on a host of President Trump’s actions including slashing the federal government.“Whether it’s Israel, whether it’s government funding — no matter what the issue is — people are finally seeing Chuck Schumer for who he really is,” a former Democratic aide in Congress told The Post.“He wants to say he talks to everybody — he does whatever he wants and he thinks there’s no price to pay for it,” the ex-aide vented.The one-time staffer also noted that Schumer saw the writing on the wall weeks ago — but had “zero leverage” and abruptly changed course at the last minute without getting concessions. “We were never going to get an agreement to curtail DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency], but he could’ve got some funding for some things,” according to the aide.“Privately, members and staffers are breathing a huge sigh of relief that Schumer is taking all the brunt of a decision that makes inevitable sense,” the other Democratic aide told The Post.All but one House Democrat voted against the Republican-drafted stopgap measure to keep the government funded through September. Given the Senate filibuster, which requires a 60-vote threshold to overcome, Democrats had a chance to block the bill in the upper chamber. But having lived through multiple government shutdowns in his two-and-a-half-decade Senate career and nearly two decades in the House, Schumer felt the Democrats weren’t well-positioned to win that fight. Moreover, he fretted about the ramifications of a partial shutdown.“A shutdown would give Donald Trump the keys to the city, the state and the country,” Schumer warned before joining nine other Senate Dems in voting to clear a procedural hurdle to the GOP bill.Schumer had opposed the GOP bill, but argued that Trump would have too much power to make deeper cuts to the federal bureaucracy if the government partially shut down.

Senate Democrat questions what Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez have ‘actually done’ -Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D) revealed some of her frustration with progressives who are criticizing mainstream Democrats for not doing enough to oppose President Trump during a fiery town hall meeting, where she said liberal colleagues such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have made a lot of noise about Trump but haven’t accomplished much. Slotkin said the diverse politics of her state “require me to be more than just an AOC,” referring to Ocasio-Cortez, who has harshly criticized Senate Democrats who voted last week for a House-GOP drafted funding bill that cut nondefense programs by $13 billion. “I can’t do what she does, because we live in a purple state and I’m a pragmatist. Everyone you mentioned has a lot of words, but what have they actually done to change the situation with Donald Trump?” she asked at the meeting, clips of which were played by CNN. Slotkin voted against the House GOP funding bill, which Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and nine other members of the Senate Democratic caucus voted to advance in order to avoid a government shutdown. That vote enraged liberals, and Ocasio-Cortez slammed support for the bill as a “huge slap in the face.” Democrats across the country, including Slotkin, have faced angry constituents at town halls this week who pressed the lawmakers to do more to counter Trump and Musk. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, have traveled through Western states this week to rally progressives against Trump’s agenda, dubbing it the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour.

Putin Pressures Trump To Recognize Annexed Eastern Territories Captured - The readouts from the Tuesday Putin-Trump phone call made no mention of the Russian-annexed territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - but what has remained clear to all observers is that Moscow is not going to give them up.Russia's privately owned Kommersant business newspaper reports that President Putin is pushing his US counterpart to grant recognition of Russia's annexation of the four territories in exchange for a pledge not to seize more land.Kommersant says that Putin is fundamentally arguing that"there’s no taking back what Russia has gained" - and that the eastern territories are now permanently part of the Russian Federation.Back in September 2022 Moscow oversaw war-time elections there, and the vote among the Russian-speaking population was overwhelming to come under Russia. The West and Kiev condemned these as a "sham" referendum."If this [recognition] happens soon, Russia… will not lay claim to Odesa and other Ukrainian territories,"Kommersant writes further of Putin's aims in negotiations.However, the Kremlin has said that the annexed territories were not specifically dealt with in the Tuesday Trump phone call.While the key southern port city of Odessa has come under occasional major missile attack since the war's start, it has thus far been sparred of full-scale military assault or invasion.One year ago (in March of 2024), Elon Musk predicted that Odessa would become the next big city Russian forces would eye after solidification of their hold over the Donbass region.The Tesla and SpaceX CEO explained at the time that Ukraine's position continued to weaken even as its leadership refused negotiations while pressing the West for more weapons. "Whether Ukraine loses all access to the Black Sea or not is, in my view, the real remaining question," he stressed in his commentary posted on X."The longer the war goes on, the more territory Russia will gain until they hit the Dnepr, which is tough to overcome. However, if the war lasts long enough, Odessa will fall too," Musk wrote at the time.And that's when he concluded, "Whether Ukraine loses all access to the Black Sea or not is, in my view, the real remaining question. I recommend a negotiated settlement before that happens."One year later, and there's a glimmer of hope for such negotiated settlement under Trump. Commenting on the Tuesday phone call with Putin, White House Special Envoy Steven Witkoff unveiled that the next meeting between the US and Russia is set for Sunday, March 23 - to discuss ceasefire in Ukraine.And on the phone call specifically, Witkoff said in a freshFox interview, "It was these two great leaders coming together for the betterment of mankind." He also referred to the call "epic". Witkoff was asked, "Does that mean that they [Russians] themselves won't rearm also? Will there be reciprocity there?", Witkoff replied: "Well, I think the devil's in the details."

Trump and Putin Agree on 'Energy and Infrastructure Ceasefire' in Ukraine - President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and the two leaders agreed to an “energy and infrastructure ceasefire” in Ukraine as a first step toward a lasting peace, the White House said in a readout of the call.“The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace,” the readout said, adding that the negotiations “will begin immediately in the Middle East.”According to RT, the Kremlin has confirmed that Putin agreed with a proposal from Trump for Russia and Ukraine to halt attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days and that he instructed his military accordingly.The White House said that Trump and Putin also agreed “that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside. This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved.”So far, there’s been no immediate response from Ukraine about the potential partial ceasefire, which would require Ukraine to stop using drones to target infrastructure inside Russia.The US and Ukraine initially proposed a 30-day ceasefire that would apply to all fighting, but Putin responded with several conditions, including a guarantee that the US wouldn’t provide military aid to Ukraine during the truce.The Kremlin said that Putin told Trump during the call on Tuesday that the “key condition” needed to bring an end to the war and prevent escalation was the “complete cessation” of foreign military aid and intelligence support for Ukraine. Ukrainian neutrality was Russia’s main demand during negotiations before the invasion and in short-lived talks at the beginning of the invasion, which were discouraged by the US.

Zelensky Tells Trump He Supports Halting Attacks on Energy Infrastructure - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told President Trump in a phone call on Wednesday that he supports the proposal for Russia and Ukraine to halt attacks on energy infrastructure as a first step toward a ceasefire and lasting peace deal.“Ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure could be the first step toward fully ending the war and ensuring security. Volodymyr Zelenskyy supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed its readiness to implement it,” Zelensky’s office said in a readout of the call.Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to the infrastructure ceasefire in a call with Trump on Tuesday. Ukraine and Russia traded accusations of attacks on energy infrastructure on Wednesday, but it’s unclear if the partial ceasefire has formally started. In a US statement on the call, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said that President Trump had agreed to help Ukraine procure more air defenses. “President Zelensky asked for additional air defense systems to protect his civilians, particularly Patriot missile systems, President Trump agreed to work with him to find what was available, particularly in Europe,” the statement said.The US and Ukraine initially proposed a full ceasefire for 30 days, but Russian President Vladimir Putin had several conditions, including a guarantee that the US would stop supplying military equipment to Ukraine.The US statement on the Trump-Zelensky call also said that President Trump proposed the idea of the US taking ownership of Ukrainian energy infrastructure, similar to how he wants the US to have a piece of Ukrainian rare earth minerals and other natural resources.“President Trump also discussed Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants. He said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” the statement said. “American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.”Waltz also said on Wednesday that he spoke with Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Putin, and agreed that US and Russian officials would meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days. “We agreed our technical teams would meet in Riyadh in the coming days to focus on implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire President Trump secured from Russia,” Waltz wrote on X.

Trump says ‘contract’ being drafted on ‘dividing up’ land in Ukraine war - President Trump said “contracts” are being negotiated to divide up land as part of a final deal ending Russia’s war in Ukraine and reiterated that a ceasefire could come “pretty soon.” “They are fighting against each other,” Trump told reporters Friday in the White House. “I think we’re going to have ceasefire on a lot of areas and so far, that’s all held very well.” “In getting that ceasefire, they had a lot of guns pointing at each other. You had some soldiers unfortunately surrounded by other soldiers,” the president said. “They are going to be — I believe we’re going to pretty soon have a full ceasefire, and then we’re going to have a contract, and the contract’s being negotiated, the contract in terms of dividing up the lands, etc., etc. It’s being negotiated as we speak.” Russia controls nearly 20 percent of Ukraine’s land. The Trump administration has pushed to secure a partial ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine that would involve energy facilities and infrastructure. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his support for the limited ceasefire involving energy facilities but rejected the U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire that Kyiv endorsed earlier this month. During his Tuesday call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump proposed the U.S. take ownership of some of Ukraine’s power plants as a way of providing protection in the future. “American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” national security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a joint statement after Trump’s one-hour call with Zelensky. “He said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” the pair stated. Zelensky did not mention Trump’s proposal regarding power plants after the phone call with the commander in chief, but he said Ukraine would continue its cooperation with Washington and reaffirmed his support for the partial ceasefire. “We agreed that Ukraine and the United States should continue working together to achieve a real end to the war and lasting peace,” Zelensky stated. “We believe that together with America, with President Trump, and under American leadership, lasting peace can be achieved this year.” Trump’s desire to control some of Ukraine’s power plants is reportedly related to his backing of the Ukraine-U.S. minerals deal, an agreement that was not signed following the explosive back-and-forth between the president and Zelensky late last month. “When there is peace, the president wants Ukraine and the US to have a partnership that ensures both nations an opportunity to grow their economies and bring stability to Europe’s backyard. American innovation and technology can help make that happen,” National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said in a Friday statement to The Hill.

Ukraine, Russia Trade Massive Drone Attacks Amid Ceasefire Talks - - On Thursday, Ukraine and Russia traded massive drone attacks amid talks the US has been holding with both sides on reaching a ceasefire.One Ukrainian attack hit an airfield deep inside Russia that houses Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers. The attack on the airfield in Engels, Russia, reportedly hit an ammunition depot, causing a massive blast and damaging nearby homes in the region.The governor of the Saratov Oblast said the Ukrainian attack on the region was the biggest yet. “Saratov and Engels came under the most massive drone attack ever. All emergency services are working hard to clear the aftermath,” Governor Roman Busargin, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces downed a total of 132 Ukrainian drones over Russia, including 54 over the Saratov Oblast. Busargin said 30 homes were damaged in the attack.Ukrainian officials said that Russia fired a total of 171 drones into Ukraineand said 75 were shot down, and 63 were downed by electronic jamming or were lost. Russian glide bombs were also dropped on the Sumy and Kharkiv regions near the Russian border, and at least two people were killed.The attacks came after both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to the idea of halting attacks on energy infrastructure. The partial ceasefire hasn’t been officially implemented, and the details are expected to be worked out in the coming days.US, Russian, and Ukrainian officials are set to hold talks in Saudi Arabia on Monday to discuss the partial ceasefire. Russia and Ukraine won’t engage directly as the US will hold separate talks with either side.Zelensky has said Ukraine was drawing up a list of facilities that could be subject to the partial ceasefire and that it could include port and rail infrastructure, not just energy infrastructure. The talks are also expected to work toward a ceasefire on attacks in the Black Sea.

Russia says Ukrainian drone attack on oil depot already violates proposed ceasefire (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry said on Thursday that Ukraine had already violated a proposed ceasefire on energy sites in the three-year-old war by attacking a Russian oil depot. Russia's TASS news agency reported foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state television Channel One that it was up to the United States, which had proposed the ceasefire, to confront Ukraine over its actions. The Kremlin said this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed in a call with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to observe a 30-day ceasefire on energy targets. The accord fell short of a wider agreement that the U.S. had sought, and which was accepted by Ukraine, for a blanket 30-day truce. Firefighters in southern Russia were still battling a blaze at an oil depot triggered by a Ukrainian drone attack, regional authorities said on the Telegram messaging app. "We believe that the Kyiv regime has already broken the ceasefire proposed by the U.S. president," Zakharova said on television, according to TASS. "Now the question is - you will forgive me - how is Washington going to handle this terrorist scum gone mad? How are they going to put them in their place and get them on to something like the right track?" Ukrainian officials have also accused Russia of failing to align their actions with their pledges by launching attacks on civilian targets. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that Russian attacks on infrastructure, including hospitals and rail equipment, showed "Putin's words are very different from reality". In earlier comments, Zakharova had described the attack on the oil depot as a "provocation" and an attempt by Ukraine to disrupt peace initiatives. Authorities in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar said a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an oil depot near the village of Kavkazskaya. The depot is a rail terminal for Russian oil supplies to a pipeline linking Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. A statement issued by authorities in the Krasnodar region on Thursday evening said efforts were continuing to bring the blaze under control. The statement said 429 firefighters and 174 pieces of equipment had been drafted to tackle the fire covering 3,750 sq m (40,400 sq ft).

Donald Trump on collision course with GOP defense hawks over NATO -- President Trump is on a collision course with Republican defense hawks over the question of whether the United States should continue its 75-year military leadership of NATO and at what level of commitment. Trump has criticized European allies for years for not contributing more to the military alliance, which was set up in 1949 to contain the Soviet Union. During his first term, Trump floated the idea of the United States withdrawing from NATO. Now the Pentagon is considering an overhaul of the U.S. military’s combatant commands, including one scenario that would have the United States give up its role as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, according to NBC News, which cited defense officials familiar with the planning. That news was met with a swift rebuke from Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who issued a statement warning that any major changes to combatant commands must be done in coordination with Congress. “We will not accept significant changes to our warfighting structure that are made without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the Joint Staff, and collaboration with Congress,” they declared in a joint statement Wednesday. Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who now serves as chair of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, also pushed back against the proposal to give up U.S. military leadership of NATO. “Weakening American leadership won’t strengthen NATO or U.S. interests. If we’re serious about encouraging more capable European allies, retreating from our position as the leader of the trans-Atlantic alliance would be an odd way to show it,” he said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

Trump Gave Israel the 'Green Light' To Restart Large-Scale Bombing in Gaza - According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, President Trump gave Israel the “green light” to restart its genocidal war on Gaza by launching massive airstrikes on the besieged territory, which killed at least 404 Palestinians, including scores of women and children, on Tuesday morning.The report, which cited an Israeli official, said Trump was given a heads-up before Israel began launching the strikes. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Israel consulted with Trump before launching the bombing and repeated the president’s threat that “all hell would break loose.”In his nearly two months in office, President Trump has rushed military aid to Israel, approving over $12 billion in arms deals and sending 2,000-pound bombs. Trump has also repeatedly called for the permanent expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, emboldening the members of the Israeli government whose goal is ethnic cleansing. The US strongly backed Israel at the UN Security Council on Tuesday, claiming the blame for the escalation “lies solely” with Hamas. The US and Israel are justifying the escalation by pointing to Hamas’s rejection of a US proposal for a temporary ceasefire.Hamas has maintained that it wanted the full implementation of the ceasefire deal reached in January, which would have led to an Israeli withdrawal, a permanent ceasefire, and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. Israel repeatedly violated the agreement, including by imposing a total blockade on aid and all other goods entering Gaza on March 2.US Ambassador Dorothy Shay said Hamas had “steadfastly refused every proposal and deadline they’ve been presented over the past few weeks, including a bridge proposal to extend the ceasefire beyond Ramadan and Passover to allow time to negotiate a framework for a permanent ceasefire.”The US and Israel are now demanding that Hamas release all the hostages and threatening that the bombing will escalate. “Hamas must understand that the rules of the game have changed—if it does not immediately release all the hostages, the gates of hell will open, and it will face the full force of the IDF by air, sea and land—until its complete destruction,” said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.According to Haaretz, the Israeli military is looking to hit civil infrastructure to hurt Hamas’s ability to govern. Drop Site News reportedthat the Israeli bombardment killed several members of Gaza’s government and a member of Hamas’s political bureau. Hamas said later in the day that five of its government officials were killed along with their families.

American Surgeon in Gaza Describes His Experience When Israel Restarted Massive Bombing - Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, an American trauma surgeon volunteering in southern Gaza, recounted in a statement to Antiwar.com what he experienced on Tuesday morning when Israel resumed its massive bombing campaign on the Strip, killing over 400 Palestinians, including scores of women and children. Sidhwa said he and the medical team at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis operated “almost exclusively on women and children.” He told Antiwar.com that the first patient he found was a girl aged three or four “with agonal breathing and a weak pulse with multiple shrapnel wounds to the head and face” and that he had to tell her father that she wouldn’t survive. Here is Dr. Sidhwa’s full statement: On the morning of March 18, 2025, I was volunteering at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, Gaza. At about 2:30 am, Israel began bombarding Gaza again, as usual under transparently absurd pretexts. Apparently this was coordinated with the White House in advance, revealing how deeply involved in these crimes our own government is. I woke up with a start when the door to our bedroom living quarters was blown open and smashed into the closet behind it. I went down to the emergency department to help with the mass casualty event that we knew would follow. The Palestinian surgeon and nursing leader who led the mass casualty effort did an incredible job of controlling the situation and triaging patients. I went to the red triage area with Dr. Morgan McMonagle, an Irish trauma and vascular surgeon. The first patient I found was a 3-4-year-old girl with agonal breathing and a weak pulse with multiple shrapnel wounds to the head and face. I told her father that she was going to die and there was nothing we could do about it. Next, Morgan was evaluating a 6-year-old boy with shrapnel injuries to the chest, abdomen, and left leg. He went to surgery for an exploratory laparotomy, which thankfully revealed no significant abdominal bleeding. We found his popliteal artery transected, and thankfully, Dr. McMonagle was able to repair it primarily. I then moved on to an exploratory laparotomy on a 29-year-old woman, I later found out that she was the sister of one of the physicians whom I work with here. Her sacrum, the bone in your pelvis that connects the pelvis to the spine, had a tennis-ball-sized hole in it, as did the skin and muscle of her lower back, from which she was bleeding tremendously. Her rectum was torn in half, and her vagina and bladder were both injured. We were able to get her out of the operating room and to the ICU successfully, but she died over the next 12 hours. We then dealt with a 6-year-old boy hit by two pieces of shrapnel in the right ventricle of his heart, leading to cardiac tamponade. His heart stopped on the way up to the operating room. Dr. McMonagle opened his chest, repaired the heart, and was actually able to get his heart restarted. We then explored the child’s abdomen, finding a massive right-sided liver injury, three holes in his stomach, two in his colon, and five in his small intestine. He was certainly the most severely injured child I have ever encountered who was not already dead. We were able to get him out of the operating room and into the ICU, but he also died 12 hours later. The night continued on in this vein: we operated almost exclusively on women and children, and we had no indication that the small smattering of men who were injured were combatants. Americans should immediately stop providing the crucial military, diplomatic, and economic support that makes these crimes possible. Hamas has already agreed to a three-phase ceasefire that involves the return of all Israeli hostages, and by all accounts, Hamas has adhered to the deal. Anyone who reads the Israeli press knew that Israel’s plan from the start was to never enter phase two of the ceasefire deal, just like Israel has failed to adhere to any ceasefire signed with Hamas since 2004. The United States is a sworn guarantor of the January 19 ceasefire agreement, and our assistance in helping Israel violate it is thus doubly illegal. I hope people will do whatever they can in this crucial moment. Dr. Sidhwa was also interviewed on Sky News about the massive Israeli bombing, which can be found here. Sidhwa previously volunteered in Gaza in March and April of 2024 and helped bring attention to the crimes committed against Palestinian children he and other American healthcare workers witnessed.

Israel Makes Its Most Explicit Statement Of Genocidal Intent Yet -Caitlin Johnstone- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has published an explicit statement of genocidal intent toward the people of Gaza, threatening civilians in the enclave with collective punishment in the form of “total devastation” if they do not find a way to overthrow Hamas and free all Israeli hostages. Katz’s statement reads as follows:“Residents of Gaza, this is your final warning. The first Sinwar destroyed Gaza, and the second Sinwar will bring upon it total ruin. The Israeli Air Force’s attack against Hamas terrorists was only the first step. What follows will be far harsher, and you will bear the full cost.“Evacuation of the population from combat zones will soon resume. If all Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not kicked out of Gaza, Israel will act with force you have not known before.“Take the advice of the U.S. President: return the hostages and kick out Hamas, and new options will open up for you — including relocation to other parts of the world for those who choose. The alternative is destruction and total devastation.” When Katz says “Take the advice of the US president,” he is referring to a statement made by President Trump earlier this month which made essentially the same threat addressed “to the People of Gaza,” saying, “A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!”When I criticized the US president for these remarks which explicitly threaten Gaza’s civilians, I got a deluge of Trump supporters telling me he wasn’t reallytalking about “the people of Gaza” as he said, but was rather speaking only about the ones who are actively holding hostages. Katz’s statement makes it abundantly clear that they were wrong, and that those of us who called a spade a spade at the time were correct.The Israeli defense minister is simply following Trump’s position and reiterating what everyone who isn’t a blinkered partisan hack knew Trump was saying two weeks ago. He is doing this in exactly the same way Benjamin Netanyahu followed Trump’s position on ethnically cleansing Gaza last month by enthusiastically endorsing the plan Trump put forward to permanently remove all Palestinians from the enclave. Trump puts forward the plan, and Israeli officials put it into action.So you’ve got both the US and Israeli governments openly threatening the entire population of the Gaza strip with the war crime of collective punishment if they don’t somehow kick Hamas out of Gaza, and additionally announcing the intent to inflict “total devastation” upon that population if they do not.This is about as explicit an admission of genocidal intent as you can possibly come up with.In its genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, South African prosecutors compiled a mountain of evidence of Israeli officials announcing the intent to commit genocide in Gaza, such as Netanyahu describing Gaza’s population as “Amalek” in reference to a Bible story about a people who were completely annihilated on the orders of God, or former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant describing Palestinians in Gaza as “human animals” while declaring a “total siege” on the enclave.And Katz’s statement is probably the most clear and explicit admission yet. It’s hard to imagine a clearer declaration of genocidal intent than delivering a video statement addressed to a civilian population threatening them with “total devastation” if they don’t do as they’re told.We may be sure that these statements by Katz and Trump have been added to files held by those who hope to successfully prosecute these monsters for war crimes one day. We may also be sure that they will be recorded in what will eventually be seen as one of the darker chapters in our civilization’s history.

White House: Trump 'Fully Supports' Israel's Gaza Slaughter - -White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that President Trump “fully supports” Israel’s renewed massive bombing campaign in Gaza, which has killed at least 200 children since Tuesday. “The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages, there would be all hell to pay. Unfortunately, Hamas chose to play games in the media with lives,” Leavitt told reporters.The US and Israel are blaming Hamas for the lack of a continued ceasefire and hostage releases. But it was Israel that repeatedly violated the deal signed in January, which would have led to the release of all Israeli captives, a permanent truce, and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.Leavitt said that President Trump “fully supports Israel and the IDF and the actions that they’ve taken in recent days.”On Wednesday, the State Department also affirmed the administration’s unconditional support for Israel. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the US will “stand with Israel in every circumstance.”When asked about the massive child casualties in the Israeli bombing, Bruce pinned the blame on Hamas. “So it’s a shame that Hamas has allowed this to occur, but look nowhere else other than the people who have facilitated this suffering from the beginning,” she said.Bruce claimed that the administration wants peace, but President Trump has emboldened Netanyahu and his government by supplying huge amounts of military aid and repeatedly calling for the permanent expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza instead of pressuring Israel to implement the deal it signed in January.

This Is Trump's Genocide Now -Caitlin Johnstone-This is Trump’s genocide. Trump is just as culpable for what happens in Gaza as Netanyahu. Just as guilty as Biden was during the last administration. Trump signed off on the reignition of the Gaza holocaust. He spent weeks sabotaging the ceasefire and then gave the thumbs up to the resumption of the genocide. He did this while bombing Yemen and threatening war with Iran for Israel. I don’t know why Trump has done these things. Maybe it’s all for the Adelson cash. Maybe Epstein recorded him doing something unsavory with a minor during their long association and gave it to Israeli intelligence for blackmail purposes. Maybe he owed somebody a favor for bailing him out of his business failures in the past. Maybe he’s just a psychopath who enjoys murdering children. I don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that he did it, and he is responsible for his actions. Trump supporters will justify literally anything their president does using whatever excuses they need to, but they are only revealing how completely empty and unprincipled their political faction is. They are unthinking worshippers of power who go along with whatever the president tells them to. By continuing to support Trump even as he continues Biden’s legacy of mass murder in the middle east, they are proving themselves to be mindless stormtroopers for the empire in full view of the entire world.You can still support Trump if you hate immigrants and LGBTQ people and want lower taxes for the obscenely wealthy, but there is no legitimate reason to support him on antiwar or anti-establishment grounds. He’s just another evil Republican mass murderer president.

US, Israel Discusses Expulsion of Palestinians With East African Governments - According to the Associated Press, Washington and Tel Aviv have engaged in talks with three African governments on taking in Palestinians after their removal from Gaza. President Donald Trump has called for the removal of Palestinians from Gaza.“The contacts with Sudan, Somalia, and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland reflect the determination by the US and Israel to press ahead with a plan” to permanently remove Gazans from the Strip, the AP reported on Friday after discussions with Israeli and US officials.Somalia and Somaliland denied the report. Abdirahman Dahir Adan,Somaliland’s Foreign Minister said, “I haven’t received such a proposal, and there are no talks with anyone regarding Palestinians.” Sudan told the AP it had rejected the US and Israeli proposal.The AP said Trump was offering Somailand recognition of its independence in exchange for taking in Palestinians.Trump has said that he wants to “clean out” and “take over” Gaza in order to create the “Riviera of the Middle East.” The president explained that the proposal would call for the permanent removal and resettlement of the Palestinians.Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said last week that Trump’s plan is “taking shape.” He explained that if Tel Aviv expelled 10,000 Palestinians from Gaza per day, that the population would be removed in six months. Smotrich said that Tel Aviv and Washington are working on finding countries to accept the Palestinians.After the Israeli invasions of Gaza in 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began seeking African countries to take Palestinians from Gaza. At the time, an Israeli outlet reported that Tel Aviv was in negotiations with Chad and Rwanda to take in the Palestinians.Trump has said that his proposal calls for building cities for the Palestinians that are so nice they will not want to return to their homeland. However, Sudan is in the middle of a brutal civil war. It appears Trump tried to exploit the conflict by offering the Sudanese military security assistance for its war against the RSF.One Sudanese official said the conversation was immediately rejected. “This suggestion was immediately rebuffed,” said one official. ”No one opened this matter again.”

Report: US and Israel Consider Expelling Gaza Palestinians to Syria - According to a report from CBS News, the US and Israel are considering expelling Gaza’s Palestinian population to Syria to facilitate the ethnic cleansing of the territory.The report said the US and Israel were also interested in sending Palestinians to Somalia and Sudan, two war-torn nations, which was previously reported. Somalia has denied that it was approached by US and Israeli officials, and Sudan hasn’t commented.A source told CBS that the Trump administration has attempted to reach out to Syria’s interim government, which is led by the al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, about the idea of resettling Palestinians in Syria through a third party.A source “from the region” told CBS that the HTS-led government has been approached, although a Syrian government official denied any knowledge of the proposal from the US and Israel. President Trump has repeatedly called for the permanent removal of Palestinians from Gaza as part of his plan for the US to “take over” the territory. Trump’s calls have emboldened members of the Israeli government who have been calling for ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the establishment of Jewish settlements.Idit Silman, the Israeli minister of environmental protection, said last weekthat God had sent the Trump administration to facilitate these goals. “God has sent us the US administration, and it is clearly telling us – it’s time to inherit the land,” she said.Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently said that the plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza was “taking shape.” He said the Israeli government would establish a new “migration administration” to facilitate the ethnic cleansing. “If we remove 5,000 a day, it will take a year,” he said. “This is a huge logistical operation – not just the bus that takes them, we need to know who is going, to which country, what ages, vocational training, a huge operation, we are preparing.”

You Cannot Separate Yourself From What's Happening In Gaza - Caitlin Johnstone -The Gaza holocaust has reignited with as much sadistic fury as it ever saw under the Biden administration. More than five hundred people have reportedly been killed by Israeli bombardment since the onslaught resumed early Tuesday morning, including at least 200 children and 112 women. I will admit to having been hopeful. I know it’s illegal to express hope online, but I really did hope that by some miracle peace would find some way forward in Gaza in spite of the frenetic efforts by Trump and Netanyahu and their cohorts to sabotage it. I had hope, and now I have grief. Now this constant mass atrocity has been fully reanimated. And the people who rule over us are actively supporting this, while working to imprison, fire, silence and deport anyone who opposes it. This is a broken civilization. A warped and twisted dystopia. The waking nightmare we are witnessing in Gaza is the result of everything that we have become as a society. Those dead and mutilated children on your social media feed are the fruit on the tree of the western world. Please understand that this is personal now. This isn’t only about some strangers in the middle east. It’s also about you. It’s about your rights. It’s about your freedom to speak out against the criminality of your rulers. It’s about the kind of society you want to live in. It’s about the kind of future you want for your children. We are not separate from what’s happening in Gaza, as hard as we might try to make ourselves feel that way. Gaza is here. The waves of blood are lapping at your doorstep. The dead and mutilated children are strewn about your living room and kitchen. They were placed there by the powerful people who run your government and its allies. There’s no getting away from it. Gaza has been brought right to you and laid at your feet. And it’s up to you how you’re going to respond to it.

Yemen: US Airstrikes Kill 53, Including Women and Children - A major round of US airstrikes that hit Yemen on Saturday killed at least 53 people, including women and children, Yemen’s Health Ministry said on Sunday.According to Yemen’s SABA news agency, at least five children and two women were among the dead.Another 98 were wounded by the US bombing, and the Health Ministry saidmany of the casualties were civilians, while the US is claiming it killed “multiple” leaders of Yemen’s Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah.A total of 40 US airstrikes were reported to hit Yemen, primarily focusing on the northern Saada governorate. Strikes also hit the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and the governorates of Taiz, Ibb, Dhamar, Al Bayda, Marib, and Hajjah. Targets that were reported hit included power stations, residential areas and homes, and Houthi military sites. The strikes marked the first time the US bombed Yemen under the new Trump administration. The Houthis announced on Sunday that they fired back, with Yemeni military spokesman Yahya Saree saying the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman was targeted with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones. A US official later told Reuters that the US military downed 11 drones fired from Yemen and tracked one missile that failed in flight.Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of Ansar Allah, said that in response to the US airstrikes, both US military and commercial vessels in the region will now be targeted by Houthi missiles and drones.President Trump announced the start of the bombing campaign on Saturday and said the Houthis must stop their attacks on shipping and US warships. However, Ansar Allah hasn’t targeted any ships in months since it ceased attacks once a ceasefire deal was reached in Gaza back in January.Last week, the Houthis announced that the blockade on Israeli ships was coming back into effect in response to Israel cutting off all aid shipments in Gaza, a blatant violation of the ceasefire deal, but the group hasn’t launched any attacks since then. The Houthis did recently shoot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone that was flying over Yemen or near its coast.“The Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,” President Trump said on Truth Social.Trump and other US officials are also justifying the strikes by framing them as a way to protect global shipping, although critics are pointing out that the Red Sea being shut down has a minimal impact on the US.“What the media won’t tell you is this shipping route is mainly used to get exports from Asia to Europe,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) wrote on X. “Its economic value to the United States is primarily in importing oil from the Middle East, but we can drill our own oil. Most US imports from Asia come via the Pacific.”

In Threat to Hamas, US Envoy Says Look 'What Happened With the Houthis' - On Sunday, White House envoy Steve Witkoff appeared to threaten Hamas with potential US military action, warning the Palestinian group to look at what the US has done against the Houthis in Yemen.The comments came a day after the US launched major airstrikes on Yemen, killing at least 53 people, including women and children. Witkoff made the threat when discussing Hamas’s response to his proposal for a temporary Gaza ceasefire deal, which he called “unacceptable.”“I think there’s an opportunity for [Hamas], but the opportunity is closing fast. What happened with the Houthis yesterday, what happened with our strikes ought to inform as to where we stand with regard to terrorism and our tolerance level for terrorist actions,” Witkoff told CNN host Jake Tapper.Witkoff has previously appeared to suggest the US could take joint military action with Israel against Gaza, although he clarified that he meant Israel would act with US support. “Any action really principally comes from the Israelis,” he said on March 6. “But you heard the president say yesterday he’s giving the Israelis anything they need. So, it’s the Israelis but with very, very strong physical and emotional support from the US.”In his interview with Tapper, Witkoff discussed the Gaza proposal he put forward that would include a temporary ceasefire that would go until the end of Passover, which is April 20 this year. He did not elaborate on how Hamas’s response was “unacceptable” but previously suggested the issue is that Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire.“Unfortunately, Hamas has chosen to respond by publicly claiming flexibility while privately making demands that are entirely impractical without a permanent ceasefire,” Witkoff said on Friday.The original deal that Israel and Hamas agreed to in January was supposed to lead to a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal at the end of the first phase. But Israel refused to engage in negotiations on the second phase and has imposed a total blockade on aid and all other goods entering Gaza, a war crime supported by the US.

Houthis claim 2 attacks on USS Truman; US strikes said to target seized Israel-linked ship | The Times of Israel— Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed on Monday to have twice attacked an American aircraft carrier group within 24 hours, calling it retaliation for deadly US strikes.The Houthis initially said they launched 18 missiles and a drone at the “aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships” in the Red Sea, then hours later claimed to have fired a second round.There was no immediate comment on the record from the United States about the Houthis’ claimed attacks.According to a US official speaking on condition of anonymity, the Houthis did fire drones and at least one missile in the first claimed attack. The official said that beginning at about midnight Saturday-Sunday local time in Yemen, the Houthis fired 11 drones and at least one missile over about 12 hours. Ten of the drones were intercepted by US Air Force fighter jets and one was intercepted by a Navy F/A-18 fighter jet. The missile fell into the water far from the ship, and nothing came close to hitting either the carrier or the warships in its strike group.In a statement posted to Telegram on Monday, a Houthi spokesperson said the attacks on the carrier group were “in retaliation to the continued American aggression against our country.” Washington has vowed to keep striking Yemen until the rebels stop attacking Red Sea shipping, with US President Donald Trump warning he will use “overwhelming lethal force.”The Houthi health ministry claimed women and children were among the 53 people killed and 98 wounded in US strikes on Saturday.Houthi media reported more explosions on Sunday night, accusing the Americans of targeting a cotton ginning factory in the western region of Hodeida as well as the command cabin of the Galaxy Leader, an Israel-linked ship captured in November 2023.

Trump vows to hold Iran responsible for Houthi attacks (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would hold Iran responsible for any attacks carried out by the Houthi group that it backs in Yemen, as his administration expanded the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since Trump returned to the White House. Responding to the Houthi movement's threats to international shipping, the U.S. launched a new wave of airstrikes on Saturday. On Monday, the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and Al Jawf governorate north of the capital Sanaa were targeted, Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said. "Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!" Trump said on his Truth Social platform. The White House said that Trump's message to Iran was to take the United States seriously. The Pentagon said it had struck over 30 sites so far and would use overwhelming lethal force against the Houthis until the group stopped attacks. The Pentagon's chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, said the goal was not regime change. Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich, director of operations at the Joint Staff, said the latest campaign against the Houthis was different to the one under former President Joe Biden because the range of targets was broader and included senior Houthi drone experts. Grynkewich said dozens of Houthi members were killed in the strike. The Biden administration is not believed to have targeted senior Houthi leaders. The Houthi-run health ministry said on Sunday that at least 53 people have been killed in the attacks. Five children and two women were among the victims and 98 have been hurt, it said. Reuters could not independently verify those casualty numbers. The Houthis, an armed movement that has taken control of the most populous parts of Yemen despite nearly a decade of Saudi-led bombing, have launched scores of attacks on ships off its coast since November 2023, disrupting global commerce. One U.S. official told Reuters the strikes might continue for weeks. Washington has also ramped up sanctions pressure on Iran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program. An Emirati official last week passed on a letter from Trump, who took office in January, proposing nuclear talks with Tehran - a proposal that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected as "deception" by Washington. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Tehran would respond to the letter "after full scrutiny" of it. The Houthis say their attacks, which have forced companies to re-route ships to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, are in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel strikes Gaza. The U.S. and its allies characterise them as indiscriminate and a menace to global trade.Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Sunday the militants would target U.S. ships in the Red Sea as long as the U.S. continues attacks on Yemen. Under the direction of al-Houthi, who is in his 40s, the ragtag group has become an army of tens of thousands of fighters and acquired an arsenal of armed drones and ballistic missiles. Saudi Arabia and the West say the arms come from Iran. Tehran denies this. While Iran champions the Houthis, the Houthis deny being puppets of Tehran, and experts on Yemen say they are motivated primarily by a domestic agenda.

IRGC Vows 'Decisive' Response to Any Threat After Trump's Yemen Warning - The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed on Sunday that Iran would respond “decisively” to any threat or act of aggression following President Trump’s warning to Tehran over Yemen.“Iran will never be the initiator of war, but in the event of a threat, the response will be firm, decisive, and conclusive,” said Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, according to Iran’s PressTV.A day earlier, President Trump announced a major bombing against Yemen’s Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, and warned Iran in a post on Truth Social that “Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!”Trump continued, “Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”In response, Salami denied the claim that Iran was supporting the Houthis militarily. “The president of the United States has once again attributed the operations carried out by Yemen’s Ansar Allah to Iran and has warned the Iranian people to stop their support for the resistance group,” he said.Salami said that Yemen’s forces act independently. “Iran openly and clearly accepts responsibility for any actions it takes, when and where they occur,” he said. “We are not a nation that operates under the cloak of secrecy; rather, we are a legitimate and globally recognized entity. When we undertake any military action or lend our support, we will declare it openly and unequivocally.”Tensions have been rising between the US and Iran since President Trump re-imposed his “maximum pressure campaign” on the Islamic Republic and began increasing sanctions. Trump has also hinted at the possibility of taking military action against Iran if a deal on its nuclear program isn’t reached, even though he has acknowledged that Iranian leadership doesn’t seek a nuclear weapon.

Trump Gave Iran Two-Month Deadline To Reach Deal in Letter to Khamenei -- Axios reported on Wednesday that President Trump gave Iran a two-month deadline to reach a deal on its civilian nuclear program in a letter he recently sent to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.The report, which cited two sources briefed on the letter, said it was unclear if the countdown to the deadline began when the letter was delivered or if it would start at the beginning of negotiations. But US-Iran talks are unlikely as Iranian leaders have rejected negotiating in response to President Trump’s so-called “maximum pressure campaign.”Axios reporter Barak Ravid, a former IDF intelligence officer, wrote in his report that if Iran doesn’t negotiate, “the chances of US or Israeli military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities would dramatically increase.”The news of Trump’s deadline for Iran comes as the president is warning that he will blame Iran for attacks launched by the Houthis even though it is widely believed the Yemeni group acts independently and wouldn’t take orders from Tehran, a fact that’s been acknowledged by US officials.Khamenei rejected Trump’s letter when Iran received it last week, calling it a “deception” meant to make it seem like the US was the reasonable party and that Iran was rejecting negotiations for no reason.Last year, Khamenei appeared to give Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to pursue direct talks with the US. But in the face of increasing US sanctions and threats from Trump, both leaders are now ruling out negotiations.Despite all the hype around Iran’s nuclear program, there’s no evidence that Tehran has decided to build nuclear weapons. Even President Trumphas acknowledged that Iranian leadership does not want a nuclear bomb.“There are many people at the top ranks of Iran that do not want to have a nuclear weapon,” President Trump said when signing an executive order to reimpose “maximum pressure” on Iran. In response to Israeli aggression, there have been growing calls inside Iran for Khamenei to reconsider his fatwa that prohibits the development of nuclear weapons, but there’s no sign he’s considering reversing it.

Trump Escalates U.S. Military Strikes on Yemen's Houthis -(Reuters) - At least 10 U.S. strikes targeted areas in Yemen, including Sanaa, the capital, and Hodeidah, Yemen's Houthi media reported early on Wednesday. The U.S. launched a wave of strikes in areas of Yemen controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthis, who said last week they were resuming attacks on Red Sea shipping to support Palestinians in Gaza. Sign up here.

Yemenis Hold Massive Pro-Palestine Rallies in Defiance of US Airstrikes - On Monday, huge crowds came out in support of Palestine in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and in other provinces across the country following a series of US airstrikes against Yemen.According to Yemen’s SABA news agency, demonstrators in Sanaa marched under the slogan “Steadfast with Gaza… We Confront American Escalation with Escalation.”The demonstrations came after Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, called for a demonstration in response to the US airstrikes and to show solidarity with besieged Palestinians in Gaza.“We announce our comprehensive move in response to the recent aggression and US escalation with military escalation, general mobilization, and economic boycott of the enemies,” said a statement issued by organizers, according to Iran’s PressTV. “We fear no one and bow to no one except God. We will confront escalation with escalation.”Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of Ansar Allah’s political council, said Yemenis were ready to face the US. “You are mistaken, Trump. We are ready to face all the tyrants of the earth, to make sacrifices, and remain steadfast in our positions,” he said. “We are always with the Palestinians and will not abandon them. We will continue the siege on the enemy and confront them until the siege on Gaza is lifted.”The US bombed Yemen over the weekend, killing at least 53 people, a few days after al-Houthi announced Ansar Allah’s blockade on Israeli shippingwould go back into force following Israel’s blockade on aid and all other goods entering Gaza. The Houthis had ceased their attacks on shipping in response to the Gaza ceasefire deal, which took effect on January 19.More US airstrikes were reported in Yemen on Monday, and so far, the Houthis have launched two rounds of attacks on the US aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman in response to the new US bombing campaign. US officials have said the attacks were intercepted.About 80% of Yemenis live in Houthi-controlled territory, and the group has controlled Sanaa since 2014. Despite this, Western media frames the Houthis as “rebels” and portrays them as an Iranian proxy, and President Trump has said he would blame Iran for their attacks. While the Houthis are aligned with Iran, they are an independent organization with their own interests, a fact acknowledged by US officials.

Trump Threatens Yemen's Houthis With 'Total Annihilation' - President Trump on Wednesday threatened Yemen’s Houthis, saying they will be “totally annihilated” by the US bombing campaign on Yemen, and issued a new warning to Iran.Trump’s latest threat came amid reports that the US bombed the Yemeni capital of Sanaa again on Wednesday. According to Yemen’s Al Masirah TV, the attack targeted a residential area and wounded seven women and two children. US strikes were also reported in Sadaa and hit targets across Yemen early Wednesday morning.Trump previously said that he would blame Iran for each Houthi attack even though US officials have acknowledged the Yemeni group, officially known as Ansar Allah, acts independently and likely wouldn’t take orders from Tehran and has its own weapons supply.Trump claimed that Iran “lessened” its support of the Houthis. “Reports are coming in that while Iran has lessened its intensity on Military Equipment and General Support to the Houthis, they are still sending large levels of Supplies,” he wrote on Truth Social.“Iran must stop the sending of these Supplies IMMEDIATELY. Let the Houthis fight it out themselves. Either way they lose, but this way they lose quickly,” Trump said.Iran is aligned politically with Ansar Allah but has always denied that it arms the group. The Houthis have missiles and drones similar to Iranian ones, which means they probably received support from Tehran for the initial development of the weapons, but they are produced domestically inside Yemen. Citing US officials, The Washington Post recently reported that the Houthis have “established their own substantial, independent weapons production capability.”While Trump is still claiming Iran is supplying the Houthis, his statement appears to put less of the blame on Iran for the Yemeni group than he did before. On Monday, Trump warned that “every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN” and that Tehran would “suffer the consequences.”In his Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said, “Tremendous damage has been inflicted upon the Houthi barbarians, and watch how it will get progressively worse — It’s not even a fair fight, and never will be. They will be completely annihilated!”The Houthis have shown no sign of backing down in the face of renewed US airstrikes, which began on Saturday with a massive bombing that killed 53 people, including women and children. The Houthis message has been that they will meet “escalation with escalation,” and they have claimed four attacks on the US aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman since Saturday.

Trump Is Bombing Yemen For Israel -Caitlin Johnstone- The US is bombing Yemen again after Houthi leaders announced that their blockade on Israeli shipping would resume due to Israel’s siege on Gaza.Trump could have used Washington’s immense leverage over Israel to force Netanyahu to honor the ceasefire agreement and allow aid into Gaza. Instead he let the IDF lay siege to Gaza and started bombing Yemen for Israel, because he’s a warmongering Israel cuck.Trump is bombing Yemen for Israel, rushing weapons to Israel despite its flagrant ceasefire violations, and rolling out authoritarian measure after authoritarian measure to stop Americans from criticizing Israel. Because that’s what you get when you vote for America First. Do you want to know how much of a pathetic Israel lackey Trump is? Earlier this month his nominated hostage envoy Adam Boehler went on CNN and proclaimed that the United States is “not an agent of Israel”. Days later, the White House withdrew Boehler’s nomination. Known things:

• 1. Trump is a servant of Israel.
• 2. Trump is on the Epstein flight logs.
• 3. Epstein worked with Israeli intelligence.
• 4. Epstein was running a sexual blackmail operation.
• 5. Trump is obstructing the release of the Epstein files.

Question: Exactly how many kids did Trump rape?

More US Airstrikes Hit Yemen as Houthis Fire Missiles at Israel - The US continued its daily bombing of Yemen on Thursday as the Houthis fired more missiles at Israeli territory.Yemen’s SABA news agency reported four US airstrikes in the Hodeidah province, which is located on the Red Sea. It’s unclear if there were any casualties in the latest US strikes. A day earlier, US strikes hit a residential area in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, reportedly wounding seven women and two children. The US airstrikes were reported around the same time the Israeli militarysaid that it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, the second Houthi attack within a day. The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, restarted missile attacks on Israel after the Israeli military resumed its massive bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip, massacring hundreds of Palestinians.According to the Israeli news site Ynet, the US has asked Israel not to respond to the Houthis attacks and urged that Israel leave the response to the US military.While US officials have framed the bombing campaign in Yemen as a way to protect the US military and American shipping, it was really launched in response to the Houthis saying they would reimpose its blockade on Israeli shipping over Israel imposing a total blockade on Gaza, a major violation of the ceasefire deal signed in January.The Houthis had ceased their attacks once the Gaza ceasefire went into effect on January 19 and had not launched any until after the US restarted its bombing campaign on Saturday, March 15. The first barrage of US airstrikes killed 53 people in Yemen, including women and children.Since then, the Houthis have claimed several attacks on the US aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman, which US officials have downplayed, saying they were easily intercepted.President Trump is blaming the Houthis attacks on Iran even though US officials have acknowledged that Ansar Allah acts independently and is unlikely to take orders from Tehran. The Houthis have said they would not “dial down” operations in response to US military pressure or appeals from Iran.President Trump is threatening the Houthis with “annihilation,” but a year-long US bombing campaign launched by President Biden from January 204 to January 2025 did not stop the Houthis, and a brutal US-backed Saudi-led war on Yemen from 2015 to 2022 also failed to remove the group from power.

Tulsi Gabbard Wants Other Countries To Join the US in Attacking Yemen - Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has called for other countries to join the US in attacking the Houthis in Yemen, a country she previously strongly opposed intervening in.The US launched a major round of airstrikes against Yemen on Saturday and in the days that followed, killing at least 53 people, including women and children. Gabbard said that the US wants countries that are more impacted by a disruption in Red Sea shipping to get involved.“Our country and other countries should not be in a position to reroute commerce going through that area simply because of the threat that exists,” she told the Indian broadcaster NDTV during a visit to India, according to Bloomberg.Gabbard said that President Trump had taken decisive action and that the US “will look to other affected countries, as there are many impacted by this, to similarly take action.”The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, ceased their attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping after the Gaza ceasefire went into effect on January 19. The US began bombing Yemen again in response to the Houthis announcing that they would reimpose a blockade on Israeli shipping in the region.During President Trump’s previous term in office, when Gabbard was in Congress, she was a leading critic of the US-backed Saudi war against the Houthis in Yemen, which killed hundreds of thousands of people.“It is absolutely outrageous that the United States has continued its support for years now for Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war in Yemen that has killed thousands and thousands of innocent Yemeni people and caused mass starvation,” Gabbard said in a 2018 interview with The Real News.At the time, Gabbard was critical of the fact that the Yemen war was unauthorized by Congress, making US participation illegal under the Constitution. President Trump’s new bombing campaign is also unauthorized and illegal, as was President Biden’s airstrikes against the Houthis that he launched from January 2024 to January 2025.

US offers $15M reward for team accused of smuggling drone tech to Iran -The State Department is offering a $15 million reward for information linked to four Chinese nationals it says have helped the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) procure U.S. military equipment and drone technology. Liu Baoxia, Li Yongxin, Yung Yiu Wa and Zhong Yanlai are accused of facilitating the sale of U.S. goods to front companies based in China that would send the technology to Iran, according to a State Department release. Iran would then transport products to the IRGC and its linked companies including Shiraz Electronics Industries and Rayan Roshd Afzar, which use U.S.-controlled technology to develop and manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles, arms and weapons systems, according to the State Department. Manufactured products are then sold to governments and groups in allied countries such as Russia, Sudan and Yemen in violation of U.S. sanctions. Officials are now urging individuals with information about the illegal sale of technology to report information through their anonymous Tor Browser to receive a monetary reward.

US Ultimatum to Lebanon: Negotiate or We’ll Back Further Israeli Escalation -US Deputy Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus has delivered an ultimatum to the Lebanese government demanding that they form committees to participate in direct negotiations with Israel by month’s end or face an escalation of US-backed Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory.The negotiations were announced a little over a week ago, and Lebanon has said no direct talks were happening. Israel has expressed hope that these talks would ultimately give way to normalization of Israel-Lebanon relations.The US wants direct Lebanon participation, and wants three committees specifically on the issues of the active Israeli occupation of five military outposts inside Lebanon, the border itself, and the potential Israeli release of Lebanese prisoners.Since Israeli DM Israel Katz has promised Israel will continue to occupy those outposts irrespective of how the negotiations do, Lebanon has seen little interest in participating. Israel released a handful of prisoners when the US first announced the talks as a sign of goodwill.The US administration clearly wants to present these talks as a big diplomatic win in the region, but the threat of giving Israel permission to escalate military attacks against Lebanon probably doesn’t mean much, since the US has already given Israel a free hand to attack Lebanon throughout the ceasefire, which began in late November, and Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks during that period.The US also threatened to withdraw from the oversight committee overseeing the ceasefire, which again would mean little since they’ve effectively done nothing to enforce the ceasefire in the face of over a thousand Israeli violations.

US Launches Airstrike in Somalia, Claims al-Shabaab Fighters Killed - The US launched an airstrike in Somalia on March 15 targeting al-Shabaab, US Africa Command said in a press release on Monday.AFRICOM said the strike occurred 150 kilometers northeast of Mogadishu in support of the US-backed Mogadishu-based government and described it as a “collective self-defense strike” even though no US troops were involved in fighting on the ground. AFRICOM claimed that its “initial assessment” found that “enemy combatants were killed and that no civilians were injured or killed,” although the Pentagon is notorious for hiding civilian casualties in Somalia.The attack marks the second known US airstrike in Somalia this month. The last attack occurred on March 1, and AFRICOM conducted several airstrikes in Somalia in February, targeting ISIS in the northeastern Puntland region and al-Shabaab in central Somalia.Al-Shabaab has been on the offensive, and the US-backed government has also said it has been receiving air support from the UAE and Ethiopia. The federal government claimed that 50 al-Shabaab militants were killed by airstrikes on March 12 after the militant group laid siege to a hotel in the central town of Beledweyne.Middle East Eye reported this week that Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur, Somalia’s defense minister, was fired on Sunday due to US pressure. US officials were reportedly unhappy with his coordination with Turkey and Ankara’s deepening involvement in the country. The report said the US pressured the government to fire Nur by threatening to reconsider military support for Mogadishu.The recent US airstrikes in Somalia came after President Trump eased restrictions on US airstrikes and special operations raids outside conventional battlefields. US officials said at the time that the step was taken with al-Shabaab in mind.The US military hypes the threat of al-Shabaab due to its size and al-Qaeda affiliation, but it’s widely believed the group does not have ambitions outside of Somalia.Al-Shabaab was born out of a US-backed Ethiopian invasion in 2006 that toppled the Islamic Courts Union, a coalition of Muslim groups who briefly held power in Mogadishu after ousting CIA-backed warlords.Al-Shabaab was the radical offshoot of the Islamic Courts Union. The group’s first recorded attack was in 2007, and it wasn’t until 2012 that al-Shabaab pledged loyalty to al-Qaeda after years of fighting the US and its proxies.

Taliban Frees US Citizen After Direct Talks With Trump Official - On Thursday, the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan released a US citizen after holding direct talks with US officials in Kabul.Trump envoy Adam Boehler and former US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad traveled to Afghanistan on Thursday and held talks with Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, the foreign minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the formal name of the Taliban government.The meeting marked the first time the new Trump administration engaged directly with the Taliban and resulted in the release of George Glezmann, an American citizen who was detained by the Taliban in 2022 while traveling in Afghanistan over spying allegations.US officials said the release of Glezmann was the result of a deal brokered by Qatar. “With a mandate to secure the release of unjustly detained Americans overseas, envoy Adam Boehler has been in close contact with his Qatari counterparts on this case,” an unnamed diplomat told NBC News.“Following weeks of negotiations, a breakthrough was made by the Qataris during recent meetings with the Taliban,” the official added.Khalilzad, who negotiated the deal that led to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, said the Taliban government released Glezmann as a “goodwill gesture” toward President Trump and the American people. “Today is a good day. We succeeded in obtaining the release of an he wrote on X.The Taliban said in a statement that the talks marked a “significant step in rebuilding diplomatic engagement” with the US. “Continued discussions could pave the way for broader political and economic cooperation between the two countries,” the statement said.According to NBC, the release of Glezmann was not part of any broader prisoner swap, but the US is looking to secure the release of more Americans held in Afghanistan.

Trump Admin Considering Banning Travel From Dozens Of Countries: Memo - President Donald Trump’s administration has been weighing a travel ban on citizens from dozens of countries, according to an internal memorandum. One group, which includes Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea, would be set for a full visa suspension. The five countries in the second group—Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, and South Sudan—would face partial suspensions that would impact tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions. The third group of 26 countries, including Belarus and Pakistan, would be considered for a partial suspension of U.S. visa issuance if their governments “do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days,” the memo said. A White House official did not deny that the new travel restrictions are being considered. The official told The Epoch Times in an email that no decision has been made yet. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Pentagon deploys Navy warship to U.S. southern border -- A Navy warship is joining the effort to secure the U.S. southern border — an unusual move announced by the Pentagon over the weekend. The USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer most recently deployed to the Middle East, departed Virginia on Saturday on its new mission to operate in U.S. and international waters, according to the Pentagon. A specialized Coast Guard maritime policing team, known as a Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET), will be aboard the ship. “Gravely’s sea-going capacity improves our ability to protect the United States’ territorial integrity, sovereignty and security,” Northern Command leader Gen. Gregory Guillot said in a statement. President Trump declared a national emergency on the border and signed multiple executive orders shortly after taking office in January to bolster security efforts there. “As commander in chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do,” Trump said in his inaugural address. Thousands of active-duty troops have been deployed, but the use of a guided missile-destroying ship is new.

Biden-Appointed LGBT Judge Blocks Trump's Military-Transgender Ban -A federal judge on Tuesday evening issued a preliminary injunction that stops the Trump administration from enforcing its ban on transgender people serving in the US military. Under the sternly-worded opinion issued by US District Judge Ana C. Reyes, transgenders can continue serving while the lawsuit challenging the ban proceeds. The injunction springs from Reyes' conclusion that the transgender plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits, and face irreparable harm in the interim. Reyes, a Biden nominee who was heralded as the first openly lesbian and first Latina district judge in DC, said the ban was based on un-evidenced claims that people diagnosed with gender dysphoria were unfit to serve, and that “the law does not demand that the Court rubber-stamp illogical judgments based on conjecture.” Flashing her woke-leftist credentials, Reyes' included a gratuitous quote from the musical Hamilton in her 79-page opinion. Reyes was clearly ruffled by the pointed language used by Trump and the Department of Defense in regard to transgenders. "The Military Ban is soaked in animusand dripping with pretext. Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact," wrote Reyes. In Trump's Jan 26 executive order, he declared:"Expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service...A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member." Her injunction against the ban was no surprise, given hertesty exchanges with DOJ attorneys at a hearing earlier this month. “You would agree with me that calling people liars, and lacking integrity, and not able to meet rigorous standards for discipline is insulting: yes or no, or you can’t say?” she asked. In her Monday opinion, Reyes wrote, “The ban at bottom invokes derogatory language to target a vulnerable group in violation of the Fifth Amendment."

Trump's USAID cuts: List gives snapshot of scope - A nearly 400-page list provided to Congress may give rare insight into the scope of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which have already roiled the global humanitarian community and shut down programs around the world. Some of the cuts on the list appear to impact lifesaving services — such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria prevention, along with maternal and baby health — which would contradict a Trump administration commitment to continue such programs under the State Department’s umbrella. Ending those programs would also hurt Americans, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement to The Hill. “The Trump administration’s slash-and-burn approach to U.S. foreign assistance, including lifesaving programs, is putting Americans at risk from infectious diseases like Ebola and drug-resistant TB,” she said, referring to tuberculosis (TB). “These cuts also hurt American farmers whose crops nourish severely malnourished people in conflict situations and diminish our global stature and ability to compete with global adversaries, like China and Russia.” Other items on the list run the gamut from cybersecurity assistance to administrative resources like printers, conference tables and car maintenance. The internal list, which has not been previously reported, was provided to Congress by a whistleblower. Democrats say it originated from the desk of Peter Marocco, one of the leading figures dismantling USAID alongside Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The State Department has yet to make available a comprehensive list of its terminated programs and did not respond to questions about the list obtained by The Hill. A federal court earlier this month ordered the Trump administration to restart payments on programs initially labeled as paused and under review. However, some groups long funded by USAID say there’s no sign of payments being restored. “In lieu of restarting payments they just went ahead and terminated all of these programs,” a Senate Democratic aide said. The Supreme Court ruled that the administration must pay out reimbursements for programs where funds were initially frozen. At least one aid group contacted by The Hill said it was starting to see some payments. Rubio claims that he has conducted a thoughtful, methodological review to root out waste, fraud and abuse in USAID, without undermining lifesaving programs. Rubio, in a statement on March 10, said he was cutting 83 percent of the agency and terminating 5,200 programs. Court filings put that number at 5,800 programs at USAID and 4,100 at the State Department. The moves are facing a barrage of legal challenges, and the Trump administration is on a string of losses. A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Musk and DOGE likely acted unconstitutionally in their efforts to shutter USAID. Another federal judge ruled earlier this month that President Trump overstepped his constitutional authority in the initial foreign aid freeze. “It’s pretty clear that these guys are not interested in reforming [USAID], they’re interested in destroying [USAID], that’s pretty clear in the way they’re approaching things,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told The Hill shortly after a closed-door meeting with Marocco on March 6. Republicans, even those with concern over canceled programs, largely toe the Trump administration’s line that audacious action is needed to disrupt a slow-moving bureaucracy, and echo criticisms of waste. “You’ve heard me pretty publicly say, we can have a little bit more compassion,” Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said of USAID’s quick shutdown. “If I could be king for a day, would I do it differently? Of course. But I’ll come back to this — we’ve tried to do it the nice way. We’ve tried for decades and we’ve failed. We have to admit the country elected a disruptor.” Rubio, in the March statement, said 1,000 USAID programs would be moved under the auspices of the State Department. Court filings said the administration preserved only 500 programs, and Devex, the media platform covering the global development community, reported USAID staff were ordered to review and rescind terminations to meet the 1,000 program benchmark. Aid groups contacted by The Hill describe more than two months of whiplash, from Trump’s initial foreign aid freeze and stop-work orders, Rubio’s waivers for lifesaving humanitarian assistance, termination letters and then rescinded termination letters. “We never stopped that lifesaving work because we felt it was too important to continue,” Janti Soeripto, Save the Children U.S. president and CEO, said in an interview with The Hill last week. Soeripto described the situation as “fluid” and said the organization has put out an emergency appeal to fill the shortfall left by the federal funding cuts. “What we’re seeing, though, now is a real impact of … other organizations leaving areas. We see increased risks for children, which are already very vulnerable just because there’s less capacity.” Save the Children ended operations in five countries after receiving more than 100 termination letters from USAID. Some of those programs were reinstated, and the organization is just starting to see reimbursements for costs it incurred in December and January as part of its contracts with USAID. Another terminated program that initially received a waiver was a $1.2 million contract aiding victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Women and girls in the DRC are facing a staggering crisis of sexual violence, where the United Nations estimates 60 rapes are occurring per day, and sexual violence is being implemented as a deliberate tactic of war. “That was considered lifesaving, that got a humanitarian waiver,” Rachel Moynihan, a spokesperson for the UNFPA’s Washington office, said of the DRC program. “And then abruptly, on Feb. 26, it was terminated. It’s not clear who within USAID knew who was terminating what.” UNFPA, like all other USAID grant recipients, received immediate stop-work orders as part of Trump’s foreign aid freeze. The organization received some waivers for programs, then termination letters, some of which were pulled back. “The rescission of terminations, we haven’t been talking to anyone, so we don’t know why, but I would hope it’s because this is lifesaving work, and that this is work that really makes a dramatic impact on the lives of some of the most marginalized and vulnerable women in the world,” said Sarah Craven, director of UNFPA’s Washington, D.C., office. “It has been a very confusing time, to put it mildly,” she added. Republicans and Democrats are increasingly split in the fight over foreign assistance, an area of historic bipartisan convergence, but increasingly in the crosshairs of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy. “Mr. Marocco was very clear in exposing the waste that goes on out there in pointing out the way that many of these programs at State and USAID were designed to not be accountable,” Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said after meeting with the USAID deputy head on March 5. “And making sure the priority is to put dollars into programs that save life, food medication and not all the other BS that has been going on, the radical liberal things such as drag shows in Ecuador, doing transgender job fairs in places like Bangladesh for $500,000.” That grant is not on the list that was provided to Congress, but some of the programs included as terminations in Bangladesh include prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, initiatives to promote food security, administrative resources, resilience in natural disasters, economic development, environmental protection and support for women’s rights, to name a few. Helen Keller Intl, an aid group with programs in Bangladesh, said in a statement on March 6 that although the U.S. government had rescinded some terminations, including contracts to provide ready-to-use therapeutic foods used to treat malnutrition, funding has not resumed. Malnutrition programs in Bangladesh are halted, the group told The Hill in an email, and the USAID cuts have also resulted in the group halting similar programs in Nigeria and Nepal. The organization has also suspended work to treat and prevent blinding and disabling diseases in six countries in West Africa. “Without funding and clear guidance on how to resume, children and families around the world continue to go without critical, lifesaving treatment,” the organization said. Helen Keller International, an aid group in Bangladesh, said in a statement on March 6 that although the U.S. government had rescinded some terminations, including contracts to produce ready-to-use therapeutic foods used to treat malnutrition, funding has not resumed. “Without funding and clear guidance on how to resume, children and families around the world continue to go without critical, lifesaving treatment,” the organization said. Some canceled programs appear to contradict goals set by Trump’s diplomatic nominees. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, said it’s one of her “top priorities” to increase American representation in some of the technical organizations at the body to edge out China leading these groups. But listed among USAID’s terminations is “funding to increase Americans in the United Nations’s humanitarian space,” estimated at $736,750. Some of the canceled funds are curious, like a tablecloth shipment that cost $770 in airfreight and clearance charges, used for the mission director’s residence “overseas.” Or $3,659 for a “front office wooden plaque” for a USAID office in Uganda. One organization said they received a termination letter for a program that was already ending in February 2025, underscoring the confusion around the cuts. But overall, critics warn foreign aid cuts are creating a preventable crisis that is contributing to deaths and increased hardship around the world. Aid groups say that even if the U.S. wants to demand that other countries step up contributions, the gap between American funds and the top foreign donors cannot be bridged over a matter of days or weeks. In 2024, the U.S. represented 41 percent of all total global funding for humanitarian aid contributions — a figure that represents about 1 percent of the U.S. budget. The second- and third-highest donors, Germany and the EU, respectively, support only about 8 percent of total humanitarian funding. An internal USAID memo painted a grim picture of the global impact of the cuts. It said Ebola and Marburg virus are likely to impact tens of thousands more people every year; malaria alone could cause 166,000 additional deaths; hundreds of millions of polio infections are likely to occur in children, with 200,000 paralyzed; and 1 million children will be left untreated for severe, acute malnutrition. Still, some Democrats are counting on Republican allies to lean on Rubio to help mitigate the damage, but a Senate Democratic aide acknowledged that the impact is “scattershot.” “I think you’re seeing increasing discontent by Republican lawmakers, who were keen to have a review, and root out what they view as an unnecessary funding, but were not looking at a process that was going to scrap all foreign assistance,” the aide said.

Trump invokes the Alien Enemies Act: A new stage in the erection of a police-state dictatorship - On Saturday, the Trump administration formally invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a major escalation in the erection of a police-state dictatorship. The White House moved immediately to deport hundreds of immigrants, defying a court order that any action be delayed. The Alien Enemies Act, passed in 1798 under President John Adams as part of the Alien and Sedition Acts, grants the president unchecked powers to detain or deport nationals of enemy states without due process. It has been used only three times—during the War of 1812 and World War I, and, most notoriously, during World War II to justify the mass internment of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans. In every prior case, the act was invoked during a formally declared war. Trump, however, is using it to justify an entirely fictitious “war” against gangs allegedly linked to the Venezuelan government. His executive order brands Tren de Aragua (TdA) a “foreign terrorist organization,” supposedly colluding with President Nicolás Maduro to perpetrate “an invasion of and predatory incursion” into the United States. Anyone accused of being a member of TdA is declared ineligible for legal protections under existing immigration laws. Determination of affiliation is made solely on the basis of claims by the president. That is, it asserts the right of Trump to arrest and deport any non-citizen, with no judicial process. Perhaps even more significant than the order itself is Trump’s defiance of a judicial order blocking the deportations, issued just hours after the order’s release. Federal Judge James Boasberg ruled that the US is not at war with Venezuela and ordered planes carrying hundreds of chained and hog-tied passengers to turn back. The Trump administration ignored this order, landing the planes in El Salvador, whose fascistic President Nayib Bukele has offered to open up the notorious Salvadoran prison system and forced labor camps to both immigrants and American citizens. According to Axios, the decision not to turn back the planes was made by Trump’s fascist Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem—on the absurd rationale that the planes were already in international airspace so the judge’s ruling did not apply. The White House has appealed Boasberg’s ruling, with Attorney General Pam Bondi effectively accusing the judge of treason, claiming he had placed “terrorists over the safety of Americans.” Even if the courts ultimately rule against Trump, his administration has no intention of abiding by judicial directives.Trump and his inner circle of fascist sympathizers are systematically demolishing legal and constitutional restraints, with each violation setting the stage for even more brazen assertions of absolute power.

Homan on deportation flights: ‘I don’t care what the judges think’ Border czar Tom Homan said he doesn’t care what the judges think about the deportation flights of Venezuelan gang members as the administration faces a legal battle over the flight. “We’re not stopping,” he said Monday on “Fox & Friends.” “I don’t care what the judges think. I don’t care.”Over the weekend, President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the third time the wartime act has been used and the first since World War II.It was intended to target members of the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) who Trump said could be arrested, restrained and removed from the country.A federal judge expanded a temporary block on the deportations of five of the migrants and verbally ordered the plane carrying nearly 300 alleged TdA members to not leave the U.S. or to turn around. The Trump administration has insisted the plane was already out of U.S. jurisdiction, sparking a more complicated legal battle as the American Civil Liberties Union questioned whether the White House defied the court order.“It wasn’t until this flight was already in international waters heading down to El Salvador that the judge made some comment about returning the flights,” Homan said. “We’re already in international waters. We’re outside the borders of the United States.” Homan argued the judge’s decision to return the flights “defies logic” and he questioned why anyone would want “terrorists returned to the United States.”“Look, President Trump, by proclamation, invoked the authorities of the Alien Enemies Act, which has a right to do, and it’s a game changer. And we removed over 200 violent criminals from the United States, not just TdA, but also MS-13.”

Brown University professor, doctor Rasha Alawieh deported despite court order --An assistant professor from Brown University’s medical school with a valid visa was deported from the U.S. despite a judge’s order that she was not to be removed. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, an appointee of former President Obama, was set to hold a hearing Monday after Rasha Alawieh was deported to Lebanon but canceled it shortly before it began. The deportation came after Sorokin said Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist, was to stay in the country. Alawieh was detained Thursday after returning to the U.S. following travel abroad. Sorokin on Friday ordered the government to provide 48 hours notice before deporting her, but she was then put on a flight out of the country. Her attorneys argue the federal government “willfully” disobeyed the court order. “These allegations are supported by a detailed and specific timeline in an under oath affidavit filed by an attorney. The government shall respond to these serious allegations with a legal and factual response setting forth its version of events,” the judge said. According to court documents, the federal government says Customs and Border Patrol officers did not receive notice of the court order to keep Alawieh in the country until after she was deported and “[a]t no time would CBP not take a court order seriously or fail to abide by a court’s order.” On Sunday night, Alawieh’s attorneys withdrew as her counsel “as a result of further diligence,” and her new team says it needs more time to prepare. It is not immediately clear what led to her lawyers withdrawing from the case. Alawieh was on a H-1B visa that allowed her into the country to work at Brown.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a post on the social platform X that Alawieh went to Lebanon to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, “a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree. Alawieh openly admitted to this to CBP officers, as well as her support of Nasrallah.” The incident comes after the federal government began a deportation crackdown on college campuses starting with Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who recently graduated from Columbia University with a master’s degree. Khalil, described as the lead negotiator during the pro-Palestinian encampment at the university, is currently held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody as he awaits a court hearing.

Georgetown researcher detained by ICE -- A Georgetown University postdoctoral scholar has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), making him the latest foreign student inside the country legally who’s been caught in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown at universities. Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national, was arrested Monday night in Arlington, Va., Politico first reported Wednesday from a legal filing in the case. Officers told Suri his visa had been revoked. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said on the social platform X that Suri was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.” “Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas. The Secretary of State issued a determination on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(i),” McLaughlin added. On Tuesday, a motion was filed to immediately stop the deportation proceedings. A spokesperson for Georgetown University said it is “not aware” of Suri engaging in criminal activity and the university has “not received a reason for his detention.” “We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly,” the school said. Suri’s attorney says he is being persecuted because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife, a U.S. citizen, Politico reported. This is the second student visa the Trump administration has sought to revoke publicly, with one from Columbia University the first to see her visa taken away. The student fled to Canada before she was arrested. The campus crackdown began with Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who was arrested by ICE three months after graduating from Columbia. He was the lead negotiator for the pro-Palestinian encampments. Khalil and Suri are both being targeted under an obscure immigration law that allows the secretary of State to deport noncitizens if they find their presence to be a threat to U.S. foreign policy. Neither Suri nor Khalil has been charged with a crime.

New York Post says Musk is ‘way out of his lane’ in calling for impeachment of Judge Boasberg - The editorial board of The New York Post went after tech billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday, stating that he is “way out of his lane” in calling for the impeachment of a judge who temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. “Elon Musk is way out of his lane in cheering a bid to impeach federal Judge James Boasberg, who’s put a temporary hold on deportation flights of illegal migrant gangbangers,” the editorial board wrote in their Sunday piece, which was highlighted by Mediaite. “We like the idea of the flights: The brutes of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 have had it too easy for far too long, and current efforts to get tough are a necessary correction to Biden-era denial,” they addedRep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) on Saturday said on the social platform X that he is going to “be filing Articles of Impeachment against activist judge James Boasberg this week.”“Necessary,” Musk said in his own post on Sunday, responding to Gill. Last weekend, an order invoking the Alien Enemies Act was signed by the president for the quick deportation of anyone suspected of being a member of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Worries were sparked about large scale deportations of Venezuelans lacking links to the gang due to the process barring a hearing.U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Saturday issued a 14-day halt on deportations for all individuals eligible for removal under the president’s order.

Trump administration defies court on illegal deportations -- The Trump administration is brazenly defying the authority of a federal judge in Washington D.C., who ordered a halt to deportation flights that have sent more than 250 Venezuelan and Salvadoran men to El Salvador, where they were immediately imprisoned by the fascistic government of President Nayib Bukele, acting as a subcontractor for the US. Federal District Judge James Boasberg, the presiding judge in the court that handles cases in the US capital, issued a 14-day restraining order on Saturday against Trump’s executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Boasberg took this action after the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward filed an emergency petition on behalf of five of the Venezuelan prisoners, who denied Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The judge instructed federal officials—first orally from the bench, then in writing—to halt the deportations until the cases could be reviewed in court. He added that if planes were already in the air, they must turn around immediately and return the prisoners to US soil. Instead, two planes that had already taken off from south Texas continued on to El Salvador, landing around midnight, hours after the judge’s order. A third plane took off after the judge’s order and followed the same route. The White House pursued a two-track policy during the day Monday, giving lip service to obeying the order issued by Judge Boasberg, at least at a hearing in front of the judge, while at the same time declaring its open defiance of judicial authority. The tone was set by Trump’s chief fascist thugs on immigration, Tom Homan and Stephen Miller. Homan, the White House “border czar,” told Fox News that the deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act would continue. “We’re not stopping,” he said, “we don’t care what the judges think, or what the Left thinks. We’re coming.” Also speaking on Fox, deputy White House chief of staff Miller claimed that Boasberg’s order was “without doubt the most unlawful order a judge has issued in our lifetimes.” He continued, “A district court judge has no authority to direct the national security operations of the executive branch. The president has operated [at] the absolute apex of his constitutional authority.”

Boasberg says Trump administration ‘evaded’ deadline for deportation flight info ---A federal judge on Thursday said the Trump administration’s response to his request for more information on Venezuelan deportation flights was “woefully insufficient” and “evaded” obligations to show they complied with an earlier court ruling.In a new order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said the Justice Department refused to meet his Thursday deadline to hand over the flight information and instead submitted a declaration from an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official informing that “Cabinet Secretaries are currently actively considering whether to invoke the state secrets privilege.”The order came after Boasberg ordered the government to privately provide more details about the flights in a sealed filing, saying he was once again rebuffed by the government.“The Government again evaded its obligations,” Boasberg wrote, noting that the filing from the ICE official included the same information about the flights.“This is woefully insufficient. To begin, the Government cannot proffer a regional ICE official to attest to Cabinet-level discussions of the state-secrets privilege,” wrote Boasberg, an appointee of former President Obama.He ordered the Trump administration to provide an update from someone directly involved in the discussions by Friday. By Tuesday, officials must explain in writing why they did not violate the court’s orders blocking Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act.The White House and Boasberg have been on a collision course since a Saturday hearing in which the judge ordered the government to turn around or halt flights carrying Venezuelan migrants removed under the 1798 law.Boasberg gave the order to do so both verbally and in writing after the hearing. Both forms of orders are legally binding.Nonetheless, the Justice Department continues to argue that it complied with Boasberg’s written order, suggesting they did not have to comply with the oral order.They have also argued the matter is irrelevant, as the flights were already out of U.S. territory by the time Boasberg’s order landed on the docket.The American Civil Liberties Union, which has sued over the matter, has argued the government had the power to return the Venezuelan deportees from abroad up until the moment they were placed in the custody of a foreign government.The judge has demanded more information about the timing of the flights and who was aboard so he can investigate whether the Trump administration defied his rulings, but the Justice Department has resisted.In a remarkable hearing, Deputy Associate Attorney General Abhishek Kambli kept telling Boasberg he was “not authorized” to disclose information about the flights but provided little legal rationale for doing so. Boasberg ordered the government to provide that rationale in a court filing, but the following day the Justice Department again declined to do so. “The Government maintains that there is no justification to order the provision of additional information, and that doing so would be inappropriate,” the Justice Department wrote in the filing Tuesday.On Wednesday, the administration first signaled it may invoke the state secrets privilege, which allows the government in limited circumstances to prevent sensitive national security information from being disclosed in civil litigation. Boasberg has signaled the government’s arguments “at first blush are not persuasive” but has not made a final ruling.Boasberg is a former Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court judge and has routinely handled cases dealing with highly classified information.

Johnson faces complicated path amid push to impeach Judge Boasberg -- Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is facing a tricky path forward as President Trump and Elon Musk publicly — and persistently — push for the impeachment of the judge who directed flights carrying Venezuelan migrants to be turned around. Trump ignited a controversial campaign this week when he said U.S. District Judge James Boasberg — whom he dubbed a “troublemaker and agitator” — should be impeached, which Musk and other Republican lawmakers joined in on. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) quickly heeded the president’s calls, introducing an article of impeachment against Boasberg that charges him with “abuse of power.” The push, to be sure, has virtually no chance of success, with a number of House moderates casting doubt on the idea, and a supermajority — 67 votes — needed to approve the effort in the Senate. At least 14 Democrats would have to join all Republicans in supporting conviction. But if Trump and Musk press on with their push for the impeachment proceedings — and if a lawmaker forces a vote on the legislation — Johnson could be pushed into a corner, weighing the importance of appeasing the president against protecting his members from what could be a politically difficult vote. The Speaker, for his part, is walking that fine line carefully. A Johnson spokesperson told The Hill this week that the top lawmaker is looking forward to “working with the Judiciary Committee as they review all available options under the Constitution to address this urgent matter.” “Activist judges with political agendas pose a significant threat to the rule of law, equal justice, and the separation of powers,” the spokesperson added. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), meanwhile, was more direct. The longtime conservative said “all options are still on the table” when asked by CNN’s Kasie Hunt on Wednesday if Boasberg, an Obama appointee, should be impeached.

Hundreds of migrants in ICE custody go “missing” as deportees are jailed in El Salvador’s “terrorism” prison. - Following its invocation of the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act on Saturday, claiming an invasion by a Venezuelan gang to justify mass deportations without any due process or legal recourse, the Trump administration is employing tactics reminiscent of the disappearances used by fascist military dictatorships in the last century. Hundreds of migrants are being dragged out of their homes, arrested while making routine appointments with US immigration authorities or intercepted in the street at all hours, often by plainclothes officials, and taken to unknown locations. Lawyers and relatives struggle to find their whereabouts as records are erased or falsified online. Some, accused on an entirely arbitrary basis of being “terrorists” or belonging to gangs, turn up in what are effectively concentration camps overseen by security forces with long records of torture, extrajudicial killings, and fascist repression. These actions, which can only be described as transnational fascism, are not taking place in Spain, Italy or Germany in the 1930s or under the CIA’s “Operation Condor” that coordinated cross-border repression between Latin American dictatorships in the 1970s, but in North America in 2025. On Wednesday, Univision issued the alarming report that there is an ongoing “frantic search among terrified families after hundreds of immigrants go missing from the ICE online locator.” This includes at least 48 people picked up during a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids last week in New Mexico and put on a plane to an unknown destination. Many are feared among the estimated 300 Venezuelan and Salvadoran migrants who were immediately sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador—the largest prison in the Americas—in defiance of a US federal court order challenging the use of the Alien Enemies Act and pausing the deportations. The Trump administration has not only refused the judge’s request to disclose additional information about the two deportation flights to El Salvador. On Monday night, ICE official Robert Cerna recognized in a sworn statement that “many” deported Venezuelans lacked criminal records, making the nonsensical argument that the lack of information on the deportees “actually highlights the risk they pose.” The fascistic President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, featured a propagandistic video of troops and police overseeing the manhandling and humiliation of the migrants as they arrived in what is a sprawling torture center. Bukele thanked the Trump administration for the fee of $6 million dollars to house the migrants for a year and for the forced labor that will be extracted, claiming this will make the Salvadoran prison system self-sustainable. The United States also deported 23 alleged members of the Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13, which was also declared a “foreign terrorist organization” by the Trump administration. Ominously, Bukele said that getting his hands on these alleged members, including two “ringleaders,” would “help us finalize intelligence gathering and go after the last remnants of MS-13.” This can only mean interrogations and torture.

UK issues travel warning to US, citing immigration enforcement --The United Kingdom updated its advice for travel to the United States on Thursday, warning of harsh consequences for British passport holders who violate U.S. immigration laws.The notice comes just a day after Germany updated its travel advice after three of its citizens were detained trying to enter the U.S.The U.K. foreign office confirmed earlier this month that it was providing support to a British national detained in the U.S. after reports circulated of a woman detained at the border, Reuters reported.In its updated advice, the U.K. foreign office told citizens to “comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry.”“The authorities in the U.S. set and enforce entry rules strictly,” the office said. “You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules.”According to archived versions of the U.K. website, guidance in early February only stated that U.S. authorities “set and enforce entry rules,” Reuters reported. Germany this week said it was investigating the cases of three of its citizens being denied entry and placed in detention when they tried to enter through the U.S. southern border.Germany then updated its advisory to warn that entry through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or a U.S. visa, was not guaranteed, and U.S. border control has the final say in allowing people into the country.A Canadian woman also said she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently, The New York Times reported.The detainments are causing international concern among allied countries as the Trump administration vows to crack down on migration into the U.S.

French lawmaker says US should return Statue of Liberty A French politician said Sunday the U.S. should give back the Statue of Liberty in an apparent critique of President Donald Trump's leadership. "We're going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: 'Give us back the Statue of Liberty,'" said French member of the European Parliament Raphaël Glucksmann Sunday, according to local outlet France 24. France gifted the Statue of Liberty to the U.S. after the Civil War, and it has become a renowned symbol of democracy and freedom. "'We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home,'" Glucksmann said at a convention of his Place Publique movement, according to France 24.

67,000 white South Africans express interest in Trump’s plan to give them refugee status (AP) — The United States Embassy in South Africa said Thursday it received a list of more than 67,000 people interested in refugee status in the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate members of a white minority group he claims are victims of racial discrimination by their Black-led government. The list was given to the embassy by the South African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S., which said it became a point of contact for white South Africans asking about the program announced by the Trump administration last month. The chamber said the list does not constitute official applications. Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 7 cutting U.S. funding to South Africa and citing “government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.” Trump’s executive order specifically referred to Afrikaners, a white minority group who are descendants of mainly Dutch and French colonial settlers who first came to South Africa in the 17th century. The order directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to prioritize humanitarian relief to Afrikaners who are victims of “unjust racial discrimination” and resettle them in the U.S. under the refugee program. There are approximately 2.7 million Afrikaners in South Africa, which has a population of 62 million. Trump’s decision to offer some white South Africans refugee status went against his larger policy to halt the U.S. refugee resettlement program. The South African government has said that Trump’s allegations that it is targeting Afrikaners through a land expropriation law are inaccurate and largely driven by misinformation. Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform that Afrikaners were having their farmland seized, when no land has been taken under the new law. The executive order also criticized South Africa’s foreign policy, specifically its decision to accuse Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a case at the United Nations’ top court. The Trump administration has accused South Africa of supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran and taking an anti-American stance. The U.S. has also expelled the South African ambassador, accusing him of being anti-America and anti-Trump.

AG Bondi Declares "Swarm Of Violent Attacks" On Tesla As Domestic Terrorism -US Attorney General Pam Bondi released a statement overnight, calling the "violent attacks" on Tesla showrooms, service centers, Supercharger networks, and vehicles "nothing short of domestic terrorism." "The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism. The Department of Justice has already charged several perpetrators with that in mind, including in cases that involve charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences," Bondi stated in a press release.She continued: "We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes."The latest domestic terrorism attack on Tesla occurred at a service center in Las Vegas early Tuesday morning. Below, we provide readers with dramatic footage (previous post), along with images of the crime scene—featuring one key indication suggesting far-left groups were behind the arson attack.The very fact that the Democrats and their leftist groups are attacking an American company because they are displeased with Elon Musk's DOGE effort to reform the bloated and corrupt federal government—captured by unelected Deep Staters—shows that the so-called party of 'love' is in a massive crisis. Cornered and desperate, Democrats have now resorted to violence.

Howard Lutnick advises buying low on Tesla stock in face of protests -- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has a message for people looking to combat attacks on Elon Musk’s Tesla dealerships: Buy Tesla stock. Lutnick appeared on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Wednesday and was asked about the recent attacks from protesters in several states that have targeted Tesla dealerships, showrooms, charging stations and vehicles. “I mean, this is just so outrageous,” Lutnick replied. “You have probably the best entrepreneur, the best technologist, the best leader of any set of companies in America working for America, and you have this sort of weird side of the Democratic Party attacking him.”Lutnick pointed to Musk’s SpaceX company successfully bringing back the stranded astronauts from the International Space Station this week, highlighting his commitment to the country. The secretary also noted Musk will be building the “next generation” of technology through his various companies.“I think, if you want to learn something on this show tonight: Buy Tesla,” he said. “It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It’ll never be this cheap again.”Lutnick later added, “Who wouldn’t invest in Elon Musk? You got to be kidding.”

Connolly calls for investigation into Lutnick encouraging Americans to buy Tesla stock -- House Oversight and Accountability Committee ranking member Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) requested an investigation into Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s comments urging Americans to buy Tesla stock as the company’s shares dip due to mass firings and reform efforts overseen by CEO Elon Musk. “This is just the latest example of the Trump Administration using taxpayer resources to enrich the President’s inner circle,” Connolly wrote in a Thursday letter to John K. Guenther, acting general counsel for the Department of Commerce.His inquiry comes two months after President Trump dismissed dozens of independent agency watchdogs without Congressional approval. Regulatory agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, are also set to undergo layoffs amid concerns about Musk’s involvement in government proceedings while earning billions from the private sector.Lutnick urged Americans to take advantage of the 34.6 percent drop in Tesla stock to “the best leader of any set of companies in America working for America.”“I think, if you want to learn something on this show tonight: Buy Tesla,” he said during an appearance on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.” “It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It’ll never be this cheap again.”

Trump goes to bat for Tesla as backlash, financial woes escalate -- The White House is going to bat for Tesla as Elon Musk’s electric vehicle (EV) company suffers from financial woes and faces increasingly violent backlash. President Trump and top administration officials have touted Teslas on the White House lawn and urged Americans to buy the company’s struggling stock. The Trump administration has also labeled vandalization of Tesla dealerships and vehicles as “domestic terrorism,” and has filed federal charges against those suspected of destructive acts. The level of support the Trump administration is putting behind the company is unprecedented, especially while Musk is a top adviser to Trump and is leading the efforts to cut federal workers and dismantle agencies. As backlash to Tesla and Musk grows, the White House is doubling down on its defense of the company and the richest person in the world, who has become a bogeyman for the administration as critics blame him for the government overhaul. “It’s wrong and illegal for the Commerce Secretary to be promoting Tesla stock or any specific stock for that matter,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) wrote in a post Thursday on the social platform X. “It’s also wrong and illegal for people to vandalize and destroy Tesla cars. Corruption and violence both damage our democracy.” Tesla’s stock has plummeted in recent weeks, falling nearly 39 percent since the beginning of the year and more than 50 percent since late December. The EV company, whose share price soared in the wake of Trump’s win in November, has shed more than $500 billion in market value in the first few months of 2025 amid concerns about Musk’s attention to the company. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in an interview with Fox News, praised Musk as “the best entrepreneur, the best technologist, the best leader of any set of companies in America working for America.” Then, he suggested Americans buy Tesla stock. “I think, if you want to learn something on this show tonight: Buy Tesla,” Lutnick said. “It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It’ll never be this cheap again.”

Donald Trump signs order to dismantle seven federal agencies, including VOA parent -- President Trump on Friday signed an executive order that aims to eliminate seven federal agencies, including ones that focus on media, libraries, museums and ending homelessness.The president directed the government entities to “be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,” insisting they “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel.” It ordered the heads of each entity to submit a report to the Office of Management and Budget confirming full compliance within seven days.The president targeted the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which is the parent company of Voice of America (VOA), as well as the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an agency that supports libraries, archives and museums in every state.He also dismantled the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, which aims to prevent and end homelessness in the U.S.; the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an agency focused on preventing, minimizing and resolving work stoppages and labor disputes; the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which aims to expand economic opportunity for underserved communities; and the Minority Business Development Agency, which promotes growth of minority-owned businesses. Amid questions over the future of VOA, Trump had picked former Arizona gubernatorial and Senate candidate Kari Lake to lead the outlet. The Trump ally said at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month the international state media broadcaster won’t be “Trump TV” under her watch. While the president doesn’t directly appoint the head of VOA, Trump had nominated conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which would make the decision. Bozell needs to be confirmed by the Senate to take his post and then could select Lake. The U.S. Agency for Global Media also oversees Radio Free Asia, which broadcasts and publishes for audiences in Asia and is seen as a way to combat Chinese propaganda in the region.

Trump administration dismisses Democratic FTC commissioners -- The Trump administration dismissed two Democrats on the Federal Trade Commission, in the latest move by the White House to assert control over independent agencies. The firings are the latest by the president to challenge a 90-year legal precedent that shields members of independent agencies, part of his administration's move to gain greater influence across the government.

For a rank-and-file movement to save the Post Office and oppose dictatorship! -To All USPS Workers, As we take part in rallies this week to defend the United States Postal Service (USPS) against privatization, it is essential to understand the broader context of this struggle. The fight to protect the USPS is not just about defending our jobs, as important as that is. It is part of the fight against an emerging dictatorship in the United States. It can and must be stopped through a mass movement of the working class that can wield its collective power to stop them.Through fascist billionaire Elon Musk and his so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” the corporate oligarchy is carrying out the biggest looting operation in history. At stake is not just the future of USPS, but of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps and other programs on which tens of millions of Americans rely. In an interview, Musk summed up his goal: “Privatize everything we possibly can.” In other words, steal everything that is not bolted down.This is connected with Trump’s sweeping attacks on free speech and other democratic rights, including arrests of student protesters like Mahmoud Khalil for opposing the genocide in Gaza. He is operating with a strategy to transform America into a police state, where workers have no rights and the oligarchs rule like kings.Last week, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy signed an agreement with DOGE—the text of which has not been publicized—in order to help it slash costs. The first item of business is 10,000 job cuts through early retirement over the next months. After that, he has singled out pension obligations, equal service mandates, workers’ compensation and other key programs. Building upon what has already been “accomplished” in the Delivering for America program, the aim is to prepare USPS for privatization by making it as lucrative as possible for potential buyers.USPS is not, and was never meant to be, a source of profit! It is a public service that delivers to every house and business in the country six and in some cases seven times a week. To make it “profitable” would require a vast reduction in service, including the number of days per week that mail and packages are delivered.But in the face of the deepest attacks in the 250-year history of the post office, the union officials in NALC, the NRLCA and APWU have not proposed, much less organized, a serious struggle against these attacks. Instead, they are offering their collaboration, with NALC even proposing to help find ways to close the funding gap in workers’ pension plans by moving the fund into the (rapidly declining) stock market!While Trump defies the courts, the law and the Constitution at will, union officials insist that postal workers must accept anti-democratic strike laws and waste our time writing letters to Congress. Meanwhile, the NALC is currently in expedited arbitration, after NALC workers rejected the first deal by a historic margin. This move deprives workers of the right even to vote on the contract cooked up in arbitration, which will almost certainly be nearly identical to the first one they rejected.Meanwhile, Trump’s “opponents” in the Democratic Party are busy giving him everything he wants, voting on deals to help him pass his budget to carry out massive social cuts. Their pathetic sign-waving, which disgusted millions during Trump’s address to Congress, shows that they will not lift a finger even to warn the public about what is happening. As the other party of Wall Street, the Democrats are more afraid of a movement from below than they are even of fascism.NALC president Brian Renfroe’s position is that the best way to fight privatization is with an arbitrated contract in place. But this is not a “legal” fight, least of all because Trump simply ignores the courts. The White House has already ripped up the contract for TSA airport workers and has ordered federal agencies to ignore existing labor contracts in cutting jobs.In reality, this is a political fight which will be decided in a struggle between social forces.

Seizing on Trump’s trade war, government officials discuss overturning Canada Post’s monopoly on delivering mail - - Discussions are underway at the highest levels of government about eliminating, in whole or in part, Canada Post’s legal monopoly over the delivery of letter mail. Such action is being promoted under the guise of cutting “red tape” on trade within Canada’s borders. A longstanding demand of the most voracious sections of the ruling class, the proposal to eliminate Canada Post’s monopoly has been pushed to the fore in the midst of a roiling trade war with the United States launched by President Donald Trump, who is determined to economically weaken and annex Canada as the 51st state of the United States.According to a white paper posted March 6 by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), the Committee on Internal Trade (CIT) has discussed eliminating Canada Post’s federal exception for the “exclusive privilege”—a legally mandated monopoly—over letter mail from the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).Such an attack would mark a move toward the full privatization of the Crown corporation, which is mandated to deliver mail to every address, including the most remote parts of the vast country. While the “exclusive privilege” currently remains codified in the Canada Post Act, an attack on it by the CIT would open the way for the government to rescind and fully privatize the Crown corporation.The monopoly over letter mail forms the core of the Crown corporation’s operations. Its erosion or elimination in the name of “liberalizing” trade barriers and protecting corporate Canada’s profits during the trade war would mean the destruction of thousands of jobs and the end of Canada Post as it currently operates. It would open all of Canada Post’s operations to competition from private couriers, as is already the case with parcel delivery. In practice, it would allow private operators paying far lower wages to snap up lucrative urban areas, with Canada Post at best being left to serve unprofitable rural and remote parts of the country.

Appeals court denies Trump’s bid to immediately reverse fired federal workers’ reinstatement -A federal appeals court in a 2-1 decision Monday declined to immediately block a judge’s order that the Trump administration reinstate fired probationary employees at six federal agencies. The new ruling, which does not address the legality of the firings, refuses the administration’s request for an administrative stay that would temporarily freeze the ruling until the next stage of the appeal. “Given that the district court found that the employees were wrongfully terminated and ordered an immediate return to the status quo ante, an administrative stay of the district court’s order would not preserve the status quo,” the court wrote in its ruling. “It would do just the opposite — it would disrupt the status quo and turn it on its head.” U.S. Circuit Judge Bridget Bade, a Trump appointee, dissented from her two Democratic-appointed colleagues. Bade warned of a “potential whiplash effect” where the employees rehired under the judge’s order could be fired again. “Plaintiffs do not contest these assertions. They argue that government services upon which they and their organizational members rely have been thrown into chaos by the terminations and that they will continue to be injured by the government’s inability to render services,” Bade wrote. “But Plaintiffs offer no reason to believe that immediate offers of reinstatement would cure these harms,” the judge continued. “Instead, the administrative undertaking of immediately reinstating potentially thousands of employees would likely draw (already depleted) agency resources away from their designated service functions.” The Trump administration has moved rapidly to reshape the federal bureaucracy, including by firing thousands of federal employees in their probationary period, which typically extends for the first year or two of a given employee’s role. The administration appealed after U.S. District Judge William Alsup, an appointee of former President Clinton who serves in San Francisco, last week ordered officials to reinstate those terminated at six agencies by finding the firings were unlawful. Hours later, a federal judge in Baltimore issued a similar ruling that covered roughly a dozen other agencies. As part of Monday’s ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that written briefing be concluded by Thursday on the administration’s motion to block Alsup’s ruling, pending the full appeal.

Trump doubles down after federal judge puts executive order targeting major law firm on hold On March 12, Washington D.C. federal judge Beryl Howell temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order targeting Perkins Coie LLP, the 35th largest US law firm, with sanctions that threaten its existence. “The potential adverse impact cannot be overstated,” Howell said from the bench, adding that the executive order “casts a chilling harm of blizzard proportion across the entire legal profession.” “Our justice system is based on the fundamental belief that justice works best when all parties have zealous advocates,” Howell explained. “That fundamental promise extends to all parties, even those with unpopular ideas or beliefs or causes disliked by President Trump.” Howell concluded, “I am sure that many in the profession are watching in horror at what Perkins Coie is going through.” She described “little chills down my spine” before signing the temporary order blocking the executive order from continuing in effect. Less than 48 hours after Judge Howell’s rebuke, Trump issued a similar executive order targeting Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, the nation’s 44th largest law firm. Hinting that more orders are coming, Trump said, “Global law firms have for years played an outsized role in undermining the judicial process and in the destruction of bedrock American principles,” through “activities that make our communities less safe, increase burdens on local businesses, limit constitutional freedoms, and degrade the quality of American elections.” Both mega-firms cater to the ruling class and align with elements from both bourgeois parties. Nevertheless, the executive orders jeopardize the fundamental right of people to lawyers who will represent them without fear of government retaliation. Trump’s demands for obeisance call to mind the National Socialist League of German Jurists, which compelled lawyers to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler or lose their ability to practice law. Perkins Coie incurred Trump’s wrath by representing Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign, which involved the controversial “Steele dossier” on purported connections between Trump and Russian intelligence. The firm also represented litigants who successfully opposed Trump in multiple lawsuits filed to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, and aligned with the Democratic National Committee to litigate ballot access and voter suppression in the elections of 2016, 2020 and 2024. In addition to the election matters, in which Perkins Coie was backed by “activist donors including George Soros,” the executive order cites “lawsuits against the Trump Administration, including one designed to reduce military readiness,” a reference to Perkins Coie’s representation of current US service members challenging the Trump executive order banning transgender personnel.

Republicans want Elon Musk to shut up about Social Security - Senate Republicans want Elon Musk to stop talking about Social Security, and the Department of Government Efficiency to leave it alone. Musk’s statement that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme,” and his plans to cut up to 12 percent of the Social Security Administration’s workforce, are giving GOP lawmakers heartburn. They warn that Social Security reform is known as the “third rail” of politics for a reason: Any party that touches it is likely to get zapped come Election Day. And Republicans fear that reductions in staff and field offices will boomerang on them, predicting constituents will grow frustrated if it becomes more difficult and time-consuming to address problems related to benefit claims. “It doesn’t help the president when you have somebody who clearly is not worried about whether or not Social Security benefits are going to be there for him” leading the effort to shrink the Social Security Administration, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), referring to Musk, the world’s richest person. “It worries Americans all over the country,” she said of people who rely on Social Security benefits to live day to day. “This is why Social Security has been kind of viewed as the untouchable from a political perspective, and why the president made very clear we’re not dealing with Social Security.” She said Musk’s claim that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” and rife with fraud “doesn’t do anything to calm the anxiety of people who are already anxious about what’s going on with some of the safety-net programs.”

House Republicans defend in-person town halls amidst protests House Republicans who faced hostile crowds and viral confrontations at town halls in their districts are defending their decision to hold the events — despite recommendations from House GOP leaders to avoid them.“I think that was able to show folks that Republicans can and should stand our ground,” Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) said.Edwards, at his Ashville town hall last week, faced boos and a swarm of protesters who were angry about his support for President Trump, and about cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).“I went toe-to-toe with the progressive left, all 12 rounds. I believe that there were some media vehicles out there that helped me communicate effectively the things that we were doing. … I would certainly do it again,” Edwards told The Hill in an interview.House Republican leaders had warned members earlier this month that coordinated activists and protesters would derail the events, and argued that members could reach more constituents and voters with live-streamed or tele-town halls instead. Protests are exactly what happened at the town halls for several Republicans who chose to face in-person crowds during a week-and-a-half break from Washington, with progressive groups like Indivisible and local Democratic groups encouraging activists to turn up at the events.Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.), despite calling for civility at the start of the event and talking about his focus on the national debt, also faced boos at a raucous town hall this week. In addition to concerns about Musk and DOGE, attendees accused him of not doing enough to support Ukraine, though Flood noted that he voted for previous aid packages to Ukraine and his belief that the country should not give any land to Russia.Flood told The Hill that he had already planned to host a town hall before leaders advised them not to, and did not want to go back on that despite expecting pushback from a “vocal minority.”“I think even those folks that disagree with my position, there’s value in them having the chance to tell their member of Congress what they think and to watch me listen and then have me respond,” Flood said.And the congressman found the event valuable himself. “The most valuable thing I took away from the 90 minutes was there were a lot of questions about the Veterans Administration,” Flood said, adding that he is planning to sit down with the House Veterans’ Affairs chairman, visit the VA hospital in his district, and build more relationships with those who can help with veterans’ issues. “It was on my radar, but not the way it’s going to be, because there was a real focus on veterans’ issues.”Utah Republican Reps. Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy also faced a hostile crowd at a joint town hall this week. Local reporters at KUTV documented attendees disrupting, booing and flashing their middle fingers.“When the political temperature is hot, I don’t think the solution is to stop engaging with constituents,” Maloy said in a statement. “I am willing to have tough conversations on issues that are hardly ever black and white. I want to continue doing town halls, and I’m willing to show up and listen and answer questions. I hope the public will keep engaging as we move forward together.”

Trump's Acting NIH Director appoints himself as acting head of the office that controls external grant funding. So, that's fun. The Office of Extramural Funding distributes a cool $34.9 billion. – by Jeremy Faust, MD --Dr. Matthew Memoli, the Acting Director of the NIH, went ahead and just appointed himself as the lead for the Office of Extramural Research last week. The OER funded around $34.9 billion worth of grants to researchers outside of the NIH in 2023. That money was distributed across nearly 59,000 projects, with an average of $592,000 per award. Rising from relatively obscurity from within the agency, Dr. Memoli was appointed to temporarily run the NIH during President Trump’s first week in office.This latest move is somewhat puzzling. First, as per the memo above, the announcement came days before the expected confirmation of a Senate-confirmed permanent director. So, it’s possible that Memoli is trying to decide what future job he wants, given that his previous position at the NIH was nowhere close to top-brass leadership and that his days as Acting Director are likely winding down. On the other hand, as you can see in the memo, he also delegated most of the authority of the position to three underlings. I’ll speak to some people at the NIH and try to get some answers. The previous acting director of OER, Dr. Liza Bundesen is said to have resigned from the position after taking over sometime in February. Prior to that, the position had belonged Dr. Michael Lauer since 2018, who retired from the NIH after around 18 years there. A holdover in the job from both the previous Trump and Biden administrations, Lauer’s exit was described as “abrupt.”Why Dr. Bundesen has also now left, on the eve of the arrival of a new permanent NIH Director is unclear to me. However, the last couple of weeks have been marked by targeted external grant terminations aimed at LGBTQ-related research and vaccine hesitancy research, both signs that the real power at the NIH belongs to the DOGE cronies who wrote the notifications, as reported here in Inside Medicine. It didn’t escape my notice that both Lauer and Bundesen did not merely leave their positions—but the NIH entirely.It’s feasible that nobody with any actual NIH experience wants the Deputy Director for Extramural Research job right now, and it’s easy to see why, given the betrayal of its mission. Long-time NIH employees like Dr. Lauer and Dr. Bundesen probably didn’t sign up to be the figureheads for a bunch of DOGE-driven grant terminations. Meanwhile, it was reported yesterday that UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester rescinded graduate school offers to biomedical science graduate students out of fear that the longstanding NIH funding that supports the salaries of those students may not be reliable.Taken together, it looks to me like nobody with any credibility wants to take over the wheel of the sinking ship that is NIH-funded extramural research at the moment. Still, at some point, the NIH will have to start funding new research—because, yes, Congress still exists and it decides how much research the federal government funds, not a bunch of Trump administration officials firing off memos. So, one could surmise that Memoli is taking this job because nobody else wants it now and it sets him up to slide into a high-ranking possibly permanent position once his tenure as Acting Director of the entire NIH ends. That said, the soon-to-be incoming director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, is under no obligation to keep Memoli in that role, just because he appointed himself to it last week.

NIH crackdown on mRNA research: The Trump administration’s march toward scientific censorship - The revelation that National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials are instructing scientists to scrub references to mRNA technology from their grant applications is an unmistakable sign of the Trump administration’s war on science.This brazen attack, detailed in leaked emails and firsthand accounts from researchers, is not an isolated incident. It is part of a far-reaching, deliberate assault on public health, spearheaded by the Trump administration through Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine demagogue now installed as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary.The ruling elites’ unrelenting effort to dismantle scientific institutions, suppress research, and weaponize public health policies against the population has been ongoing for years. But with Trump and his vassal Kennedy at the helm, this war on science and public health has entered a new, more sinister phase. Scientists are now being coerced into self-censorship, fearing that even acknowledging mRNA vaccines in their research proposals could cost them funding—and their careers.Multiple scientists have come forward, under the cover of anonymity, to reveal that NIH officials warned them to remove references to mRNA vaccine technology from grant applications. A monumental achievement of science, developed over the course of decades of pioneering research, mRNA technology is currently the most promising advance in the fight against cancer, AIDS and other infectious diseases.An NIH official confirmed that acting Director Matthew Memoli instructed staff to report any mRNA vaccine-related grants, contracts, or collaborations to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s office and the White House. Memoli further cancelled other research, such as on vaccine hesitancy.This unprecedented directive signals the agency’s intention to abandon a field of research that has saved millions of lives worldwide. The COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which relied on mRNA technology, have been administered to billions, with conservative estimates crediting them for preventing at least three million deaths in the U.S. alone.Scientists rightfully fear that this is the precursor to an outright ban on federally funded mRNA research, a decision driven not by evidence, but by the anti-vaccine conspiracy theories that have become gospel in Trump’s circles. The final goal: to dismantle public health and divert all social funds to the billionaires.According to an NIH-funded scientist in New York, who spoke to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF.org) under conditions of anonymity, “There will not be any research funded by NIH on mRNA vaccines. MAGA people are convinced that these vaccines have killed and maimed tens of thousands of people. It’s not true, but they believe that.”This paranoia, fueled by disinformation, has real-world consequences—not only for scientific progress but for the countless lives that could be saved by future mRNA-based vaccines, especially considering the promising ongoing research on cancer.The decision to suppress mRNA research cannot be separated from the broader attack on public health orchestrated by Kennedy. Long before he was installed as HHS Secretary, Kennedy had built his career on spreading disinformation about vaccines, in the process accruing millions of dollars in personal wealth. Now, he has the full power of the federal government at his disposal to impose his anti-vaccine ideology.

WHO director details health disruptions from US funding cuts, urges a more humane approach --The United States has been extremely generous for many years with its support for global health projects and is well within its rights to set its own priorities and funding levels, but the country has a responsibility to withdraw direct funding in an orderly and humane way that allows countries and groups to find alternative support, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday at a briefing.Comments from WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, his most direct to date on the US cuts, come as regional health groups take stock of the impact of the cuts and seek to bolster other alliances and ways to boost domestic spending to address urgent health threats.Tedros also said the WHO is already seeing an impact from the Trump administration's freeze on foreign aid and its plans to shutter the US Agency for International Development (USAID), an independent US government agency established in 1961 and tasked with administering foreign aid and developmental assistance.For example, over the past two decades the United States has been the biggest bilateral donor in the battle against malaria, which Tedros said has helped prevent 2.2 billion cases and 12.7 million deaths. "There are now severe disruptions to the supply of malaria diagnostics, medicines, and insecticide-treated bed nets due to stock outs, delayed delivery, or lack of funding," Tedros said, adding that if disruptions continue, hot spot countries could see 15 million malaria cases and 107,000 deaths this year alone, reversing 15 years of progress.Suspensions of most funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has led to an immediate stop in HIV treatment, testing, and prevention in more than 50 countries. The director-general added that eight countries are experiencing substantial disruptions in antiretroviral therapy, with some set to run out in the months ahead.Regarding tuberculosis (TB), Tedros said 27 countries in Africa and Asia are experiencing crippling response breakdowns, with 9 reporting failing supply chains for TB drugs, putting the lives of patients at risk. "Over the past two decades, U.S. support for TB services has helped to save almost 80 million lives. Those gains, too, are at risk," Tedros said. Also, he said the WHO's global measles and rubella lab network was funded solely by the United States and faces a shutdown at the worst possible time as measles cases surge and number of outbreaks increase for the third year in a row.Tedros encouraged the United States to reconsider its support for global health, which he said saves lives and also makes the United States safer. "Whether or not U.S. funding returns, other donors will need to step up, but so too must countries that have relied on U.S. financing, to the extent they can," he said. "WHO has long called for all countries to progressively increase domestic health spending, and that is now more important than ever."The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said that the US funding cuts come against a backdrop of an overall decline in support from Western countries over the past 4 years, and African health ministers are in the process of taking stock of the situation and looking at other sustainable financing options.On March 11, Africa CDC announced the launch of a new African Epidemic Fund, which is designed to streamline and speed deployment of support for outbreak responses. The financing is a collaboration between Africa CDC, the African Union Commission, and the African Union Development Agency.Africa is grappling with multiple health threats, which increased from 152 in 2022 to 213 in 2024. A multi-country mpox outbreak has affected 23 African nations, some of which have battled other recent outbreaks, including Ebola Sudan and Marburg virus.Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya, MD, MPH, met today with European Centres for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Director Pamela Rendi-Wagner, MD, at ECDC headquarters in Stockholm to discuss deeper collaboration between the two groups.In a statement, Rendi-Wagner said the work has already begun through ECDC contributions to Africa CDC–led outbreak responses. The agencies will also collaborate on "One Health" workforce development, which the ECDC said is essential for addressing the antimicrobial resistance threat. The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional office yesterday warned that the funding shortages could force the closure of 80% of WHO-supported healthcare services in Afghanistan by June. As of March 4, the funding cuts shuttered 167 healthcare facilities, cutting off medical care to 1.6 million people across 25 of the country's provinces.Without intervention, 220 more could close by June, the regional office said, leaving 1.8 million more without care. "In the worst affected regions--Northern, Western and Northeastern Afghanistan--more than a third of health care centres have shut down, raising alarms about an imminent humanitarian crisis," the group said.

Trump administration to open more Alaska acres for oil, gas drilling (Reuters) - U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Thursday announced steps to open up more acreage for oil and gas leasing and lift restrictions on building an LNG pipeline and mining road in Alaska, carrying out President Donald Trump's executive order to remove barriers to energy development in the state. Burgum said the agency plans to reopen the 82% of Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve that is available for leasing for development and reopen the 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing. He also said the administration would revoke restrictions on land along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor and Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River and convey the land to the State of Alaska, which would pave the way forward for the proposed Ambler Road and the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas Pipeline project. “It’s time for the U.S. to embrace Alaska’s abundant and largely untapped resources as a pathway to prosperity for the Nation, including Alaskans,” said Burgum. Drilling in Alaska's pristine Arctic refuge has long been a source of friction between Alaska lawmakers and tribal corporations seeking to open more acres to drilling to spur economic growth, and Democratic presidential administrations that sought to preserve the local ecosystem and wildlife. A January 8 lease auction that had been mandated by Congress held under the Biden administration's Interior Department received no bids from energy companies. The Biden administration last year rejected the Ambler Road Project, a proposed 211-mile road that would connect to a rare earths mining district. Alaska's Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy and the state's congressional delegation have pushed for a reversal of Biden's Alaska resource development policies. Some Alaska indigenous nations have also called for the right to develop resources in ANWR and the National Petroleum Reserve, and welcomed the announcement. “We applaud today’s decision by DOI and Secretary Burgum," said Kaktovik Iñupiat Corporation President Charles Lampe. "As the only community within ANWR’s 19-million-acre boundaries, we have fought for years for our right to self-determination and local economic development in our Indigenous homelands. The oil industry has signalled it would be hesitant to rush into Alaska given its high risk and the possibility of a political pendulum swing in four years that could put Alaska off limits again. Environmental groups criticized the move that would disturb what they call one of the last wild places on earth, putting caribou, polar bears and migratory birds at risk. "Expanding oil drilling across public lands in the Arctic is risky, harmful to the health and well-being of people who reside nearby, devastating to wildlife and bad for the climate,” said Carole Holley, Managing Attorney in Earthjustice’s Alaska Regional Office.

Trump administration takes steps to expand Arctic drilling, including in contentious wildlife refuge - - The Trump administration formally announced Thursday that it planned to expand drilling in the Arctic, including in the contentious Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Interior Department said that it would take steps toward opening up the entire 1.56 million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. Drilling in the refuge was restricted under the Biden administration, and amid the restrictions oil companies decided against pursuing fossil fuels there.In addition, the department said that it would seek to open up 82 percent of the separate National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’s Western Arctic. The decision comes after the Biden administration limited drilling there to less than half of the 23 million-acre reserve. The Trump administration also indicated it would revoke a Biden-era decision that blocked an Alaska mining road and that it would take steps to bolster a gas pipeline project.“It’s time for the U.S. to embrace Alaska’s abundant and largely untapped resources as a pathway to prosperity for the Nation, including Alaskans,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in a written statement.“For far too long, the federal government has created too many barriers to capitalizing on the state’s energy potential. Interior is committed to recognizing the central role the State of Alaska plays in meeting our nation’s energy needs, while providing tremendous economic opportunity for Alaskans,” he said. The moves are not necessarily a surprise. President Trump on his first day in office signed an executive order calling for opening up more drilling in the Arctic. During his first term, Trump also opened up about 82 percent of the National Petroleum Reserve for drilling — up from the 52 percent that was open under the Obama administration. The actions are also not final, as actually implementing these policies will require going through a lengthy regulatory process. But the announcement marks the first formal step toward action.The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is particularly contentious because it is home to animals including grizzly bears, polar bears, gray wolves, caribou and more than 200 species of birds, as well as land considered sacred to the Gwich’in people. However, others, including other Alaska Native groups, have said they want to drill there in order to bolster the state’s economy. Obama-Appointed Judge Temporarily Blocks EPA From Canceling Climate Grants - A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from terminating grants that were part of a $20 billion climate funding program created by the previous administration. In a 23-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan - nominated by President Obama - issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the EPA from terminating grants awarded to three environmental groups—Climate United, Coalition for Green Capital, and Power Forward Communities—and block Citibank from transferring the funds back to the government. According to the court ruling, the EPA explained that it was terminating the grants due to multiple ongoing investigations into “programmatic waste, fraud, and abuse and conflict of interest.” Chutkan said the evidence was insufficient as the agency failed to provide specific information about the investigations, factual support for the decision, or an individualized explanation for each plaintiff. “Based on the record before the court, and under the relevant statutes and various agreements, it does not appear that EPA Defendants took the legally required steps necessary to terminate these grants, such that its actions were arbitrary and capricious,” the judge wrote. Chutkan said the plaintiffs would face imminent harm if Citibank were to transfer the funds—which they use to pay staff, rent, and fund projects—out of their accounts, as the money would be unrecoverable by then. The judge stated that the plaintiffs have no cash or reserves available to cover their operating expenses and have no other committed sources of funding that could replace the grants. Climate United was awarded $6.97 billion, the Coalition for Green Capital received $5 billion, and Power Forward Communities received $2 billion last year through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created under the Inflation Reduction Act. Their grants, held by Citibank, were part of the $20 billion in funding the Biden administration awarded to eight entities for projects aimed at curbing pollution. The three nonprofits filed the lawsuit on March 8 after Citibank withheld their funding and their grants were terminated. The plaintiffs alleged that the EPA’s decision to terminate their grants was unlawful.

Trump signs order on critical mineral production --President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order intended to boost production of critical minerals in the United States and confirmed a deal to gain access to minerals in Ukraine was still on track. Trump signed the order behind closed doors at the White House. A spokesperson said the order would streamline permitting to allow for increased mining of the minerals. The order invokes wartime powers under the Defense Production Act to expand domestic U.S. mining production, according to information shared by a White House official. In addition, the efforts to increase mineral production may end up including coal, if Interior Secretary Doug Burgum decides that the fossil fuel should fall under the definition of “minerals.” “It’s a big thing in this country. And as you know we’re also signing agreements in various locations to unlock rare earths and minerals and lots of other things all over the world. But in particular Ukraine,” Trump said at an event where he signed a measure aimed at dismantling the Department of Education. “One of the things we are doing is signing a deal very shortly with Ukraine with respect to rare earth,” Trump added. U The minerals executive order, meanwhile, takes additional steps to bolster mining, according to the White House. This includes allowing approvals for more mining projects to be fast-tracked, directing the Interior Department to prioritize mining over other uses of federal lands and developing financing methods, including the creation of a new fund through the United States International Development Finance Corporation. Rare earth elements refers to a specific group of materials that are only deposited in relatively small quantities and can be used in a variety of applications including electronics, health care and batteries.Ukraine has a significant amount of those elements, and they have been central to negotiations between the U.S. and Kyiv as Trump pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine.Trump administration officials brokered a deal with Ukraine to give the U.S. access to those minerals. The president and his advisers have argued giving the U.S. an economic stake in those critical minerals would provide an increased security incentive for protecting Kyiv against Russian aggression.

Energy Producers Call For Repeal Of Democrats’ Climate Law --- A group of midsize oil and gas producers have a clear message for congressional leaders: abolish the hundreds of billions in clean energy tax credits passed by Democrats.In a new letter to tax committee leaders, the group argues a full repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act is the only “moral and practical path forward” to “truly unleash American energy.”“We, the undersigned American energy producers and investors, write to voice our principled support for full repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) energy subsidies, including subsidies that would appear to be in our firms’ and industry’s benefit,” said a letter released Friday from companies including Atlas Energy Services, Spectra Holdings and Innovex International. Alex Epstein, who leads the pro-fossil-fuel advocacy group Energy Freedom Fund, helped coordinate the effort.

Trump signs order to work towards eliminating Dept. of Education --President Trump signed an executive order Thursday seeking to facilitate his longstanding goal of eliminating the Department of Education.While the order recognizes it would take an act of Congress to completely shutter the department, Trump directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to do all she can to achieve its end. “Today, we take a very historic action that was 45 years in the making,” he said at a signing ceremony at the East Room of the White House that included multiple school-age children sitting at classroom desks. “I will sign an executive order to begin eliminating the federal Department of Education.” “The department’s useful functions … will be preserved, fully preserved,” Trump added, referring to Pell Grants, Title I funding and programs for students with disabilities. “They’re going to be preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments.” “But beyond these core necessities, my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department. We’re going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible,” he added at the ceremony, which was attended by Republican lawmakers and governors, including Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.The White House said earlier Thursday the Education Department will still keep its critical functions that are mandated by Congress.“The Department of Education will be much smaller than it is today. As you know, the president’s executive order directed Linda McMahon to greatly minimize the agency. So, when it comes to student loans and Pell Grants, those will still be run out of the Department of Education,” Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

McMahon says Trump admin will ‘do everything legally’ in dismantling of Education Department Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said Thursday President Trump is committed to using legal measures to dismantle the Department of Education. “I think he was correct in saying that we were going to do everything legally. That’s what he has said to me from the very beginning,” McMahon said during an evening appearance on Fox News’s “Special Report” with Bret Baier. “He would like for me to move as swiftly as we can because he believes the sooner that we can close the department, the more efficiently we can have funds distributed to the states, and perhaps they will even have more funding when there isn’t the overhead on bureaucracy from the Department of Education,” she added. Trump signed a Thursday executive order seeking to pull apart the functions of the department, the brainchild of late President Jimmy Carter. “Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them. Today, American reading and math scores are near historical lows,” Trump wrote. “This year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math. The Federal education bureaucracy is not working,” he added. However, White House officials have confirmed they will wait for Congressional approval before the department goes de facto. Republicans hold the majority in both the House and the Senate and could gain the votes needed to approve the department’s closure. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) has already promised to introduce legislation regarding the fulfillment of the executive order while President Trump has promised to reassign Title I funds and Pell Grants to other agencies for oversight. His efforts follow that of former President Ronald Reagan, who first aimed to dismantle the department in 1981 but later settled for large cuts to the federal education budget. Trump said the Department of Education’s closure would rid the nation of “federal bureaucracy” while Carter originally said creating the oversight would accomplish the same goal.

Top House Democrats urge McMahon, Trump administration to reverse decision on Department of Education - Top House Democrats urged Education Secretary Linda McMahon and the Trump administration to reverse a Thursday move to begin dismantling the Department of Education.“Students, teachers, and schools across the country rely on the Department’s important work to ensure that all people are able to access and grow through education, and we have serious doubts the remaining staff at the Department have the capacity to fulfill this mission,” Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking members on the House Oversight Committee and House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said in a Thursday letter to McMahon.“We urge you to reverse these short-sighted decisions before they cause any more damage to America’s students, families, and educators,” continued the letter.On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order to facilitate his goal of getting rid of the Department of Education. The order recognizes that it would take congressional action to completely close down the department, but Trump ordered McMahon to do all she can to result in its abolition.“Today, we take a very historic action that was 45 years in the making,” Trump said during a White House signing ceremony Thursday. “I will sign an executive order to begin eliminating the federal Department of Education.”“The department’s useful functions … will be preserved, fully preserved,” the president added in reference to Pell Grants, Title I funding and programs for students with disabilities. “They’re going to be preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments.”Among other requests that Connolly and Scott made in the letter to McMahon were documents allowing for “a reduction in” the workforce of the department and “every statutory responsibility entrusted to the Department that” McMahon “considered in announcing your illegal mass terminations.”

DNC chair: Trump told students ‘he doesn’t give a damn about them’ with move against Department of Education -Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin said President Trump told students “he doesn’t give a damn about them” with a recent move against the Department of Education. “Today, Donald Trump and the corrupt billionaire he installed as Education Secretary told 50 million public school students across America that he doesn’t give a damn about them. We should be investing in kids instead of billionaires,” a statement from Martin in a Thursday DNC release obtained by The Hill’s sister network NewsNation reads. On Thursday, the president signed an executive order looking to facilitate his goal of getting rid of the Department of Education. The order recognizes that it would take congressional action to completely close down the department, but Trump ordered Education Secretary Linda McMahon to do all she can to result in its abolition. “Today, we take a very historic action that was 45 years in the making,” Trump said during a White House signing ceremony Thursday. “I will sign an executive order to begin eliminating the federal Department of Education.” “The department’s useful functions … will be preserved, fully preserved,” the president added in reference to Pell Grants, Title I funding and programs for students with disabilities. “They’re going to be preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments. But beyond these core necessities, my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department. We’re going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible.” In the last few months, the Trump administration has moved to drastically reshape the federal government, causing dramatic change at agencies and departments across the government. Up Next - Concerns over economic chaos are weighing on Trump's approval rating “If you’re a public school student, a working family, or a parent whose child is on an [Individual Education Program], Trump is directly attacking you. And from Appalachia to the rural South, his own voters will suffer,” read the statement from Martin.

Trump says student loans moving to SBA, ‘special needs’ to HHS - President Trump said Friday he is “immediately” moving the handling of federal student loans to the Small Business Administration (SBA), and shifting programs for students with disabilities to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as his White House seeks to wind down and eventually eliminate the Education Department. “I’ve decided that the SBA, the Small Business Administration, headed by Kelly Loeffler, will handle will all of the student loan portfolio,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, noting it is a “pretty complicated deal, and that’s coming out of the Department of Education immediately.” “And also, Bobby Kennedy, with the Health and Human Services Department, will be handling special needs and all the nutrition programs and everything else,” he continued. “I think that will work out very well. Those two elements will be taken out of the Department of Education,” the president added. The announcement comes a day after Trump signed an executive order for Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the Education Department as far as is legally allowed. While the department can’t be completely eliminated without an act of Congress, the Trump administration has made it clear it will seek to abolish any programs not in statute and move congressionally mandated requirements to other federal agencies.

Small Business Administration cutting 40 percent of workforce -- The Small Business Administration (SBA) plans to cut more than 40 percent of its workforce amid an agency-wide restructuring, it announced Friday. The agency will cut about 2,700 positions out of its workforce of nearly 6,500 employees, reverting to staffing levels from the first Trump administration, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said. “The SBA was created to be a launchpad for America’s small businesses by offering access to capital, which in turn drives job creation, innovation, and a thriving Main Street,” Loeffler said in a statement. “But in the last four years, the agency has veered off track — doubling in size and turning into a sprawling leviathan plagued by mission creep, financial mismanagement, and waste,” she continued. The cuts will come through voluntary resignations, the elimination of pandemic-era roles and other term appointments, and a “limited number” of reductions in force, according to a press release. The announcement came the same day President Trump revealed he plans to move the handling of student loans — currently the purview of the Department of Education — to the SBA. Certain accountability roles will be exempt from the reductions, including the Office of Advocacy and the Office of the Inspector General, the SBA noted. It also emphasized that core services to the public will not be impacted. “Just like the small business owners we support, we must do more with less,” Loeffler added. The recently confirmed SBA administrator criticized the agency’s expansion under former President Biden, blaming a “suite of new progressive programs.” She argued the previous administration’s efforts led to the “deterioration of SBA’s services and financial performance.” The cuts to the agency come amid a government-wide push to slash the federal workforce led by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Several hundred probationary employees at SBA were fired last month in a chaotic series of events, in which they prematurely received termination notices that were withdrawn before receiving termination notices once again just days later, according to Politico.

Trump ‘disappointed,’ vows to ‘fix’ Kennedy Center after first tour -President Trump says he’s “disappointed” with what he saw while touring the Kennedy Center for the first time after naming himself chair of the performing arts institution as part of an unprecedented overhaul, vowing to fix up a place he says “represents a very important part” of both Washington and the country.“It’s in tremendous disrepair, as is a lot of the rest of our country, most of it because of bad management,” Trump told reporters Monday after he toured the Kennedy Center and met for the first time as chair of its board.Trump, a former New York real estate developer, said he took issue with some of the structural components of the space, claiming the center “spent a fortune” on underground rooms “that nobody’s going to use.”While it’s unclear what areas Trump was referring to, the Kennedy Center underwent an award-winning $250 million expansion project in 2019. “I’m very disappointed when I look around. The bottom line: It has tremendous potential. And we’ll work with Congress. … It’s a very public facility, and we’ll do what has to be done,” Trump said.“We’re going to fix it up, but it’s really emblematic of our country,” he said.It’s the first time Trump stepped foot in the space since announcing in February that he would boot multiple members of the Kennedy Center’s board and serve as its chair. He accused the prominent arts hub of being too “woke” and appointed Richard Grenell, his envoy for special missions, as its interim executive director.

Trump regime demands Australian universities end “anti-US” and “socialist” links -- Over the past fortnight, in line with the Trump administration’s fascistic “Make America Great Again” agenda, United States government agencies have sent Australian researchers working on joint projects with American colleagues a 36-point questionnaire, clearly threatening to cut off their funding.The five-page questionnaire, which appears to be a global notice, essentially demands that all research serve US military and strategic interests, as well as the Trump White House’s far-right offensive against government jobs, social services, science, public health, public education, environmental protection and “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) programs. To be completed and returned within 48 hours, the political interrogation features questions about any connections to socialist or communist parties, China or other designated US enemies, and “anti-American beliefs,” as well as “gender ideology.”Universities and researchers in Australia and internationally are being targeted as part of the Trump administration’s termination of billions of dollars of research grants both in the US and globally, which has already triggered protests from thousands of scientists, educators and students across the US. In Australia, this missive imperils hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding and thousands of jobs. This is intensifying the pressure on the country’s public universities, which are already axing more than 2,000 jobs as a direct result of the Albanese Labor government’s reactionary cuts to international student enrolments and continued chronic under-funding of universities.The questionnaire combines the Trump administration’s drive to suppress left-wing opposition to its anti-immigrant offensive and Elon Musk-led domestic war on working-class services, jobs and conditions, with its global war plans, particularly directed against China. One question asks: “Can you confirm that your organisation does not work with entities associated with communist, socialist or totalitarian parties, or any party that espouses anti-American beliefs.” Another demands: “Can you confirm that your organisation has not received ANY funding from PRC [People’s Republic of China] (including Confucius Institutes and/or partnered with Chinese state and non-state actors), Russia, Cuba or Iran.” Question 6 asks whether the university prohibits collaboration, funding or support for policies that are “contrary to US government interests, national security, and sovereignty.” Other questions demand that projects must help in ending “illegal immigration” or “strengthening US border security.” Further questions include: “Can you confirm this is not a climate or ‘environmental justice’ project or include such elements?” “What impact does this project have in increasing American influence, trust and reputation within foreign governments?” and “Does this project directly impact efforts to strengthen US supply chains or secure rare earth minerals?”Questions insist that research projects must “strengthen patriotic values” and “reinforce US sovereignty by limiting reliance on international organizations or global governance structures (e.g., UN, WHO).” The questionnaires were dispatched by various US federal agencies, enforcing an executive memo from the office of the president requiring researchers to identify all funding was consistent with “policies and requirements.”Australian universities have already had research grants suspended or terminated by the Trump administration. According to the “Group of Eight” (Go8) elite universities, their researchers were notified shortly after the US election that projects spanning a range of topics, from agriculture to foreign aid and diversity and equity, had been cancelled under US higher education cuts, pending a review.Several research-intensive universities also have received show-cause notifications to justify funding, seeking a response within 24 hours. For decades, the US has been by far the largest international research partner for Australian universities, including about 80 percent of all current collaborations at Go8 universities. About $515 million in funding for research at Go8 universities in 2024 came from the US, much of which went to military and medical science projects.That highlights how far the universities are already integrated into US military and weapons research. This includes expanding ties with military conglomerates, such as the Lockheed Martin research centre at the University of Melbourne.The US offensive has provoked alarm and outrage among university staff, many of whom face potential unemployment, as well as a wholesale assault on research and free speech. In response, the Albanese government has nevertheless avoided any criticism of the Trump White House, instead pleading for the continuation of the partnership with US institutions.A spokesperson for Education Minister Jason Clare said Australia was “engaging with the US government to understand what these measures mean for future funding and collaboration,” adding: “Australia and United States research institutions have a long history of cooperation that has helped develop new technologies and solutions to global challenge.”University managements have scurried to underscore their commitment to the US strategic alliance, complaining that it could be damaged by Washington’s measures. Go8 chief executive Vicki Thomson stated:“Go8 universities are deeply engaged in collaborative activities with the US, especially through our defence initiatives and the AUKUS alliance… For every one of our members, the US is the largest research partner by far.”The AUKUS pact involves spending hundreds of billions of dollars on long-range nuclear-powered submarines, other weaponry and upgraded Australian military bases for use in a war against China, and ensuring that all research is subordinated to that effort. The reaction of the main campus trade union, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), displayed a similar pitch to that of the university managements while striking a nationalist stance against “blatant foreign interference.” NTEU national president Alison Barnes urged the Labor government to “push back” and “guarantee Australian researchers would be protected.” Barnes stated: “Donald Trump’s hateful agenda is racist, transphobic and misogynistic. The idea of research funding being tied to any of those values is sickening.” But her media statement was completely silent on the Trump administration’s demand for an unconditional alignment behind US militarism.

Trump denounces media criticism as “illegal” in Justice Department rant - In an hour-long campaign-style speech to his own appointees and aides at the Department of Justice, President Donald Trump threatened to jail his political opponents in the Democratic Party and declared that criticism of himself on television and in the corporate media should be “illegal.” As with his two previous major addresses since taking office, at his inauguration January 20 and to a joint session of Congress March 4, Trump combined self-praise, non-stop lies, and apparent moments of brain fog, producing the overall impression of a senile tyrant raging against his enemies, while claiming unrivaled personal popularity. If one judges the American ruling class by its last two presidents—Trump, followed by Biden, followed by Trump again—one would have to conclude that the financial oligarchy has scraped the bottom of the barrel in the selection of its leading personnel. Corruption vies with decrepitude and sheer ignorance. This is whom the ruling class has entrusted with the management of its global and domestic political affairs, including the proverbial finger on the nuclear button. Trump’s remarks were largely recycled from the two previous speeches, particularly the address to Congress, and need not be examined in detail, as the WSWS has already done so, here and here. But Trump broke new ground by giving such a speech at the headquarters of the Department of Justice, which he never visited during his first term, frustrated by the unwillingness of both of his selections for attorney general, Jeff Sessions and William Barr, to act as direct instruments of the White House in persecuting his political opponents. There is no such reluctance on the part of those he has chosen to run the DoJ in his second term. They consist almost entirely of his own personal attorneys in the countless legal cases he has faced, ranging from impeachment to instigating the January 6, 2021 attack on Capitol Hill to numerous episodes of financial corruption. Attorney General Pam Bondi was one of Trump’s representatives in his first impeachment trial, while her top deputies, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, were his defense attorneys in his federal prosecution over the January 6 attack, the Georgia case over his efforts to steal that state’s electoral votes in 2020, and his falsification of New York business records to cover up a payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump paid tribute to all three of them, as well as to Kash Patel, now FBI director and acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Patel occupied a critical position in the Pentagon on January 6, 2021, when for three hours the military blocked dispatch of National Guard troops to defend the Capitol from the mob of armed Trump supporters attacking it. The 78-year-old Trump, the oldest man ever inaugurated as president, appeared to suffer a significant episode of confusion during his remarks, as he boasted of firing James Comey as FBI director before appointing Patel. He seemed to have forgotten that he fired Comey in 2017, during the first year of his first term, an action that triggered a political uproar. He appointed Christopher Wray to replace Comey, and Wray held the position more than seven years, resigning only days before Trump took office to begin his second term, on January 20, 2025.

DOJ creating path for people with criminal convictions to again own guns - The Justice Department (DOJ) plans to create a process for those with criminal convictions to restore their gun rights, sparking alarm it will return firearms to those convicted of violent crimes.The interim rule, posted in the Federal Register Thursday, follows a February executive order from President Trump directing a review of the country’s gun restrictions to “assess any ongoing infringements.”The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) has the power to restore gun rights, but the agency has been blocked from doing so under congressional appropriations riders since 1992. Under the DOJ proposal, the attorney general would designate that power within the department.DOJ said the rule “reflects an appropriate avenue to restore firearm rights to certain individuals who no longer warrant such disability based on a combination of the nature of their past criminal activity and their subsequent and current law-abiding behavior.”The notice also said that “no constitutional right is limitless” and that they would be “screening out others for whom full restoration of firearm rights would not be appropriate.”However, groups advocating against gun violence argue the policy would ease the process for those convicted of violent crimes to gain access to a weapon.“The Trump Administration is throwing out decades of bipartisan precedent and laying the groundwork to put guns back in the hands of domestic abusers and violent criminals,” John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a statement. “At a time when violent crime is down, this dangerous development could put law enforcement and our communities at greater risk by opening the floodgates to violent criminals rearming themselves,” he added.The Justice Department recently moved to restore gun rights to Mel Gibson, who lost his gun rights in connection with a 2011 conviction on misdemeanor domestic violence charges.One Justice Department attorney was fired after she refused to recommend restoration of his gun rights, with former pardon attorney Liz Oyer saying she felt she could not do so given the risks associated with returning guns to those convicted of violent crimes.The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said the rule would create “a unilateral system to give gun rights back to those who are dangerous and high risk.” “This is a blatant and dangerous power grab by the Trump Administration and a gift to his donors in the gun industry – one that will open new markets for them by putting guns back into the hands of people who should never have them. In no uncertain terms, Trump is paving the way for mass restoration of gun rights without guardrails,” Kris Brown, the president of the group said in a statement. Gun rights groups celebrated the interim rule, with Gun Owners of America saying it would end the “legal limbo” for those seeking to restore their right to own a weapon. “For decades, law-abiding Americans who have had their gun rights unfairly restricted have been left in legal limbo — creating an unconstitutional de facto lifetime gun ban,” Erich Pratt, the group’s senior vice president, said in a statement. “This bureaucratic failure has denied thousands of individuals their lawful opportunity to restore their rights,” he added.

Donald Trump says Joe Biden's Jan. 6 pardons invalid due to autopen -- President Trump said in a social media post that he believes former President Biden’s last-minute pardons are “void” because he signed them with an autopen. “The ‘pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,” Trump wrote early Monday on Truth Social. Just before the inauguration in January, Biden pardoned several of Trump’s political enemies preemptively, including the lawmakers who sat on the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, rioting at the U.S. Capitol, Biden’s family, Anthony Fauci and Gen. Mark Milley. There was much discussion about whether Biden would use the executive action to protect people that could be prosecuted by the incoming Trump administration. Trump argued Monday in his post that Biden did not sign the papers and “did not know anything about them!”

Jan. 6 committee defends against Trump's pardons nullification threat - The members of the Jan. 6 investigative committee are hitting back at President Trump for his threat to nullify the presidential pardons surrounding their work. The investigators not only contend that Trump lacks the authority to revoke the preemptive pardons, which were issued in January by former President Biden, but also maintain that their probe was open, thorough and unassailable in its conclusion that Trump was the driving force behind the violent rampage at the U.S. Capitol four years ago. “Despite their threats to Congresswoman Cheney and the chairman of our committee, Bennie Thompson, no one has committed any kind of infraction in the conduct of the Jan. 6 proceedings, nor in the preparation of our report, and no one has laid a glove on a single factual statement in our report,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who sat on the Jan. 6 panel, told The Hill in an interview. “We are proud of our work documenting the insurrectionary violence and they haven’t contradicted any of our findings.” “Everything else is political noise,” he added. “The members of the Jan. 6 committee stand by our work.” Others are actually encouraging Trump to come after them so they have the opportunity to showcase, once again, the evidence behind their verdict. “The January 6 Committee did its job,” former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) wrote Monday in a Substack post. “It stood up for democracy while Trump and his sycophants tried to burn it down. The people who cooperated did so in the name of truth, accountability, and the preservation of our republic. They were almost ALL REPUBLICANS, And now, because he can’t handle reality, Trump wants to puff out his chest and threaten the committee?” “Fine. Do it. Or shut up.” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who also sat on the nine-member investigative panel, was similarly defiant, saying Trump’s suggestion that the investigators could be in hot water with his Justice Department will do nothing to stop the critics from denouncing his role surrounding the Jan. 6 riot. “The members of the Jan 6 Committee are all proud of our work,” Schiff wrote on the social platform X. “Your threats will not intimidate us.” “Or silence us.”

Fewer than 500 people are responsible for $3.2 trillion of artificial crypto trading - Fast Company A new study reveals the staggering scale of market manipulation in the crypto world—$250 million in profits and $3.2 trillion in fake trades—all orchestrated via Telegram by a tight network of bad actors. Market manipulation in the cryptocurrency world is rampant—and fewer than 500 people are responsible for as much as $250 million a year in profits and over $3.2 trillion in artificial trading, according to a new study published on Cornell University’s preprint server arXiv.Honglin Fu and colleagues at University College London have developed a tool that can track the coordination of pump-and-dump schemes, where crypto coin holders artificially inflate the price of a cryptocurrency by touting fake recommendations and generating nonexistent hype, making ordinary people intrigued enough to buy into a cryptocurrency before the owners then pull their stake and crash the price. Telegram, a popular encrypted messaging platform widely used by cryptocurrency investors, has become a favored tool for coordinating these schemes. Perseus, the tool Fu and his colleagues developed, identified more than 400 so-called masterminds that helped seed fake hype for crypto coins through millions of Telegram messages. By eavesdropping on Telegram chats where pump-and-dump schemes are discussed, then training Perseus on what happens, the team were able to identify nearly 750,000 messages organizing such scams. “There is one kind of bad actor, we call a mastermind in the paper. They’re the main distributor, you can think of them as, of the pump-and-dump method,” says Fu. “Then they have followers: what they do is the mastermind will distribute messages to the others, and they’ll spread the message further to attract as many investors as possible.” The accomplices are crucial to carrying out the scam, Fu says, because they’re the ones that convince people at scale that a cryptocurrency is worth investing in.

Crypto's long battle with SEC comes to a close with Ripple victory - The Securities and Exchange Commission's years-long crusade against the crypto industry appears to be over. The final chapter closed on Wednesday, when Ripple announced that the SEC had officially dropped its four-year-old lawsuit against the company. The suit, filed on Jay Clayton's last day as SEC chair, accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of its XRP token without registering it as a security. "Ripple stands alone as the company that fought back — and won on essential legal questions — throwing a major wrench into the SEC's plans to destroy crypto in the U.S. through enforcement," Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty told CNBC in an emailed statement. "The SEC has now abandoned its appeal in our case. In a fitting irony, Ripple was the first major case they brought and will now be the last one they walk away from." XRP was created in 2012 as one of the first non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies. It was started by the founders of the company Ripple, and became the platform's native currency. Like bitcoin, XRP can be bought and sold by retail investors. XRP jumped about 11% after Wednesday's announcement. Ripple spent $150 million battling the government in a bruising legal standoff with former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, whose approach to crypto was widely viewed as hostile. In July 2023, a federal judge ruled that XRP is "not necessarily a security on its face," undercutting the foundation of the SEC's case. The win wasn't just a turning point for Ripple. It signaled to the crypto industry that the tide was turning, and built momentum for a movement that helped return President Donald Trump, a former crypto critic, to the White House. A year after the judge's ruling, Trump, as Republican nominee, delivered a keynote at the annual Bitcoin Conference, and announced that he was "laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world." Ripple and its crypto peers were major contributors to Trump's campaign. The president has spent his first two months in office paying them back. On Friday, the SEC hosted its first major crypto roundtable, signaling a new approach of regulation through engagement, rather than enforcement. Leading the effort is Hester Peirce, who is helming the regulator's newly established Crypto Task Force. Peirce's message to the industry is that the SEC is no longer an adversary, but is instead trying to give crypto a clear, lawful framework. In a major policy reversal, the SEC rescinded Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 — a controversial rule that required banks to treat crypto assets as liabilities on their balance sheets. Introduced in 2022 and championed by Gensler, the rule was widely viewed as a major barrier to institutional adoption of bitcoin and other digital assets.

South Korea To Sanction Crypto Exchanges Operating Illegally -- South Korean financial authorities are considering sanctioning and blocking access to multiple overseas crypto exchanges, including BitMEX and KuCoin, for allegedly offering their services to Korean customers without registration. On Friday, local news media outlet Hangyung reported that South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) has identified multiple foreign crypto exchanges providing services to Korean customers without proper registration.The financial authority found that many well-known overseas crypto exchanges, including BitMEX, KuCoin, CoinW, Bitunix, and KCEX, have not registered as Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) despite targeting Korean users. According to the report, the crypto platforms operate Korean-language websites or provide market and customer support activities targeted to Korean investors without notifying authorities or filing for a VASP license.For context, under the Specified Financial Information Act, exchanges must formally register as a VASP with the FIU to obtain a license and be able to conduct business in the country, such as storage, brokerage, and management of crypto assets.Failure to report to the financial authorities will make those platforms illegal businesses and subject them to criminal and administrative sanctions. The FIU, which is investigating these exchanges, has reportedly begun preparing measures, including blocking access to their platforms, while consulting with the relevant authorities.In 2022, the FIU requested the Korean National Security Agency to block 16 overseas exchanges, including MEX, Poloniex, and KuCoin, for offering their services without registration.

Crypto platform Debiex to pay $2.4M for online romance scam - -US derivatives market regulator The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona issued a default judgment against Debiex, a purported digital asset platform. The order, issued March 13, finds Debiex liable for fraud in connection with digital asset commodity trading and misappropriating over $2 million in customers’ funds.The order bans Debiex from trading in any CFTC regulated markets or registering with the CFTC. It also requires Debiex to pay a $221,466 civil monetary penalty and over $2.2 million in restitution.As part of the scheme, relief defendant Zhāng Chéng Yáng acted as a money mule when his digital asset wallet was used by Debiex to misappropriate at least one customer’s funds. Zhang is believed to be a Chinese national. By separate order issued on March 12, the court ordered the remaining digital assets in Zhang’s digital asset wallet be returned to the Debiex customer from whom they were fraudulently taken. These digital assets are worth approximately $120,000 before transfer fees.The CFTC cautions that orders requiring repayment of funds to victims may not result in the recovery of any money lost because the wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets. The CFTC will continue to fight vigorously for the protection of customers and to ensure the wrongdoers are held accountable. These orders stem from a complaint filed by the Commission on Jan. 17, 2024, which alleged Debiex operated publicly accessible internet domains, which it used to target victims with a sophisticated fraudulent scheme involving purported digital asset commodity trading. As detailed in the complaint, the scheme involved the coordinated efforts of three groups:

• (1) “Solicitors,” who contacted customers via at least one U.S.-based social media platform and pretended to befriend or romance the customers to solicit them to open and fund trading accounts with Debiex;
• (2) “Customer Service,” which purported to set up and service Debiex trading accounts on behalf of the customers; and
• (3) “Money Mules,” such as, but not limited to, Zhang, whose digital asset wallets were used by Debiex to accept and/or misappropriate customer funds.

As further alleged, instead of using the funds to trade on behalf of the customers, as promised, Debiex misappropriated the customers’ digital assets. Unbeknownst to the customers, and as alleged, the Debiex websites merely mimicked the features of a legitimate live trading platform and the “trading accounts” depicted on the websites were a complete ruse. No actual digital asset trading took place on the customers’ behalf.

Bitcoin scams targeting the elderly are on the rise in Arizona county - Pima County in Arizona has witnessed a surge in Bitcoin scams, with most of the scams targeting the elderly. According to reports, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department mentioned that con artists have been targeting the residents with a series of cryptocurrency scams. The Sheriff’s Department mentioned that most of these scammers are from other countries, noting that they target the elderly while using Bitcoin ATMs to carry out their criminal activities. According to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) Financial Crimes Detective Michael Wilson, the scams have grown from being frequent to being carried out daily. Wilson mentioned that the rate has ticked up a little, with these international scammers impersonating several government officials. He added that most of them call the elderly in the country, pretending to be officers from PCSD to carry out these bad acts. According to Wilson, the scammers usually employ different tactics to convince the elderly ones, noting failure to show up for jury duty as an example. “They will say ‘Hey you unfortunately didn’t show up for jury duty and as a result, you have a warrant for your arrest. The best way to prevent you from going to jail is to just pay the bond in advance,’” Wilson said. He added that the scammers will take their time to convince their victims about their disregard for the law, while mentioning that they also offer and convince them to pay using digital assets. “They will give some reasoning for why they need you to pay this in cryptocurrency,” he added. Wilson mentioned that after the scammers are done convincing them to pay in digital assets, they will then ask the victim to make a big cash withdrawal and deposit the funds into a Bitcoin ATM, which are often in convenience stores across the county. These machines then convert the cash into digital assets and are moved across different accounts before they disappear.

Trump adviser: Banks will play 'tremendous' role in crypto — A top White House crypto adviser says banks will play a big role in the growth of digital assets. Bo Hines, a top White House adviser on crypto policy, said banks can see "the writing on the wall" and will want to engage in the digital asset industry.

US Stablecoin Bill Likely In "Next 2 Months"; Trump's Crypto Council Head - The Senate Banking Committee's bipartisan approval of the GENIUS Act means stablecoin legislation could arrive at the president's desk in a matter of months, according to Bo Hines.Bo Hines, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, said comprehensive stablecoin legislation is expected to be finalized in the coming months, underscoring the government’s urgency to maintain the US dollar’s dominance in onchain activity. Speaking at the Digital Asset Summit in New York on March 18, Hines said stablecoin legislation is “imminent” following the Senate Banking Committee’s approval of the GENIUS Act last week. The GENIUS Act, which is an acronym for Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, establishes collateralization guidelines for stablecoin issuers and requires full compliance with Anti-Money Laundering laws. “We saw that vote come out of the Senate Banking Committee in extremely bipartisan fashion, [...] which was fantastic to see,” said Hines, adding:“I think our colleagues on the other side of the aisle also recognize the importance for US dominance in this space, and they’re willing to work with us here, and that’s what’s really exciting about this. You know, there’s not many issues in Washington, DC, in which folks can come together from both sides of the aisle and really propel the United States forward in a way that’s comprehensive.” When asked about when stablecoin legislation will be passed, Hines said, “I think that stables could be on the president’s desk here in the next two months.” Right now, the market seems to be underestimating what this bill “could do for the US economy in terms of US dollar dominance, in terms of payment rails, in terms of altering the course of financial markets,”said Hines.The US dollar accounts for the vast majority of the $230 billion worth of stablecoins in circulation, suggesting that the greenback remains the currency of choice for funding cryptocurrency accounts and sending remittances overseas.

Emmer commits to stablecoin legislation by summer --The third most powerful representative in the House committed Wednesday to finishing work on stablecoin and crypto market structure legislation by the August recess, following President Donald Trump's request a few weeks prior at a White House crypto summit. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer pledged to pass stablecoin and crypto market structure bills by the August recess, following a request by the president.

The Case Against Pavel Durov And Why It's Critical For Crypto -- Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been allowed to leave France temporarily, but the preliminary charges against him raise significant questions for the crypto community. On March 13, a French court gave the founder and CEO of the encrypted messaging app Telegram permission to leave for Dubai, where he had previously resided. Durov had been in France since August 2024, when he was arrested at the Le Bourget airport in Paris. Durov was part of an investigation containing allegations of negligence and complicity in crimes like narcotics trafficking, money laundering, child sexual exploitation and terrorism. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.More broadly, Durov’s case raises questions about developer responsibility for the cryptographic platforms and tools they create — a well-known issue in the cryptocurrency industry. The preliminary charges against Durov claimed he was responsible, at least in part, for the illicit activities allegedly enabled by the platform’s encryption and support for cryptocurrencies. The argument will sound familiar to crypto industry observers, who have been following the case of Alexey Pertsev, the developer of cryptocurrency mixer service Tornado Cash. As with Durov, prosecutors allege that Pertsev is responsible for the illicit activities that took place on the platform, namely money laundering. Pertsev was arrested in the Netherlands in 2022 and is currently out on bail while he waits for his trial to begin.In both cases, members of the crypto community have recognized the possible implications to free speech and privacy, and have come to support the executives. Jose Fabrega, head of marketing at Ethereum-based blockchain Metis, called Durov’s arrest the “Tornado Cash case all over again.”Natalia Latka, director of public policy and regulatory affairs at blockchain analysis firm Merkle Science, previously told Cointelegraph that “historically, software developers were seen as neutral creators of tools and platforms, responsible for their technical functionality but not for how those tools were used.”However, she said this has been changing with the proliferation of decentralized tools that “challenge traditional regulatory frameworks.”This puts decentralized platforms in a “tight spot,” crypto platform Onesafe wrote in a blog post on March 17. “This means knowing the legal frameworks governing their operations and engaging with regulatory bodies.”It also called the Durov case a “pivotal moment” for the cryptocurrency industry and called on crypto firms to advocate for more “balanced regulations” and support advocacy groups. Durov himself wrote on March 17 that Telegram has “not only met but exceeded its legal obligations.”

Cathie Wood says most meme coins will end up 'worthless' -- Most of the so-called meme coins that are flooding the $2.6 trillion cryptocurrency space will probably end up "worthless," according to Cathie Wood. The investor noted that the SEC and regulators are not taking responsibility for meme coins and that her private funds are not putting money into these coins.

Acting OCC head calls debanking 'repugnant and odious' - A top bank regulator spoke out forcefully on Tuesday against what he called the "debanking" of certain businesses, including cryptocurrency companies. Without citing examples, acting comptroller Rodney Hood expressed disgust at what he called the "debanking" of certain businesses.

SmartBiz is first fintech to become bank under Trump -SmartBiz became the first financial-technology firm to receive regulatory approval to be a bank since President Donald Trump took office in January, a regulatory signal that other fintechs could also get the green light to cement their footholds in the financial-services industry. It's been rare for a fintech to win regulatory approval to become a bank, with none receiving approval under President Joe Biden and only a few successfully obtaining charters before that.

OCC drops reputational risk from exams amid debanking debate - - The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Thursday that it would stop assessing reputational risk in bank examinations, the latest move in the Trump administration's effort to curb what it sees as unjustified and politically motivated banking restrictions under President Joe Biden. The OCC will no longer assess reputational risk in bank exams, aligning with President Trump's push to curb debanking, which critics say drove politically motivated account closures.

Trump taps Bowman as Federal Reserve's top regulator --The Federal Reserve's most vocal opponent to Biden-era regulatory reforms is now poised to set the agency's oversight agenda. President Trump's selection of Federal Reserve Gov. Michelle Bowman as the next vice chair for supervision comes as banking groups and their allies in Congress asked the administration to fill the position quickly. Bowman was the preferred choice for many in the industry.

Trump names Bowman as top Federal Reserve bank regulator -- President Donald Trump on Monday nominated Michelle Bowman to oversee the Federal Reserve’s financial regulatory efforts, a move that could lead to looser rules for large banks. Bowman was appointed by Trump in 2018 to serve on the Fed’s governing board. She replaces Michael Barr as the Fed’s Vice Chair for Supervision, after Barr stepped down last month to avoid a legal fight that could have ensued had Trump carried out his threat to fire him. Barr, however, stayed on the seven-member Fed board, forcing Trump to pick from one of the existing governors. Her nomination was welcomed by banking industry lobbying groups, including the American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America. As Vice Chair, Bowman will be the most powerful federal bank regulator, and will coordinate with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on developing bank rules. The position requires Senate confirmation, though analysts expect she’ll easily be confirmed. Bowman voted against a 2023 proposal by Barr to tighten rules on big banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, in particular to require them to hold more capital in reserve to offset potential losses. The proposed rule attracted fierce opposition from the financial industry, but also from some nonprofit organizations concerned that it could have limited mortgage lending. Prior to joining the Fed, Bowman was the state bank commissioner in Kanas in 2017-2018, after serving as vice president at a local bank. She also had previous stints in Washington working for Senator Bob Dole, a Kansas Republican, and at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.

BankThink: Call off the DOGE — indiscriminate axing of regulators is bad policy -- The Trump administration is searching for savings wherever possible, and the long arm of the "Department of Government Efficiency," or DOGE, is reaching into government agencies to do so. While I can understand some of the president's motivations, I urge policymakers to put away the chainsaw and take a slower, steadier approach. Without it, the United States' diverse banking ecosystem, particularly smaller banks, could suffer. Gutting U.S. bank regulatory agencies risks undermining public faith in the banking system and driving community bank customers into the arms of a few "too big to fail" institutions.

BankThink: Bank regulation reform is a necessary, but elusive, goal -- One area the current administration is proposing to change to reduce costs and boost the economy is banking regulation. Part of the plan includes reducing the number of regulators and/or limiting their functions — for example, shifting Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s supervision function to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, bringing the FDIC's insurance and resolution functions under the Treasury, and minimizing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's role, particularly in bank regulation. While the administration has not signaled an immediate shutdown of the CFPB,recent pronouncements suggest a significant curtailment of resources. Past efforts to restructure bank supervision have been derailed by politics and agency turf wars. It remains to be seen whether the Trump administration is willing to spend the political capital necessary to push reform through.

FDIC grappling with attrition, unresolved workplace issues -The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. faces unresolved workplace culture issues and staff attrition that threatens its ability to fulfill its regulatory responsibilities, according to a report by the agency's Office of Inspector General. The issues are hindering the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s ability to meet its regulatory duties, according to the agency's Office of Inspector General.

Supreme Court sides with politician who misled FDIC -The Supreme Court has thrown out a Chicago politician's criminal conviction over statements he made to bank regulators, citing the difference between comments that are "false" and those that are only "misleading." Former Chicago City Council member Patrick Daley Thompson may have made "misleading" statements about more than $200,000 in loans, the high court ruled — but they weren't "false."

ICBA calls for taxes on credit unions, but only larger ones -- The principal lobby for community banks is calling on Congress to abolish tax exemptions for larger credit unions, marking a strategic shift for a group that previously opposed tax breaks for the entire industry. Rebeca Romero Rainey, president and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America, called on Washington lawmakers to abolish tax exemptions for large credit unions. The Independent Community Bankers of America wants Congress to eliminate tax exemptions for credit unions with more than $1 billion of assets, scaling back an earlier request that would have targeted the entire credit union sector.

BankThink: Swipe fee reform will barely dent American banks' record profits - America's biggest banks had quite a year in 2024. JPMorgan Chase reported a record-smashing $54 billion in annual profit, with net income surging 50% in the final quarter of 2024 alone. Wells Fargo posted a 47% rise in quarterly profit, bringing in $5.1 billion. Goldman Sachs doubled its quarterly profits to $4.1 billion, marking its best performance in over three years. Small businesses and consumers deserve the relief that legislation like the Credit Card Competition Act would bring from the fees that burden every card-based transaction. Banks can easily afford it.

Judge bars Citi from returning climate grants to the EPA -A federal judge ruled that the bank must keep the $14 billion granted by the Environmental Protection Agency in the recipients' accounts. The Trump administration has been trying to pull back money distributed under President Joe Biden.

JPMorgan renames DEI program 'DOI' following political backlash -- JPMorgan Chase & Co.is changing the name of its diversity, equity and inclusion program at a time when DEI has been attacked by President Donald Trump's administration. The largest U.S. bank will now call the initiative Diversity, Opportunity & Inclusion, or DOI, Chief Operating Officer Jenn Piepzak said in a memo to staff Friday.

CFPB rehires most fired employees as court battle continues - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was forced by a federal court order to rehire employees who were fired last month by the Trump administration. Now the CFPB's union is claiming that dozens of employees who were let go in early February by acting CFPB Director Russell Vought have not been reinstated, violating the order. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has rehired more than 100 fire employees, but the union claims dozens of employees have not been reinstated in violation of a federal court order.

'Hitting bone': CDFI industry fears deep cuts under Trump - President Donald Trump's executive order severely limiting the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institution Fund has thrown the industry into confusion as financial companies try to quantify the damage.

Q4 Update: Delinquencies, Foreclosures and REO - McBride graphs - This entire housing cycle I’ve argued that we would NOT see a surge in foreclosures that would significantly impact house prices (as happened following the housing bubble) for two key reasons: 1) mortgage lending has been solid, and 2) most homeowners have substantial equity in their homes. Yesterday, CoreLogic reported on homeowner equity: CoreLogic: Borrowers Gained Over $280B in Home Equity in 2024 CoreLogic® … today released the Homeowner Equity Report (HER) for the fourth quarter of 2024. Nationwide, borrower equity increased by $281.9 billion, or 1.7% year-over-year … past years of rapid growth have left many homeowners with a substantial accumulation of equity. This financial padding can serve as a backstop in the event of a relocation or job loss. Quarter-over-quarter, the total number of mortgage residential properties with negative equity increased by 9.3% to 1.1 million homes or 2% of all mortgaged properties. While year-over-year, negative equity increased by 7% from 1 million homes, or 1.8% of all mortgage properties … Negative equity peaked at 26% of mortgaged residential properties in Q4 2009 based on CoreLogic equity data analysis.With substantial equity, and low mortgage rates (mostly at a fixed rates), few homeowners will have financial difficulties even with an economic downturn.REO (Real Estate Owned) is the amount of real estate owned by lenders. Here is some data on REOs through Q4 2024 … This graph shows the nominal dollar value of Residential REO for FDIC insured institutions based on the Q4 FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile released this week. Note: The FDIC reports the dollar value and not the total number of REOs.The dollar value of 1-4 family residential Real Estate Owned (REOs, foreclosure houses) was increased 6% YOY from $747 million in Q4 2023 to $790 million in Q4 2024. This is still historically extremely low. Fannie Mae reported the number of REOs decreased to 5,895 at the end of Q4 2024, down 9% from 6,481 at the end of the previous quarter, and down 30% year-over-year from Q4 2023. Here is a graph of Fannie Real Estate Owned (REO). This is very low and well below the pre-pandemic levels. REOs are a lagging indicator. REOs increase when borrowers struggle financially and have little or no equity, so they can’t sell their homes - as happened after the housing bubble. That will not happen this time. It is important to note that loans in forbearance are counted as delinquent in the various surveys but not reported to the credit agencies.Here is a graph from the MBA’s National Delinquency Survey through Q4 2024. The percent of loans in the foreclosure process decreased year-over-year from 0.47 percent in Q4 2023 to 0.45 percent in Q4 2024 (red) and remains historically low. Loans in forbearance are mostly in the 90-day bucket at this point, and that has declined recently. From the MBA: Compared to last quarter, the seasonally adjusted mortgage delinquency rate increased for all loans outstanding. By stage, the 30-day delinquency rate decreased 9 basis points to 2.03 percent, the 60-day delinquency rate increased 3 basis points to 0.76 percent, and the 90-day delinquency bucket increased 11 basis points to 1.19 percent. ... The delinquency rate includes loans that are at least one payment past due but does not include loans in the process of foreclosure. The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the fourth quarter was 0.45 percent, remaining unchanged from the third quarter of 2024 and 2 basis points lower than one year ago. Both Fannie and Freddie release serious delinquency (90+ days) data monthly. Freddie Mac reported that the Single-Family serious delinquency rate in January was 0.61%, up from 0.59% December. Freddie's rate is up year-over-year from 0.55% in January 2024, however, this is close to the pre-pandemic level of 0.60%. Freddie's serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 4.20% following the housing bubble and peaked at 3.17% in August 2020 during the pandemic. Fannie Mae reported that the Single-Family serious delinquency rate in January was 0.57%, up from 0.56% in December. The serious delinquency rate is up year-over-year from 0.54% in January 2024, however, this is below the pre-pandemic lows of 0.65%. The Fannie Mae serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 5.59% following the housing bubble and peaked at 3.32% in August 2020 during the pandemic.This graph shows the recent decline in serious delinquencies: Recently there has been a small uptick in serious delinquencies. ICE reported that foreclosures starts and sales have increased recently, especially for VA loans, however foreclosure sales are still down year-over-year. From ICE: ICE Mortgage Monitor: Property Insurance Costs Rose at a Record Rate in 2024 Prompting Homeowners to Shop for Better Rates, Accept Higher Deductibles

• Foreclosure starts jumped by 30%, sales rose by 25%, and the number of active foreclosures rose by 7% in January following expiration of a recent moratorium on VA foreclosures
• While January increases in foreclosure activity are common, starts hit their highest level in 5 years, with more than 40K loans referred to foreclosure in the month
• Compared the same time last year, foreclosure starts among FHA (-2%) and conventional (-4%) loans declined, with the annual increase being solely driven by the spike in VA referrals
• Resumption of VA foreclosures – all else the same – could result in a roughly 15% increase in 2025 foreclosure referral activity compared to 2024
• January foreclosure sales rose from December following holiday moratoriums, but were down from the same time last year (-5%) even with the resumption of VA foreclosure sales

These graphs are since January 2019. The following graph (from a report last year) shows the trend in the long term. Foreclosure starts and sales are still very low.The bottom line is there will not be a huge wave of foreclosures as happened following the housing bubble. The distressed sales during the housing bust led to cascading price declines, and that will not happen this time. That doesn’t mean we won’t see price declines, especially in areas with a large number of homes for sale. And if the economy weakens, and unemployment increases, we might see more distressed sales. But that is very different than the housing bust.

MBA Survey: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 0.38% in February-- From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases Slightly to 0.38% in February The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) monthly Loan Monitoring Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 2 basis points from 0.40% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior month to 0.38% as of February 28, 2025. According to MBA’s estimate, 190,000 homeowners are in forbearance plans. Mortgage servicers have provided approximately 8.6 million forbearances since March 2020. The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 2 basis points to 0.15% in February 2025. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased by 4 basis points to 0.84%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) decreased 3 basis points to 0.37%.“Despite February’s monthly decline of loans in forbearance, the estimated number of forbearances and loan workouts increased compared to one year ago,” “The year-over-year gain may be attributed to increasing escrow payments for taxes and insurance, inflationary pressures, natural disasters, aging servicing portfolios, and a softening in the labor market. At the same time, the performance of loan workouts and overall servicing portfolios weakened compared to one year ago."...By reason, 73.0% of borrowers are in forbearance for reasons such as a temporary hardship caused by job loss, death, divorce, or disability. Another 24.2% are in forbearance because of a natural disaster. The remaining 2.8% of borrowers are still in forbearance because of COVID-19. At the end of February, there were about 190,000 homeowners in forbearance plans.\\

MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey --From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey - Mortgage applications decreased 6.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 14, 2025. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 6.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 6 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 13 percent from the previous week and was 70 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.1 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 6 percent higher than the same week one year ago. “Mortgage rates increased for the first time in nine weeks, with the 30-year fixed rate rising to 6.72 percent. This increase in rates led to a decrease in refinance volume. However, purchase application volume inched up to its highest level in six weeks, led by a 3 percent increase in FHA purchase applications,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s SVP and Chief Economist. “Overall, purchase application volume is up 6 percent compared to last year at this time. Growing inventories of homes on the market and steadier mortgage rates are supporting homebuying activity thus far this spring.” ... The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($806,500 or less) decreased to 6.67 percent from 6.73 percent, with points increasing to 0.63 from 0.60 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The first graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index. According to the MBA, purchase activity is up 6% year-over-year unadjusted. Purchase application activity is up about 23% from the lows in late October 2023 and is only 2% above the lowest levels during the housing bust. The second graph shows the refinance index since 1990.The refinance index declined after increasing sharply the previous two weeks and remains very low.

Housing March 17th Weekly Update: Inventory up 2.1% Week-over-week, Up 29.3% Year-over-year --Altos reports that active single-family inventory was up 2.1% week-over-week.Inventory is now up 5.0% from the seasonal bottom nine weeks ago in January and us starting to increase seasonally.The first graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015.The red line is for 2025. The black line is for 2019. Inventory was up 29.3% compared to the same week in 2024 (last week it was up 28.3%), and down 20.5% compared to the same week in 2019 (last week it was down 21.4%). The gap to more normal inventory levels has closed significantly!This second inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of March 14th, inventory was at 656 thousand (7-day average), compared to 642 thousand the prior week. Mike Simonsen discusses this data regularly on Youtube

ServiceLink: Gen Z Is Primed to Buy, but Tolerance for High Costs Is Waning - A new report from ServiceLink, Pittsburgh, found that Gen Z remains eager to buy a home. But high interest rates and home prices could deter them from crossing the finish line as their tolerance is waning.ServiceLink’s annual State of Homebuying Report analyzes generational trends among recent and prospective homebuyers to find their sentiment about the current housing market and their intentions to purchase, refinance or leverage home equity this year.This year, buyers and would-be buyers showed a growing interest in technology, adding more space to their home and a desire for even greater transparency, the report said.“These findings show that there is still a strong appetite for homeownership, particularly among the youngest generation, despite the ups and downs of today’s market,” said Dave Steinmetz, ServiceLink president of origination services. “Today’s buyers need to be armed with information, while demonstrating patience and flexibility, in order to achieve their dream of homeownership.”For lenders, this provides an opportunity to tap into technology and increase offerings that buyers indicate they want to see, Steinmetz noted. “Lenders also should focus on education and increasing transparency to meet the current needs of today’s buyers,” he said. Key report findings include:

• • 59% of respondents said the biggest benefits of mortgage technology offerings is the convenience and ease of use it provides, while 51% said they like that it saves them time and 45% enjoy the flexibility that it offers to make progress on their own schedule.
• • eSigning technology continues to surge with 62% of all respondents who purchased a home in the last four years saying they utilized digital document signing, up from 48% who said they did the same two years ago.
• • Baby boomers leveraged eSigning the most at 70% compared to 42% of Gen Z respondents.
• • 35% of all survey respondents who purchased a home in the last four years said they scheduled their appraisal or closing digitally, with millennials leading the way at 39%.
• • 39% of all respondents said they have at least $100,000 in home equity, up from 34% in 2023.
• • One in four respondents said they plan to take out a home equity loan this year, down slightly from 28% in 2024. 10% of respondents said they don’t know enough about home equity loans to consider them.
• • Many respondents have hope that mortgage rates might drop this year, allowing buyers to secure a better rate. 60% of respondents said they are either “likely” or “somewhat likely” to refinance this year in an attempt to get a better rate. That is up slightly from 57% in 2024.
• • 41% of all respondents said that they believe conditions are favorable for buying a home this year. Gen Z led the way with 52% having a favorable outlook on the market, while only 23% of Baby Boomers felt the same.
• • 69% of all respondents said they are happy with their current mortgage rate.
• • For those interested in purchasing this year, their tolerance for high rates is waning. Gen Z respondents indicated that they have an average 5.1% mortgage rate yet would consider going as high as 5.8%. That number is down from a year ago, when Gen Z respondents were willing to go as high as 6.3%.
• • Millennials also are pulling back their tolerance this year, with the highest rate they would consider set at 5.5%, down from 6.2% in 2024.
• • 67% of Gen Z respondents said they plan to purchase a home this year compared to 51% of millennials, 49% of Gen X and 22% of baby boomers.
• • Overall, 47% of those surveyed said they plan to consider purchasing a home in 2025.
• • High home prices and interest rates could hold buyers back from going through with a purchase. 43% of respondents said they considered buying a home in 2024 but decided against it for those reasons.
• • Gen Z led all respondents in their decision to walk away from the process, as 58% said they abandoned the homebuying process in 2024 and 38% said they were unsuccessful in their attempt to purchase in the last four years.
• Millennials are slowly stepping back, while Gen X is making a return
• • Millennials, who just two years ago were the most eager among all generations to purchase a home, are slowly pulling back their desire. 51% of Millennials still plan to buy in 2025, down from 59% last year and 61% two years ago.
• • Only 46% of Millennials said conditions are favorable to buy in 2025, down from 60% in 2023.
• • Gen X, on the other hand, is showing a renewed interest in buying a home in 2025. This year, 49% of Gen X respondents said they plan to buy, up from 45% in 2024, 25% in 2023 and 12% in 2022.
• • Gen X also is the most influenced by technology, with 82% saying they would be more likely to work with a lender that offers appraisal or closing appointment scheduling from a phone or tablet that allows them to select the exact date and time they desire. Additionally, 77% of Gen X respondents said they would select a lender who offered virtual closings.
• • 60% of respondents who plan to purchase a home in the next year said they’re looking for a home with more space, a 17% surge from a year ago, while 39% of respondents said they would like to see more room between homes.
• • 51% of respondents said the biggest deal breaker in buying a home would be that the size of the home is too small. Other top deal breakers include higher taxes (48%), lack of privacy/homes too close together (43%) and lack of outdoor space (33%).
• • Gen Z leads all generations in their desire for a larger home with more space at 66%, followed closely by millennials at 64%.

HUD, Interior announce plan to use federal land for affordable housing - Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced on Monday plans to identify federal lands where affordable housing could be built. Turner and Burgum will launch the Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing to find underutilized lands for residential development and to streamline the process to transfer the lands for housing use. In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, they promoted the plans as a way to increase the housing supply and lower costs for Americans. “Working together, our agencies can take inventory of underused federal properties, transfer or lease them to states or localities to address housing needs, and support the infrastructure required to make development viable—all while ensuring affordability remains at the core of the mission,” they wrote. The Interior Department oversees more than 500 million acres of federal lands, and the department argues much of it is suitable for residential use. The two secretaries also vowed to streamline the regulatory process so building on a federal lands doesn’t get held up with environmental reviews, transfer protocols and other priorities, according to the announcement.

Housing Starts Increased to 1.501 million Annual Rate in February --From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions Housing Starts: Privately-owned housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,501,000. This is 11.2 percent above the revised January estimate of 1,350,000, but is 2.9 percent below the February 2024 rate of 1,546,000. Single-family housing starts in February were at a rate of 1,108,000; this is 11.4 percent above the revised January figure of 995,000. The February rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 370,000. Building Permits: Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,456,000. This is 1.2 percent below the revised January rate of 1,473,000 and is 6.8 percent below the February 2024 rate of 1,563,000. Single-family authorizations in February were at a rate of 992,000; this is 0.2 percent below the revised January figure of 994,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 404,000 in February. The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 2000. Multi-family starts (blue, 2+ units) increased month-over-month in February. Multi-family starts were down 4.6% year-over-year. Single-family starts (red) increased in February and were down 2.3% year-over-year. The second graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 1968. Total housing starts in February were above expectations; however, starts in December and January were revised down slightly, combined.

Newsletter: Housing Starts Increased to 1.501 million Annual Rate in February; Length of Time from Start to Completion Declined in 2024 - Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Housing Starts Increased to 1.501 million Annual Rate in February - A brief excerpt: Total housing starts in February were above expectations; however, starts in December and January were revised down slightly, combined. The third graph shows the month-to-month comparison for total starts between 2024 (blue) and 2025 (red).Total starts were down 2.9% in February compared to February 2024. Starts bounced back in the Northeast region after being down sharply year-over-year in January (likely weather related).

NAHB: "Builder Confidence Falls on Cost Uncertainty" in March --The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported the housing market index (HMI) was at 39, down from 42 last month. Any number below 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as poor than good. From the NAHB: Builder Confidence Falls on Cost Uncertainty --Economic uncertainty, the threat of tariffs and elevated construction costs pushed builder sentiment down in March even as builders express hope that a better regulatory environment will lead to an improving business climate.Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 39 in March, down three points from February and the lowest level in seven months, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today.“Builders continue to face elevated building material costs that are exacerbated by tariff issues, as well as other supply-side challenges that include labor and lot shortages,” said NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes, a home builder and developer from Lexington, N.C. “At the same time, builders are starting to see relief on the regulatory front to bend the rising cost curve, as demonstrated by the Trump administration's pause of the 2021 IECC building code requirement and move to implement the regulatory definition of ‘waters of the United States’ under the Clean Water Act consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Sackett decision.”“Construction firms are facing added cost pressures from tariffs,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “Data from the HMI March survey reveals that builders estimate a typical cost effect from recent tariff actions at $9,200 per home. Uncertainty on policy is also having a negative impact on home buyers and development decisions.”The latest HMI survey also revealed that 29% of builders cut home prices in March, up from 26% in February. Meanwhile, the average price reduction was 5% in March, the same rate as the previous month. The use of sales incentives was 59% in March, unchanged from February....The HMI index gauging current sales conditions fell three points to 43 in March, its lowest point since December 2023. The gauge charting traffic of prospective buyers dropped five points to 24 while the component measuring sales expectations in the next six months held steady at 47.Looking at the three-month moving averages for regional HMI scores, the Northeast fell three points in March to 54, the Midwest moved three points lower to 42, the South dropped four points to 42 and the West posted a two-point decline to 37.This graph shows the NAHB index since Jan 1985.This was below the consensus forecast.

Tariff fears are raising construction costs by up to 20%, says Related Group CEO - Building contractors are already hiking prices as much as 20% to offset potential tariffs, a move that could also raise prices of new condos and homes, according to the CEO of developer Related Group. President Donald Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on certain goods from Canada and Mexico, including steel and aluminum, and is expected to follow through on broader tariffs starting on April 2. Even before those wider levies take effect, uncertainty over tariffs and inflation is causing many contractors to hike real estate project costs. Related Group CEO Jon Paul Pérez said contractors bidding on seven projects that Related has in the works are raising prices. "We're seeing [subcontractors] throw an additional cushion into their numbers anticipating tariffs," Pérez told CNBC during a live Inside Wealth conversation. "It could be as much as 20%, depending on what material they're getting from another country." Pérez said the price hikes are driven by the anticipation of higher costs, rather than current levels, and noted it's unclear how the higher costs will be divided between contractor and developer. "When you go through their numbers in detail and you start negotiating, you quickly find out they're just sort of padding to protect themselves," he said. As a result, tariff fears could add further upward pricing pressure on a housing market that's already crippled by high prices and elevated mortgage rates. According to a survey from the National Association of Home Builders, rising prices for construction materials could add $9,200 to the cost of a typical home. Related Group is one of the largest and most prominent developers in the U.S., spanning affordable housing to luxury condo buildings, mainly in South Florida. The company currently has more than 90 projects in some stage of development, including rentals, affordable housing units, mixed-use developments and luxury condos. Related's founder and chairman, Jorge Pérez, said that in addition to tariff concerns, the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration could also drive up prices for developments, since the construction industry relies heavily on workers from overseas. "There will absolutely be a cost effect in our industry, in particular the construction industry," he said. "Losing these people will have an inflationary effect." For now, Related said the high end of the real estate market remains strong, especially in Florida. The company sold two condo penthouses at its exclusive new development on Fisher Island near South Beach, Miami, for a total of $150 million. Related is also building a luxury oceanfront condo tower in Bal Harbour, Miami, called Rivage Residences Bal Harbour, that is offering a mega-mansion in the sky — combining two penthouses that could total more than 20,000 square feet and fetch over $150 million.

AIA: "Billings remain soft at architecture firms as interest in new projects wanes" - Note: This index is a leading indicator primarily for new Commercial Real Estate (CRE) investment. From the AIA: ABI February 2025: Billings remain soft at architecture firms as interest in new projects wanes - The AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score was 45.5 for the month, indicating that a majority of firms are still experiencing declining firm billings. Billings were flat early in the fourth quarter of 2024 but have softened significantly since then. February also marked the first month since the height of the pandemic in 2020 that inquiries into new projects at firms have declined. Inquiries can be as formal as an RFP or RFQ from a potential client, or as informal as a discussion about a potential project, and rarely decline, even during periods of economic softness. The decline this month likely reflects the ongoing uncertainty about the economy at this time. In addition, the value of new signed design contracts decreased at firms for the twelfth consecutive month in February, as clients also remain hesitant to commit to new projects at this time. Billings remained soft in all regions of the country in February as well. While firms located in the West reported modest growth throughout the fourth quarter of 2024, business conditions there have softened somewhat since then. Billings remained weakest at firms located in the Northeast, with more moderate declines in billings reported at firms located in the Midwest and South. Business conditions were also weak across firms of all specializations this month, remaining softest at firms with a multifamily residential specialization for the second consecutive month. ... The ABI score is a leading economic indicator of construction activity, providing an approximately nine-to-twelve-month glimpse into the future of nonresidential construction spending activity. The score is derived from a monthly survey of architecture firms that measures the change in the number of services provided to clients.
• Northeast (41.3); Midwest (45.2); South (47.6); West (48.1)
• Sector index breakdown: commercial/industrial (46.9); institutional (46.4); multifamily residential (46.1)
This graph shows the Architecture Billings Index since 1996. The index was at 45.5 in February, down from 45.6 in January. Anything below 50 indicates a decrease in demand for architects' services. This index has indicated contraction for 27 of the last 29 months. Note: This includes commercial and industrial facilities like hotels and office buildings, multi-family residential, as well as schools, hospitals and other institutions. This index usually leads CRE investment by 9 to 12 months, so this index suggests a slowdown in CRE investment in 2025. Multi-family billings remained negative has been negative for the last 31 months. This suggests we will see further weakness in multi-family starts.

Las Vegas in January: Visitor Traffic Down 1.1% YoY; Convention Traffic Up YoY - From the Las Vegas Visitor Authority: January 2025 Las Vegas Visitor Statistics Las Vegas started the year with January visitation of approx. 3.34M visitors, down 1.1% from last January. Las Vegas convention attendance reached roughly 629k in January, up 12.8% YoY, supported in part by strong attendance at recurring larger tradeshows including CES and World of Concrete, plus the calendar impact of World Market Center's Winter show (38k attendees) and Total Product Expo (8k attendees) falling fully in January this year vs. last year when its impact straddled Jan and Feb. On a room base with roughly 6k fewer rooms than last year, occupancy reached 81.9%, up 3.0 pts with Weekend occupancy of 85.6% (up 2.0 pts) and Midweek occupancy of 80.2% (up 3.2 pts.) ADR for the month reached $195 (+2.2% YoY) with RevPAR of $160 (+6.0% YoY). The first graph shows visitor traffic for 2019 (Black), 2020 (dark blue), 2021 (light blue), 2022 (light orange), 2023 (orange), 2024 (dark orange) and 2025 (red). Visitor traffic was down 1.1% compared to last January. Visitor traffic was down 2.0% compared to January 2019. The second graph shows convention traffic. Convention traffic was up 12.8% compared to January 2024, and down 8.0% compared to January 2019.

LA Ports: February Inbound Traffic Up YoY, Outbound Down --Container traffic gives us an idea about the volume of goods being exported and imported - and usually some hints about the trade report since LA area ports handle about 40% of the nation's container port traffic. The following graphs are for inbound and outbound traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in TEUs (TEUs: 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container). To remove the strong seasonal component for inbound traffic, the first graph shows the rolling 12-month average. On a rolling 12-month basis, inbound traffic increased 0.4% in February compared to the rolling 12 months ending in December. Outbound traffic decreased 0.8% compared to the rolling 12 months ending the previous month. The 2nd graph is the monthly data (with a strong seasonal pattern for imports).Usually imports peak in the July to October period as retailers import goods for the Christmas holiday and then decline sharply and bottom in the Winter depending on the timing of the Chinese New Year. Imports were up 6% YoY in February and exports were down 10% YoY. This was a very strong July through January period for imports - up about 27% YoY - as importers rushed to beat the tariffs. That has started to slow.

Retail Sales Increased 0.2% in February - On a monthly basis, retail sales increased 0.2% from January to February (seasonally adjusted), and sales were up 3.1 percent from February 2024. From the Census Bureau report: Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for February 2025, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $722.7 billion, up 0.2 percent from the previous month, and up 3.1 percent from February 2024. ... The December 2024 to January 2025 percent change was revised from down 0.9 percent to down 1.2 percent. This graph shows retail sales since 1992. This is monthly retail sales and food service, seasonally adjusted (total and ex-gasoline).Retail sales ex-gasoline was up 0.3% in February.The second graph shows the year-over-year change in retail sales and food service (ex-gasoline) since 1993.Retail and Food service sales, ex-gasoline, increased by 3.4% on a YoY basis. The change in sales in February were well below expectations, and sales in December and January were revised down, combined.

Industrial Production Increased 0.7% in February -From the Fed: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization Industrial production (IP) increased 0.7 percent in February after moving up 0.3 percent in January. Manufacturing output rose 0.9 percent, boosted by a jump of 8.5 percent in the index for motor vehicles and parts. The output of manufacturing excluding motor vehicles and parts increased 0.4 percent. The index for mining gained 2.8 percent, and the index for utilities decreased 2.5 percent. At 104.2 percent of its 2017 average, total IP in February was 1.4 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization stepped up to 78.2 percent, a rate that is 1.4 percentage points below its long-run (1972–2024) average.This graph shows Capacity Utilization. This series is up from the record low set in April 2020, and close to the level in February 2020 (pre-pandemic). Capacity utilization at 78.2% is 1.4% below the average from 1972 to 2023. This was above consensus expectations.The second graph shows industrial production since 1967. Industrial production increased to 104.2. This is above the pre-pandemic level.Industrial production was above consensus expectations.

West Virginia governor says he'll take legal action against NCAA over tournament snub --West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) on Monday said he will take legal action against the NCAA over West Virginia University’s (WVU) snub from the March Madness tournament.“I’ve asked Attorney General [JB McCuskey] to launch an investigation into the NCAA tournament selection committee to determine if any backyard deals, backroom deals, corruption, bribes or any nefarious activity occurred during the selection process,” Morrisey said during a Monday press conference.The WVU Mountaineers are not a part of this year’s March Madness tournament, which also includes the storied men’s basketball teams of Duke University, Gonzaga University and the University of Kansas. The Mountaineers are also not ranked in The Associated Press’s poll of the top 25 men’s college basketball teams. “Many of us were looking to see how WVU was going to be seated in the tournament,” Morrisey said Monday. “Nearly every single sports fan, pundit, bracketologist, everyone had [WVU] as a shoe-in for the tournament. In fact, leading up to ‘Selection Sunday,’ 111 out of the 111 bracketologists projected WVU to make the tournament.”

Louisiana ends 15-year pause in executions with nitrogen gas execution of Jessie Hoffman Jr. -Louisiana ended its 15-year hiatus from state killings with the execution of Jessie Hoffman Jr. by nitrogen hypoxia. The state paused executions in 2010 due to legal challenges to its lethal injection protocol and the inability to obtain the necessary drugs to carry out the killings.The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling just hours before the state killing, declined to halt Hoffman’s execution. On Friday, a federal appeals court vacated a preliminary injunction blocking the execution granted by a lower judge.About 50 anti-death penalty advocates protested outside the gates of Angola state prison, holding a vigil for Hoffman as the state began his execution at around 6:00 p.m. local time. According to Louisiana’s new protocol, Hoffman was strapped to a gurney, fitted with a full-face respirator mask and forced to breathe nitrogen gas pumped into the mask until his heart stopped.His attorney Caroline Tillman confirmed shortly before 7:00 p.m. that the execution had been completed. “Tonight, the state of Louisiana took the life of Jessie Hoffman, a man who was deeply loved, who brought light to those around him, and who spent nearly three decades proving that people can change,” she said.In March 2024, the Louisiana Legislature passed a bill authorizing the use of nitrogen gas and electrocution as alternative execution methods. On February 10, 2025, Governor Jeff Landry, a Republican, announced that the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections had implemented the new nitrogen gas protocol. Details of the state’s protocol have been released in redacted form only. Hoffman, now 46, was 18 when he carried out the abduction, rape and murder of Mary “Molly” Elliott, a 28-year-old advertising executive. He was tried and sentenced to death for the crime, for which he claimed responsibility and expressed remorse. The US Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that it is unconstitutional to impose the death penalty on those who were under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes. Hoffman was just 88 days past his 18th birthday.The execution was carried out at the infamous Angola State Penitentiary. The prison—known as “Alcatraz of the South” and “The Farm”—was built on land originally occupied by slave plantations. It began operating as a state prison in 1901 and is the largest maximum security prison in the US, spanning 18,000 acres and housing about 6,300 prisoners.Over 100 people had gathered near the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge on Sunday to protest the execution. In a letter dated Monday, Kate Murphy, Molly Elliott’s sister-in-law, sent a last-minute plea to Louisiana government officials asking them to grant Hoffman a reprieve and parole hearing to give her the opportunity to meet with him as part of her healing process. She asked that Hoffman’s sentence be commuted to life in prison, saying, “Executing Jessie Hoffman is not justice in my name, it is the opposite.” Governor Landry ignored her plea.While there is no “humane” way for the state to execute a human being, the American Veterinary Association has ruled that nitrogen gas should not be used to euthanize dogs and cats unless they have already been rendered unconscious through sedation. In fact, Louisiana state law outlaws gassing as a method of euthanasia of these animals.Lee Capone, a Louisiana veterinarian for 45 years, was involved in a campaign to ban gassing for mammals in the state. He became convinced that the method was an inhumane euthanasia technique after he saw dogs being killed with gas in the early 1980s. Capone told the Guardian:A large number of dogs were put into a concrete bunker and gassed. It was clear from their bodies, which had eyes wide open and dilated, saliva round the mouth, signs of vomiting and diarrhea, that they had been frightened and scared, and had suffered.The Louisiana coalition Jews Against Gassing opposes nitrogen gas executions, saying the method “echoes” the Nazis’ gassing of millions of Jews and others during the Holocaust. Such objections, however, have not deterred a growing number of states to adopt the method. At present, five US states authorize execution by nitrogen suffocation, including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Ohio and Nebraska have also considered legislation to allow the method.

Chicago teachers must lead fight against Trump’s attacks on public education! - The Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Committee calls for the broadest mobilization of the working class to oppose the Trump administration’s plans to destroy public education. We support the call by the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) to build rank-and-file committees in every school and neighborhood to prepare mass action, including mass meetings and coordinated strike action to defend the right to high-quality public and secondary education for all and to defend immigrant workers. Acting on behalf of the American oligarchy, Trump and Musk have slashed the workforce of the Education Department in half and plan to close the half-century-old federal agency. They are slashing federal funding for low-income, disabled and English learners, vastly expanding school vouchers, and seeking to transform schools into centers for right-wing, nationalist and religious indoctrination. The Department of Agriculture is reducing funding for free school lunch programs. Financially strapped school districts across the country, including in Chicago, will be devastated. Chicago Public Schools will lose a significant portion of the $1.8 billion in federal funding the school district receives every year, which makes up approximately 20 percent of its operating revenues. This is on top of the $500 million or more deficit for the 2025-26 school year, which is the result of the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to let federal COVID relief school funding (ESSER) run out. Just last week, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker told a conference of the Illinois Education Association that the state “cannot replace” the $3.5 billion in federal funding school districts receive every year.The claims made by the Chicago Teachers Union leaders that their contract proposal will “Trump-proof” the district are beneath contempt. Whatever schemes the mayor and the CTU bureaucracy are cooking up, i.e., increasing the district’s debt load, offloading pension payments, etc., will not make up for the massive cutbacks coming from Washington, DC. This is not “financial fearmongering,” it is reality.The months-long charade between CTU bureaucrats, the mayor’s office and the school board has had only one aim: preventing teachers from launching a citywide strike to prevent the program cuts, layoffs and school closures that Mayor Johnson and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates know are coming. This is consistent with the decades-long record of the Democratic Party and its accomplices in the CTU bureaucracy. In the winters of 2021 and 2022, there was overwhelming opposition from teachers, parents and students to Biden’s reopening COVID-infected schools. The Chicago Educators Rank and File Committee fought to unite teachers across the US and internationally to save lives. But CTU leaders worked closely with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Biden administration to reopen schools with token “safety agreements,” allowing Chicago to become the first major city where mass infection through schools was encouraged. Whatever their token complaints about Trump, the Democrats are the fascist president’s enablers. That is why Democratic Senators voted for the Republican spending bill, which has provided Trump with a green light to slash federal jobs, gut Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare, and build up the structure for a police-state dictatorship. In the face of the existential threat to public education, AFT and NEA leaders are telling educators and parents to text their feelings to the White House. This is like writing letters to Hitler!

Why school funding drops slightly in DeWine's budget - Gov. Mike DeWine’s new state budget proposal phases in the final two years of the 2021 Fair School Funding Plan, which has significantly increased state spending on schools. But the impact of DeWine’s budget proposal as a whole still translates to a slight drop in funding for traditional K-12 public schools overall. A seemingly obscure belt-tightening move by the governor is a major reason why. To decide how much money a school district should get, the state’s K-12 funding formula starts with determining how a district spends on education, including the cost of paying teachers and sending kids to school. For his last budget in 2023, DeWIne used cost data from 2022, the most recent available numbers at the time. But DeWine’s new budget plan re-uses the 2022 cost numbers instead of updating them with numbers from 2024. School officials say using the old data fails to capture two years of high inflation. The decision is not by accident and has a major consequence. Using the 2024 numbers would add $1.8 billion to the state budget, according to state Rep. Brian Stewart, a Republican who’s overseeing House budget hearings as chair of the House Finance Committee. State officials generally have described the upcoming budget cycle as fiscally tighter than previous years. Republican lawmakers also have said they want to cut taxes, which would come at the expense of other potential spending priorities, including education funding. DeWine’s budget proposes spending $8.1 billion on traditional K-12 schools in 2026, about $30 million less than this year, according to an estimate from the nonpartisan Legislative Budget Office. Another budgetary move from DeWine also explains some of the cut in funding – DeWine is slightly reducing the “guarantee,” a special payment districts get when their enrollment or local property wealth goes up.School officials are zeroing in on DeWine’s decision on the input cost as they lobby for more funding.A group of school administrators who helped develop the state’s new funding formula testified before the finance committee last week. They said DeWine’s decision leaves local taxpayers holding the bag when it comes to increased costs.Schools are getting significantly more local funding, thanks to the historic post-pandemic wave of rising property values. But they say it’s not enough to cover inflation in health insurance, school bus prices and other costs, according to the group. They say schools likely will seek more levies if the state doesn’t step up.Meanwhile, schools with rising property values are more likely to see their state funding drop, since the school funding formula gives less money to wealthier districts. About 57% of the state’s 611 school districts are seeing a cut under DeWine’s plan, according to Policy Matters Ohio, a liberal think tank in Columbus that argues for higher public school funding

Kent State will eliminate several majors, cut administrative positions. -- Kent State University officials announced Wednesday that the university would make several changes, including eliminating multiple majors, adding three new majors, restructuring its colleges and cutting around 30 administrative positions.Kent State will be ending several majors, mostly due to low enrollment, university officials stated in a Wednesday media release.The eliminations include:

• The College of the Arts will cease offering the conducting major within the Master of Music degree, effective fall 2025. Faculty voted to restructure the conducting curriculum as a new concentration within the performance major. This college also will end the music composition major within the Master of Arts degree, effective fall 2025. Faculty voted to restructure the music composition curriculum as a new concentration within the performance major.
• The College of Communication and Information will inactivate the media and journalism major within the Master of Arts degree, effective fall 2025.
• The College of Public Health will inactivate the public health major within the Master of Public Health degree, effective fall 2025. The four concentrations in that major — biostatistics, epidemiology, health policy and management, and social and behavioral sciences — were all made into standalone majors.
• The College of Education, Health and Human Services will inactivate the athletic training major within the Bachelor of Science degree, effective fall 2025.
• The Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship will inactivate the managerial marketing major within the Bachelor of Business Administration degree, effective fall 2025. Faculty will continue to teach and support the marketing major.
• The College of Applied and Technical Studies will inactivate the enology (wine and wine making) major within the Associate of Applied Science degree, effective fall 2025. Kent State will continue serving the enology undergraduate certificate, a curriculum that duplicates the major requirements, at its Ashtabula Campus. This college also will inactivate the viticulture (grape cultivation) major within the Associate of Applied Science degree, effective fall 2025, but will continue serving the viticulture undergraduate certificate at the Ashtabula Campus.
• The College of Applied and Technical Studies will inactivate the environment management major within the Associate of Technical Study degree, effective fall 2025.

In addition to these cuts, Kent State's board approved on Wednesday the elimination of 15 academic centers and institutes, including: [list] The university's board approved reducing academic leadership by 40%. The reductions include eliminating one dean, around 13 assistant and associate deans and around 16 chairs and directors. This will, according to the university, save an estimated $1.5 million. However, the "vast majority of the leaders impacted by this strategy will return to their nine-month faculty roles," Emily Vincent, director or university media relations, said Thursday. The university's board approved adding three majors for Kent State students, two that fall under the College of Public Health and one that falls under the College of Communication and Information. These degree options will be available starting in fall 2025, pending the final approval of the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the Higher Learning Commission

Harvard broadens free tuition to enhance diversity - Harvard University announced Monday it will expand free tuition to more students, a move adopted by other schools since the Supreme Court ruled affirmative action could no longer be used in college admissions. Harvard said students from families making less than $200,000 per year will not be charged for tuition, expanding on a previous decision to make the school completely free, covering tuition, housing and other costs, for those coming from families making less than $100,000 per year. “Harvard has long sought to open our doors to the most talented students, no matter their financial circumstances,” said Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hoekstra. “This investment in financial aid aims to make a Harvard College education possible for every admitted student, so they can pursue their academic passions and positively impact our future,” he added. The policy will begin at the start of the 2025-26 academic year. Those from families that make more than $200,000 a year can still qualify for tailored financial aid. Other elite schools, including the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have also sought to expand their financial aid offerings as a way to maintain or increase diversity in the wake of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling. “We know the most talented students come from different socioeconomic backgrounds and experiences, from every state and around the globe,” said William Fitzsimmons, Harvard College’s dean of admissions and financial aid. “Our financial aid is critical to ensuring that these students know Harvard College is a place where they can be part of a vibrant learning community strengthened by their presence and participation.”

Second anti-genocide student protester at Columbia arrested by Trump's immigration police -- On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it had arrested a second student at Columbia University for speaking out and protesting against the ongoing US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza, which has officially killed over 47,000 Palestinians, the majority being women and children. The agency said that Leqaa Korida, a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) after allegedly overstaying her F-1 student visa. DHS claims that the visa was terminated on January 26, 2022 and that Korida had been arrested while participating in the April 2024 protests at Columbia university. The latest arrest follows last Saturday’s kidnapping of Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old graduate student at Columbia and green card holder. Khalil was taken by DHS thugs who quickly whisked him over 1,300 miles away to a private detention facility in Louisiana, separating him from his American wife who is eight months pregnant with their child. On April 17, 2024, students at Columbia University established the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” which called on the university to divest from companies linked to the Israeli government and military. The encampment movement spread to over 120 universities in the US and internationally, with thousands of students and teachers participating in the protests. In the subsequent weeks, hundreds of students peacefully occupied Columbia’s Hamilton Hall, renaming it Hind’s Hall in honor of six-year-old Hind Rijab, one of the thousands of children murdered by the Israeli military in the last 18 months of carnage. Despite the overwhelmingly peaceful character of the student protest, the New York Police Department, under orders from the Biden administration and former cop Mayor Eric Adams, conducted mass raids on the encampment, arresting hundreds of students. This crackdown was extended to encampments across the country. In the same statement announcing Korida’s arrest, the DHS announced that it had revoked the visa of another student at Columbia, Ranjani Srinivasan, a citizen of India, for being “involved in activities supporting Hammas [sic], a terrorist organization.” The DHS has provided zero evidence that Srinivasan was in contact with or provided any material support to Hamas. According to the agency, after having his visa revoked the student used the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Home App to “self-deport” on March 11. Ginning up fascists and Zionists, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted footage obtained from an airport security camera allegedly showing Srinivasan leaving the country.

Brown University professor, doctor Rasha Alawieh deported despite court order --An assistant professor from Brown University’s medical school with a valid visa was deported from the U.S. despite a judge’s order that she was not to be removed. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, an appointee of former President Obama, was set to hold a hearing Monday after Rasha Alawieh was deported to Lebanon but canceled it shortly before it began. The deportation came after Sorokin said Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist, was to stay in the country. Alawieh was detained Thursday after returning to the U.S. following travel abroad. Sorokin on Friday ordered the government to provide 48 hours notice before deporting her, but she was then put on a flight out of the country. Her attorneys argue the federal government “willfully” disobeyed the court order. “These allegations are supported by a detailed and specific timeline in an under oath affidavit filed by an attorney. The government shall respond to these serious allegations with a legal and factual response setting forth its version of events,” the judge said. According to court documents, the federal government says Customs and Border Patrol officers did not receive notice of the court order to keep Alawieh in the country until after she was deported and “[a]t no time would CBP not take a court order seriously or fail to abide by a court’s order.” On Sunday night, Alawieh’s attorneys withdrew as her counsel “as a result of further diligence,” and her new team says it needs more time to prepare. It is not immediately clear what led to her lawyers withdrawing from the case. Alawieh was on a H-1B visa that allowed her into the country to work at Brown.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a post on the social platform X that Alawieh went to Lebanon to attend the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, “a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree. Alawieh openly admitted to this to CBP officers, as well as her support of Nasrallah.” The incident comes after the federal government began a deportation crackdown on college campuses starting with Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who recently graduated from Columbia University with a master’s degree. Khalil, described as the lead negotiator during the pro-Palestinian encampment at the university, is currently held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody as he awaits a court hearing.

Brown University advises against foreign travel due to Trump policies --Brown University is advising its international staffers and students to reconsider foreign travel plans after an assistant professor at its medical school was deported this weekend, the latest Trump immigration crackdown action to impact an elite American college. “Out of an abundance of caution, we encourage international students, staff, faculty and scholars — including U.S. visa holders and permanent residents (or ‘green card holders’) — to consider postponing or delaying personal travel outside the United States until more information is available from the U.S. Department of State,” said Russell Carey, Brown’s executive vice president for planning and policy, in a campus-wide email. While the Trump administration has not changed its official guidance around travel bans or restrictions, “during this period of great uncertainty, we feel it’s imperative to share reminders with Brown’s international community about travel outside the United States and to provide information about available campus resources,” the email said. The message went out as Brown students are about to head on spring break and after Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor on an H-1B visa, was detained after returning to the U.S. from a trip to Lebanon before being deported. Alawieh was deported despite a court order from a judge saying she was to stay in the country. The federal government said in a filing that the order from the judge was not communicated to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents before she was already out of the country. “We continue to seek to learn more about what has happened,” Brown University said, noting Alawieh was an employee of Brown Medicine with a clinical appointment to Brown University. The Department of Homeland Security said Alawieh was in Lebanon to go to the funeral of “a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree. Alawieh openly admitted to this to CBP officers, as well as her support of [Hassan] Nasrallah.”
Senate Democrats call for USDA funding for local food banks, schools to be restored - Senate Democrats called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to restore funding to local food banks and schools, after it canceled $1 billion in food purchase programs throughout the country. In a letter Monday, Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff (Calif.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) led a group of 31 Democrats in calling on Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to reverse the cancellation of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS). In their letter, they wrote that these “successful” programs “allow states, territories, and Tribes to purchase local foods from nearby farmers and ranchers to be used for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers.” “At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical,” they wrote. “Notably, LFPA and LFS have benefitted producers and consumers by providing funding for purchases through all 50 states, four territories, and 84 tribal governments,” they added, noting the programs supported more than 8,000 producers as of December 2024. In the letter, the Democrats also asked for an update on the status of the reimbursements for entities with agreements with USDA through LFPA and LFS, including when the last reimbursement was received. They also asked whether the Trump administration has conducted any assessments to determine the impact of the programs’ cancellations, and for a copy of that assessment if it exists, along with answers to their questions, by April 4.

California district attorney files charges against UC Santa Cruz student nearly year after anti-genocide protests --As part of a broader crackdown on free speech and anti-war protests led by the Trump administration, last Friday the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office announced it was filing charges against a University of California Santa Cruz student who participated in anti-genocide protests on the campus last year.The student—who remains unidentified due to concerns over their safety—was one of over 100 arrested last May while participating in the Gaza Solidarity encampment. Despite the peaceful character of the encampment, police reacted violently to students, jabbing them with their batons and throwing them on the ground before arresting them.The same student was arrested again this past October while participating in a campus rally marking the beginning of Israel’s genocidal onslaught in Gaza, which was launched using the assault by Hamas on October 7, 2023 as justification.The trumped up charges filed last Friday concern activities that allegedly took place at both events, including battery of a police officer, resisting arrest and providing false information. No evidence, including video, has been provided by the police or district attorney to corroborate the allegations.The fact that the charges are only being filed now, nearly a year after the protest took place, underscores their concocted character. After being initially arrested last year, the student, and over 100 others, did not have any charges filed against them. The student now facing charges was able to continue their studies at UCSC.Witnesses to the October 7, 2024 arrest explained to Lookout Santa Cruz News that police approached the student and told them they could not wear a mask or use a bullhorn, and demanded that they identify themself. According to these witnesses, police proceeded to push the student away from the group of people and then they picked them up and put them into a police car.The day after this arrest, students held another demonstration against the the US-backed Israeli genocide and the crackdown against protest by the UC system.Student organizers were again threatened with arrest for using a megaphone, including the student currently facing charges of “battery of a police officer” and “resisting arrest.”The “big lie” being perpetuated by the US ruling class, both political parties and college presidents and the police is that large swathes of young people, students, workers and anti-genocide protesters are actually violent antisemites. In reality, the vast majority of violence occurring at protests against the genocide has come from the police. Last June at University of California Los Angeles, police, in coordination with fascist Zionist thugs, conducted a violent rampage at a Gaza solidarity encampment, assaulting and arresting many peaceful student protesters.This is all bound up with the broader escalation of a ruling class offensive against the democratic rights of the entire population. In January the Trump administration signed an executive order aimed at restricting free speech at universities, as well as pressuring university administrators to report anti-war students for deportation, with Trump’s administration saying in a fact sheet regarding the order, “we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathisers on college campuses.”Last Monday the Department of Education also sent out letters threatening potential “enforcement actions” to 60 universities it deemed were not doing enough to “protect Jewish students,” which is code for not doing enough to crush anti-genocide dissent. This was in the wake of the illegal disappearing of Mahmoud Khalil, who is a leader of the anti-genocide protests at Columbia University in New York and was kidnapped for deportation due to his political views, despite being a permanent resident and green card holder and not even being accused of any crime. Threatening to go after more students who dare express opposition to ethnic cleansing and genocide, Trump posted on his social media accounts, “We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it… This is the first arrest of many to come. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country—never to return again.”

Purdue Pharma Files New Bankruptcy Plan For $7.4 Billion Opioid Settlement -Drugmaker Purdue Pharma filed a new bankruptcy plan on Tuesday, marking a major step towards finalizing a proposed opioid settlement of $7.4 billion. The maker of the powerful semi-synthetic opioid oxycodone—also marketed as OxyContin and by other names—filed a Chapter 11 reorganization plan and related disclosure statement with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. According to a statement announcing the proposal, a new public benefit company “100 percent devoted to improving the lives of Americans,” would be created after Purdue is dissolved, and its assets transferred to the new company. The Sackler family, which previously owned Purdue Pharma, would “have no ownership interest or role with the new company,” according to the statement, which noted family members have had no involvement in Purdue since the end of 2018. The new company would have a core mission to abate the opioid crisis and improve public health, including by developing and distributing lifesaving opioid use disorder and overdose rescue medicines for no profit, the statement said. It would also be run by a board appointed by state governments, the statement added. Assuming full creditor participation, the plan would see the Sacklers pay out approximately $6.5 billion in installments over the next 15 years—subject to certain reserves—to states, local governments, and individuals harmed by the crisis. They would pay $1.5 billion on the day the reorganization plan becomes effective and Purdue would contribute 100 percent of its assets, “with an expected $900 million in cash available for distribution on the day of emergence,” according to the statement. Purdue said it expects widespread creditor support for the deal. According to the statement, the latest plan “is the only opioid settlement to date that meaningfully compensates individual victims” and, assuming full participation, “individual victims will receive more than $850 million, subject to certain reserves.” A court hearing to approve the disclosure statement is currently expected to take place in May, according to the statement. Purdue Says Deal Is ‘Major Milestone’ “We and our creditors have worked tirelessly in mediation to build consensus and negotiate a settlement that will increase the total value provided to victims and communities, put billions of dollars to work on day one, and serve the public good,” Purdue Board Chairman Steve Miller said in the statement. “I sincerely thank our stakeholders for their dedication and collaboration, and I look forward to having the plan confirmed and consummated as quickly as possible.” The bankruptcy filing comes after Purdue and members of the Sackler family reached a $7.4 billion deal with a bipartisan coalition of states in January to settle long-running litigation over their alleged role in creating the opioid crisis. The deal marked the nation’s largest settlement to date with individuals allegedly responsible for contributing to the opioid crisis.

NIH crackdown on mRNA research: The Trump administration’s march toward scientific censorship - The revelation that National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials are instructing scientists to scrub references to mRNA technology from their grant applications is an unmistakable sign of the Trump administration’s war on science.This brazen attack, detailed in leaked emails and firsthand accounts from researchers, is not an isolated incident. It is part of a far-reaching, deliberate assault on public health, spearheaded by the Trump administration through Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine demagogue now installed as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary.The ruling elites’ unrelenting effort to dismantle scientific institutions, suppress research, and weaponize public health policies against the population has been ongoing for years. But with Trump and his vassal Kennedy at the helm, this war on science and public health has entered a new, more sinister phase. Scientists are now being coerced into self-censorship, fearing that even acknowledging mRNA vaccines in their research proposals could cost them funding—and their careers.Multiple scientists have come forward, under the cover of anonymity, to reveal that NIH officials warned them to remove references to mRNA vaccine technology from grant applications. A monumental achievement of science, developed over the course of decades of pioneering research, mRNA technology is currently the most promising advance in the fight against cancer, AIDS and other infectious diseases.An NIH official confirmed that acting Director Matthew Memoli instructed staff to report any mRNA vaccine-related grants, contracts, or collaborations to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s office and the White House. Memoli further cancelled other research, such as on vaccine hesitancy.This unprecedented directive signals the agency’s intention to abandon a field of research that has saved millions of lives worldwide. The COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which relied on mRNA technology, have been administered to billions, with conservative estimates crediting them for preventing at least three million deaths in the U.S. alone.Scientists rightfully fear that this is the precursor to an outright ban on federally funded mRNA research, a decision driven not by evidence, but by the anti-vaccine conspiracy theories that have become gospel in Trump’s circles. The final goal: to dismantle public health and divert all social funds to the billionaires.According to an NIH-funded scientist in New York, who spoke to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF.org) under conditions of anonymity, “There will not be any research funded by NIH on mRNA vaccines. MAGA people are convinced that these vaccines have killed and maimed tens of thousands of people. It’s not true, but they believe that.”This paranoia, fueled by disinformation, has real-world consequences—not only for scientific progress but for the countless lives that could be saved by future mRNA-based vaccines, especially considering the promising ongoing research on cancer.The decision to suppress mRNA research cannot be separated from the broader attack on public health orchestrated by Kennedy. Long before he was installed as HHS Secretary, Kennedy had built his career on spreading disinformation about vaccines, in the process accruing millions of dollars in personal wealth. Now, he has the full power of the federal government at his disposal to impose his anti-vaccine ideology.

Antiviral drug ensitrelvir shows promise in preventing household COVID spread --People who started taking the antiviral drug ensitrelvir within 72 hours after a household member tested positive for COVID-19 were significantly less likely to be infected, according to results from an international phase 3 clinical trial presented last week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in San Francisco.Made by Japanese pharmaceutical firm Shionogi, ensitrelvir is approved in Japan for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19. Researchers conducted the double-blind Stopping COVID-19 pRogression with early Protease InhibitOr treatment—Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (SCORPIO-PEP) trial evaluating a 5-day course of oral ensitrelvir for post-exposure infection prevention from June 2023 to September 2024. Among all participants, 37% had at least one risk factor for serious COVID-19 complications.Of the 2,387 trial participants aged 12 years and older in countries that included the United States, 9.0% of placebo recipients contracted COVID-19 from a household member, compared with 2.9% of ensitrelvir recipients, for a 67% reduction in the risk of symptomatic infection, and the two groups had a similar risk of adverse events.

Higher heart rate and inactivity: Smartwatch data show early signs of long COVID - A study published in npj Digital Medicine yesterday used smartwatch data from users during the first 2 years of the pandemic to identify key changes among those who developed long COVID after infections with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19."Data from wearable devices such as smartwatches or fitness trackers, offer a novel approach to understanding the long-term impact of SARS-CoV-2 by providing objective measurements of heart rate, physical activity, step count, and sleep duration," the authors wrote. "These datasets provide a unique opportunity to establish pre-infection health baselines through continuous, non-invasive, and cost-effective measurements."The study was based on data collected via the Corona Data Donation App (CDA), a voluntary program run in Germany that collected health data via smartwatches during the pandemic. More than 120,000 study participants voluntarily shared daily data from their watches with researchers, who could then track several vital signs in 15-minute intervals before, during, and after a SARS-CoV-2 infection.People with COVID-19–positive tests were compared to negative controls, and differences between the groups were assessed prior to and following infections.Notably, the authors found that people who later had persistent COVID-19 symptoms following acute infections—or long COVID—had higher resting heart rates (RHRs; mean difference, 2.37 beats per minute) and lower daily step counts (mean, 3,030 fewer steps), at least 3 weeks prior to SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to negative controls. The higher resting heart rate and lower activity level persisted for up to 2 weeks following COVID infection among those who later developed long COVID."Given the known inverse relationship between RHR and physical activity, these patterns suggest that lower physical fitness levels, possibly due to pre-existing conditions, could increase susceptibility to developing long-term symptoms," the authors wrote.

Uncertainty about long COVID lingers years after the pandemic began -A new study based on UK adults shows 9%, or nearly 1 in 10, think they could have long COVID but aren't sure, according to researchers from the University of Southampton. The findings were published today in Health Expectations.The study highlights the persistent confusions about the chronic condition years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the authors said the findings were unexpected."We were really surprised to find so many people weren’t sure whether they had Long Covid or not, and the study shows there is still work to do to increase awareness of the condition and remove barriers to accessing diagnosis, treatment and support,” said Mirembe Woodrow, MS, a doctoral student and first study author, in a press release from the University of Southampton. The findings come from the GP Patient Survey, a random sample of 759,149 patients aged 16 years and older in 2023. The survey asked, "Would you describe yourself as having 'Long Covid,' that is, you are still experiencing symptoms more than 12 weeks after you first had COVID-19, that are not explained by something else?" Respondents could select "yes," "no," "not sure," or "prefer not to say."Among those who answered "yes" to having long COVID, 59.9% were female, and 60.7% were 35 to 64 years old.In total, 4.8% of respondents said they had long COVID, and 9.1% said they were unsure. Nine percent of people who described themselves as permanently sick or disabled had long COVID. The authors found both disability and unemployment to be the most highly correlated factors associated with long COVID. People who were unemployed or permanently sick or disabled were more likely to have long COVID (unadjusted odds ratios [aORs], 1.12; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06 to 1.19 and 1.92; 95% CI, 1.84 to 2.00, respectively). The UK Office for National Statistics estimated in March 2024 that 2 million adults and children in the country experience long COVID (3.3% of the population), and, of those, 19% reported that long COVID limited daily activities. In the study, those living in the most deprived areas of the country had 47% higher odds compared to the least of reporting long COVID (aOR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.42 to 1.53). The authors noted a high prevalence of long COVID in people who were deaf and using sign language (14.6%), and those who had Alzheimer's/dementia (9.2%), autism (8.8%), a breathing condition (9.0%), or a mental health condition (9.2%).

3 vaccine doses cut long-COVID risk by over 60%, analysis suggests - In a Swedish cohort, the risk of long COVID was much lower for vaccinated than unvaccinated participants in the year after infection, even when restricting the analyses to subgroups based on variant, age, sex, and previous infection status, estimates a study published last week in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Karolinska Institutet researchers in Stockholm analyzed data from five registries to compare rates of persistent COVID-19 symptoms, or post-COVID condition [PCC], in adults infected from January 2021 to February 2022 by vaccination status in the 14 days before infection. Follow-up was 365 to 660 days."We have previously shown that a PCC diagnosis correlates with excess healthcare usage in SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals, indicating a good accuracy of the diagnosis for severe PCC, and a Swedish cohort study found an association between COVID-19 vaccination and a reduced risk of being diagnosed with PCC," the study authors wrote.Of all 331,042 participants, 2,546 (0.7%) had long COVID at any point, and 852 of those with long COVID (33%) had the condition for a year or more. The incidence of long COVID was 0.4% for unvaccinated adults, 0.3% for one vaccine dose, and 0.1% for two or three. The adjusted risk ratio for long COVID in vaccinated versus unvaccinated participants was 0.81 for one dose, 0.42 for two doses, and 0.37 for three. More than two-thirds of the doses were of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.Part of the protective effect likely stems from the vaccine's efficacy against severe COVID-19, which has been tied to an increased risk of long COVID. "Collectively, we demonstrate that COVID-19 vaccinations are strongly associated with a reduced risk of persistent PCC, reinforcing the importance of obtaining an adequate protection against COVID-19 and its long-term effects," they wrote.

Pulmonary therapy shows promise for long-COVID patients -Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), including breath control exercises, can improve lung function in long COVID patients after only 4 to 8 weeks, according to a study in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease.The study analyzed all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the effectiveness of PR in long COVID-19 patients published before April 2024. In addition to general outcomes such as improvements in fatigue and self-reported quality of life, the studies also used 6-minute walking tests (6MWT), lung function measured by forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), and forced vital capacity (FVC) to assess lung health.PR was initially developed to manage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but clinicians around the world have used it to help patients who experience persistent respiratory symptoms after COVID-19 infections, including shortness of breath and exercise intolerance.In total, 37 studies with 33,63 patients were included in the meta-analysis. All participants were 18 year and older. PR was conducted in-person in 10 studies, via telemedicine in 25 studies, and combined in-person and telemedicine in 2 studies. Twenty-two studies featured patients who had been hospitalized for COVID-19.In the studies, the control groups received either usual care, no treatment, an educational brochure explaining breathing exercises and self-management guidelines, or a sham device.Breathing exercises were performed in 13 RCTs, multicomponent exercises were performed in 9 RCTs, and a combination of both exercises were performed in 15 RCTs.Overall, every outcome except depression significantly improved in groups that received PR instead of controls. Notably, there were significant improvements in the 6MWT with less than 4 weeks of PR, but FEV1 was not improved until at least 4 weeks of PR.

Cases of new Covid variant LP.8.1 double in UK -A new Covid variant is causing thousands of infections with experts warning it has the potential to spread rapidly - and the number of cases it has caused in the UK has doubled in the last few weeks. The World Health Organisation says the new variant - LP.8.1 - is one of two designated a Variant Under Monitoring, the other being XEC. It has already been detected in 23 countries. XEC accounts for around half of all infections with Covid, and the recently detected LP.8.1 is already responsible for around 10 per cent of infections in some places - and in the USA it has now surpassed XEC to become the most common strain, according to some reports. In the UK, The UK Health Security Agency said that by the end of January, LP.8.1 was responsible for 6.9% of Covid cases tested. In the latest figures, released this week, LP.8.1 was found to be responsible for 15.56% of cases. The UKHSA said: " Emergency Department attendances for COVID-19-like remained stable. The number of reported SARS-CoV-2 confirmed acute respiratory infections (ARI) incidents in week 10 increased slightly compared with the previous week." They added: " As of 11 March 2025, there were a total of 824 COVID-19 cases identified in hospital settings in week 10, decreasing slightly from 870 cases in the previous week. COVID-19 PCR positivity in hospital settings remained stable in week 10, with a weekly average positivity rate of 3.3% compared with 3.2% in the previous week. Positivity rates were highest in those aged 85 years and over at a weekly average positivity rate of 5.8%. This remained stable when compared with week 9, when positivity rates were at 5.6% among those aged 85 years and over."

Electronic nudges to get flu shot may unwittingly lower COVID vaccination in older adults --Electronic reminders to encourage older adults in Denmark to get vaccinated against flu may have unintentionally lowered uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine slightly, but not enough to hamper clinical outcomes, according to a research letter published in JAMA Network Open.Researchers in Denmark and the United States and vaccine manufacturer Sanofi evaluated rates of COVID-19 vaccination, confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, and infection-related hospitalization among more than 964,000 participants in the 2022-23 Northern Hemisphere respiratory virus season.The study was a secondary analysis of the NUDGE-FLU (Nationwide Utilization of Danish Government Electronic Letter System for Increasing Influenza Vaccine Uptake) trial, which found that electronic letters emphasizing the potential cardiovascular benefits of flu vaccination and repeated messaging increased flu vaccination rates by about 1 percentage point.That study randomly assigned all eligible adults aged 65 years or older in Denmark to usual care or one of nine different electronic letters designed according to behavioral science principles and delivered through the government's electronic letter system. The average age among the 964,870 participants was 73.8 years, and 51.5% were women.In total, 87.7% of participants were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the 2022-23 flu season. Of the 691,820 adults included in the analysis set, 86.3% received COVID-19 vaccination. Receiving any intervention letter encouraging flu vaccination was tied to slightly lower odds of being vaccinated against COVID-19 than receiving usual care (86.16% vs 86.52%; difference, −0.36 percentage points). Similar results were seen for most intervention letters, but the two letters that increased flu vaccination rates (cardiovascular-gain letter and repeated letter) didn't significantly lower COVID-19 vaccination rates.

CDC study highlights 'uneven' decline in resistant infections in US hospital patients --A new analysis of US antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data from 2012 through 2022 shows that the burden of drug-resistant infection in hospitals fell but remains substantial.The study, conducted by researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found that six bacterial pathogens associated with healthcare accounted for nearly 570,000 drug-resistant infections in US hospital patients in 2022. That figure reflects a decline from the 600,000 resistant infections estimated by the CDC in 2017. But while rates of several drug-resistant community- and hospital-onset infections declined during the first part of the study period, the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a significant increase in resistant infections in hospitalized patients. The authors of the study, published late last week in JAMA Network Open, say the findings suggest that new strategies for reducing resistant pathogens are needed. To provide updated estimates for rates for community- and hospital-onset AMR infections, the researchers analyzed US inpatient hospitalization data from two databases that include select patient, microbiology, and facility-level data. The six pathogens of interest were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistantEnterococcus (VRE), extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae(ESCR-EK), carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp (CRAsp), and multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Both the CDC and the World Health Organization have labeled these pathogens high priority because of their limited treatment options and ability to cause severe infections. The study cohort included 332 to 606 hospitals per year from 2012 through 2022 and more than 7 million clinical cultures. The six pathogens accounted for 569,749 cases and 179.6 cases per 10,000 hospitalizations in 2022. Of these infections, 437,657 (77%) were community-onset and 132,092 (23%) were hospital-onset. The biggest contributors to infections were MRSA (251,854; 44%) and ESCR-EK (200,884; 35%). Overall, the rate of resistant infections declined from 209.6 to 179.6 per 10,000 hospitalizations from 2012 through 2022. But the decrease was uneven; within the study period there was a decline in the rate of resistant infections from 2012 to 2016, a plateau from 2016 through 2018, an increase that began in 2019 and peaked in 2020 at 197 cases per 10,000 hospitalizations, and then another decline. While rates of hospital-onset MRSA, VRE, CRE, CRAsp, and MDR P aeruginosa saw periods of decline from 2012 to 2019, all six pathogens experienced a significant increase in hospital-onset rates in 2020 to 2021. This increase, which has been well-documented by the CDC and others, was driven by COVID-19–related hospital surges."Changes to health care use during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as decreases in overall admissions, surges in high-risk patients with COVID-19, and higher proportions of patients who were sicker and did not have COVID-19 contributed to increased hospital-onset resistant case rates," the authors wrote. They add that reduced use of infection control practices in hospitals during the pandemic—because staff were busy treating COVID patients—may have also increased AMR. Community-onset infections fell from 2012 through 2022, driven by reductions in community-onset MRSA, VRE, and MDR P aeruginosa infections. In particular, there were dramatic declines in community-onset MRSA infection in children. But the one pathogen that saw a steady increase in community-onset infections over the period was ESCR-EK. The authors say the increase can be attributed to E coli sequence type (ST)131, which has emerged in recent years as a frequent source of severe, MDR infections—primarily urinary tract infections—worldwide. "The success of this strain may be due to antibiotic use or strain virulence characteristics," they explained. "Additionally, community transmission may be increasing due to increasing ESCR E coli intestinal carriage among healthy individuals." The authors note that because their study captures only 11% to 18% of US hospitalizations over the period, more comprehensive AMR data are needed to provide a more complete picture of the burden of AMR in US hospitals. But they hope that their analysis can at least give healthcare professional a sense of where to start in their efforts to address the problem.

Deadly bacteria have developed the ability to produce antimicrobials and wipe out competitors, scientists discover - A drug-resistant type of bacteria that has adapted to health care settings evolved in the past several years to weaponize an antimicrobial genetic tool, eliminating its cousins and replacing them as the dominant strain. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists made the discovery when combing through local hospital data—and then confirmed that it was a global phenomenon. The finding, published in Nature Microbiology, may be the impetus for new approaches in developing therapeutics against some of the world's deadliest bacteria. It also validates a new use for a system developed at Pitt and UPMC that couples genomic sequencing with computer algorithms to rapidly detect infectious disease outbreaks."Our lab has a front row seat to the parade of pathogens that move through the hospital setting," said senior author Daria Van Tyne, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in Pitt's Division of Infectious Diseases. "And when we took a step back and zoomed out, it quickly became apparent that big changes were afoot with one of the world's more difficult-to-treat bacteria."The Enhanced Detection System for Health Care-Associated Transmission(EDS-HAT) analyzes the genetic signatures of infections in hospitalized patients and flags patterns, allowing clinicians to intervene and stop potential outbreaks in real-time. But lead author Emma Mills, a microbiology and immunology graduate student in Van Tyne's lab, realized that EDS-HAT was also a treasure trove of detailed historical information that she could mine to learn about the evolution of bacteria over time. Mills focused on vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREfm), so-called because it can't be eradicated with the popular antibiotic vancomycin. VREfm kills about 40% of the people it infects and is a particular plague on immunocompromised and hospitalized patients, who are often taking antibiotics that decrease the diversity of bacteria in their microbiomes, allowing drug-resistant bacteria, such as VREfm, to thrive. After analyzing the genomic sequences of 710 VREfm infection samples from hospitalized patients entered into EDS-HAT over a six-year time span, Mills discovered that the variety of VREfm strains had shrunk from about eight fairly evenly distributed types in 2017 to two dominant strains that began to emerge in 2018 and, by the end of 2022, were the culprit in four out of every five patient VREfm samples. Upon closer examination, Mills found that the dominant strains had acquired the ability to produce a bacteriocin, which is an antimicrobial that bacteria use to kill or inhibit one another. They'd weaponized this new capability to destroy the other VREfm strains, giving them unfettered access to nutrients for easier reproduction. This further sparked Mills's curiosity: If this was happening at the local hospital, was it happening elsewhere? No prior research publications had explored the possibility that this was a global phenomenon, so she consulted a publicly available library of more than 15,000 VREfm genomes collected globally from 2002 through 2022. Sure enough, what she'd observed locally had also been happening on a global scale.

Florida health system reports increase in Candida auris infections -- A retrospective study conducted at a large health system in Florida found that the volume and complexity of infections caused by Candida auris have rapidly increased over the last few years, researchers reported this week in the American Journal of Infection Control.In the study, researchers at Jackson Health System in Miami, which reported its first C auris case in 2019, identified 327 clinical cultures of the multidrug-resistant fungus in 231 patients from April 2019 through December 2023. The number of C auris–positive clinical cultures increased each year, rising from 5 in 2019 to 115 in 2023. Expressed as rates per 100,000 patients, this represented an increase from 4.0 positive cultures in 2019 to 28.0 in 2023—or a sevenfold increase. Hospital-onset and community-onset infections accounted 79.5% and 21.5% of cases, respectively.Blood cultures positive for C auris increased from 2019 through 2021 and remained the predominant source throughout the study period, but the proportion of C auris–positive blood cultures declined and stabilized in 2022 and 2023. At the same time, the health system saw a considerable increase in specimens from soft-tissue and bone infections in 2022 and 2023. Phylogenetic analysis of 13 samples showed that all isolates belonged to clade 3, the South African clade. Antifungal susceptibility testing showed all isolates were resistant to fluconazole and susceptible to micafungin and amphotericin B.The study authors note that the increase in the volume of C auris–positive clinical cultures is consistent with US national trends. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the annual number of clinical C auris cases in the United States has risen from 51 in 2016 to 4,514 in 2024. The authors say the increase in bone and soft-tissue infections is a particular concern because the management of such infections often necessitates wound care, which can in turn increase the burden of C auris environmental contamination in the hospital and put others at risk.

Fungus labeled ‘urgent threat’ by CDC is spreading rapidly, hospital study finds --New cases of a dangerous, drug-resistant fungus have been identified in at least two states’ hospital systems. Candida auris, also called C. auris, was first identified in the U.S. in 2016. Since then, the number of cases have increased every year, jumping substantially in 2023 (the last year of data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).Recently, cases have proliferated in Georgia, the state’s health department told local news outlet WJCL. A study published this week, which focused on the Jackson Health System in Miami also found cases of the fungus have “rapidly increased.”The CDC has called Candida auris “an urgent antimicrobial resistance threat” because it’s resistant to anti-fungal drugs, making it hard to treat an infection once it occurs.“If you get infected with this pathogen that’s resistant to any treatment, there’s no treatment we can give you to help combat it. You’re all on your own,” Melissa Nolan, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, told Nexstar.People with a healthy immune system may be able to fight off infection on their own, but Candida auris mainly spreads in health care settings, where people are sick and vulnerable. People with catheters, breathing tubes, feeding tubes and PICC lines are at the highest risk because the pathogen can enter the body through these types of devices.When the fungus infects a patient, it can be hard to identify what’s going on. Symptoms are like those of any infection, including fever and chills.Another reason Candida auris is so concerning is because of how well it has adapted to surviving on surfaces, like countertops, bedrails and doorknobs.“It’s really good at just being, generally speaking, in the environment,” Nolan explained. “So if you have it on a patient’s bed for example, on the railing, and you go to wipe everything down, if in whatever way maybe a couple of pathogens didn’t get cleared, then they’re becoming resistant. And so over time, they can kind of grow and populate in that hospital environment.”It’s not just hospitals in Georgia and Florida that are areas of concern. Candida auris has been found in all but 12 states, with a substantial spike between 2022 and 2023.

ECDC warns North Macedonia fire could lead to spread of carbapenem-resistant bacteria --European health officials are warning hospitals across Europe to take precautions in treating patients with burn injuries from a recent nightclub fire in North Macedonia. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in a news release that burn wounds are often colonized by gram-negative bacteria—such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter spp, and Enterobacterales—that are resistant to multiple antibiotics and can spread easily in hospital settings. The ECDC also noted that surveillance data from North Macedonia in 2023 indicated a high incidence of carbapenem-resistant (CR) bacteria, which are frequently multidrug-resistant and have limited treatment options. ECDC officials said many burn victims from the fire, which killed 59 people and injured dozens, have been transferred to hospitals in neighboring countries and other European Union member states. They urged healthcare systems in those countries to take proper precautions to protect against the spread of CR bacteria. "ECDC recommends hospitals receiving patients from North Macedonia implement precautions to prevent the potential spread of CR bacteria," the agency said. "These include isolating patients in single rooms immediately upon admission or grouping such patients, screening for multidrug-resistant bacteria including CR bacteria, ensuring strict hand hygiene and environmental cleaning, and using antibiotics judiciously."The ECDC also urged countries to share any information on CR bacteria found in transferred patients.

Study links beta-lactam allergy labels to 'array' of adverse effects A systematic review and meta-analysis found that beta-lactam allergy labels (BALs) are associated with increased rates of surgical-site infection and other adverse outcomes, researchers reported yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The review, led by researchers from the University of Peking, included 63 observational and interventional studies that compared clinical outcomes related to the presence or absence of a BAL. While an estimated 10% to 15% of adults worldwide carry a BAL, the label is often unverified, and as many as 90% of people with a BAL may actually be beta-lactam tolerant. The concern is that patients with BALs may receive inappropriate treatment with alternative broad-spectrum antibiotics, which can result in unintended adverse effects. Of the 63 studies reviewed, 60 were from high-income countries. The studies were conducted in the Americas (41), Europe (15), and the Western Pacific region (7). Overall, BALs were associated with increased rates of surgical site infection (odds ration [OR], 1.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27 to 2.01), rates of infection or colonization with both multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.22 to 1.64) and Clostridioides difficile (OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.16 to 1.37), and length of hospital stay (standardized mean difference, 0.06 days; 95% CI, 0.05 to 0.08), although the study authors say the latter finding may not be clinically meaningful. BALs were also associated with death at or after 180 days but not with overall, in-hospital, or 30-day mortality.

Flu in US continues to decline but still packs a punch - US flu activity declined last week for the fifth week in a row, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today it is still seeing substantial activity, with 17 more pediatric flu deaths reported. As the nation grappled with a high-severity season, test positivity in the first months of the year reached as high as 31.6%, but that figure is now at 13.3%. The percentage of outpatient visits for flulike illness has declined to 3.9%, but it has been above the baseline of 3% for 16 straight weeks. Most of the state reporting high activity are roughly in the northeastern quadrant of the country.Of viruses tested at public health labs, 93.7% were influenza A and 6.3% were influenza B. Of subtyped influenza A viruses, 57% were the 2009 H1N1 strain and 43% were H3N2.Flu hospitalizations this season reached their highest level since the 2010-11 flu season and have been dropping since the middle of February, with declines last week seen in all US regions.The 17 additional pediatric flu deaths reported last week push the national total to 151. Of the latest deaths, 15 were due to influenza A and 2 from influenza B, and of 10 subtyped influenza A viruses, half were H1N1 and half were H3N2. The previous two flu seasons saw 187 and 207 pediatric flu-related deaths, respectively, for the full season.In its respiratory virus snapshot, the CDC said it expects flu activity to last several more weeks. The CDC said peak hospitalizations from COVID-19 in the winter respiratory virus season were lower than previous seasons and half that of last season. Deaths from COVID last week made up 1% of all deaths, with the level still trending higher this season for flu, at 1.9%. Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 detections are at the moderate level and highest in the South, followed by the Midwest.

Measles cases rise in Texas, New Mexico --Today 20 more people in the West Texas region have , and 3 more people in neighboring Lea County, New Mexico, have been infected with the virus according to health departments in each state.There have now been 279 measles cases identified in Texas since late January. Thirty-six people have been hospitalized, and one child, an unvaccinated school-age girl, has died from her infection. Gaines County is the epicenter of the outbreak, with 191 cases.In the Texas outbreak, children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 account for the highest case count— 120. There have been 88 cases in kids ages 4 years old and younger.In New Mexico, the state measles total is now 38. Of those, 29 individuals were not immunized against the virus. Most are from Lea County, which borders Gaines County, Texas, and the outbreaks are related.

Newborns exposed in West Texas measles outbreak - Last week, a woman infected with measles gave birth at University Medical Center Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, possibly exposing newborns and their families to the highly infectious virus causing a large outbreak in West Texas and neighboring states. According to NBC News, hospital officials are giving infants injections of immunoglobulin, an antibody that helps their immune system fight off infections. The exact number of newborns exposed has not yet been determined.So far, the west Texas outbreak has resulted in 259 cases of measles, of which 201 have been in children. One unvaccinated child in Gaines County, Texas died from her infection.In related news, Oklahoma has reported two more probable measles patients, raising its total to 4. The Oklahoma State Department of Health said the probable case-patients went to several public places, including multiple grocery and department stores, while infectious, potentially exposing many more to the virus."Possibly exposed individuals who are not immune through vaccination or prior infection should exclude themselves from public settings for 21 days from the date of their potential exposure," state officials said in a press statement. The two Oklahomans with suspected measles reported exposure to the ongoing Texas and New Mexico outbreak rather than to the two Oklahoma measles cases announced on March 11. All four were unvaccinated. Michigan's health department has reported the state's first measles case of the year, which involves an adult who had recently traveled overseas. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and the Oakland County Health Division said this is the first measles case in the state since July 2024.Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that the nation now had more than 300 measles cases. A total of 285 cases were reported in all of 2024.

Measles cases top 350 in Texas-New Mexico measles outbreak --The Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) todayreported 30 more cases in a measles outbreak in the western part of the state near the New Mexico border, as the New Mexico Department of health added 4 new cases to its total, pushing the outbreak total to 351.Meanwhile, as global cases surge, a handful of states reported new cases in people who had connections to international travel. In a weekly update today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it has received reports of 378 cases this year, well past the 285 cases reported for all of 2024. The cases are from 18 jurisdictions, and 90% are linked to three outbreaks. The CDC’s update includes the first cases of the year from Kansas, Ohio, and Michigan. Kansas last weekreported its first measles infection since 2018, and media reports say at least six cases have been reported in the southwest part of the state in Grant and Stevens counties.Texas has now reported cases from 14 counties, though most are in Gaines County where the outbreak began in a Mennonite community that has low childhood immunization levels. So far, 40 patients have been hospitalized, and the number of deaths remains at one. Of the state’s 309 cases, 307 were unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status. TDSHS added that three cases reported earlier as vaccinated were determined to be unvaccinated, two of whom were immunized 1 or 2 days before their symptoms began. Another was a Lubbock resident who had a vaccine reaction rather than a measles infection; that case has been removed from the outbreak total.Meanwhile, the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDH) reported four new cases today, raising the state’s total to 42. All of the new cases are from Lea County, which borders the Gaines County hot spot in Texas.Earlier this week, New Mexico officials warned of potential exposure in Guadalupe and Valencia counties after a Texas traveler visited the area while infectious with measles. Exposure sites included a travel center, a hotel, a restaurant, and a church.So far, no cases have been reported from either of the counties. Miranda Durham, MD, NMDH’s chief medical officer, said, "When someone with measles travels, the virus can spread to unprotected communities—particularly during high-travel periods like spring break. Vaccination is our strongest defense: one dose of vaccine is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective.”Elsewhere, the Alabama Department of Public Health said yesterday that it is investigating possible exposures after it was notified that an unvaccinated child who traveled through the state tested positive for measles.Meanwhile, the number of cases linked to international travel continues to grow. The Ohio Department of Health yesterday reported its first case of the year, which involves an unvaccinated adult from Ashtabula County who had contact with someone who recently traveled internationally.Also, the Maryland Department of Health yesterday reported two cases in Prince George County residents who recently traveled together internationally. In California, the Tuolumne County Public Health Department reported two cases, an adult and a child who had recently traveled internationally.

Immune Amnesia: How the Texas Measles Outbreak Could Promote the Spread of Other Infectious Diseases -In the years before the introduction of the measles vaccine, the disease infected more than half a million people and killed hundreds of children each year in the United States alone.¹ After the approval of the vaccine in the 1960s, these numbers dropped precipitously and in 2000, the World Health Organization declared that measles had officially been eliminated from the country.But in late January 2025, a measles outbreak erupted in Gaines County, Texas. Within weeks, it had spread across state lines to New Mexico and Oklahoma, sickening nearly 300 people. Two deaths have been reported so far—the first measles deaths in the US in a decade. Many of the nastier measles complications were discovered decades ago: Children can die from pneumonia and encephalitis, pregnant people may give birth prematurely, and in extremely rare cases, individuals develop subacute sclerosing panencephalitis seven to 10 years after their initial infection.² This progressive neurological disorder is almost invariably fatal. Only in the last decade have researchers discovered and characterized another consequence of measles infection that is both common and insidious: immune amnesia. Essentially, the measles virus causes the immune system to “forget” previously acquired immunity, both from vaccinations and infections, leaving children vulnerable to a host of other pathogens for the following two to three years.³“What we see is almost like a shadow of mortality following a measles outbreak,” said Michael Mina, an epidemiologist and coauthor of the 2015 study, which demonstrated that measles cases in the US, UK, and Denmark were strongly correlated with rates of childhood mortality attributed to non-measles infectious diseases in the 18 to 30 months that followed an infection. In the course of this research, Mina read a 2012 study by Rik de Swart, a virologist at Erasmus University, that piqued his curiosity.⁴ De Swart’s group used glowing green proteins to track the measles virus as it spread throughout animals’ bodies. They watched as the virus entered and multiplied inside memory T cells and follicular B cells, which are important for antibody responses; these infected cells were then cleared away by other immune cells. “When I came across Rik’s paper on measles, I thought, ‘Wow, this is really interesting—measles kills immune cells!’” said Mina. “But at the time, there wasn't really much discussion about the long-term ramifications.” In 2013, Mina moved on to a postdoctoral position at Princeton University, where he worked with infectious disease dynamics researchers Jessica Metcalf and Bryan Grenfell. In 2015, they published their findings on the link between measles and infectious disease fatalities and in 2018, a subsequent study of thousands of children in the UK demonstrated widespread effects on nonfatal infections as well.^3,5 Researchers found that after contracting measles, children were 43 percent more likely to see a doctor for another type of infection in the first month post-measles, 22 percent more likely between one month and one year, and 10 percent more likely from one year to 2.5 years, in comparison to their demographically-matched peers who did not contract measles. Meanwhile, in vitro studies by de Swart’s research team had demonstrated that a subset of immune cells called plasma B cells were especially susceptible to measles infection.⁶ “Plasma cells are very special cells,” explained Mina. “When your body creates B cells in response to an infection, a very small fraction of those B cells migrates into the bone marrow, and they set up shop and become your long-lived antibody-producing factories against that infection.” If measles also attacked the plasma cells in vivo, the immunological consequences could be severe indeed. “Plasma cells are terminally differentiated, which means they don’t divide again,” explained Mina. “So, if you kill a plasma cell, you've killed like a whole antibody-producing factory… and we don't have a lot of plasma cells.” Along with Harvard University geneticist Stephen Elledge, Mina, de Swart, and a dozen others analyzed the pathogen-targeting antibodies present in blood samples from children before and after a measles infection. In the approximately ten weeks between the pre- and post-measles blood samples, children with mild cases lost about 33 percent of the antibody types their blood contained in the pre-measles assessment; those with severe cases lost an average of 40 percent.⁷ While some variation is normal, “Ninety percent of your antibody repertoire is super stable,” said Mina. Indeed, two separate control cohorts, sampled three months and one year apart, maintained about 90 percent of their antibodies and did not show any significant change in overall antibody diversity. In the children who contracted measles, the lost antibodies recognized epitopes from various types of clinically important viruses, including enteroviruses, herpesviruses, respiratory syncytial virus, and influenza virus. In agreement with previous studies, total antibody levels as measured by immunoglobulin proteins were largely unchanged—as many types of antibodies were lost, “You're refilling the pool with antibodies against measles,” said Mina.This antibody diversity doesn’t recover on its own, he said, “You have to repopulate it with new memories, by getting new vaccines or new infections.”This immune amnesia could have profound implications for global health and could be an important element in the design of vaccination campaigns and in epidemic disease modeling. For example, a study in the Democratic Republic of the Congo revealed that among children who were fully vaccinated against tetanus, those who had contracted measles were more likely to have subprotective levels of tetanus antibodies.⁸ Another research group concluded that measles-induced immune amnesia could have important effects on outbreaks of other diseases, enabling epidemics to spread even in areas with high vaccination coverage for that particular pathogen.⁹

Another norovirus outbreak on Princess Cruises ship sickens dozens of passengers and crew Another norovirus outbreak sickened passengers on board the cruise ship Coral Princess in February, marking the second outbreak this year on the ocean liner operated by Princess Cruises, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sixty-nine passengers and 16 crew members fell ill during the February outbreak, the CDC said. There were 1,906 passengers and 895 crew members on the ship overall. The outbreak happened during a 16-night voyage from Los Angeles, California, through the Panama Canal. Cases reported on the recent trip were considered "mild," a spokesperson for Princess Cruises told CBS News in an email. "At the earliest signs of illness, we promptly enacted enhanced sanitization protocols, including comprehensive disinfection, isolating affected guests, and offering health guidance to everyone on board," the spokesperson said. It was unclear whether those who reported developing symptoms on the ship became sick at the same time, or at different points along their journey. The Coral Princess left Los Angeles on Feb. 21 and returned March 9 to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to the CDC. After arriving in Fort Lauderdale, crew members disinfected the ship prior to its next voyage, the spokesperson said. Norovirus, also known as a stomach bug, is a highly infectious disease that typically causes symptoms like diarrhea, abdominal pain and vomiting. Symptoms usually last between one and three days, but a person can still transmit the notoriously contagious virus to others for two weeks or longer after their symptoms subside, the CDC said on its website. Outbreaks of norovirus are often seen on cruise ships, in congregate living situations like jails and nursing homes, and in other places like schools where groups are gathered close together. As cases of the illness surged around the U.S. toward the end of last year, the CDC reported hundreds of cruise passengers caught the virus on three different ships in December alone. One of those outbreaks happened on a Princess Cruises ship, the Ruby Princess, as it sailed around Hawaii. The other two affected Holland America's Rotterdam and Zuiderdam on voyages through the Caribbean. The CDC said more norovirus outbreaks spread on cruise ships in December 2024 than any other month last year. In total, the agency tracked 14 norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships in 2024, several of which occurred on trips run by Princess Cruises. In December, about 100 passengers and 12 crew reported being ill during the Ruby Princess outbreak, after an outbreak on the Coral Princess in November where 55 passengers and 15 crew came down with the virus.

WHO calls for countries to address disruptions to TB services --In the wake of massive cuts in US funding, the World Health Organization (WHO) today called on global health leaders, donors, and policymakers to protect and maintain tuberculosis (TB) care and support services around the world.In a statement issued ahead of World Tuberculosis Day (March 24), the WHO said the "drastic and abrupt" cuts to global health funding threaten to reverse gains made in global efforts to combat TB, which remains the world's deadliest infectious disease. Those efforts have saved an estimated 79 million lives worldwide since 2000, the organization said."The huge gains the world has made against TB over the past 20 years are now at risk as cuts to funding start to disrupt access to services for prevention, screening, and treatment for people with TB," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD. "But we cannot give up on the concrete commitments that world leaders made at the UN General Assembly just 18 months ago to accelerate work to end TB. WHO is committed to working with all donors, partners and affected countries to mitigate the impact of funding cuts and find innovative solutions."While the statement does not specifically mention the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Trump administration's freeze of USAID funding, and the subsequent canceling of thousands of contracts issued by the agency, have left a gaping hole in funding for TB prevention, screening, and treatment services. The US government has been the leading bilateral donor to global TB control efforts, contributing $200 million to $250 million annually—roughly one quarter of international donor funding for the disease.The WHO said 27 countries are facing crippling breakdowns in their TB response, with the biggest impact seen in high-TB burden countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific. Among the services that have been disrupted are diagnosis, active case finding, screening, and contact tracing, and those disruptions are resulting in delayed detection and treatment and increased transmission risk. Drug supply chains, laboratory services, and data and surveillance systems have also been undermined.A recent update from StopTB Partnership, which works on TB response with more than 2,000 partners in 100 countries, provides some detail on the services affected by the USAID funding cuts. In Cambodia, active case finding has halted in half the country, resulting in 100,000 people missing TB screening and 10,000 cases of drug-susceptible (DS)-TB going undetected. In Kenya, sputum sample transport once supported by USAID has halted, affecting the diagnosis of DS- and drug-resistant (DR)-TB. In India, USAID-funded TB screening projects in vulnerable groups have stopped.Those are just three of dozens of examples. In a news release today, StopTB Partnership Executive Director Lucica Ditiu, MD, echoed Tedros's call for action."People with TB need us," Ditiu said. "We have to remain strong, and we can never ever give up the fight. Through innovative, global and national efforts and standing together, we will be able to achieve these targets of ensuring TB prevention, treatment, and care are accessible to all."TB was responsible for an estimated 1.25 million deaths in 2023, according to the WHO's most recentannual report. An estimated 8.2 million people were newly diagnosed with the disease—the most cases in a year recorded by the WHO since it began global TB monitoring in 1995. High-burden TB countries have only recently begun to recover from the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which the WHO estimates resulted in 700,000 excess TB deaths.As the WHO notes, the funding cuts come amid what was already a shortfall in funding for global TB control efforts. In 2023, $5.7 billion was available for TB prevention, diagnostic, and treatment services in low- and middle-income countries, but that's only 26% of the 2027 target goal of $22 billion. TB research is receiving just one fifth of its 2022 target of $5 billion. Cuts to US funding are only going to exacerbate the problem.

Angola, Nigeria, Somalia record new polio cases -Three African nations—Angola, Nigeria, and Somalia—confirmed circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases, according to aweekly update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).Angola and Nigeria each reported one cVDPV2 case. The patient in Angola, who is from Benguela, had an onset of paralysis on December 12, 2024, raising the country's case total for 2024 to eight. The case in Nigeria is in Jigawa state and involved paralysis onset on January 23, raising the country's 2025 cVDPV2 case count to seven. Nigeria confirmed 98 cases last year.Somalia confirmed four new cases, all in Bari province. Paralysis symptoms began in December 2024 for all of the patients, bringing the 2024 cVDPV2 total in the country to seven.The GPEI also provided highlights of last week's meeting of the World Health Organization's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization.The GPEI said, "SAGE expressed concern that despite the increase in wild poliovirus in the endemic areas [Afghanistan and Pakistan], there are no visible efforts towards transformative change in the eradication strategy; expressed concern at circulating variant polioviruses (cVDPVs) and their expansion into new areas, including in European countries; and stressed the need for increased efforts to improve routine immunization and reach zero-dose children."

CDC issues alert about ongoing dengue threat - The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today issued a Health Alert Network notice to healthcare providers and the public about the ongoing risk of dengue virus infections, with levels remaining high in some US territories and surges still under way in other countries, especially in the Americas region.In Puerto Rico, a dengue emergency declared in March 2024 remains in effect, and cases this year are up 113% compared to this time a year ago. The US Virgin Islands declared an outbreak in August 2024, and cases continue, with 30 local cases already reported this year.A substantial rise in global dengue cases over the past 5 years, plus record levels in the Americas, led to a record number of travel-related cases in the United States in 2024, up 84% from the previous year. Three US states reported local dengue cases last year, and the CDC said it’s possible that local transmission could rise in the continental United States in areas that have mosquitoes that can carry the virus.“Spring and summer travel coincide with the peak season for dengue in many countries, increasing the risk of both travel-associated and locally acquired cases in the United States,” the group said. The CDC said all four dengue serotypes were reported in US travelers in 2024, but it added that the proportion of dengue serotype 4 has been on the rise in recent months. It urged healthcare providers to use the CDC’s DENV-1-2 real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test when dengue is the most likely diagnosis and urged them to use a new job aid on reviewing medical records for case investigations.

Research ties bites from 2 more types of ticks to red meat allergy -Two Emerging Infectious Diseases studies link bites from black-legged (deer) and western black-legged ticks to potentially life-threatening alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), or red meat allergy.AGS is an immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated allergy to galactose-α-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal), a disaccharide (sugar) found in most nonprimate mammalian meat. It can cause gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, malaise, and anaphylaxis. In the United States, AGS is usually associated with bites from the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum).The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)estimates that AGS affects up to 450,000 Americans. For the first study, a team led by CDC researchers investigated a patient in Maine showing AGS symptoms 9 days after a black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) bite in May 2022. They also collected surveillance data from 57 confirmed or suspected cases of AGS, including this case. The case involved a 45-year-old woman who removed a black-legged tick from her left bicep after returning from a walk on a wooded path in York County. Three days later, the bite area became inflamed and itchy and featured an enlarged red circumference. Nine days after the bite, she had GI symptoms 2.5 hours after eating roasted rabbit and having an alcoholic drink. Symptoms such as delayed-onset abdominal pain and malaise continued for 2 weeks after she ate red meat, and she sought care 20 days post-bite after experiencing a severe bout of vomiting and diarrhea after eating beef.Blood tests revealed a serum alpha-gal–specific IgE level above the upper limit of detection, and the woman's clinician recommended avoiding beef, lamb, and pork. In the 2 months after the bite, the patient found another black-legged tick and an American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), or wood tick.. Ten months after the initial symptoms, the patient tolerated a steak dinner and roast beef sandwich and started eating red meat again. In Washington state, a Kaiser Permanente Seattle–led team detailed a case of alpha-gal syndrome in a state resident bitten by a western black-legged (Ixodes pacificus) tick.A 61-year-old woman who worked as a wildlife biologist reported diffuse urticaria (hives) and lip swelling to a nurse, who advised her to take the antihistamines ranitidine and diphenhydramine. Her symptoms resolved within 24 hours. A month later, the woman called 911 after experiencing itching in her groin, urticaria on her back, and rapid-onset tongue swelling and difficulty speaking. After noting wheezing, low blood pressure, and a high heart rate, paramedics administered epinephrine for anaphylaxis. Her condition improved slightly, but within several minutes, paramedics documented worsening tongue swelling, throat tightness, and tunnel vision.The woman received a second dose of epinephrine, and after her symptoms worsened in the ambulance, she also received the corticosteroid methylprednisolone and an epinephrine nebulizer. Her symptoms improved in the emergency department (ED), and she was released home with prescriptions for prednisone, the antihistamines famotidine and diphenhydramine, and an epinephrine autoinjector.Later, the patient remembered that she had walked her dog in a wooded area the month before and experienced itching on her back. She found a non-engorged tick embedded in her left shoulder, which had likely been there for about 12 hours. After she removed parts of the tick, the bite area subsequently became painful and red. The same day, she sought care at an ED, where the mouthparts were removed and doxycycline was prescribed. The woman visited an allergist, who detected elevated alpha-gal IgE levels, diagnosed AGS, told her to avoid eating mammalian meat, and cautioned her about consuming milk and gelatin. She then avoided meat and gelatin and had no further allergic episodes, and within 6 months, her alpha-gal IgE level had fallen markedly.

FAO urges nations to ramp up actions to blunt impact of H5N1 avian flu -- In a briefing to member states today, the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today urged countries to step up their actions to battle avian flu in the face of an ongoing surge of poultry losses, more frequent spillovers to mammals, and detrimental effects on the food supply and prices. FAO Deputy Director-General Godfrey Magwenzi, MS, said the spread of H5N1 is unprecedented, "leading to serious impacts on food security and food supply in countries, including loss of valuable nutrition, rural jobs and income, shocks to local economies, and of course increasing costs to consumers." The FAO said the past 4 years has seen a major shift in global spread of H5N1 and its impacts. It added that losses extend to large numbers of wild birds, which poses a threat to biodiversity, with at least 300 new species affected by H5N1 since 2021. Officials urged countries to take several steps, including increased surveillance, improved lab capacity, enhanced biosecurity practices, strengthened outbreak response, and consideration of a possible role for vaccination. In other developments, New York City health officials shared more details about their investigation into severe cat illnesses from H5N1 avian flu, including a potential role of contaminated food and cat-to-cat spread of the virus. Also, two teams of scientists reported new findings about the pathogenicity of the cattle H5N1 genotype and antiviral treatment strategies. Following a recent announcement on the detection of two H5 avian flu infections in cats from separate households, New York City Health Department (NYC Health) officials on March 15 announced more details into the investigation, including that the illnesses appear to be linked to a brand of raw cat food and that a third illness in a cat is suspected. NYC Health urged consumers to avoid feeding their cats food from the raw pet food company Savage Cat Food. Cats from two separate households, and possibly a third, contracted avian flu and have been linked to raw-poultry pet food from Savage Cat Food.Test results in raw chicken food packets are pending for the first cat that died from H5N1. The company, based in El Cajon, California, on March 15 voluntarily recalled one lot of its raw chicken food for cats due to potential H5N1 contamination. The products were distributed in California, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today confirmed more H5N1 detections in poultry in four states, one involving an outbreak at a commercial turkey farm in Lawrence County, Illinois, that has 14,500 birds.In New Jersey, the virus turned up at three live-bird markets and a backyard farm. The virus also struck a backyard flock in Maryland and another live-bird market in Pennsylvania.APHIS also confirmed one more H5N1 detection in dairy cattle, which involves a herd in California, raising the national total to 986 across 17 states, 755 of them in California. In new research developments, a team based at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, compared the virus characteristics of the bovine H5N1 strain with an older H5N1 strain collected from a wild bird in Mongolia in 2005. The findings appear in Scientific Reports.The investigators conducted their experiments using mice and panels of human lung cells. The cattle H5N1 strain showed superior growth and more rapid replication in the human lung cells. In mice, the bovine strain showed greater pathogenicity, rapid lung pathology, high virus titers in the brain, and high mortality following challenge via different infection routes. In a second study, a team from St. Jude Children's Hospital who used a mouse model to assess the efficacy of Food and Drug Administration–approved antiviral drugs after the animals received a lethal intranasal or ocular challenge with H5N1-infected milk. The team published its findings today in Nature Microbiology. The researchers found better outcomes for baloxavir treatment than for oseltamivir, seeing improvements with survival and virus dissemination.

U Penn survey shows only 56% of Americans understand drinking raw milk is risky - A new survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) at the University of Pennsylvania shows that 56% of US adults know that drinking unpasteurized, or raw, milk is less safe than drinking pasteurized milk, but there have been no significant changes in public perceptions of raw milk in the past 6 month, despite detections of H5N1 avian flu virus in unpasteurized milk. Only 4% of survey respondents report having consumed raw or unpasteurized milk in the past 12 months, while another 2% are not sure whether they had drunk raw milk. Since April 2024, avian flu virus has been detected in raw milk samples taken from four states, but only 17% of those polled know that bird flu has been found only in raw milk, and not pasteurized milk. "Two percent incorrectly say bird flu has been found only in pasteurized milk, 7% say it has been found in both, 7% say it has been found in neither, and over two-thirds of those surveyed (68%) are not sure," the researchers wrote. In July 2024, 15% of those polled said drinking raw milk increases your risk of being exposed to avian flu, and in the most recent poll that number rose to 22%—the same proportion reported in November 2024. While most people do not drink raw milk, they are unclear if there are significant health benefits to consuming unpasteurized dairy. Though pasteurization does not change the nutritional value of milk, 59% of poll respondents said they are unsure if raw milk is more effective than pasteurized milk at preventing osteoporosis. Similarly, 54% are not sure if raw milk helps asthma sufferers, and 47% are not sure if raw milk strengthens the immune system. Nearly half of poll respondents—45%—said they were unsure if children were more at risk from the viruses and bacteria found in raw milk. Children, older people, and immune-compromised people are all at increased risk from foodborne pathogens, including Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, Listeria, and Brucella, if they drink raw milk. Raw milk has become a questionable "wellness" practice popular with some Americans who believe that the heat applied during traditional pasteurization strips milk of many health benefits. The Food and Drug Administration has debunked many of these claims, including the claim that drinking raw milk will cure lactose intolerance. Among poll respondents, 24% favor the interstate sale of raw milk, and a slightly larger group (28%) opposes it. And 32% said that federal government regulations of unpasteurized milk are "another example of unnecessary government intrusion in people’s lives."

Mississippi reports first outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu strain in US since 2017 -- Mississippi state and federal officials have confirmed an outbreak of a strain of bird flu not reported in the U.S. since 2017, with quarantine and depopulation efforts already underway. In a statement released March 12, the Mississippi Board of Animal Health stated that poultry from a commercial broiler breeder chicken flock in Noxubee County had tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). “The State Veterinarian has quarantined the affected premises, and birds on the property have been depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. Birds from the flock have not entered the food system,” the board stated. Greg Flynn, spokesperson for the Mississippi State Department of Health, confirmed to The Hill that his department was aware of the outbreak and that no human cases have been reported. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under the Department of Agriculture confirmed the outbreak was linked to the H7N9 strain, marking the first outbreak of this strain occurring in commercial poultry in the U.S. since 2017. The APHIS noted this outbreak is unrelated to the H5N1 bird flu outbreaks currently impacting commercial flocks in other parts of the U.S. “The flock of roughly 46,000 birds was experiencing high mortality, and samples tested at the Mississippi Veterinary Research & Diagnostic Laboratory, a member of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, were presumptive positive for HPAI then confirmed at APHIS’ National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL),” the agency stated. Both the Mississippi Board of Animal Health and the APHIS said the risk to the public remains low as the virus is not a food safety risk when eggs and poultry are properly handled and cooked. The Mississippi board called on home poultry owners to practice “good biosecurity” and to be aware of signs of bird flu symptoms.

H7N9 avian flu strikes Mississippi broiler farm -The Mississippi Board of Animal Health (MBAH) late last week reported a highly pathogenic avian flu outbreak in commercial poultry, which involves the H7N9 strain—a virus type that hadn't been identified in poultry in the United States since 2017. The MBAH said the outbreak occurred at a broiler facility in Noxubee County, which is in the eastern part of the state on the border with Alabama. It added that the state veterinary lab's findings were confirmed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. The birds have been depopulated and did not enter the food chain. The MBAH said it is working with federal veterinary officials on a joint incident response. Mississippi has experienced three avian flu outbreaks in commercial poultry since the spring of 2023, and since November 2024, the virus has been detected several times in migratory waterfowl in multiple parts of the state. A notification on the outbreak submitted to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) noted the H7N9 subtype, which it said belongs to a North American wild bird lineage. The outbreak began on March 8 when clinical signs were noticed, including increased deaths. Depopulation of 47,654 birds at the facility was completed on March 13. The last high-path H7N9 confirmation in US poultry occurred in March 2017 when outbreaks struck two commercial poultry farms in Tennessee.

CDC confirms D1.3 genotype in recent H5N1 case in Ohio -In an update yesterday on scientific investigations related to H5N1 avian flu activity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said genetic sequencing had identified the D1.3 genotype in a sample from an Ohio poultry culler whose infection was reported in the middle of February.Also, the CDC reported serology findings from the investigation into a January H5N1 infection in a San Francisco child whose exposure to the virus remains unknown.In other developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced new funding to battle avian flu in poultry, as its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed more H5N1 detections in poultry from four states.In the early months of 2025, Ohio’s commercial poultry sector emerged as one of the worst affected by H5N1 outbreaks, and the poultry worker had prolonged contact with birds that had been sick. He was hospitalized with both respiratory and nonrespiratory symptoms. The patient had initially tested negative on upper-respiratory samples but was positive on lower respiratory tract sampling.The CDC said sequencing shows the virus is a clade 2.3.4.4b virus of the D1.3 genotype, which like the D1.1 genotype descended from the A3 genotype that was introduced to North America in 2022 and has since reassorted with North American wild bird avian flu viruses. D1.1 has been circulating in wild birds and poultry and recently jumped to dairy cattle in Nevada and Arizona. It has also been implicated in a few human infections, two of them severe and one fatal.Genetic analysis of the D1.3 virus didn’t identify any markers that would impact the effectiveness of antivirals or candidate vaccine viruses, the CDC said, adding that it did not see any changes that would allow the virus to more easily adapt to or spread among mammals. Efforts to isolate the live virus are still underway.In another update, the CDC said its scientists have completed serology testing on blood samples from close contacts of a San Fransico child whose mild illness from an undetermined source was first announced in February.The child’s blood had antibodies to H5N1, but testing on samples from the child’s close contacts were negative for previous infection with the virus, suggesting that none of them were infected.In its report, the CDC also spotlighted two recently published ferret studies that found pre-existing antibodies from earlier infection with the 2009 H1N1 seasonal flu virus might provide some protection against H5N1. One of the two studies, published this week in The Lancet Microbe, also found that the ferrets with previous exposure to H1N1 were less likely to pass the virus to animals in the same enclosure. The same study also found that ferrets with ocular exposure to the B3.13 genotype H5N1 virus developed severe and transmissible disease, similar to when they were infected by the respiratory route, which the CDC said supports the recommendation for wearing eye protection when exposed to infected or potentially infected animals.In other H5N1 developments, the USDA today announced up to $100 million in funding for projects to battle avian flu in poultry and reduce the price of eggs.The three priority areas are novel therapeutics and improved diagnostics, research to better understand how the virus is introduced into poultry flocks and to inform biosecurity mitigation steps, and novel vaccines.The USDA emphasized that no vaccines are currently authorized and that any decision to move forward with use will involve input from federal agencies, states, veterinarians, farmers, the public health system, and the American public. Meanwhile, the USDA’s APHIS confirmed more H5N1 detections in poultry flocks from four states, including a layer pullet facility Indiana that has more than 1.3 million birds and a commercial duck breeding farmAlso, the virus hit backyard flocks in Illinois, Kansas, and Montana.

USDA launches biosecurity steps for poultry producers, adds details on H7N9 avian flu detection --The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announcedthe rollout of two biosecurity assessment programs available for commercial poultry farms, one targeting wildlife hazards and the other reviewing biosecurity plans and measures.The programs are part of plans to prevent the introduction and spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza and dovetail with up to $1 billion in emergency funding announced last month by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins.In other avian flu developments, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) shared more details about the highly pathogenic H7N9 outbreak at a Mississippi broiler farm, and confirmed more detections in poultry and dairy cattle. In a statement, the USDA said APHIS will lead the two assessment programs, which are available to all facilities not currently affected by outbreaks. The wildlife assessments will provide recommendations for facility repairs and wildlife management techniques, with regular engagement that covers wildlife hazards, abundance, and management.For the biosecurity assessments, APHIS veterinary specialists will work with producers to review biosecurity plans and measures, with an eye toward identifying any gaps. Though the USDA said the programs are available to all commercial producers, it will prioritize requests from commercial egg-layer facilities in the highest egg-producing states as part of the group’s goal to lower the price of eggs for consumers.Following the recent detection highly pathogenic H7N9 avian flu at a Mississippi broiler farm, APHIS yesterday provided more details. It said some North American low pathogenic H7 viruses that it has detected as part of its wild bird surveillance are closely related to the highly pathogenic H7N9 virus, indicating a recent spillover from a low-pathogenic wild bird virus.The group said it closely monitors the low pathogenic H5 and H7 subtypes, because they can mutate into highly pathogenic versions in poultry species such as chickens and turkeys.The outbreak recently detected in Mississippi was the first involving H7N9 in US poultry since 2017. Over the past 2 days APHIS confirmed two more outbreaks in poultry, one of them involving a commercial egg pullet farm in Iowa’s Buena Vista County that has about 400,000 birds. The virus also struck a backyard flock of 110 birds in Woodward County, Oklahoma.Also, the group confirmed three more H5N1 detections in dairy cattle, all from Idaho, bringing the number of affected herds to 989 across 17 states. Though the pace of outbreaks has slowed nationally, Idaho has now reported six outbreaks since the end of February.

Wyoming, Louisiana announce CWD spread to new areas -- Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been detected in previously unaffected areas of Wyoming and Louisiana.In a news release yesterday, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) announced one case each of the fatal neurodegenerative disease in Elk Hunt Area 62 in the Cody region and on the Horse Creek Feedground in Elk Hunt Area 84 in the Jackson region. Elk Hunt Area 62 borders CWD-positive Elk Hunt Area 67 and overlaps with several positive mule deer hunt areas. Elk Hunt Area 84, which had previously reported CWD, abuts CWD-positive Elk Hunt Area 87. Horse Creek is the fourth elk feeding area in the state to report positive cases since January. The other affected feeding grounds are Scab Creek, Dell Creek, and Black Butte."WGFD has operated 21 feedgrounds in northwest Wyoming for more than a century. "The discovery of CWD on feedgrounds in 2025 was anticipated as the disease has continued to spread across the state throughout deer, elk and moose hunt areas," the release said. A white-tailed buck harvested on private land in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, is the first CWD case in a wild deer outside of adjoining Tensas Parish, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) said in anews release yesterday. Both counties are located in the northeastern part of the state. Including the buck, Louisiana has identified 34 CWD cases since 2022. CWD affects cervids such as deer, elk, and moose, causing signs such as weight loss, drooling, lack of coordination, and lack of fear of people. The disease is caused by infectious misfolded proteins called prions, which spread via direct contact or environmental contamination.

New restrictions follow detection of CWD in 7th West Virginia County The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) is implementing new restrictions on baiting deer and transporting high-risk carcasses after the first identification of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a deer in Grant County.Grant County, in the northeast part of the state, was added to the state's CWD containment area in 2015 because it is near other counties with CWD-positive cases, the WVDNR news release said. To slow transmission of the fatal neurodegenerative disease, the WVDNR has implemented restrictions on baiting and feeding deer and on transporting high-risk carcass parts outside of the CWD containment area. The transport restrictions will take effect in Grant County in the 2025 deer-hunting season. "While there is no evidence that CWD is harmful to humans, it is important that hunters abide by the carcass transport regulations to reduce risk factors that may affect our deer population," Paul Johansen, MS, chief of the WVDNR’s Wildlife Resources Section, said in the news release. Baiting restrictions will also be implemented in adjoining CWD-negative Pendleton County, where feeding restrictions are already in place, in the fall. Grant County is the first new county in which CWD has been detected in free-ranging deer in West Virginia since 2023, when infected deer were found in Jefferson County. Previous cases were identified in Berkeley, Mineral, Morgan, Hardy, and Hampshire counties, the WVDNR said. Caused by infectious misfolded proteins called prions, CWD affects cervids such as deer, moose, and elk. No vaccine or treatment is available.

NYC will eventually have to abandon part of its water supply if it keeps getting saltier -The suburban reservoirs that supply 10% of New York City's vaunted drinking water are getting saltier due to decades of road salt being spread near the system—and they will eventually have to be abandoned if nothing is done to reverse the trend, city officials warn.The plug wouldn't have to be pulled until early next century, according to a new study. But the soaring saltiness could eventually affect the famous taste of the Big Apple's water, which is sometimes called the champagne of tap water, and poses a challenge to managers of a system that serves more than 9 million people."The conclusion of this study is that if we don't change our ways, in 2100 the Croton Water System becomes a nice recreational facility, but it ceases to be a water supply," Rohit Aggarwala, the city's environmental protection commissioner, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And that will directly impact everybody who drinks New York City water."

Australia: At least 16 dead in outbreak of waterborne illness after severe storms in northern Queensland -- In the aftermath of heavy rainfall and severe flooding that struck northern Queensland last month, residents of the region are being confronted with an unprecedentedly large outbreak of melioidosis. Some 125 confirmed cases and 16 deaths have been reported in the state since the start of this year, according to the latest Queensland Health figures, from March 9. Discovered in 1910 by scientists working in Myanmar, melioidosis is a water and soil-borne disease, caused by the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei. It is endemic to the tropical regions of the world, with most strains found in northern Australia and southeast Asia. The disease is not contagious, but typically infects humans through contact with water or soil contaminated by the bacteria, and is either ingested, inhaled, or enters through open wounds in the skin. Once a person is infected, the bacteria can form abscesses in various parts of the body (often the lungs, liver, and kidneys) causing sepsis and multi-organ failure. The risk of infection is particularly high following storms and floods, which provide favourable conditions for Burkholderia pseudomallei to grow and come into contact with people, by spreading contaminated water and soil over a larger area. The severity of the illness was described last month to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation by Cairns resident Debbie-Joy Manttan, who was diagnosed with melioidosis in March 2022. Manttan, who believes she inhaled the bacteria after heavy rain, suffered “absolutely cruel chills and fevers… where I was in tears and in so much pain because I was so cold.” Manttan developed an infection in her leg, leading to a prolonged period of treatment in hospital and intravenous antibiotics at home. “My leg where they found the infection actually broke twice because of the infection, so I was in casts and wheelchairs, and that went on till September last year,” she said. Even with timely medical care and antibiotics, mortality rates from melioidosis are around 10-20 percent, with many of those infected requiring a prolonged period of hospitalisation. In countries and regions with poor access to healthcare, rates of death can exceed 50 percent. Additionally, 10 percent of severe infections can result in a persistent chronic infection and disability. Globally, approximately 165,000 people are infected with melioidosis each year, with 90,000 fatalities, but due to inadequate testing infrastructure it is likely that both figures are significant undercounts of the true toll.Prevalence of the Burkholderia pseudomallei bacterium also appears to be expanding beyond its traditional range, with both transmission from international shipping and the increased incidence of severe weather events, due to climate change, playing a role. A 2016 study published in Nature Microbiology, reviewing available global data on melioidosis between 1910 and 2014, concluded there were melioidosis-causing strains of Burkholderia pseudomallei in as many as 43 tropical and sub-tropical nations around the world, including Brazil, India, and China, and the southern United States. The same study estimated that the true prevalence of melioidosis may be as high as 400,000 cases a year, with 230,000 deaths. In 2022, a group of distinguished tropical infectious disease scientists wrote an article in the Lancet, calling upon the World Health Organisation (WHO) to recognise melioidosis as a “neglected tropical disease,” rather than being dismissed as a rare disease confined only to a few parts of Australia and Asia. Their call went unheeded, and melioidosis continues to be the subject of limited research and public health efforts.6h

The scandal of Toxic Town—birth defects linked to pollution in former UK steel town Corby The miniseries Toxic Town available now on Netflix deals with the tragic cluster of birth defects in newborns in Corby, a town in Northamptonshire, England between 1984 and 1998. The defects were a consequence of the negligent clean-up of a former steelworks. As many as 30 children, possibly more, were born with deformities or other serious health problems. The events in Corby have been likened to the 1960s thalidomide scandal, in which that drug—given during pregnancy for morning sickness—caused limb malformation in the foetus. Not surprisingly, the drama is number one in the top 10 shows in the UK Netflix charts. In the shadow of the COVID pandemic, the terrible slaughter in Gaza, the normalization of death and disease by the ruling elites, the series is resonating powerfully with audiences. The indifference of governments and corporations to the health of those who produce the wealth, and above all the courage of the mothers, their families and supporters, are powerfully portrayed. For 13 years the mothers of the children born with deformities fought doggedly for answers and justice. With the indispensable help of Des Collins (played by Rory Kinnear) of Collins Solicitors—working on a no-win no-fee basis without legal aid—they won a court settlement against Corby Borough Council of £14.6 million in 2009 for 18 children with limb malformations. In the drama, the Rhodes Miller firm is contracted to transport the waste and dump it in huge landfill sites. Drivers earn a bonus according to how many trips they make, and management ignore safety protocols despite the lorries carrying hazardous material. In one scene, council technical engineer Ted Jenkins (Stephen McMillan), approaches council leader Thomas with concerns about the disregard for safety. Jenkins knew from council documents the waste contained highly toxic contaminants including cadmium, arsenic, lead and chromium and was appalled to see the lorries speeding through the town without covers, waste spilling onto the roads. Returning to the depot the lorries were meant to go through a wheel wash, which never happened. When the sludge on the road dried it turned into a fine red dust that spread over the town “like a sandstorm”, which the town of 60,000 breathed in. Thomas responds to Jenkins’ concerns with, “I’ve heard you’re creating a spot of trouble… I’m trying to find a balance between red tape and reality.” Clean-up company boss Miller (Ben Batt) attempts to bribe Jenkins to forget his concerns with a wad of notes, which he declines. At one point Jenkins’ car is set ablaze. At the centre of the drama are the mothers coping with the disabilities of their children. At first, they wonder if they are to blame but soon find there are many children suffering similar injuries. Susan McIntyre, mother of Connor who was born with a deformed hand, is played by Jodie Whittaker. In one touching scene, Susan asks Tracey Taylor (Aimee Lou Wood) her deceased daughter’s name—Shelby Anne. Tracey said nobody ever asks that, as if her child wasn’t important. Shelby Anne only lived for four days, her inner organs malformed. Aimee Lou Wood (right) and Jodie Whittaker in Toxic Town [Photo: Netflix] In another scene, Thomas is urged by the owner of clean-up company Miller to agree an out-of-court settlement to prevent the case coming to trial, fearing the truth would ruin his business. Thomas responds with a rant that expresses all the contempt of the Labour Party for the working class: “People expect perfect nowadays. Nothing can be perfect but good enough. Corby was built on good enough. The steelworks—not perfect but good enough—some people got hurt. I’ll fight these fuckers…fuck them and fuck you for trying to stop me.” The Corby Group Litigation V Corby Borough Council legal case opened at the High Court in London in February 2009. One scene shows the media asking Susan why she is there. “Nobody cares about the working class in this country and somebody needs to,” she replies. Jodie Whittaker in Toxic Town [Photo: Netflix] The plaintiffs proved: · That a cluster of birth defects existed, at three times the national average. · The link between toxins such as cadmium and birth defects in animals and how toxins were able to contaminate the pregnant women, through airborne dust. · That Corby Council were knowingly negligent. Many of the mothers bravely take to the witness stand. The defence plays dirty, dredging up Susan McIntyre’s mental health problems before she fell pregnant. Recorded in the council’s minutes were scurrilous charges against the mothers that they might be responsible for their children’s unfortunate deformities, due to smoking, drinking or drug taking during pregnancy. Safety engineer Jenkins previously shared council documents with councillor Sam Hagen providing incriminating evidence of the council’s malign neglect. Hagen shared them with the mothers’ solicitor Collins. Jenkins was summonsed to give evidence before the court. His testimony is damning. The court scenes are based on transcripts of the proceedings and the suspense is palpable. Jenkins tells the court, “Our job was to make the land fit for redevelopment… I flagged health and safety concerns at numerous sites… For the firm and the council involved having those sites cleared for redevelopment was all that mattered.”

How lead pollution impacts infant health - Lead is dangerous to human health in water, soil and air. Lead pollution in the air is regulated at industrial facilities and in communities under the Clean Air Act. Many studies have shown that children exposed to lead can develop learning disabilities and behavior problems, and damage to the brain and nervous system. A new study shows a relationship between lead pollution in air and infant deaths. The Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsopple spoke with Karen Clay, professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College, who led the study.

• Kara Holsopple: What are the two main findings of the paper?
• Karen Clay: First of all, you might think that these studies have been done, but it turns out that they haven’t. We show causal evidence that higher air-lead concentration causes higher infant mortality. This is true both for the first month of life, right after infants are born, but also in the first year, suggesting that they’re getting exposed both through their mothers when they’re pregnant, but also babies are born and are experiencing lead directly and in some cases dying from it.
• Kara Holsopple: And then there’s also a relationship between Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and lead?
• Karen Clay: Our second main finding is that the higher lead concentration increases deaths from a variety of causes: low birth weight, Sudden Unexplained Infant Death(SUID), and respiratory and nervous system causes. We’re particularly excited about this Sudden Unexplained Infant Death. It used to be called SIDS and now includes some additional things. But, the earlier medical literature from when SIDS is originally identified speculated that there might be some relationship between lead and SIDS, at least for some subset of the cases. So we were really excited to see when we went to the cause of death data that there seemed to be some evidence to support those early speculations.We do two calculations. We look at fugitive lead emissions, which are sort of a subset of the emissions from industrial sources: four to 59 infant deaths. But if you look at those numbers and then expand it to think about the air lead from all industrial sources, it’s about 240 infant deaths per year. The one thing I would say is that there’s other sources, particularly aviation gasoline, that are significant for air lead. And so the 240 is really just for industrial sources, not for all lead sources. We don’t have quite what we would need to try and estimate the full set, but certainly it’s probably two or three times what our estimates are.

PFAS: The next asbestos? -- In some of the Earth's most remote and inaccessible regions, there are traces of humankind. There's plastic in the Mariana Trench. Mount Everest looks like a garbage dump. And the Arctic Ocean is full of "forever chemicals" known as PFAS. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—PFAS—are a group of thousands of synthetic chemicals. They came into vogue in the 1950s and started appearing everywhere. One common example is perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which was used to produce Teflon. "They were used as anti-stick coatings, anti-stain coatings, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, fast food, packaging—all sorts of things," "Basically, the entire population of industrialized countries is exposed." As the "forever chemicals" name implies, PFAS are fairly non-reactive or inert. Typically, organic molecules are made of carbon and hydrogen atoms. But PFAS are made of carbon and fluorine atoms—and the bond between those atoms is much, much stronger. This characteristic makes them particularly persistent. Scientists are unsure how long they persist in the environment. Some estimates suggest they can take longer than a decade to clear the human body. Their persistence means they can also accumulate in the body over time. Scientific studies have demonstrated that high levels of exposure to PFAS can result in a host of negative health effects. Practically every time scientists go looking for PFAS in human bodies, they find them. This seems quite alarming but our understanding of the effects of PFAS continues to evolve as more work is done. Several high-profile legal cases have put PFAS in the spotlight. The towns of Williamtown in New South Wales, Katherine in the Northern Territory and Oakey in Queensland received $212 million compensation from the Australian Government for property value loss and distress in 2021. The PFAS Health Study reviewed the medical literature around PFAS and human health and investigated how the chemicals affected those three regional communities. It examined the PFAS levels in the blood of residents who had been exposed to PFAS via groundwater contamination and compared these results with uncontaminated communities. The study showed levels of some PFAS in the blood of residents in the affected communities were higher than those in comparison communities. In some instances, they were also associated with higher blood cholesterol levels. "These chemicals clearly do have a biological effect on humans," "When we test people, we can find evidence of low levels in their blood. Those levels have been coming down over time." The study was consistent with previous findings that have revealed the extent to which PFAS have infiltrated human bodies. You can find PFAS in lungs, testes, the liver and kidneys. Australian researchers recently found PFAS in human brains, but those health effects are yet to be evaluated. Various agencies and environmental organizations point to a collection of scientific studies that suggest PFAS may play a role in decreasing fertility, increasing the risk of cancer, affecting the immune response and interfering with hormones. As science seeks more answers about how PFAS affect human health, most guidance is precautionary. "The consensus is it's not as clear cut as something like asbestos and mesothelioma,"

Blinding dust storms cause multi-vehicle pile up on I-27 near Canyon, Texas - (2 videos) Massive dust storms swept through Texas on Friday, March 14, 2025, leading to brownout conditions and a multi-vehicle pile-up on the I-27 near Canyon, Texas. YouTube video Dust storms triggered by a multi-day severe weather outbreak caused a multi-vehicle pileup on the I-27 south of Canyon, Texas, on Friday, March 14. Reports indicate that more than 50 vehicles were involved in the pileup, but officials have not confirmed any details yet. The I-27 was closed off after the incident, and crews were on the scene assessing damages and conducting rescues. Fatalities and injuries are likely to be reported as the situation develops further. YouTube video The crashes occurred amid brownout conditions created by dust storms in the region. The same storm system generated multiple tornadoes across Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, and Mississippi, with multiple fatalities reported in Missouri.

8 dead after multi-vehicle crash on the I-70 in Sherman County, Kansas - Eight fatalities were reported after a crash involving 71 vehicles on the I-70 near milepost 28 in Sherman County on Friday A severe dust storm caused by high winds from Colorado swept into northwest Kansas on March 14, 2025, resulting in near-zero visibility and a 71-vehicle pileup on Interstate 70 near milepost 28 in Sherman County. Eight people died in the interstate pile-up, and numerous injuries were reported, the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) said on Saturday, March 15. Initial reports indicated that the crash involved 50 vehicles, but this number rose to 71 by late Saturday as authorities assessed the situation. I-70 remains closed as crews continue to investigate and clean up the crash. The dust storms are part of a larger severe weather outbreak that triggered 58 tornadoes, claimed at least 33 lives, and fueled multiple wildfires through the weekend.

Multiple fatalities reported as tornadoes rip through Missouri - (3 videos) At least two people were killed in Missouri’s Ozark County, and multiple fatalities were reported in Butler County after a powerful storm system swept across the state on March 14, 2025. The Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed the deaths of a man and woman in the Bakersfield area of Ozark County. Meanwhile, Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs reported multiple fatalities in the Poplar Bluff area, where severe storms caused extensive structural damage. A school in Missouri had its roof ripped off by storms on Friday, March 14, 2025. Credit: MOHP Several structures in the Poplar Bluff area have been destroyed due to the storms. Reports have come in from heavy damage to homes and businesses in the Poplar Bluff area. Major damage was reported to New Covenant Fellowship Church and a neighboring trailer park on PP Highway. Sheriff Dobbs is asking people to stay home as multiple rescue operations are underway. The Poplar Bluff Police Department is reporting that multiple power lines are down in the city. Tornadoes were reported near Villa Ridge, Florissant, Rolla, and on I-44 west of St. Louis on Friday, causing significant damage by ripping roofs, damaging vehicles, and downing trees. Tad Peters was on I-44 in Rolla, Missouri, when he got caught in the tornado. In a video he posted, he pointed to the debris being flung around by the twister. “We’re in a tornado,” Peters said in the video as it passed over them at a gas station. He also reported that the storm caused damage to a business across the road. “A tornado just went over us in Rolla, Missouri, at the QuikTrip on I-44. It knocked out power and caused damage to the Love’s across the road,” said Peters. The tornado that struck Villa Ridge late Friday injured at least two people, who were transported to nearby hospitals. It tore the roof off a Burger King and caused significant damage to a gas station, shattering its windows and toppling two semitrucks. Another tornado was reported in Florissant, where multiple trees and power lines were downed. A tree reportedly fell onto a restaurant, with branches piercing the roof and causing significant damage. Several trees have also fallen on homes, and widespread damage has been reported across the region. Structural damage has also been reported in Wright County, northwest of Hartville. In Howell County, damage, including impacted structures, fallen trees, and downed power lines, has been observed in Moody, South Fork, and areas southwest of West Plains. The damage extends eastward into Oregon County, affecting Rover, Thomasville, and Alton, according to troopers. The tornado outbreak was part of a multi-day severe weather event affecting millions across the United States. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) reported 23 tornadoes on March 14, with nine confirmed in Missouri, six in Arkansas, five in Mississippi, and three in Illinois.

Multiple EF-4 tornadoes touch down in Arkansas for the first time in 28 years – video - Two EF-4 tornadoes touched down in Arkansas on Friday, March 14, 2025, amid a severe weather outbreak that claimed three lives in the state and 40 across the country. This was the first time multiple EF-4/F-4 tornadoes touched down in the state on the same day in 28 years. YouTube video The first EF-4 tornado touched down at approximately 21:45 local time (LT), about 1.6 km (1 mile) northeast of Larkin in Izard County, with peak winds of around 274 km/h (170 mph). The tornado completely destroyed one house, with additional damage reported in the area. The second tornado touched down approximately 2.4 km (1.5 miles) northwest of Diaz in Jackson County at around 23:23 LT on Friday, with peak winds of about 306 km/h (190 mph). The tornado destroyed multiple vehicles and one home as it moved through the area. The tornadoes were part of a larger outbreak that claimed at least 40 lives across the southern U.S. as it spawned dust storms, tornadoes, and rapidly spreading wildfires. The last time multiple EF-4/F4 tornadoes struck Arkansas in a single day was on March 1, 1997, when three F4 tornadoes touched down, later referred to as the I-30 tornado outbreak. Arkadelphia, Shannon Hills, portions of Little Rock, and Denmark were the hardest-hit areas. At least 25 people were killed in the outbreak, which also left 426 injured. The Arkadelphia tornado carved an 82 km (51-mile) path, destroying most of downtown Arkadelphia, killing at least six people, and demolishing multiple mobile homes and structures. The Saline County/Pulaski County tornado formed near Benton, carving a 40 km (25-mile) path and claiming 15 lives. Ten fatalities occurred in Saline County, while five were reported in Pulaski County. The tornado devastated the Shannon Hills area, injuring over 200 people. Another F4 tornado was reported in Blytheville, tracking a 32 km (20-mile) path, though details of its impact remain unclear.

Two fatalities reported as 9 tornadoes rip through Alabama - (YouTube videos) Nine tornadoes ripped through Alabama on Saturday, March 15, 2025, claiming at least two lives. The tornadoes were part of a larger severe weather outbreak that affected multiple states across the South and Midwest, resulting in at least 36 fatalities nationwide. Governor Kay Ivey confirmed two fatalities related to the severe weather event in Alabama—one in Plantersville and one in Winterboro. A tornado struck Plantersville at approximately 20:19 local time (LT), causing significant damage. Authorities have not confirmed whether the fatality in Plantersville resulted from the tornado. An EF-2 tornado was confirmed by the National Weather Service in the Winterboro area of Talladega County with winds of 193 km/h (120 mph), causing significant damage in the area. The NWS will release a detailed report later on Sunday, March 16. The tornado ripped the roof off a building and flipped a school bus onto the roof of Winterboro High School, as reported by local news outlets and confirmed through storm damage assessments. Building damaged by the EF-2 Tornado in Winterboro on March 15, 2025 Damage caused by the EF-2 tornado in Winterboro on March 15, 2025. Image credit: NWS Birmingham A school bus landed on the roof of Winterboro High School in Winterboro, Talladega County, Alabama, after an EF-2 tornado struck the area. The tornadoes ripped through the state, flipping over mobile homes, ripping off roofs, and damaging trees and powerlines across the affected regions. Damage has been reported in 52 of Alabama’s 67 counties, with multiple injuries. Authorities are continuing to assess the impact. YouTube video A tornado struck Elrod in Tuscaloosa County at 15:41 LT, ripping the roof off at least one house and causing extensive tree damage. It was observed crossing US-82 near Minas Road. Two tornadoes were reported near Sipsey in Walker County. The first struck at 16:50 LT, damaging multiple homes and trees in the area. The second tornado hit at approximately 16:52 LT, about 3 km (2 miles) northeast of Sipsey, damaging multiple homes. Possible injuries were reported on Campbellville Road. Two tornadoes were reported near Pletcher in Chilton County. The first struck at approximately 21:02 LT, causing extensive damage on US-82 near Maplesville. The second hit at around 21:05 LT, damaging two houses and one manufactured home near the CR-15 and CR-16 areas. Tornadoes were also reported in Pickens and Shelby counties. One tornado tracked near Gordo in Pickens County, starting at 16:45 LT, snapping multiple trees along US-82. Another tornado struck approximately 5 km (3 miles) southeast of Shelby County Airport, causing significant damage near the I-65 and US-31 intersection near Calera, impacting businesses and homes. It reportedly ripped off the roof of a church in the area on Saturday. The damage is still being assessed with the NWS indicating that it might have been an EF-1 with peak winds of around 145 km/h (90 mph) Reports indicate that more tornadoes might have struck the region but official confirmations are yet to be made.

Severe storms and tornadoes leave at least 33 dead across Missouri, Mississippi, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma - (2 videos) The multi-day severe weather outbreak has left at least 33 people dead across six U.S. states as storms and tornadoes continue to cause destruction. Missouri has reported the highest death toll with 12 fatalities, while Kansas, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma have also suffered casualties. The storm system has produced at least 58 tornadoes, with multiple states, including Missouri, Mississippi, and Alabama, experiencing significant damage. Governor Tate Reeves of Mississippi declared a state of emergency to help mobilize resources for response and recovery efforts. The storms have destroyed homes and infrastructure, downed power lines and trees, and caused widespread power outages in several affected regions. The multi-day severe weather outbreak continued to impact the U.S. on Saturday, March 15, as the death toll rose to 33, with fatalities reported in six states. At least 12 people were reported dead in Missouri, followed by Kansas where eight fatalities were recorded when a dust storm led to a multi-vehicle collision on Interstate 70. Six deaths were reported in Mississippi, while three each were confirmed in Texas and Arkansas. One fatality was reported in Oklahoma. The storm produced at least 58 tornadoes across the country. Between Friday and Saturday, March 14–15, 13 tornadoes were reported in Missouri, eight in Arkansas, six in Mississippi, four in Illinois, and two in Indiana. Between Saturday and Sunday, March 15–16, 15 tornadoes were reported in Mississippi, eight in Alabama, and two in Louisiana. YouTube video Most of the destruction occurred in southeastern Missouri. Among the 12 fatalities, the state’s highway patrol confirmed that six deaths occurred in Wayne County, three in Ozark County, and two in Butler and Jefferson counties. St. Louis County police reported that a woman was found dead near electrical lines in the backyard of her home. YouTube video Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency for Mississippi on Saturday after fatalities were reported. Reeves stated that this measure would help the state mobilize resources more effectively to support response and recovery efforts in the affected counties. Among the six fatalities, one occurred in Covington County, two in Jeff Davis County, and three in Walthall County. Three people were reported missing—one in Walthall County and two in Covington County. Preliminary reports indicate 29 injuries statewide: 15 in Covington County, two in Jeff Davis County, two in Pike County, and 10 in Walthall County.

Storms ravage south-central US, killing dozens -- Three dozen people or more were killed over the weekend as powerful storms raged across the south-central United States. At least thirty-six people have been reported to have died and dozens more were injured after at least 23 tornadoes were reported in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Mississippi. Missouri in particular was hit hard by the storms, with up to 19 tornadoes that affected 25 counties. Damage consistent with EF4 tornadoes were reported in places, with winds estimated at 190 miles per hour. The Enhanced Fujita scale, abbreviated as EF scale, rates tornado intensity based on the severity of damage caused. Starting with EF0, defined as tornadoes having winds of 65-85 miles per hour and causing light damage, the numbers on the scale progressively increase to EF4, with winds of 166-200 miles per hour and causing devastating damage, and EF5, with winds above 200 miles per hour and causing catastrophic damage. In addition to the tornadoes, high sustained winds with gusts of up to 80 miles per hour were reported throughout the region, causing semi-trucks to be blown off of roads and increasing the danger of wildfires in areas that have recently experienced such outbreaks. One fire, near Fredericksburg, Texas, about 75 miles west of Austin, expanded from about 400 acres to over 8,600 acres on Saturday. Smoke from this fire was visible in Austin. Fires are also reported in north Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Mississippi. Red Flag warnings, indicative of conditions in which fire dangers are high, cover large areas of these states, as well as in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Fires were the cause of several deaths in Oklahoma, and a total of 142 fire-related injuries have been reported in the state. A dust storm caused a major traffic accident on Interstate 70 near the Kansas-Colorado border in which 71 vehicles were involved. At least 8 people are reported to have died in this incident, in which visibility dropped to nearly zero. The highway was not cleared of wreckage for nearly 24 hours. In Oklahoma and Texas, four people were killed in multiple crashes; one multi-vehicle crash near Blackwell, Oklahoma that involved an ambulance saw multiple injuries, including two paramedics. Further to the north, this same storm system caused blizzard conditions. The storms moved further to the east, leaving destruction in north Georgia, including the Atlanta area. Other areas threatened include Jacksonville, Florida, all the way north to Erie, Pennsylvania.

Blizzards and tornadoes reported as powerful winter storm sweeps across the Plains and Midwest -(5 YouTube videos) A powerful winter storm swept through the Plains and Midwest on March 19, 2025, producing eight reported tornadoes in Illinois and severely disrupting travel. Whiteout conditions led to multiple crashes in Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, forcing closures on major highways, including I-70 and I-80. A Tornado Watch was in effect for northern and central Illinois, as well as western Indiana, through Wednesday night. Another Tornado Watch covered parts of southern Illinois, southern Indiana, and western and central Kentucky during the same period. The tornadoes and severe weather caused widespread damage across the region, though the impact was less severe than last week’s outbreak, which claimed over 40 lives across the U.S. and produced multiple tornadoes, dust storms, and wildfires. Gary, Indiana, experienced the most significant damage as winds estimated at least 120 km/h (75 mph) moved through just after rush hour, toppling trees and damaging homes. The city activated emergency response efforts after a possible tornado sighting in the area. “The City of Gary confirms that residents reported the sighting of a funnel cloud near 21st Avenue and Hendricks in Gary on March 19. Multiple homes and businesses have reported significant wind damage, along with flooding and numerous downed trees and limbs throughout the affected area. Emergency response teams are on-site, actively assisting residents impacted by the storm,” the city said in a statement. FOX Weather Exclusive Storm Tracker Brandon Copic observed a likely tornado near Stanford, Illinois, on Wednesday afternoon as a line of tornado-warned storms moved southeast of Peoria. Earlier in the day, a round of strong to severe thunderstorms developed across parts of Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas, bringing snow, blizzard conditions, and even thundersnow to some areas. Whiteout conditions forced the closure of multiple key routes. The storm system also produced heavy snowfall and significant hail. Reports indicate that Shelby, Nebraska, recorded approximately 25 cm (10 inches) of snow accumulation. Hail accumulation along I-72 contributed to several crashes as ice-covered roadways became hazardous. The National Weather Service (NWS) received reports from across Illinois of hail ranging from penny to quarter size, which covered some grassy areas. Strong winds and snow created dangerous travel conditions across the region, with reports of crashes and jackknifed trucks on multiple key routes in Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. YouTube video According to the Kansas Department of Transportation, all highways in the northwest part of the state were closed for many hours on Wednesday. The closures included both directions of I-70 from Salina to the Colorado border. Portions of I-70 reopened on Wednesday afternoon. Travel disruptions extended into Nebraska. The Nebraska Department of Transportation reported that I-80 was closed between Lincoln and Lexington due to deteriorating conditions. The route reopened early on March 20 as conditions improved. The Iowa Department of Transportation reported that I-29 between Missouri Valley and Sioux City was closed in both directions due to crashes, downed power lines, and low visibility. The severe weather caused over 100 000 power outages across the affected states, with nearly 50 000 customers in Nebraska still without electricity on Thursday.

Destructive wildfires erupt in Oklahoma, causing widespread evacuations, road closures, power outages, and structural damage - (4 videos) Rapidly spreading wildfires swept across northeastern Oklahoma on March 14, 2025, fueled by 120 km/h (75 mph) winds and dry conditions. The fires caused evacuations, road closures, power outages, and severe structural damage. The fires intensified throughout the afternoon and night, forcing evacuations, closing roads, causing power outages, and severely damaging structures. The Oklahoma State Emergency Operations Center (EOC) remains active as firefighting crews and emergency services work to control the situation. The fires were reported in at least 44 counties, with over 130 separate blazes recorded. 12 fires were burning in the Norman area alone, affecting homes in Cleveland County and spreading toward Little Axe and Lake Thunderbird. Among the hardest-hit areas were Creek County, Payne County, Logan County, and parts of Stillwater, where flames forced thousands to evacuate. Emergency alerts were issued in multiple locations, urging residents to leave their homes immediately. “Fires are still ongoing and damage assessments are not yet complete,” the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management stated. Mandatory evacuations were issued for Mannford, Payne County, Lincoln County, and areas near Coyle and Langston in Logan County by late evening. In Stillwater, evacuation orders were placed for residents south of Highway 51, with officials advising evacuees to seek shelter at the Stillwater Community Center. The exact number of evacuees has not yet been provided, but multiple communities were ordered to evacuate, including Mannford, Payne County, Lincoln County, and parts of Stillwater. Additional shelters were set up across the state, including the Grand Casino Conference Center in McLoud and the First Baptist Church in Carnegie. The American Red Cross also established evacuation sites to accommodate those displaced by the fires. Oklahoma Highway Patrol and local law enforcement assisted with road closures due to fire hazards and reduced visibility from smoke and dust storms. Major highways affected included US-64, SH-51, SH-99, SH-16, and sections of the Turner Turnpike in Creek County. Drivers are advised to avoid travel in impacted areas as emergency crews worked to contain the fires. Fire crews were still battling active blazes south and east of Cleveland, Oklahoma, as of 22:00 LT (04:00 UTC) on March 14. Emergency teams struggled to access fires in heavily wooded regions, making containment efforts difficult. Additional firefighting units from Tulsa and Rogers County were dispatched to assist in Mannford, deploying grass rigs and tankers to combat the advancing flames. In Guthrie, at least 50 structures were destroyed, with emergency responders planning further assessments at dawn. Fire crews also reported large-scale damage in Logan County, where cars, homes, and storage facilities were engulfed in flames. In Mannford, visibility deteriorated as fires consumed several buildings, prompting urgent evacuations. In Cleveland County, a firefighter was hospitalized after sustaining injuries while battling flames near 192nd and Robinson. According to Cleveland County deputies, the injury was caused by an explosion from an oxygen tank within the burning property. Authorities continue to assess the safety conditions of affected areas. YouTube video Powerful winds caused damage across the state, toppling power lines, uprooting trees, and damaging vehicles. Wind gusts peaked at 120 km/h (74 mph) in Stillwater, contributing to widespread outages. Over 77 000 customers were without electricity at the height of the event, with approximately 40 000 outages still unresolved by late night on March 14. Traffic signals in Tulsa and surrounding regions were knocked out, causing additional safety concerns for motorists. In Mooreland, a house suffered severe roof damage because of the strong winds, and in Newcastle, part of a restaurant’s roof was ripped off. Wind-related incidents also led to multiple road accidents, with six people injured in a crash on Interstate 35 because of reduced visibility from blowing dust. Oklahoma Highway Patrol urged drivers to exercise extreme caution on affected roadways. The extreme fire conditions were driven by a deep low-pressure system over the central High Plains, which resulted in a sharp pressure drop of approximately 15 hPa in just 12 hours. This atmospheric development strengthened low-level winds, creating ideal conditions for wildfires to spread uncontrollably. By early afternoon on March 14, sustained wind speeds of 50–65 km/h (30–40 mph) had already spread across eastern New Mexico, northern Texas, and Oklahoma. Gusts of 80–110 km/h (50–70 mph) were recorded in multiple locations, with some areas exceeding 128 km/h (80 mph). Relative humidity levels plummeted to 10–15%, with some regions in northwest Texas recording single-digit humidity values. The combination of dry vegetation, high winds, and low humidity created an extreme fire risk across the southern Great Plains. Dry thunderstorms also contributed to the worsening conditions, with rapid-moving storm cells producing strong winds but minimal rainfall. The storms generated dry lightning, which may have ignited new fires in northeast Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. Firefighting efforts continued overnight, with additional emergency resources being deployed. Local officials urged residents in fire-prone areas to remain vigilant, keep emergency evacuation kits ready, and stay informed through official weather and emergency channels. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned that elevated fire risks would persist in Texas and Oklahoma throughout March 15, with strong winds continuing in some areas.

Oklahoma wildfires destroy nearly 300 structures, injure 112 people - (3 YouTube videos) Wildfires destroyed nearly 300 homes across Oklahoma, U.S., on March 14 and 15, 2025, burning approximately 68 800 ha (170 000 acres) of land and forcing widespread evacuations amid extreme fire conditions fueled by wind gusts reaching 120 km/h (75 mph). In Logan County alone, 50 residential structures were reported lost. The Oklahoma State Department of Health recorded 112 fire-related injuries, including six burn cases. Firefighters also experienced minor injuries, mainly by smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion. No fire-related fatalities have been reported. Emergency declarations were issued for 12 counties as firefighting efforts and damage assessments continued. A Red Flag Warning remained in effect for northwestern Oklahoma until 21:00 LT (03:00 UTC) on March 15 due to ongoing gusty winds, low humidity, and dry vegetation. Governor Kevin Stitt declared a state of emergency on March 15 for 12 counties: Cleveland, Creek, Dewey, Grady, Lincoln, Logan, Oklahoma, Pawnee, Payne, Pottawatomie, Roger Mills, and Stephens. The declaration allows state agencies to bypass normal purchasing procedures to deliver emergency resources efficiently and suspends vehicle size and weight limits for relief transport. The declaration is valid for 30 days. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved 13 Fire Management Assistance Grants (FMAGs), enabling reimbursement of up to 75% of eligible firefighting costs to state, local, and tribal governments. Winds reaching up to 120 km/h (75 mph) toppled power poles and damaged infrastructure in Stillwater and surrounding areas, leaving over 80 000 customers without power at the peak of the windstorm. By March 15, approximately 6 300 outages remained, with OG&E reporting 3 200 customers still without electricity. YouTube video Evacuations were ordered in Stillwater, Mannford, Payne County, Lincoln County, and Logan County. In Stillwater, the evacuation zone stretched from Sixth to 44th Streets and South Range to Sangra roads, while residents near northeast 68th and Underwood in Payne County and west-southwest of Stillwater were also directed to leave. The fires were reported in at least 44 counties, with over 130 separate blazes recorded. 12 fires were burning in the Norman area alone, affecting homes in Cleveland County and spreading toward Little Axe and Lake Thunderbird. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed sections of US-64, SH-51, SH-99, SH-16, and the Turner Turnpike in response to reduced visibility from smoke and dust storms. Emergency teams from Tulsa and Rogers County provided additional firefighting support in Mannford and other hard-hit areas. Residents are urged to remain alert and report any new fires to emergency services. Fire risk remains elevated across Oklahoma through March 18. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a fire weather watch for March 17 and 18, predicting sustained winds of 40–55 km/h (25–35 mph) with gusts reaching 80 km/h (50 mph) and temperatures up to 27°C (80°F).

Evacuation orders issued as wildfires continue burning through Oklahoma and Texas - Hundreds of homes have been destroyed, and thousands of acres burned as wildfires continue to spread across Oklahoma and Texas on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Emergency officials have issued new evacuation orders in Oklahoma’s Logan and Pawnee counties, while Texas remains under a widespread burn ban with several large fires still active. New evacuations were ordered in Oklahoma early March 19 for the town of Meridian and the community of Seward in Logan County as wildfires continued to spread amid prolonged dry conditions. Areas just north of Oklahoma City were evacuated on March 18 due to the spread of the 33 Road Fire. As of that date, the fire had burned more than 12 950 ha (32 000 acres) and damaged over 50 structures, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Services. Fast-moving fires in western Oklahoma prompted the National Weather Service in Norman to issue a Fire Warning for Roger Mills and Beckham counties on March 19. Additional wildfire evacuations were also ordered that morning in Pawnee County, northern Oklahoma. Multiple wildfires have burned across Texas since last week, with nine active fires reported as of 11:00 LT on March 19. Three major fires have each burned more than 20 235 ha (50 000 acres), while six smaller fires are nearly contained, according to reports. A total of 137 counties across Texas remain under a burn ban. The Windmill Fire in Roberts County is the largest of the blazes, having burned over 9 426 ha(23 297 acres) since it ignited on March 14, about 35 km (22 miles) south of Perryton. It is now 99% contained. The second-largest fire, the High Lonesome Fire in Dallam County, has burned over 7 285 ha (18 000 acres) and is 65% contained. It broke out on March 18, spreading rapidly across private land and the Rita Blanca National Grassland. The Crabapple Fire, which ignited on March 15 northeast of Fredericksburg in Gillespie County, has burned 3 939 ha (9 737 acres) and is 90% contained. Since last week, over 113 homes have been destroyed in Logan County alone. Fires in Stillwater also destroyed the farmhouse of Governor Kevin Stitt. The Oklahoma Office of Emergency Management reported that at least 400 homes have been burned statewide.

NHC flags the first area of interest for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season - The first area of interest in the Atlantic for 2025 was identified by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) on Monday, March 17, 2025, more than 2 months earlier than the official start of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season will officially begin on June 1, but forecasters at the NHC are monitoring a newly formed low-pressure system northeast of the Leeward Islands. According to the NHC, the non-tropical low-pressure system was located approximately 1 125 km (700 miles) northeast of the northern Leeward Islands as of 16:20 UTC on Monday. It was generating gale-force winds and a broad area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms. As of 04:30 UTC on Tuesday, March 18, the system had a minimum central pressure of approximately 1 007 hPa and was located roughly 1 018 km (633 miles) northeast of northern Leeward islands. The satellite loop of the low-pressure system in the Atlantic between 05:30 to 07:40 UTC on March 18, 2025. Video credit: GOES-16 (East), RAAMB/CIRA, The Watchers. No further development is expected as the system moves northward to northwestward into an environment of strong upper-level winds and dry air on Monday and Tuesday. “No additional Special Tropical Weather Outlooks are scheduled for this system unless conditions warrant. Regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlooks will resume on May 15, 2025, and Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as necessary during the remainder of the off-season,” the NHC stated. The system has less than a 10% chance of developing into a tropical storm within the seven days following Monday.

Floods batter Italy after Florence sees a month’s rainfall in one day - video - Floods battered parts of Italy after nearly a month’s worth of rain fell over some regions on Friday, March 14, 2025, causing rivers to swell across the country. Red alerts were in effect across Italy, including Florence and Pisa, following an extreme flooding event that triggered multiple landslides and caused widespread damage. . . Schools remained closed in several cities, including Florence, where the local administration also shut down museums, cinemas, and theatres. The president of Tuscany stated that local rescue and health services were on high alert and urged residents to exercise “the utmost attention and caution.” Nearly a month’s worth of rain fell in Florence on Friday morning. Landslides and mudslides were reported in Bologna, where some residents were evacuated on Thursday evening, March 13 in anticipation of heavy overnight rainfall. Local authorities and civil protection agencies raised the alert level for the Arno River, which flows through Florence and Pisa, as it was expected to peak later on Friday afternoon. Regional governor Eugenio Giani stated that the most critical situation was in Sesto Fiorentino, a town a few kilometers from Florence, where the Rimaggio stream overflowed and flooded central streets. No casualties have been reported so far, and city officials stated that the worst of the flooding had subsided by mid-morning on Friday. A family of four was rescued from a landslide in Badia Prataglia, Tuscany, on Thursday evening, according to local media. The national fire brigade reported receiving dozens of calls after the Rimaggio stream flooded and swept through the Sesto Fiorentino area on Florence’s northern outskirts. The fire brigades reported 430 interventions in 24 hours to Friday, and over 500 personnel were engaging the floods in Florence, Prato, Pisa, and Livorno for rescue operations, floods, landslides, static failures, and the securing of dangerous trees In Pisa, flood defenses were set up along the Arno River as local authorities warned that it had surpassed the first flood-risk level. Roads were impacted by flooding and fallen trees, and residents in Florence were advised to avoid travel after the A1 motorway was partially closed. Schools were closed in more than 60 municipalities in Tuscany, according to local media, along with several campuses of the University of Florence. Florence has recorded more than double its average March rainfall of 61 mm (2.4 inches) over the past three days. More than 53 mm (2.1 inches) of rain fell within six hours on Friday morning, following an additional 36 mm (1.4 inches) overnight. The northern Emilia-Romagna region also experienced heavy rainfall, affecting areas such as Forlì, Ravenna, Bologna, and Ferrara, where local rivers exceeded alert levels in the Apennine areas. Local authorities in Bologna ordered the evacuation of ground-floor residences due to torrential rain and flooding risks on Thursday. Further heavy rain and thunderstorms are forecast to affect northern Italy into Saturday before, March 15 drier conditions set in. A high-pressure system in the northeast Atlantic has recently blocked the usual path of low-pressure systems that typically move northwest of the UK, diverting them through the Mediterranean instead. Some rivers in Emilia-Romagna were already swollen due to previous downpours.

Severe flash floods hit Townsville after heaviest rains in 27 years, Australia - Severe flash floods hit north Queensland on March 19, 2025, after over 300 mm (11.8 inches) of rain fell over parts of the region, inundating homes and roads. The worst affected areas were Ingham and Townsville, where more than a month’s worth of rain fell in just 8 hours. In Townsville, an elderly man required assistance from neighbors after falling in floodwaters, while in Ingham, emergency crews rescued two elderly women trapped in their cars. In the 24 hours leading up to 09:00 AEST on Wednesday, Townsville recorded 301.4 mm (11.86 inches) of rainfall, more than one-and-a-half times the city’s March monthly average of 188.9 mm (7.44 inches). The most intense period occurred between 01:00 and 09:00 AEST, when 241.4 mm (9.5 inches) fell in just eight hours. Other areas also recorded extreme totals, including Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island, which registered 351 mm (13.8 inches). Over three hours before 04:00 AEST, Townsville Airport was hit by 147 mm (5.79 inches) of rain, Pallarenda received 146 mm (5.75 inches), and Louisa Creek had 132 mm (5.20 inches). Since 09:00 AEST Tuesday, Toolakea has had 293 mm (11.54 inches), Bluewater has recorded 284 mm (11.18 inches), and Cardwell has now had 258 mm (10.16 inches) after receiving 202 mm (7.95 inches) on Tuesday afternoon.

Major eruption at Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano ejects ash to 16.2 km (53 000 feet) a.s.l., Indonesia - A major eruption took place at Indonesia’s Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano on March 20, 2025, ejecting ash up to 16.2 km (53 000 feet) above sea level. A high-level eruption occurred at Indonesia’s Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano in East Flores Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, at around 14:56 UTC (22:56 local time) on March 20. According to the Darwin VAAC, infrared satellite analysis indicates volcanic ash reaching 16.2 km (53 000 feet) above sea level (a.s.l.) and moving west. Low-level emissions up to 6.1 km (20 000 feet) a.s.l. are also observed moving southeast. Lewotobi Laki-laki Volcano Observatory’s notice for aviation (VONA) issued at 14:56 UTC reports volcanic ash reaching 9.4 km (31 000 feet) a.s.l. based on ground observations. As a result, the Aviation Color Code was raised from Orange to Red. Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) reported that eruptive activity at volcano continued from March 12 to 18, with eruptions producing gray ash plumes rising up to 2.5 km (8 200 feet) above the summit and drifting northeast, north, northwest, and west. According to reports, 1 841 people had not returned home since evacuating in November 2024. They remain in shelters provided by the government, rental housing, or with relatives. The ongoing eruptive activity at Lewotobi asks for strict adherence to safety measures to minimize risks to communities and visitors. Authorities have established an exclusion zone extending 7 km (4.3 miles) from the eruption center, with a broader restriction in the southwest to northeast sector reaching 8 km (5 miles). Residents and tourists are strongly advised to avoid these areas due to the heightened danger of pyroclastic flows, ashfall, and potential explosive activity. Residents are urged to remain calm and follow the guidance of local authorities. It is essential to rely on official information sources and avoid spreading or acting on unverified reports, which could cause unnecessary panic or misinformation, PVMBG said. Heavy rainfall in the region could mobilize lahars (volcanic mudflows), which pose a significant hazard to river valleys originating from Lewotobi. Communities in Dulipali, Padang Pasir, Nobo, Klatanlo, Hokeng Jaya, Boru, and Nawakote should remain vigilant, particularly during periods of intense rainfall, as lahars can rapidly inundate river channels, carrying volcanic debris and causing damage to infrastructure and settlements. Ashfall from ongoing eruptions poses respiratory hazards, particularly for vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and those with preexisting conditions. Residents in affected areas should use masks or other protective coverings to reduce inhalation of fine volcanic ash, which can cause respiratory irritation and eye discomfort.

London’s Heathrow Airport closure sparks global travel chaos (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of passengers faced flight cancellations at Europe’s busiest travel hub after a fire knocked out power to London’s Heathrow Airport, forcing it to close for the day. At least 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow were affected, including several from U.S. cities that were canceled, flight tracking service FlightRadar 24 said. Heathrow Airport said it planned to resume some flights Friday after a large fire at an electrical substation knocked out power to Europe’s busiest flight hub and disrupted global travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers. The London airport said it would begin flights for passengers stranded when their flights were diverted to other airports in Europe and to get airplanes back in the right place. It hopes to be in full operation on Saturday. British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle says the closure of Heathrow Airport will have a “huge impact” on passengers even after it reopens. Heathrow is BA’s base and it is the airline most affected by the shutdown. Doyle said the airline had been due to operate more than 670 flights carrying more than 100,000 passengers on Friday. Passengers booked to fly to or from Heathrow on Saturday or Sunday are being given the option to rebook to a later date for free. In a video to customers, Doyle said: “We hope that power will be restored as soon as possible. But even when that does happen, this incident will have a substantial impact on our airline and customers for many days to come, with disruption to journeys expected over the coming days.”

Energy Producers Call For Repeal Of Democrats’ Climate Law --- A group of midsize oil and gas producers have a clear message for congressional leaders: abolish the hundreds of billions in clean energy tax credits passed by Democrats.In a new letter to tax committee leaders, the group argues a full repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act is the only “moral and practical path forward” to “truly unleash American energy.”“We, the undersigned American energy producers and investors, write to voice our principled support for full repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) energy subsidies, including subsidies that would appear to be in our firms’ and industry’s benefit,” said a letter released Friday from companies including Atlas Energy Services, Spectra Holdings and Innovex International. Alex Epstein, who leads the pro-fossil-fuel advocacy group Energy Freedom Fund, helped coordinate the effort.

Obama-Appointed Judge Temporarily Blocks EPA From Canceling Climate Grants - A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from terminating grants that were part of a $20 billion climate funding program created by the previous administration. In a 23-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan - nominated by President Obama - issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the EPA from terminating grants awarded to three environmental groups—Climate United, Coalition for Green Capital, and Power Forward Communities—and block Citibank from transferring the funds back to the government. According to the court ruling, the EPA explained that it was terminating the grants due to multiple ongoing investigations into “programmatic waste, fraud, and abuse and conflict of interest.” Chutkan said the evidence was insufficient as the agency failed to provide specific information about the investigations, factual support for the decision, or an individualized explanation for each plaintiff. “Based on the record before the court, and under the relevant statutes and various agreements, it does not appear that EPA Defendants took the legally required steps necessary to terminate these grants, such that its actions were arbitrary and capricious,” the judge wrote. Chutkan said the plaintiffs would face imminent harm if Citibank were to transfer the funds—which they use to pay staff, rent, and fund projects—out of their accounts, as the money would be unrecoverable by then. The judge stated that the plaintiffs have no cash or reserves available to cover their operating expenses and have no other committed sources of funding that could replace the grants. Climate United was awarded $6.97 billion, the Coalition for Green Capital received $5 billion, and Power Forward Communities received $2 billion last year through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created under the Inflation Reduction Act. Their grants, held by Citibank, were part of the $20 billion in funding the Biden administration awarded to eight entities for projects aimed at curbing pollution. The three nonprofits filed the lawsuit on March 8 after Citibank withheld their funding and their grants were terminated. The plaintiffs alleged that the EPA’s decision to terminate their grants was unlawful.

Trump signs order on critical mineral production --President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order intended to boost production of critical minerals in the United States and confirmed a deal to gain access to minerals in Ukraine was still on track. Trump signed the order behind closed doors at the White House. A spokesperson said the order would streamline permitting to allow for increased mining of the minerals. The order invokes wartime powers under the Defense Production Act to expand domestic U.S. mining production, according to information shared by a White House official. In addition, the efforts to increase mineral production may end up including coal, if Interior Secretary Doug Burgum decides that the fossil fuel should fall under the definition of “minerals.” “It’s a big thing in this country. And as you know we’re also signing agreements in various locations to unlock rare earths and minerals and lots of other things all over the world. But in particular Ukraine,” Trump said at an event where he signed a measure aimed at dismantling the Department of Education. “One of the things we are doing is signing a deal very shortly with Ukraine with respect to rare earth,” Trump added. U The minerals executive order, meanwhile, takes additional steps to bolster mining, according to the White House. This includes allowing approvals for more mining projects to be fast-tracked, directing the Interior Department to prioritize mining over other uses of federal lands and developing financing methods, including the creation of a new fund through the United States International Development Finance Corporation. Rare earth elements refers to a specific group of materials that are only deposited in relatively small quantities and can be used in a variety of applications including electronics, health care and batteries.Ukraine has a significant amount of those elements, and they have been central to negotiations between the U.S. and Kyiv as Trump pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine.Trump administration officials brokered a deal with Ukraine to give the U.S. access to those minerals. The president and his advisers have argued giving the U.S. an economic stake in those critical minerals would provide an increased security incentive for protecting Kyiv against Russian aggression.

EPA pulls permit from New Jersey offshore wind project - In another blow to New Jersey’s nascent offshore wind industry, the Environmental Protection Agency has pulled a Clean Air Act permit for the Atlantic Shores project, citing President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day executive order hitting the pause button on offshore wind. In “remanding” the permit, construction on the project cannot begin without additional review and approval by the agency.Attorneys for Atlantic Shores had argued that the executive order on offshore wind did not apply to what they say is the final permit issued by the EPA under former President Joe Biden in September.“Atlantic Shores is disappointed by the EPA’s decision to pull back its fully executed permit as regulatory certainty is critical to deploying major energy projects,” Atlantic Shores spokesman Terance Kelly wrote in an email. “Atlantic Shores stands ready to deliver on the promise of American energy dominance and has devoted extensive time and resources to follow a complex, multi-year permitting process, resulting in final project approvals that conform with the law.”But the judge who issued the order, after Atlantic Shores declined to “voluntarily remand” its permit, wrote that the Environmental Appeals Board, an administrative tribunal that reviews EPA decisions, has “broad discretion” when pulling a permit.The project’s Clean Air Act permit relates to air pollutants from the wind farm’s construction, including intensive pile driving necessary to install monopiles into the seabed, which are the poles that hold the turbines. The proposal includes 195 turbines that would sit about nine miles off the coast of Atlantic City, near the Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge. Industrial activities near a refuge have specific permit requirements.Save Long Beach Island, a group that opposes the project, filed a petition challenging aspects of the permit. The group questioned the modeling that estimated the emissions, the extent of the particulate matter pollution and the potential emissions from decommissioning the site decades into the future.“So the numbers they came up with [in the permit application], we just don’t know if they actually represent the real world situation,” Bob Stern of Save Long Beach Island said. “We felt that these approvals had a lot of significant flaws, that the science was not sound, that the mathematics being used to calculate impact was not sound, and frankly the reviews were biased towards promoting the project.”Just two days before the Atlantic Shores permit was pulled, however, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced 31 potential rollbacks of environmental rules, including a rule aimed at reducing haze at wildlife refuges, and a rule that limits emissions of an air pollutant known as PM 2.5.“The United States has made significant gains in improving visibility in national parks and other wildlife areas,” Zeldin said in a statement. “The Regional Haze Program was never intended to be the justification for shutting down every power plant and industrial sector in the country. It’s time to restore sanity and purpose to the program.”Apollo's Rowan: Javice described 'enthusiastic' Dimon chat --Apollo Global Management's billionaire co-founder Marc Rowan testified that he personally invested in Charlie Javice's student-finance startup, Frank, because he thought she and her team "seemed excellent." Apollo Global Management's billionaire co-founder Marc Rowan described conversations he and Charlie Javice had during her discussions with the bank, including about a one-on-one meeting she had with JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon.

Solar development plunged in Ohio after new, restrictive state law - cleveland.com – Ohioans and their elected representatives have killed enough solar development to roughly power the state’s three largest cities in the three years since state lawmakers passed one of the nation’s most stringent restrictions on new solar development.Those political efforts to block or preempt 2,000 megawatts of new energy coming online are the product of 2021 legislation that gave new power to project neighbors and local elected officials to stop development.

Ohio Supreme Court weighs high-stakes solar permitting case Canary Media - A regulatory board’s rejection of a permit for a large solar farm in southwestern Ohio has ​“essentially rewritten” state law to give local governments veto power over clean energy projects, an attorney for the project’s developer argued last week before the Ohio Supreme Court.The Ohio Power Siting Board’s 2022 decision denying Vesper Energy the right to build a 175-megawatt solar facility in Greene County is the subject of a high-stakes legal challenge with potentially ​“devastating” consequences for the state’s ability to grow its electricity generation capacity, the developer’s attorney said.“All of Ohio’s energy infrastructure will be affected by this decision,” said Michael Settineri, who represents Vesper’s Kingwood Solar project, in an oral argument before the court on March 13.The company claims the siting board failed to follow state law in its analysis of whether its project is in the public interest — one of eight criteria that power generation projects must meet to receive a site permit. Instead of evaluating the merits of opponents’ arguments, the board used the mere existence of local government opposition as reason to deny the permit, Kingwood Solar’s attorney said.A lawyer for the Ohio Power Siting Board argued that it has wide discretion to make policy judgments and that members used ​“a broad lens” to make their decision.Renewable energy permitting has become especially difficult in Ohio over the last four years.A 2021 law lets counties block most new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects before they even get to the Ohio Power Siting Board. Others, like Kingwood Solar, have been denied based on local opposition, even though they are exempt from that part of the law because they filed permit applications or got in the grid operator’s queue prior to the legislation’s passage.In 2022, the board found that the proposed Kingwood Solar facility met all the other legal requirements for a permit, yet it concluded ​“that the unanimous opposition of every local government entity” bordering the project was ​“controlling” on the public interest question. The board denied the permit.Settineri urged the court to reverse the Ohio Power Siting Board’s decision, arguing that it was clearly not supported by evidence. And, as a legal matter, the board essentially rewrote the lawfor granting or denying a permit in a way that gives local governments control that they shouldn’t have, he said.Justice Jennifer Brunner noted another part of Ohio law that says local governments can’t require their own consent for the construction of power facilities. When the board’s Kingwood Solar decision said ​“that unanimous opposition is controlling, that actually infers that consent is required by the locality. Isn’t the board violating the statute?” she asked Settineri.He answered,“The way I read the board’s decision, it is giving the local governments veto power … contrary to the concept of a state siting regimen.”

The good, the bad, and the ugly on Ohio's long overdue energy legislation - This year, new legislation in the Ohio Statehouse could finally see the end to some of the worst aspects of 2019’s House Bill 6 — which David Roberts of Vox called “the worst energy bill of the 21st century.” That is great news — but it would come at a high cost. Instead of bailing out coal and nuclear plants, Ohioans could find themselves living next to large gas plants, pushed through a fast-track approval process without local approval, supplied with gas from fracking our parks. Among the good things SB 2 and HB 15 would do is phase out the bailouts of two Ohio Valley Electric Coalition (OVEC) coal plants jointly owned by several Ohio utilities – one of which is in Indiana. Ohioans have paid upward of $670 million in coal bailouts since HB 6. The coal bailouts would end at the expiration of each utility’s “electric security plan” — plans that allow utilities to attach extra charges, or “riders,” to customer bills — over the next five years. Then the electric security plans themselves would also be eliminated.Instead, utilities would have to work with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to set a standard service offer – the going rate for electricity – based only on markets, without extra riders or fees. Utilities would have to work with PUCO annually to ensure the rate is in line with changing market conditions. If that’s where SB 2 and HB 15 stopped, there would be plenty to support. However, both bills also contain some terrible provisions that should be changed or removed for the sake of Ohio’s communities and our environment. These provisions revolve around an accelerated review process at the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB), which approves the siting of major energy facilities such as large electric generation plants, transmission lines, and pipelines. The current OPSB process takes months and sometimes years. It involves public information sessions, applications that run thousands of pages, public hearings, months of written public comments, an agency investigation, and an adjudicatory hearing to establish the facts. SB 2 would shorten this process to just 120 days – four months. Even worse, both bills would shorten the process to only 45 days – just six weeks– for two types of applications:

• An electric generation plant, electric transmission line, or gas pipeline in a Priority Investment Area
• A major utility facility – defined as 50 MW or more – on property owned by the applicant.

In the first case, local governments would nominate brownfields or former coal mines in their communities to be Priority Investment Areas — so at least there would be local buy-in. In the second case, there is no local involvement. The only party that identifies the location for a 50 MW or larger energy generation plant is the “applicant” who owns the property. Nothing in either bill specifies who the applicant could be — but presumably a large energy user such as a data center.Data centers are what is driving this. These large buildings house rows and rows of computer servers that must be kept running and kept cool. Each data center uses hundreds of megawatts of electricity — equal to a small city — to power things like cloud computing, AI, or cryptocurrency. There are 176 data centers in Ohio. Of those, 108 are in Central Ohio — and of those, many are in residential areas. I should know — there’s an Amazon data center campus across the street from my house, and three others within five miles — all surrounded by homes and businesses. SB 2 and HB 15 would allow the owners of these data centers to get approval in 45 days to build a large electricity generation plant on property they own with no local approval. How would the electricity be generated? Through fracked gas plants, Senate President Rob McColley and House Speaker Matt Huffman recently told the Ohio Oil and Gas Association. In Ohio, the setback requirement for wind turbines is 1/4 mile from the nearest property line — too much for data center land in an urban or suburban area. A solar project big enough to create enough electricity would also be too large. The main alternative is gas.Senate Bill 52 from 2021 allows local governments to ban solar and wind projects, but not oil and gas — and at least 24 Ohio counties have done so. Already applications for three gas plants to power data centers “behind the meter” have been filed with the power siting board, with more being prepared. “We think there will be new gas powered generation all over the state of Ohio,” Huffman told the oil and gas association. If SB 2 and HB 15 pass as currently written, some of those gas plants will end up in residential areas. Where will the gas to supply these plants come from? From fracking our state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands, Huffman told the oil and gas association. And they want the frack pads to be located not just outside the parks as they are now, but actually IN our state parks and public lands. “I want to be aggressive about that in the House of Representatives,” Huffman said.

OH Senate Bill 2 Passes Unanimously to Spur More NatGas-Fired Power - Marcellus Drilling News - Earlier this week, MDN told you that the Ohio Chamber of Commerce was putting its considerable influence behind a pair of bills making their way through the state legislature: Senate Bill (SB) 2 and House Bill (HB) 15 (see Ohio Chamber Makes Case to Tap “Trapped” Utica Wells for Powergen). The Chamber is celebrating today. Yesterday, the Ohio Senate passed SB 2 unanimously, 31-0, with both Republicans and Democrats supporting a bill that encourages rapid construction of new power plants (namely gas-fired power plants) by streamlining regulations and distinguishing between power generation and distribution to foster competition

More gas, fewer surcharges: Breaking apart the Senate's plan to solve Ohio's energy crisis --Cleveland.com – An Ohio Senate committee on Tuesday unanimously passed legislation that backers say will eliminate add-on charges to customers’ monthly electric bills and, they hope, spur development of new, natural gas-fired power plants. Republicans say natural gas development is the answer to a looming energy shortage, driven by both a boom in data centers that power the emerging artificial intelligence industry and the retirement of coal-fired power plants.

LS Power Plans to Upgrade 2 Peaker Gas Plants in PA, OH to Baseload --- Marcellus Drilling News - We feel like it’s “peaker” day here at MDN. We have three stories that revolve around peaker gas-fired power plants. What is a peaker? It’s a gas-fired power plant that pops on and gets used only during the heaviest electric usage times, like really hot days in the summer and really cold days during the winter. “Baseload,” on the other hand, are gas plants that run constantly. LS Power, a huge power generation company that owns and operates some 50,000 megawatts (MW) of power generation, including utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, battery energy storage, and natural gas-fired facilities, announced on Friday a plan to add more than 700 MW of new electric generating capacity across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia. The plan includes promoting (upgrading) two peakers, one in PA and one in OH, to become full-time baseload plants. More yummy Marcellus and Utica gas will be required to feed these plants.

AlphaGen Proposes 450 MW of Expaned Gas-Fired Power in NJ, OH, MD -- Marcellus Drilling News -- Yesterday, MDN told you that power generation giant LS Power announced a plan to add more than 700 megawatts (MW) of new electric generating capacity across the PJM grid by modifying and expanding gas-fired plants already in existence in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia (see LS Power Plans to Upgrade 2 Peaker Gas Plants in PA, OH to Baseload). Today, we have news of another power provider, Alpha Generation LLC (AlphaGen), with plans to add 450 MW of extra power in PJM at gas-fired plants in New Jersey, Maryland, and Ohio. What the heck is going on?

WV Gov. Backs Energy Bill to Attract Data Centers, Use Coal & Gas --- Marcellus Drilling News - - Yesterday, West Virginia Governor Pat Morrisey stood with the natural resource industry and educational leaders to ask the West Virginia Legislature to pass the Power Generation and Consumption Act (House Bill 2014) to expand data center development in the state. The bill will allow companies to develop independent energy grids using natural resources, including coal and gas, and positions West Virginia as a prime location for data centers, AI processing, and cloud computing. Morrisey said the legislation would “attract significant investment to the state.”

Build Data Centers Faster by Combining Small Nukes with Natural Gas - Data centers and AI are in the news almost daily. The great issue of our time (which has developed over the past year or so) is that AI and data centers are huge customers for electricity. Every region of the country (particularly the Eastern Seaboard) struggles with how to meet the demand for more electricity. The existing grid can’t handle the coming increase in demand. Data centers would love to just “plug in” to the local grid, but given the speed with which they want to build these new facilities, that’s unrealistic. Building a new nuclear plant to power such facilities takes over a decade and billions of dollars. Building a new gas-fired power plant takes at least 2-3 years from start to finish (once permitting is issued). Is it possible to develop a new power source for data centers in two years? Indeed, there is…

Michigan nuclear plant shows challenges US safely restart old reactors — A nuclear power plant on the shores of Lake Michigan is aiming to make history this fall by becoming the first reactor in the U.S. to restart operations after shutting down to be eventually dismantled. The effort to restart the Palisades plant near South Haven, which shut down three years ago, is a precedent-setting event that could pave a path for other shuttered reactors to come back online. But Palisades needs major repairs to restart safely, highlighting the challenges the industry will face in bringing aging plants back to life. Palisades began commercial operations in 1971 during the early wave of reactor construction in the U.S. The plant permanently ceased operations in 2022, one of a dozen reactors to close in recent years as nuclear energy has struggled to compete against cheaper natural gas and renewables. The owner of the plant, Holtec International, has said it hopes to restart Palisades this fall, subject to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The restart project is backed by a $1.5 billion loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, $1.3 billion from the Department of Agriculture, and $300 million in grants from the state of Michigan. The Energy Department on Monday approved the release of nearly $57 million from the loan, a sign that the Trump administration supports the project amid the turmoil and uncertainty in Washington over federal funding for projects started under the Biden administration. But Holtec is facing major repairs to Palisades' aging steam generators that could delay a schedule the NRC has called demanding. Holtec has disclosed to regulators that its inspections have found damaged tubes in the plant's two generators, which were installed in 1990. Those tubes are crucial components that protect public health. If a tube ruptures at a nuclear plant, there is a risk that radioactive material will be released into the environment, according to the NRC. Plant owners are required to demonstrate to the NRC that if a tube does fail, any radiological release beyond the plant's perimeter would remain below what the regulator describes as its "conservative limits." "The NRC is scared to death of steam generator tube ruptures. It's a very real accident. It's not a hypothetical," said Alan Blind, who served as engineering director at Palisades from 2006 to 2013 under previous plant owner Entergy. Blind, who is now retired, said he supports nuclear power but is concerned about the condition of the Palisades plant based on decades of experience in the industry. Palisades is currently in a safe condition, NRC spokesperson Scott Burnell said, as the steam generators are not in use because the plant is shut down and defueled. Holtec President Kelly Trice told CNBC the company has done a "complete characterization" of the generators and "they are fully repairable." The company has asked the NRC to complete its review of the repair plan by Aug. 15, but federal regulators are skeptical of the company's timetable. NRC Branch Chief Steve Bloom warned Holtec during a Jan. 14 public meeting that the work required to review the plan will "add to a schedule that is already very aggressive." Eric Reichelt, a senior materials engineer at the NRC, called the schedule "very demanding," telling Holtec at the meeting that only a few people are available at the regulatory body to do the necessary review work.

As fracking at Ohio's largest state park gets underway, how the industry has changed this rural county - People from several southeastern Ohio counties gathered in Columbus earlier this month, holding signs that read things like “No Radioactive Waste” to try to get lawmakers to pay attention to what they see as the growing dangers of fracking for oil and natural gas, like transportation of wastewater, or brine. “So, what is this oil and gas waste made of?” asked Roxanne Groff, board member of the Buckeye Environmental Network, through a bullhorn to the crowd on the statehouse steps. “It’s radioactive. And I don’t know what else they need to freakin’ know about it, except that it’s full of radioactivity.” Brine from fracking can be saltier than seawater and contain numerous chemicals from the fracking operation, as well asradium, a radioactive metal. These activists are worried about brine and other impacts as fracking begins under Ohio’s largest state park, Salt Fork, for the first time, thanks to a 2022 revision of an Ohio law meant to spur oil and gas development on state-owned lands. But this area of Ohio is no stranger to fracking. “That’s a brine truck that’s right up there in front of us,” said Austin Warehime, an attorney who drove me around the curvy, hilly roads in Guernsey County, where Salt Fork State Park is located, to show how the oil and gas industry has been changing this rural community, like the increase in trucks carrying brine from fracking operations. “It’s become a daily life thing for people around here,” he said, then noticing traffic up the road. “And this looks like another brine truck that’s coming right towards us right here. So yeah, you see them quite frequently.” I first met Warehime in the summer of 2023, at nearby Salt Fork State Park, at a meeting of residents and activists concerned that the state was ramping up to lease its publicly-owned lands for fracking. Back then, he and his wife were living in Cincinnati. They were ready to start a family and wanted to move back home to Guernsey County, but it was a tough place to find a job. He said some people expected the oil and gas industry to help. And it did help him. “And so I’m here. I’m practicing law still,” Warehime said. “I’m with EQUES Law Group, and we represent landowners in oil and gas matters. We drove around looking at several drilling sites where the hills had been flattened for concrete well pads. On one road, he remembered being a kid on the way to school. “This was part of the bus route, so I saw this road every single day growing up,” he said, pointing to a concrete well pad and pipeline, “It’s changed quite a bit. That was all just trees.”Warehime’s law firm hears from people in the area with varying views on the growth of the oil and gas industry. Some landowners are happy when a landman approaches them to build a pad or a pipeline on their property: “They feel like they hit the lottery because they’ve never had really enough money to get by even, and now all of a sudden they can go buy a new car and have reliable transportation, or they can pay for medical bills,” Warehime said. He also sees clients who worry that the environment and beauty of the area are being destroyed, but there’s not much they can do to stop it. Under Ohio’s “unitization” law, if a company gets 65 percent of landowners in a unit of land to agree to lease their mineral rights, it can apply to the state to force dissenting landowners in the unit into leases. Warehime advises unwilling landowners to come to an agreement with the energy companies because citizens almost always lose these legal fights. “Reasonable people look at that, and they go, ‘Well, I could either get rid of all my money by trying to fight this, or I could make a lot of money, accept it, and deal with the consequences later with some money to actually deal with those consequences,’” he said. The success of the oil and gas industry is easy to see on a well-locator map on the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website. Salt Fork State Park looks like an island in a sea of hundreds of oil and gas wells covering Guernsey County. A report by the Energy Policy Center at Cleveland State University found nearly 300 producing oil and gas wells in Guernsey County at the end of 2023, the last time the report was published.Since then, “we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of new wells that are being drilled,” said research supervisor Mark Henning, an author of the report. He expects an increase of over 100 new wells in what he calls Ohio’s shale counties, including Guernsey, in the next issue to be published in late April.Henning’s team is looking at possible drivers for the drilling increase, including the war in Ukraine and natural gas exports. He also points to the “oil window” in Guernsey and nearby counties. “It’s a relatively thin strip of land where there’s been more activity in the last year or so, where producers have gotten better at predicting where the oil will be,” he said. In January, a Gulfport Energy well pad exploded less than five miles from Salt Fork State Park. “There has been an explosion on what we presume at this time is an unoccupied well pad,” said Donald Warnock, fire chief of Antrim, an unincorporated community in Guernsey County, in a video posted to update nearby residents. “Currently, one set of tanks is burning, possibly two. State route 22 is closed,” he said.No one was injured, but activists say incidents like this are not uncommon. “We see fires, explosions, spills, truck accidents spilling brine. And those are the reported incidents,” said Jenny Morgan of the group Save Ohio Parks, which tracks industry accidents. She points to an analysis of state data that shows nearly two thousand well pad incidents in Ohio over the past eight years. Also, research has connected living near fracking sites with health problems like migraine headaches, difficulty breathing,poor birth outcomes, and even childhood cancers. Morgan worries about hikers, boaters, and other visitors when fracking begins to access the gas under Salt Fork State Park. Her group and 29 other organizations signed a letter to Governor Mike DeWine in February asking for a moratorium on fracking on state parks and public lands, including four wildlife areas.“I don’t want them to frack our parks and public lands; that’s the first order of business,” Morgan said. “It absolutely needs to not happen in these public spaces.” Last year, the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission awarded bids at four wildlife areas and two bids for Infinity Natural Resources to frack under Salt Fork. Save Ohio Parks and three other environmental groups recently lost an appeal in their lawsuit challenging the commission’s process.The state does not allow well pads within state parks, so the first well pad Infinity has constructed is on private land about a third of a mile outside the park’s southern boundary, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The company is drilling four wells on it. Infinity plans a second well pad, which has not yet been constructed, about a mile from Salt Fork’s northern boundary.The wells on these pads will go deep underground, and then turn horizontally, and run laterally for miles under the park. Drillers pump millions of gallons of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high pressure into the well to fracture underground rock and release oil and gas. Infinity’s lease agreements with the state include requirements to sample and test all water wells and sources of water, including Salt Fork Lake, within 3000 feet of any oil or gas well before it starts drilling. The company also must reduce noise and light pollution and limit traffic in the park from fracking activities.

AWMS Continues the Fight to Reopen Shuttered OH Injection Well -- Marcellus Drilling News - We’ve been tracking a story that we consider an ongoing tragedy for nearly a decade. American Water Management Services (AWMS) owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County, Ohio, that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Actually, there are two injection wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS. They were both “temporarily” shut down by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources following the quake nobody could feel (see ODNR Temporarily Shuts Down Injection Wells After Low-Level Quake). ODNR allowed AWMS to reopen one of the injection wells but denied it the right to reopen the second well. AWMS has been locked in a legal battle to reopen the shuttered well and get compensated by the state for forcing it out of business (missed revenues). The battle continues to this day.

Ohio Chamber Makes Case to Tap “Trapped” Utica Wells for Powergen - Marcellus Drilling News - A guest column appearing in the Columbus Dispatch written by the president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce makes a strong case that (a) Ohio needs more electric power generation, and (b) the perfect solution is to use "trapped" by lack of pipelines Utica Shale gas. Steve Stivers throws the weight of the Chamber behind a pair of bills that aim to make it easier to generate power in the Buckeye State, Senate Bill (SB) 2 and House Bill (HB) 15.

EOG Ramps Gassy Dorado, Oily Utica, Slows Delaware, Eagle Ford D&C -- EOG Resources plans to ramp up its new oily Utica Shale and gassy Dorado plays in 2025 as it further delineates the Ohio play and feeds new LNG demand on the Texas Gulf Coast in South Texas. In its 160,000-net-acre Dorado play in the gassy southern fairway of the Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk in Webb County, Texas, it expects 25 net completions with a part-time frac spread and one full-time rig in 2025. The rate is up from 21 net completions in 2024 with the same iron and pressure-pumping count in the play along the Mexican border. In its 460,000-net-acre Utica oil play in Ohio, it plans 30 net completions with one full-time frac spread and two rigs, up from 25 net completions, one rig and one part-time frac spread in 2024. The plans are part of its $6.2 billion capex budget for 2025, EOG COO Jeff Leitzell said in a recent investor call. But even at 15 years old, “the Eagle Ford is a core foundational asset for us” with “some of the highest returns in the play we've ever seen actually in the last several years,” he added. He said that the prolific play even into 2025 “supports a line of sight to maintain production for a decade or more, really.” In its 395,000-net-acre Delaware Basin play, meanwhile, EOG completed 385 net wells in 2024 in the Leonard, Bone Spring and Wolfcamp and plans 375 this year with four frac spreads and 16 rigs, unchanged from 2024. EOG tested Utica well-spacing in 2024. Trasko said it’s unlikely it will pick one number and roll it out across the nearly half-million-net-acre leasehold. “We pride ourselves in not being in a manufacturing mode ever in any of our plays, and so we don't really employ a set spacing or completion design throughout an entire field,” he said. Generally, EOG is looking at landing laterals between 600 ft and 1,000 ft apart, “which is pretty standard for a North American unconventional oil play,” he said. “But we've also said it depends on the area.” EOG may space its wells more widely at the southern end of the Utica’s north-south volatile oil fairway. “In the South, where we have thinner pay, but we also have better frac barriers … that could also mean that the frac reaches out further, so you might expect wider spacing in the south to work out better.” As for commencing tests of the Utica’s adjacent black oil fairway, EOG wants 3D seismic first, Ezra Yacob, EOG chairman and CEO, said. “We’re still a little ways [out].” Utica versus Eagle Ford Yacob added that comparing Utica economics with EOG’s Eagle Ford asset is premature, since infrastructure and other efficiencies are long in place in the latter. “We've really captured the economies of scale [in the Eagle Ford]. So that's one of the things that right off the bat is still lacking with the Utica,” Yacob said. Toward reducing its Utica costs to less than $650 per completed foot includes in-basin sand, water-sourcing infrastructure “and then just having consistent frac and drilling operations …,” Yacob said. But at just two years old, the Utica asset “is significantly farther down the path of having lower well costs and, quite frankly, a better understanding of the subsurface reservoir quality” than the Eagle Ford was at two years, he added.

Utica Shale Academy embarks on $1.5M welding lab project to boost local workforce skills — The first phase of construction for a new welding lab at Utica Shale Academy is underway, with a budget of $907,000 funded through one-time allocations from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s office and other sources. Once completed, the lab will require an additional $600,000, bringing the total investment to $1.5 million. "We have to stop the Texas and Oklahoma license plates, and we have to create capable and willing people here in Ohio, so we keep that money here," “We have to stop the Texas and Oklahoma license plates, and we have to create capable and willing people here in Ohio, so we keep that money here,” Utica Shale Academy Superintendent William Watson said. The academy, which serves 170 students, is expanding its facilities to include 27 additional welding bases, making a total of 47. This expansion will offer various welding processes, ultimately enhancing career readiness. "It gives the young people in our county an opportunity to stay here and make a very good living," said Michael Halleck, president of the Columbiana County Board of Commissioners. "When this building opens up, we have a lot more opportunities with different types like we’re gonna have gas MIG and possibly TIG -- it’s gonna open up a lot of opportunities for us," Student Jaden Brandenburg said. State Senator Al Cutrona and Ohio Representative Monica Robb Blasdel attended the ceremony, underscoring the significance of vocational training and the legislative support that facilitated the project. The funding is part of House Bill 2, aimed at directing funds for economic growth and community development. "I think it’s important that we get the school into businesses and try to understand different career path at a younger age," Blasdel said. "There is a high need for welders, and this actually prepares the children for that career choice and right now you have Mac trailer, which is right in our backyard here, and they need more welders, so you know this is a great example of local business and working with education and making all one reality," Cutrona said. The construction of the welding lab is expected to be completed by Sept. 1, providing students with access to state-of-the-art training equipment and industry-standard facilities for the beginning of the 2025 school year.

U.S. ethane production, consumption, and exports set new records in 2024 - U.S. ethane production, consumption, and exports reached record highs in 2024, according to recent data from our Petroleum Supply Monthly. Increasing ethane recovery associated with natural gas production and continued growth in the domestic and global petrochemical sectors drove these increases. U.S. ethane production rose 7% to average a record 2.8 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2024, driven by increased ethane recovery in the Permian Basin. In the United States, almost all ethane is recovered at natural gas processing plants, which remove ethane and other natural gas plant liquids(NGPL) from raw natural gas. The Texas Inland and New Mexico refining districts, which span the Permian Basin, accounted for 63% of all U.S. ethane production in 2024, up from 61% in 2023. Production in those districts averaged 1.8 million b/d, up 9% from 2023. The Appalachian No. 1 Refining District, which straddles most of the Appalachian Basin in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, produced a record 327,000 b/d in 2024, up 13% from 2023. It accounted for 12% of the U.S. total, up from 11% the previous year.Domestic ethane consumption, measured as product supplied, rose 8% in 2024 to a record 2.3 million b/d. In the United States, ethane is consumed almost exclusively in the petrochemical industry as a feedstock for steam crackers to produce ethylene. The rise in consumption came from higher cracker operating rates in 2024 compared with 2023, as no new crackers came online in the United States in 2024. Ethane consumption on the U.S. Gulf Coast rose 5% to 2.1 million b/d in 2024. On the East Coast, consumption nearly tripled to 103,000 b/d in 2024 as Shell’s cracker in Monaca, Pennsylvania, continued to ramp up its production after starting up in late 2022.U.S. ethane exports averaged a record 492,000 b/d in 2024, a 21,000-b/d increase from the previous record set in 2023. Growth in global petrochemical sector demand and rising tanker capacity have driven the increases in U.S. ethane exports. Ethane exports increased almost every year since 2014 except in 2020 when muted global demand related to the COVID-19 pandemic caused a slight decrease in exports. Low prices for U.S. ethane compared with other feedstocks globally contributed to the record exports last year. China imported 46% of U.S. ethane exports, followed by Canada (15%), India (13%), and Norway (9%).U.S. ethane prices at Mont Belvieu, Texas, the main pricing hub for NGPLs, were volatile through 2024. Ethane prices averaged under 20 cents per gallon (gal) for the year (approximately $3 per million British thermal units [MMBtu]) but averaged 25 cents/gal ($3.70/MMBtu) in December as natural gas prices rose to 2024 highs. In comparison, the natural gas price at the Houston Ship Channel averaged $1.86/MMBtu in 2024 but averaged $2.66/MMBtu during the month of December, the highest monthly average of the year. When ethane prices are high relative to natural gas prices, plant operators can recover more ethane from the natural gas stream. However, when ethane prices and natural gas prices are closer, more ethane can be left in the natural gas stream and sold for its heat value.In our March 2025 Short-Term Energy Outlook, we forecast that average U.S. ethane production will remain flat at 2.8 million b/d in 2025 and rise to 3.0 million b/d in 2026. Average U.S. ethane consumption will remain flat at 2.3 million b/d in 2025 and 2026, and exports will increase to 530,000 b/d in 2025 and 630,000 b/d in 2026.

Report: Shell plant in Beaver County could be up for sale - The Allegheny Front - Shell could be exploring the sale of its chemical plants, including its recently constructed Beaver County ethane cracker. The plant, which makes polyethylene, a common plastic, is among those that could be on the auction block, according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal. The outlet reported the company could be selling off its chemical plants to focus on its core business of producing oil and gas. Shell declined to comment on a potential sale. Shell received $1.65 billion in state tax credits to build the plant, the largest tax break in state history. A small army of 8,000 workers, many from out of state, descended on Beaver County to construct the plant, at a company-reported cost of$14 billion. It began operations in late 2022. News of the potential sale so soon after the plant was constructed was ”a little bit surprising,” said Jack Manning, a Beaver County commissioner who has been one of the project’s biggest public backers. Still, Manning says it’s not uncommon for chemical plants to get bought and sold. He worked in the chemical industry for 35 years, and experienced company sales several times. “When those kinds of things do occur, all the same people stay in place. So it would still be the same people running the show,” he said. “the new buyer’s not going to come in and get rid of everybody who’s running the plant, and try bringing a whole new, whole new team. It just doesn’t happen that way.” Rob Stier, global petrochemicals analyst with SPG Global Commodity Insights, says the timing for Shell makes sense, since now is not the most profitable time to be in the plastics industry. A wave of new plants, especially in Asia, has produced a glut – and low prices.“Now we’re into that low profitability cycle starting really in the second half of 2022 and it’s in forecast to continue through next year,” Stier said. He says Shell’s Beaver County Plant could be attractive to companies in Europe and Asia, which make plastic out of naphtha, a crude oil product.The Beaver County plant uses ethane, a component of natural gas that is much cheaper than naphtha, and common in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. “A plant like Shell’s in Pennsylvania would be a very attractive acquisition for an international producer that wants to take advantage of cheap ethane,” Stier said. State officials say the plant’s environmental requirements remain the same if it is sold. The plant was fined $10 million by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for air pollution violations in 2023. In the first few months of startup, the plant had a number of problems, including a sulfuric acid spill, strange odors, and several events that caused the plant to flare excess gases.Shell recently applied for a Title V Operating Permit with the DEP. The permit is required under the federal Clean Air Act for any facility that is a major source of emissions. If the DEP accepts the permit, it will issue a draft permit and open the permit up for public comment, including at least one public hearing. DEP spokeswoman Lauren Camarda said the agency has not received an application for a change of ownership from Shell, but any buyer would have to meet the same environmental requirements as Shell.

SRBC Approves 6 Water Withdrawals for Shale Drilling at March Mtg -- Marcellus Drilling News - The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its completely dysfunctional and irresponsible cousin, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals for responsible and safe shale drilling. On March 13, the SRBC board acted on 24 new water withdrawal requests within the basin, six of them approvals for water used in drilling and fracking shale wells in Pennsylvania. The Marcellus/Utica shale drillers receiving a green light from SRBC included Diversified Energy, EQT, JKLM, Repsol, and two requests for Expand Energy (under SWN or Southwestern Energy).

31 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 10 – 16 -- Marcellus Drilling News - - For the week of Mar 10 – 16, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells increased by nine from the previous week. Last week, 31 new permits were issued, with 16 going to the Keystone State (PA). EQT (and its subsidiary Rice Drilling) scored nine permits across Fayette, Greene, and Washington counties in southwestern PA. Range Resources took five permits, all of them in Washington County. And Rev Resources received two permits in Tioga County. ANTERO RESOURCES | ARSENAL RESOURCES | BELMONT COUNTY | CARROLL COUNTY | ENCINO ENERGY | EQT CORP | FAYETTE COUNTY | GREENE COUNTY (PA) | GULFPORT ENERGY | HARRISON COUNTY | HG ENERGY | RANGE RESOURCES CORP | RITCHIE COUNTY | TIOGA COUNTY (PA) |WASHINGTON COUNTY

WV Senate Bill 592 Eases Oil & Gas Storage Tank Inspections -- Marcellus Drilling News - - In the closing hours of the 2014 West Virginia legislative session, the legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 373, the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (see Fate of 3 WV Laws that Impact Marcellus/Utica Drilling). The bill, which was signed into law, was in response to a chemical leak that affected the drinking water for 300,000 WV residents. Even though the leak was not related to oil and gas drilling (it was related to coal mining), the new rules governing aboveground storage tanks for chemicals affect several industries, including the Marcellus/Utica (see Impact of WV’s New Chemical Tank Law on Marcellus Drillers). Over the years, several attempts have been made to relax the over-restrictive new rules for the oil and gas industry. Another attempt is underway in this year’s legislative session: Senate Bill (SB) 592.

CP2 LNG Clears Regulatory Hurdle After DOE Grants Key Export Authorization - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday authorized the CP2 LNG project proposed for Louisiana to export the super-chilled fuel to non-free trade agreement (NFTA) countries as the Trump administration continues its push to fast-track natural gas infrastructure projects. Chart showing operational and under construction North American LNG projects. Venture Global LNG Inc. CEO Mike Sabel said, “CP2 LNG is a vital project for the U.S. economy, balance of trade and global energy security.” He lauded the Trump administration’s return to “regular order and regulatory certainty” after the license was signed. The NFTA authorization clears a major regulatory hurdle for the 20 million ton/year CP2 project in Cameron Parish. Venture had applied for the license in 2021. However, the project was delayed by the Biden administration’s decision to pause NFTA export authorizations to study how rapid growth in the sector was impacting the environment and the economy.

Trump administration approves exports from major LNG project -- The Trump administration is authorizing a major gas facility to export the fuel abroad — clearing a major hurdle in getting the controversial project approved. The Energy Department approved a permit for the Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2) gas export project to sell gas to countries with which the U.S. does not have a free trade agreement. Often, liquified natural gas (LNG) export projects wait on such approval before construction. “The benefits of expanding U.S. LNG exports have never been more clear, and I am proud to be taking action to support the American people and our allies abroad with more affordable, reliable, secure American energy,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a written statement. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are cutting the red tape around projects like CP2, unleashing our energy potential and ensuring [the] U.S. can continue to meet growing energy demand for decades to come,” he said. The approval comes as the Trump administration has vowed to “unleash” U.S. energy — and especially fossil fuels. Trump and Republicans criticized a Biden administration move to pause approvals of new gas exports while it reassessed the climate and economic impacts of shipping gas abroad. The CP2 authorization marks the fifth gas-related approval since Trump took office. CP2 is the highest-profile gas project, and the largest, approved by the Trump administration so far. While the department’s approval marks a major step forward for the project, CP2 is also still awaiting action from the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC previously approved the project, but later agreed to take a second look amid challenges from environmental groups. Those groups criticized the Trump administration’s move on Wednesday. “Greenlighting this terminal is simply selling out the American public to further boost the profits of fossil fuel companies,” said Gillian Giannetti, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a written statement. “LNG extraction and export floods frontline communities with dangerous pollution, raises U.S. energy costs, and further locks in our dependence on dirty fossil fuels,” Giannetti said.

Woodside LNG Louisiana ‘FID Ready’ by Month’s End with Equity Partnership Near, Says CEO - The proposed five-train export project Louisiana LNG, sited in Calcasieu Parish, is close to sanctioning as Woodside Energy Group Ltd. nails down an equity partner and clinches sales agreements, according to CEO Meg O’Neill. A final investment decision (FID) for the first phase had been anticipated this month. Because discussions with potential equity partners continue, the timeline was tweaked, O’Neill told NGI at CERAWeek by S&P Global. The project now should be “FID ready” by month’s end.

DOE Permitting Action Could Accelerate as Biden LNG Study Comments Come to a Close - Prospects of U.S. LNG development moving forward this year are rising as the Trump administration’s Department of Energy (DOE) continues to press the scale in favor of previously contested export projects. DOE Secretary Chris Wright kicked off a visit to Houston last week with DOE’s fourth action on LNG permitting, granting an extension for the Delfin LNG project. A week later, DOE issued another conditional authorization for Venture Global LNG Inc.’s CP2 LNG project. But, before the DOE moves to the next phase of its regulatory reform strategy, Wright said it has to deal with the pending LNG export study ordered by the Biden administration during a nearly year-long pause last year.

Corpus Christi LNG Exports Rise as Cheniere Confirms Completion of Stage 3 Train 1 -- Cheniere Energy Inc. has reached substantial completion of Train 1 at its Corpus Christi LNG Stage 3 expansion, signaling a potential ramp up in exports from the Texas project. The Houston-based firm disclosed Monday that its construction contractor, Bechtel Energy Inc., had turned over the midscale liquefaction train to Cheniere’s control on Sunday. Train 1 began producing LNG in December and Cheniere confirmed it had shipped the first cargo from the project in February. Cheniere’s pace of commissioning with Stage 3 has helped push U.S. feed gas demand to new highs this year and is helping to spark price recovery at key Gulf Coast hubs.

Rio Grande LNG Construction Can Continue While FERC Reviews Approvals, DC Circuit Says - Construction and development risk for two Texas LNG export projects has been minimized with a new decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC) Circuit. In an order published Tuesday, a panel of DC Circuit judges upheld the court’s decision to remand the FERC’s approval for Rio Grande LNG and Texas LNG (Case No. 23-1174). However, the court found that issues with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authorization process did not outweigh the impacts that vacating Rio Grande’s permit could cause.

High U.S. LNG Feed Gas Demand Continues to Tighten Henry Hub Outlook — A look at the global natural gas and LNG markets by the numbers

• $4.64/MMBtu: Bank of America Global Research is the latest to increase its price outlook for Henry Hub as natural gas production lags collide with increased LNG demand. The bank raised its forecasted average price for Henry Hub to $4.64/MMBtu in 2025 and $4.50 in 2026. The firm also predicted a jump to $6 in the coming winter as exploration and production companies maintain slimmed down drilling plans.
• 3.3 Mt/y: Train 3 at Trinidad and Tobago’s Atlantic LNG has shuttered for planned maintenance, reducing export capacity in the Americas for the next 45 days. Atlantic LNG’s Train 3 has a nameplate capacity of 3.3 million tons/year (Mt/y). The majority of exports from the facility land in South America and the Caribbean, but increasing volumes have landed in Europe since 2022, according to Kpler data.
• 3 Bcf/d: Feed gas demand from Venture Global LNG Inc.’s Plaquemines LNG is continuing to ramp up to new highs indicating that the company is running its trains above nameplate capacity during the commissioning process. East Daley Analytics estimated total feed gas demand from Plaquemines LNG could reach 3 Bcf/d by the end of the year. At least 16 of the 36 planned trains at the facility are currently operating, averaging 1.6 Bcf/d in demand, according to East Daley.
• 35%: European Union natural gas storage levels started the week at 35% of capacity, compared to a five-year average of 46%. Despite the storage situation, the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) prompt contract price has continued to decrease as traders weigh geopolitical and supply opportunities in the coming months. Wood Mackenzie analysts estimated that a return of Russian pipeline gas and increased Russian LNG imports could place 25 Mt/y of U.S. LNG capacity at risk of underutilization by the end of the decade.

Trump blocks rule to implement methane fee for oil and gas companies -- President Trump on Friday signed a resolution to block the implementation of a fee on oil and gas companies’ excess methane emissions. The resolution blocked the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2024 rule that implemented the fee program, which was established in the Democrats’ 2022 climate, tax and health care bill. Technically, the fee is still in the law, since the 2022 legislation has not been overturned. It was not immediately clear what the impacts will be of overturning the 2024 rule implementing the law. But the methane fee program — which also provides funds to help companies install emissions-reducing technology — is likely to be overturned as part of a larger package that Republicans are hoping to pass in the months ahead. Republicans celebrated Trump’s move — and vowed to overturn the program legislatively. “I’m honored to join President Trump and my congressional colleagues in officially rejecting the Democrats’ attempt to collect a tax on natural gas production and stand for American energy dominance,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said in a written statement. “I will continue to work with my colleagues through the reconciliation process to stop the underlying law establishing this tax that was a part of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act,” said Capito, who chairs the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee.

U.S. LNG Exporters Continue Strict Methane Regs Despite Rollbacks - Marcellus Drilling News U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters plan to continue to monitor and curb their methane emissions despite President Trump’s plans to roll back EPA climate regulations (see EPA Launches Biggest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History, Favors O&G). Why? They seek to meet the standards of overseas import markets. Among recent actions by the EPA is the rollback of a requirement for companies to report their annual emissions of the so-called greenhouse gas methane and a decision to review the so-called “endangerment finding,” the legal foundation for all U.S. climate regulation that identifies “greenhouse gases” as pollutants.

LNG Freight Rates Rebound in Sign of Stronger Global Natural Gas Demand Heading Into Summer -- The LNG shipping market is gaining momentum after a soft start to the year, driven partly by increasing output from the United States that’s helping to push freight rates higher. A Chart showing spot LNG vessel rates for global natural gas markets. Spark Commodities said Friday that freight rates in the Atlantic Basin jumped by more than $6,000 over the previous week to $25,750/day, or their highest level in four months. Rates in the Pacific Basin, where demand is more sluggish, have still steadily increased by more than $2,000 to $19,750/day over the same time. Rates were up in both basins again on Monday. The climb higher is a reversal from the beginning of the year when a combination of factors, including too many ships, limited demand and shorter voyages between the U.S. and Europe, cut freight rates to record lows.

US natgas prices slide 2% to 2-week low on record output, Waha turns negative (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures slid about 2% to a two-week low on Monday on record output, negative spot prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas and forecasts for mild weather through early April, which should keep the amount of gas utilities pull from storage to heat homes and businesses lower than usual for this time of year. Gas stockpiles, however, remained about 12% below normal levels after extreme cold in January and February forced energy firms to pull massive amounts of gas out of storage, including record amounts in January. Front-month gas futures for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 8.6 cents, or 2.1%, to settle at $4.018 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their lowest close since February 28. That futures price decline occurred despite record gas flows to U.S. liquefied natural gas export (LNG) plants and forecasts for more demand this week than previously expected. In the spot market, gas prices at the Waha Hub in the Permian shale in West Texas turned negative for the first time since November 2024 due to pipeline maintenance that trapped gas associated with oil production in the basin. Traders talked of maintenance on U.S. energy firm Kinder Morgan's El Paso Natural Gas pipe from Texas, New Mexico and Colorado to California and Arizona and WhiteWater, and Enbridge's Whistler pipeline from West Texas to the Texas Gulf Coast. With Permian oil production hitting record highs every year since at least 2016, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, energy firms have had a hard time building gas pipes fast enough to keep up with soaring associated gas output. Permian gas production has also hit record highs every year since at least 2018. Those pipeline constraints caused next-day gas prices to turn negative a record 49 times in 2024. Waha prices first averaged below zero in 2019. It happened 17 times in 2019, six times in 2020 and once in 2023. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states rose to 105.9 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in March, up from a record 105.1 bcfd in February. Meteorologists projected weather in the Lower 48 states would remain mostly warmer than normal through April 1. LSEG forecast average gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, will rise from 107.2 bcfd this week to 107.7 bcfd next week. The forecast for this week was higher than LSEG's outlook on Friday. The amount of gas flowing to the eight big U.S. LNG export plants rose to an average of 15.7 bcfd so far in March, up from a record 15.6 bcfd in February, as new units at Venture Global's 3.2-bcfd Plaquemines LNG export plant under construction in Louisiana enter service. Gas was trading at a one-week low of around $13 per mmBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe and a 12-week low of $13 at the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) benchmark in Asia.

US natgas prices jump 5%to one-week high on record LNG flows, daily output drop (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures jumped about 5% to a one-week high on Wednesday on record flows to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants and a second drop in daily output. Front-month gas futures for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 19.5 cents, or 4.8%, to settle at $4.247 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since March 11. The price increase occurred despite forecasts for less demand over the next two weeks than previously expected with the weather forecast to remain seasonally mild through early April. That decline in demand should reduce the amount of gas utilities need to pull from storage in coming weeks. Gas stockpiles, however, were already around 11% below normal levels for this time of year after extreme cold weather in January and February forced energy firms to pull large amounts of gas out of storage, including record amounts in January. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states rose to 105.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in March, up from a record 105.1 bcfd in February. On a daily basis, output over the past two days was on track to drop by around 2.8 bcfd to a preliminary three-week low of 103.9 bcfd on Wednesday. Traders said the daily drop was likely related to spring pipeline maintenance in Texas and other states, which helped cause spot prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas to turn negative in recent days. Meteorologists projected weather in the Lower 48 states would remain mostly near normal through April 3.

US natural gas prices drop 6% to two-week low on surprise storage build, lower demand (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures dropped about 6% to a two-week low on Thursday on a surprise storage build and forecasts for milder weather and less demand next week than previously expected. Energy traders noted that forecast decline in gas demand should allow utilities to keep adding the fuel to storage in the coming weeks. Front-month gas futures for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 27.2 cents, or 6.4%, to settle at $3.975 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their lowest close since February 28. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities added 9 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas out of storage during the week ended March 14. That was a surprise build versus the draw of 3 bcf that analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 5 bcf during the same week last year and a five-year average draw of 31 bcf for this time of year. Despite the storage build, gas stockpiles were still around 10% below normal levels for this time of year after extremely cold weather in January and February forced energy firms to pull large amounts of gas out of storage, including record amounts in January. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states has risen to 105.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in March, up from a record 105.1 bcfd in February. On a daily basis, however, output over the past three days was on track to drop by around 2.4 bcfd to a preliminary three-week low of 104.4 bcfd on Thursday. Traders said the daily drop was likely related to spring pipeline maintenance in Texas and other states, which helped cause spot prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas to turn negative in recent days. LSEG forecast average gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, will rise from 106.8 bcfd this week to 107.9 bcfd next week. The forecast for next week was lower than LSEG's outlook on Wednesday. The amount of gas flowing to the eight big operating U.S. LNG export plants has risen to an average of 15.7 bcfd so far in March, up from a record 15.6 bcfd in February, as new units at Venture Global's 3.2-bcfd Plaquemines LNG export plant under construction in Louisiana enter service. Gas was trading around $14 per mmBtu at both the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe and the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) benchmark in Asia.

Line 5, a Trump donor, is profiting off a pipeline deal threatening pollution --Donald Trump’s administration is being accused by activists of a quid pro quo as it attempts to fast-track a controversial fossil fuel pipeline proposal inMichigan that would in part be built by a donor with deep financial ties to the president.While Canadian oil giant Enbridge owns the Line 5 oil and gas pipeline that it is attempting to replace in the Great Lakes region, the contractor is Tim Barnard, who, along with his wife, gave $1m to Trump’s campaign last year, Federal Election Commission records show.Barnard’s company, Barnard Construction, received more than $1bn to build parts of the border wall, and he is also a prolific Republican donor to state and national candidates and organizations.Enbridge wants to replace the ageing Line 5 that cuts across about 4.4 miles (7km) of lakebed in the Great Lakes, which holds more than 90% of the nation’s fresh water, and 21% of the world’s fresh water.The estimated $1.5bn replacement plan calls for building a tunnel underneath the Great Lakes, which opponents say puts the environment at high risk. They also questioned Barnard’s ability to complete the highly complex project, citing a lack of experience and a history of wage violations.“Such pay-to-play arrangements among the government and federal contractors are not unusual, but they are increasing in scope under a second Trump administration, and are highly unethical and corrupt the government contracting process,” said Craig Holman, a Capitol Hill lobbyist with Public Citizen, a non-profit that advocates for transparency.“Contracts oftentimes are awarded based on large campaign donations rather than merit, and it effectively rigs the bidding process against businesses who either cannot afford making large campaign contributions or who refuse to pay to play for government contracts,” Holman said.Barnard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Trump administration in late February moved to fast-track federal energy projects that include Line 5 by sidestepping the US Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental review processes. The move was part of the “energy emergency” he declared on his first day in office, which is viewed as dubious because energy production was already near record highs. Some allegeit was a payback to oil industry donors who helped Trump get elected.In addition to the $1m June 2024 donations, Barnard has given millions to Trump administration officials, Republican congressional committees, and other Republican candidates and groups. Among the recipients are the secretary of state, Marco Rubio; Vice-President JD Vance; the former US House speaker Kevin McCarthy; and the Texas governor, Greg Abbott.

Texans grapple with rising toxic pollution as oil, gas production booms — When retired pastor Columbus Cooper and his wife bought their home in West Odessa in the heart of the Permian Basin, the U.S.’s most productive oil field, they knew they were surrounded by tank batteries holding spent fuel or fracking fluid and injection wells injecting that waste fluid back into the Earth. But as lifelong Odessans, they weren’t worried — until their water started tasting funny and the stench crept in. Until, six years ago, two people died in a pump house down the street. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later confirmed what many already suspected: The very infrastructure that had fueled the region’s economic boom was exposing the people who lived there to dangerous toxins. Without access to city water, West Odessa residents — like rural Texans across oil country — largely depend on water from wells drilled into the aquifer below. Frequently those wells are as little as a few hundred yards from oil and gas wells or other infrastructure linked with toxic pollution — which are just one explosion or spill away from ruining them. Now, Cooper laughs when he thinks about their decision to move to the neighborhood. “I assumed they would be regulated,” Cooper told The Hill, pointing to a tank battery venting invisible, noxious gas. “I assumed somebody would be making sure we were safe.” The oil and gas industry has long been a cornerstone of the Texas economy, and has brought a flood of new jobs and money to the Permian Basin in recent years as production has climbed to new highs. In 2024 alone, the industry paid a record $27 billion in state taxes and royalties and employed nearly half a million people, many earning more than $124,000 a year. The industry and Texas lawmakers argue that beyond the economy, the state’s fossil fuel production is important for American energy independence — and the environment. The Permian is the regional wellhead of a vast outpouring of oil and — particularly — gas that both the U.S. government and Western oil industry tout as a means of redirecting global markets away from more-polluting energy sources like coal and foreign producers they say produce dirtier products. Every country is concerned about three things in descending order: national security, energy security and the health of its land and water, ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance said in March at CERAWeek by S&P Global. “Natural gas,” he said, “delivers on all fronts.” But for many Texans on the doorstep of the state’s staggering fossil fuel expansion of the past decade, the boom has come at a cost. Millions of Texans now live within striking distance of oil infrastructure — exposed to airborne chemicals, groundwater contamination and, in extreme cases, sudden, violent failures of aging wells, all of which creates public concern. “You don’t want to live close to any of this development — particularly if you’re surrounded by wells,” Gunnar Schade, a Texas A&M atmospheric chemist, told The Hill. Fracking, the increasing use of which has driven the past decade’s oil and gas boom, has been central to much of the mounting pollution concern. Environmentalists and researchers have warned that the technique, in which cocktails of chemicals are pumped underground to shatter rock and release oil and gas, can contaminate groundwater — accusations the industry has fought for years. A 2016 EPA study has been cited by both environmentalists and the industry as support for their positions on the issue. The report found that while direct fracking-related water contamination — penetrating from subterranean oil wells to water wells — was possible, it was rare. Industry groups such as the Texas Oil and Gas Association point to the steps operators take to wall off wells from surrounding groundwater behind “layers of steel casing and cement, as well as thousands of feet of rock.” And the Independent Petroleum Association of America points to “no fewer than two dozen scientific reviews,” including the EPA study, that “have concluded that fracking does not pose a major threat to groundwater.”But much of that discourse has centered on the direct impact of the fracking process, which leaves out a great deal of oil and gas operations. The EPA study also identified multiple other ways that the fuels’ extraction threatens water supplies — like spills or deliberate dumping. In the Permian, for example, The Hill observed numerous pumpjacks and storage tanks dripping “produced water,” or wastewater resulting from the fracking process, on the soil, sometimes in close proximity to farms. This water can resurface tainted with salt, heavy metals, benzene, toxic “forever chemicals” and even radioactive isotopes.The EPA has also pointed to risks that come from the disposal of such wastewater in underground injection wells. And in Texas, all of these risks have escalated as the amount of water being used to frack ever-deeper wells has risen — leading to new challenges in disposing of the resulting wastewater. Each year, Texas oil and gas wells generate more than 12 billion barrels of wastewater — 4 billion of them in the Permian alone, more than all other U.S. oil fields combined. Texas is one of the only states moving forward with plans to allow this produced water to be disposed of in aboveground creeks and rivers. For example, in south Texas’s Eagle Ford Shale, researchers found 700 million gallons per year of produced water was being dumped legally into rivers and creeks that cattle drank. Much of the rest goes back into the Earth. Permian drilling companies inject about 6 billion barrels per year into disposal wells, a process meant to keep it away from drinking water.But the subsurface that those wells cut into is riven with underground cracks and fissures and pocked with as many as hundreds of thousands of “zombie wells,” oil and gas wells that were improperly sealed or left open to deteriorate. Many have rusted-out casings, making them potential pathways between underground water sources and the wastewater being forced into disposal wells. For decades, geologists have warned that underground injection wells could interact with these abandoned legacy wells and contaminate the underground water sources they are connected to.Deep injection wells also lubricate faults in the Earth, sometimes causing earthquakes bad enough to crack home walls and foundations. One quake last July was strong enough to break municipal water pipes. After a decade of local outcry about fracking earthquakes, companies began injecting more shallowly. But this gave rise to another issue: Fracking fluid began bursting from the state’s old, failing or forgotten wells. The tendency of fracking fluid to come back to the surface has turned cleanup into a game of “whack-a-mole,” as Kirk Edwards, a local oil and gas executive and former chair of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, put it.Zombie wells are “a black eye for the industry,” Edwards told The Hill. He warned that oil producers had perhaps a year to solve the issue before they would face local revolt. The area needed, he said, “a Manhattan Project for water” to treat and reuse fracking fluid.

Newly released investigation report sheds light on 2019 Keystone Pipeline spill in Walsh County - Grand Forks Herald — A fatigue crack likely the result of a defective pipe was the cause of a major crude oil spill in Walsh County in 2019, according to an investigation report newly released by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Many details about the cause of the Oct. 29, 2019, Keystone Pipeline rupture remain unknown to the public, as the 183-page report is heavily redacted. TC Energy, the Canadian former operator of the pipeline, redacted the report to protect trade secrets and information that could reasonably endanger an individual, in accordance with federal open records law, according to PHSMA. However, the document concludes that part of the root issue could be "ineffective quality control" and inadequate inspections at the Berg Steel Mill in Panama City, Florida, where the damaged portion of pipeline was produced. The report also rules out a slate of possible causes, including that damage was done intentionally to the pipeline. TC Energy eventually reached a settlement with the NDDEQ and agreed to pay a roughly $52,000 fine. The investigation report — formally the Root Cause Failure Analysis — was authored by RSI Pipeline Solutions, a consulting firm based in Ohio. It is dated April 1, 2020.

Greenpeace ordered to pay $660 million over Dakota Access protests - A jury on Wednesday ordered environmental campaign group Greenpeace to pay more than $660 million in damages to Texas-based oil company Energy Transfer, the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline.A nine-person jury in Mandan, North Dakota, reached a verdict after roughly two days of deliberations. The outcome found Greenpeace liable for hundreds of millions of dollars over actions taken to prevent the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline nearly a decade ago.It marks an extraordinary legal blow for Greenpeace, which had previously warned that it could be forced into bankruptcy because of the case. The environmental advocacy group said it intends to appeal the verdict."This case should alarm everyone, no matter their political inclinations," Greenpeace U.S. interim executive director Sushma Raman said in a statement published Wednesday."It's part of a renewed push by corporations to weaponise our courts to silence dissent. We should all be concerned about the future of the First Amendment, and lawsuits like this aimed at destroying our rights to peaceful protest and free speech," Raman said. Greenpeace has described Energy Transfer's case as a clear-cut example of SLAPPs, referring to a lawsuit designed to bury activist groups in legal fees and ultimately silence dissent. SLAPP is an acronym for "strategic lawsuit against public participation."France's Greenpeace activists perform an action to support Greenpeace USA, with the Eiffel Tower seen in the background, in Paris on February 20, 2025. Energy Transfer, the Big Oil company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, is suing Greenpeace USA for $300 million.Energy Transfer told CNBC that the jury verdict was a "win" for "Americans who understand the difference between the right to free speech and breaking the law.""We are very pleased that Greenpeace has been held accountable for their actions against us, but this win is also for the people of Mandan and throughout North Dakota who had to live through the daily harassment and disruptions caused by the protesters who were funded and trained by Greenpeace," the company said in a statement.

Jury delivers verdict finding Greenpeace entities liable for more than $660 million in Energy Transfer SLAPP trial – Greenpeace -- A Morton County jury of nine reached a verdict in Energy Transfer’s meritless lawsuit against Greenpeace entities in the US (Greenpeace Inc, Greenpeace Fund), and Greenpeace International, finding the entities liable for more than US$660 million, today. Big Oil Bullies around the world will continue to try to silence free speech and peaceful protest, but the fight against Energy Transfer’s meritless SLAPP lawsuit is not over. “This case should alarm everyone, no matter their political inclinations,” said Sushma Raman, Interim Executive Director Greenpeace Inc, Greenpeace Fund. “It’s part of a renewed push by corporations to weaponize our courts to silence dissent. We should all be concerned about the future of the First Amendment, and lawsuits like this aimed at destroying our rights to peaceful protest and free speech. These rights are critical for any work toward ensuring justice – and that’s why we will continue fighting back together, in solidarity. While Big Oil bullies can try to stop a single group, they can’t stop a movement.”“We are witnessing a disastrous return to the reckless behaviour that fuelled the climate crisis, deepened environmental racism, and put fossil fuel profits over public health and a liveable planet. The previous Trump administration spent four years dismantling protections for clean air, water, and Indigenous sovereignty, and now along with its allies wants to finish the job by silencing protest. We will not back down. We will not be silenced,” said Mads Christensen, Greenpeace International Executive Director. In this case, Energy Transfer has maintained their entirely false claims that Greenpeace organized the #NoDAPL resistance at Standing Rock, an allegation rooted in racism in its erasure of the Indigenous leadership in North Dakota.“What we saw over these three weeks was Energy Transfer’s blatant disregard for the voices of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe,” said Deepa Padmanabha, Senior Legal Advisor, Greenpeace USA. “And while they also tried to distort the truth about Greenpeace’s role in the protests, we instead reaffirmed our unwavering commitment to non-violence in every action we take. To be clear, Greenpeace’s story is not the story of Standing Rock. Our story is how an organization like Greenpeace USA can support critical fights to protect communities most impacted by the climate crisis, as well as continued attacks on Indigenous sovereignty.”This lawsuit is one of the largest Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) cases ever filed. These are meritless lawsuits meant to silence or bankrupt opponents – which is why most U.S. states and several countries have put legal protections in place to protect advocates. But in North Dakota – and 15 other states – no anti-SLAPP statutes exist.Greenpeace entities will continue fighting back against this case, including by appealing to the North Dakota Supreme Court. In February 2024, Greenpeace International initiated the first test of the European Union’s anti-SLAPP Directive by filing a lawsuit in Dutch court against ET. GPI seeks to recover damages and costs it has suffered as a result of ET’s back-to-back, meritless lawsuits demanding hundreds of millions of dollars against GPI and the Greenpeace organisations in the US.“Energy Transfer hasn’t heard the last of us in this fight. We’re just getting started with our anti-SLAPP lawsuit against Energy Transfer’s attacks on free speech and peaceful protest,” said Kristin Casper, Greenpeace International General Counsel. “We will see Energy Transfer in court this July in the Netherlands.”

Alaska LNG Builds Momentum in Deal With Taiwan — Taiwan’s CPC Corp. has signed a non-binding agreement to invest in the long-delayed Alaska LNG project. The country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs lauded the tentative deal and said it boosts Taiwan’s relationship with the United States and would help to secure more energy. The Trump administration has promoted the $44 billion, 20 million ton/year project as a way to export more American energy to global buyers. President Trump has also suggested overseas buyers should take more U.S. energy supplies to avoid tariffs.

Trump administration to open more Alaska acres for oil, gas drilling (Reuters) - U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Thursday announced steps to open up more acreage for oil and gas leasing and lift restrictions on building an LNG pipeline and mining road in Alaska, carrying out President Donald Trump's executive order to remove barriers to energy development in the state. Burgum said the agency plans to reopen the 82% of Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve that is available for leasing for development and reopen the 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing. He also said the administration would revoke restrictions on land along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor and Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River and convey the land to the State of Alaska, which would pave the way forward for the proposed Ambler Road and the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas Pipeline project. “It’s time for the U.S. to embrace Alaska’s abundant and largely untapped resources as a pathway to prosperity for the Nation, including Alaskans,” said Burgum. Drilling in Alaska's pristine Arctic refuge has long been a source of friction between Alaska lawmakers and tribal corporations seeking to open more acres to drilling to spur economic growth, and Democratic presidential administrations that sought to preserve the local ecosystem and wildlife. A January 8 lease auction that had been mandated by Congress held under the Biden administration's Interior Department received no bids from energy companies. The Biden administration last year rejected the Ambler Road Project, a proposed 211-mile road that would connect to a rare earths mining district. Alaska's Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy and the state's congressional delegation have pushed for a reversal of Biden's Alaska resource development policies. Some Alaska indigenous nations have also called for the right to develop resources in ANWR and the National Petroleum Reserve, and welcomed the announcement. “We applaud today’s decision by DOI and Secretary Burgum," said Kaktovik Iñupiat Corporation President Charles Lampe. "As the only community within ANWR’s 19-million-acre boundaries, we have fought for years for our right to self-determination and local economic development in our Indigenous homelands. The oil industry has signalled it would be hesitant to rush into Alaska given its high risk and the possibility of a political pendulum swing in four years that could put Alaska off limits again. Environmental groups criticized the move that would disturb what they call one of the last wild places on earth, putting caribou, polar bears and migratory birds at risk. "Expanding oil drilling across public lands in the Arctic is risky, harmful to the health and well-being of people who reside nearby, devastating to wildlife and bad for the climate,” said Carole Holley, Managing Attorney in Earthjustice’s Alaska Regional Office.

Trump administration takes steps to expand Arctic drilling, including in contentious wildlife refuge - - The Trump administration formally announced Thursday that it planned to expand drilling in the Arctic, including in the contentious Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Interior Department said that it would take steps toward opening up the entire 1.56 million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. Drilling in the refuge was restricted under the Biden administration, and amid the restrictions oil companies decided against pursuing fossil fuels there.In addition, the department said that it would seek to open up 82 percent of the separate National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’s Western Arctic. The decision comes after the Biden administration limited drilling there to less than half of the 23 million-acre reserve. The Trump administration also indicated it would revoke a Biden-era decision that blocked an Alaska mining road and that it would take steps to bolster a gas pipeline project.“It’s time for the U.S. to embrace Alaska’s abundant and largely untapped resources as a pathway to prosperity for the Nation, including Alaskans,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in a written statement.“For far too long, the federal government has created too many barriers to capitalizing on the state’s energy potential. Interior is committed to recognizing the central role the State of Alaska plays in meeting our nation’s energy needs, while providing tremendous economic opportunity for Alaskans,” he said. The moves are not necessarily a surprise. President Trump on his first day in office signed an executive order calling for opening up more drilling in the Arctic. During his first term, Trump also opened up about 82 percent of the National Petroleum Reserve for drilling — up from the 52 percent that was open under the Obama administration. The actions are also not final, as actually implementing these policies will require going through a lengthy regulatory process. But the announcement marks the first formal step toward action.The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is particularly contentious because it is home to animals including grizzly bears, polar bears, gray wolves, caribou and more than 200 species of birds, as well as land considered sacred to the Gwich’in people. However, others, including other Alaska Native groups, have said they want to drill there in order to bolster the state’s economy.

LNG Canada Inches Closer to Startup With Cooldown Cargo Headed for Project - LNG Canada is expected to receive a cooldown cargo in the coming weeks as it works to commission the facility in British Columbia and start operations by the middle of the year. Chart showing North American LNG netback prices for a certain natural gas market's trading day. The company said late last month it expects to receive the cargo by April. Kpler vessel-tracking data showed Tuesday that the Shell plc-chartered Maran Gas Roxana vessel loaded at the Queensland Curtis LNG plant in Australia on March 11. The ship is expected to arrive at the LNG Canada project with a full cargo on March 31. Shell is the operator and majority interest holder at both Queensland Curtis and LNG Canada, which was first announced in 2012. The first 14 million tons/year (Mt/y) phase of the project would be Canada’s first large-scale LNG export facility.

Canada’s Leading E&Ps, Midstreamers Call on Politicians to Build Nation’s Natural Gas, Oil Opportunities - Canadian natural gas and oil business leaders are urging the nation’s Liberal and Conservative politicians to jointly declare an “energy emergency” to help strengthen the nation’s “economic sovereignty.” The call comes less than two weeks after the Trump administration imposed double-digit tariffs on its largest trading partner. Natural Gas Intelligence's (NGI) Canada Border Tracker displaying a map and key natural gas hubs with prices. Depicts flow data key for market analyses. President Trump earlier this month slapped a 10% surcharge on Canadian energy imports, with a 25% duty on other imported goods. The move, which initially shocked many Canadians, has appeared to unify the nation, with leading politicians and companies resolving to look for trading partners beyond the U.S. border. During CERAWeek by S&P Global, provincial leaders said they already were laying plans to expand trade beyond U.S. borders. Now, Canada’s leading natural gas and oil midstream operators and exploration and production (E&P) leaders are joining in the fight.

Investors Beating Path to Alberta for Natural Gas, Petchem and Data Center Opportunities Trade wars may come and go, but Alberta expects to remain a major hub for North American energy development, as companies invest in the province’s natural gas- and oil-fueled infrastructure, petrochemical developments and increasingly, data center opportunities, a top official said. Graph showing Natural Gas Intelligence's (NGI) forward NOVA AECO C natural gas price versus Canadian natural gas production. Invest Alberta Corp. CEO Rick Christiaanse sat down with NGI earlier this month during CERAWeek by S&P Global to highlight the Western Canadian opportunities. The investment firm, established five years ago, works directly with global companies to start up or scale up, with provincial investments to date estimated at C$25 billion-plus. Christiaanse discussed the long-term growth projections as the Trump administration escalated a global trade war, which included a 10% duty on Canada’s energy imports and a 25% tariff on other items delivered by its formerly closest trading partner.

Chile, Brazil Lead LNG Imports in March as DES Prices Dip — April delivered ex-ship (DES) prices to LNG import terminals in Latin America slipped this week. Chart showing delivered ex-ship LNG prices specific to the Latin American LNG market. April DES prices to the Bahia Blanca terminal in Argentina were down 2.1 cents to $12.99/MMBtu on Tuesday, according to NGI calculations. DES prices at the Pecém terminal in Brazil were $12.81, down 2.3 cents. Chile’s Quintero terminal outside of Santiago fetched the highest LNG price of those tracked by NGI at $13.09 on Tuesday. This was higher than prices on Mexico’s West Coast at Manzanillo, which fell 2.3 cents to $13.01.

Speculation Over Russian Natural Gas Returning to Europe Drags Down TTF – European natural gas prices declined on Monday ahead of a planned phone call between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine. Image showing a comprehensive market analysis of the European Union’s gas storage levels with graphs representing trends in inventories, highlighting key insights into energy market dynamics and gas data projections for the near future. The Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) gave up last week’s gains and finished 2% lower on Monday as the market continues to weigh the possibility of some Russian gas exports returning to Europe in exchange for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Putin hasn’t ruled out restarting some shipments to the continent, although the possibility remains a remote one for now. “The market will continue to watch this closely,” said UK consultancy Auxilione of talks between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine.

Fuel oil continues to be found on distant beaches in Crimea --Fuel oil continues to be found on the far beaches of annexed Sevastopol, spilled after the disaster of Russian tankers in the Kerch Strait in December 2024. According to Crimea.Realii, this was reported by the occupying head of the city Mikhail Razvozhayev. According to him, he visited the Silver Beach and made sure that there is still fuel oil on the distant and inaccessible shores and rocks, especially in places where water does not reach. These emission residues are supposedly cleaned up by specialized agencies. "But it is obvious that the help of volunteers will be useful," Razvozhayev said, adding that volunteers will be brought to these areas next week. At the same time, according to the National Resistance Center, the occupiers are burying the soil contaminated with oil products directly on the annexed peninsula. "The Russians are turning the temporarily occupied Crimea into an ecological dump - instead of disposing of the sand contaminated with fuel oil in Krasnodar, they simply scatter it across the peninsula," the activists say.

Russian Prosecutors Investigate Emergency Ministry Over Black Sea Oil Spill Response - The Moscow Times - Russia’s top prosecutor said Wednesday that his office will investigate the Emergency Situations Ministry over alleged failures in its response to the Black Sea oil spill.The spill occurred on Dec. 15, when two aging Russian tankers were damaged in a storm, releasing thousands of tons of heavy fuel oil into the sea off the coasts of annexed Crimea and the southern Krasnodar region. Since then, volunteers and emergency crews have worked to clean up the oil and remove around 150,000 metric tons of contaminated sand.Speaking at a meeting of senior prosecutors, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the oil spill was caused by “disregard for safety rules and negligence,” leading to “grave consequences for people, the environment and the economy.”“Given the miscalculations identified in efforts to protect the public and territories from emergencies, we have planned an investigation into the Emergency Situations Ministry and its regional bodies,” Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov said.The two tankers involved in the spill, the Volgoneft-239 and Volgoneft-212, were operated by Volgatransneft, while the fuel oil on board belonged to state oil giant Rosneft.Regional transportation prosecutors, the Russian Maritime Rescue Service and the resort town of Anapa have filed three separate lawsuits against Moscow-based Volgatransneft and Perm-based Kama Shipping for damages.Officials in Anapa said last week that they had spent 211 million rubles ($2.4 million) on cleanup efforts alone.Oil slicks have continued to appear off the Black Sea coast three months after the spill, with both the Emergency Situations Ministry and Putin warning that warmer weather could cause heavy fuel oil to rise to the surface of the water.

Njord A oil spill under investigation -The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) is investigating an oil spill from the Equinor-operated Njord A platform in the Norwegian Sea at the end of last year. Oil escaped via the produced water system, with about 75 MMcm released into the sea and eventually reaching the shore. Response action has started along parts of the coast of western Norway, from Frøya in Møre og Romsdal and northward. The Njord field, in 330 m water depth, started production in 1997 and recently underwent a redevelopment to ensure sustained long-term production from the area.

Oil spill in Ecuador river brings emergency declaration -An oil spill in northwestern Ecuador has turned a river black, prompting authorities to declare an environmental emergency and order residents to ration drinking water. The spill, believed to have been caused when a landslide ruptured a major oil pipeline, has contaminated a section of the Esmeraldas River in the province of the same name. Residents in the town of Cube, where the water had changed color, were trying to stop the flow by building dikes, an AFP journalist saw. "The mud formed by the oil has penetrated all the hillsides," said farmer Fernando Gandara. The Emergency Operations Committee in the provincial capital, also called Esmeraldas, declared an environmental emergency over concerns about water quality. Vilko Villacis, mayor of the city of more than 200,000, said the leak had caused "unprecedented" damages. His office halted the diversion of river water to an aqueduct supplying the city and urged people to ration water. On Friday, state-owned Petroecuador said it was working to address the emergency at the pipeline, part of the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (SOTE) which transports crude oil from the Amazon. The company has not estimated the volume of oil spilled. Ecuador last year produced 475,000 barrels of crude a day, exporting 72 percent of the total. The SOTE is the most used pipeline system in the country, with the capacity to transport 360,000 barrels per day on the 500-kilometer (310-mile) journey from the Amazon to the Pacific coast.

State of emergency in Ecuador after major oil spill -- YouTube video -- Ecuador declared a state of emergency on March 16, 2025, following a major oil spill in the Esmeraldas River, which has severely impacted the region’s water supply. Authorities have urged residents to ration water as efforts to contain the spill and mitigate its effects are underway. The leak was reportedly caused by a mudslide that ruptured a section of the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (SOTE). Reports indicate that at least 800 families have been directly affected by the leak. Images shared on social media showed the river turning black due to the oil spill. Vilko Villacís, mayor of Esmeraldas, stated that the leak had caused “unprecedented” damage. His office halted the diversion of river water to an aqueduct supplying the city and urged residents to ration water. Petroecuador, the state-owned oil company, is working to contain and clean up the spill, but no estimate of the leaked oil volume has been provided. Ecuador, which produces 475 000 barrels of crude per day and exports 72% of it, relies heavily on the SOTE pipeline. Some reports suggest that the spill may have resulted from an overflow at a slop pool in the Esmeraldas Refinery, which stores residual crude oil. However, no official confirmation has been provided. The oil has seeped into soil on the hillside, with plants getting covered in crude oil, causing significant damage to the surrounding vegetation. Multiple agencies are working to assist the affected citizens. National Secretariat for Risk Management reported that they had delivered a 2 500-liter tank to the community of El Vergel, in Cube parish. “The authorities are coordinating activities to provide drinking water service to the cantons of Esmeraldas, Atacames and Rioverde. To this end, this Monday, 18 tankers will join to advance in the distribution of water equitably in the three cantons of the province,” said the Esmeraldas’ Mayor’s office. The SOTE is Ecuador’s most utilized pipeline system, with a capacity to transport 360 000 barrels per day over a 500 km (310 miles) route from the Amazon to the Pacific coast.

Ecuador’s NOC Declares Force Majeure After Pipeline Leak Ecuador's state-run oil company, Petroecuador, has declared force majeure at the operations of its SOTE pipeline after a landslide ruptured the pipeline, releasing tens of thousands of barrels of oil. Petroecuador has yet to determine the size of the spill, but has so far removed 225,000 cubic metres of material that collapsed on the pipeline. The company says the force majeure will last up to 60 days in a bid to give it enough time to take all necessary actions to minimise the incident. Petroecuador added it has enough oil in its inventories to supply the local fuel market; however, it has suspended exports of the Oriente crude due to the force majeure clause. Oriente crude is one of two varieties that the South American country produces. Ecuador’s last major oil spill occurred in July 2023 when ~1,200 barrels of crude spilled in the Pacific Ocean. The spill occurred after a tank belonging to Petroecuador exceeded its maximum capacity of 188 barrels and spilled into a containment pool at the company’s Esmeraldas maritime terminal. Around four kilometres of coastline were affected by the spill. Ecuador is one of South America’s top oil producers. In 2021 Ecuador's production clocked in at 550,000 barrels, the 28th highest in the world. Oil consumption in the country is about 260,000 b/d, with the balance being exported. Ecuador has oil reserves of more than 8 billion barrels, ranking the country as number 19 globally. In 2023, Ecuadorians voted against drilling for oil in Yasuni National Park, home to the Tagaeri and Taromenani who live in self-isolation. Yasuni, designated a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1989, encompasses a surface area of over 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres); 121 reptiles species, 610 species of birds and 139 amphibian species. Former Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso strongly advocated for oil drilling in Yasuni in a bid to boost oil exports. However, the results of the referendum meant that Petroecuador was forced to abandon operations there.

Petroecuador declares force majeure after worst oil spill in 8 years, Ecuador -Ecuador’s state oil company, Petroecuador, declared force majeure on its Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (SOTE) on March 18, 2025, following a catastrophic oil spill that began on March 13. The spill, caused by a landslide that ruptured the pipeline, has contaminated the Esmeraldas River, affecting over 500 000 residents who are now experiencing a severe water crisis. The landslide was triggered by heavy rains and severe weather conditions across the country that have claimed 20 lives as of March 19. . As a result, the company will suspend exports of Oriente crude, one of two crude oil varieties produced in Ecuador. Petroecuador expects that invoking the clause will shield it from penalties and potential contract breaches. The emergency declaration will remain in effect for up to 60 days and aims to allocate resources to mitigate the impact of the force majeure event on hydrocarbon exploration, production, transportation, and marketing, according to Petroecuador. The oil spill was caused by a landslide that ruptured a pipeline amid heavy rains. Persistent rainfall across Ecuador has led to severe flooding and landslides, resulting in fatalities and widespread damage. The most affected regions are in western Ecuador, including the provinces of Manabí, Guayas, Los Ríos, El Oro, Esmeraldas, Loja, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Pichincha, and Imbabura. As of March 19, the National Secretariat of Risk Management (SGR) reported 20 fatalities, 6 missing persons, 95 injured, 306 evacuees, and a total of 108 227 people affected. Additionally, 29 984 houses sustained damage, including 138 that were destroyed. The spill in the El Vergel sector of Quinindé impacted 32 km (20 miles) and at least five rivers, according to the Ministry of the Environment. Initial reports suggested the spill occurred on March 15, but it was later confirmed that a landslide on March 13 ruptured the pipeline, causing the leak. By March 17, Quinindé Mayor Ronald Montero stated that around 15 000 people had been affected by the oil spill in Esmeraldas. At least 2 000 of them live along the riverbanks, where water contamination with oil has been reported. Esmeraldas Mayor Vicko Villacis told Teleamazonas on March 18 that around 500 000 people had been affected, with many losing access to potable water in a region highly dependent on rivers. He estimated the spill at roughly 200 000 barrels. The pipeline rupture has caused the worst oil spill in Ecuador’s coastal region in eight years, prompting an environmental emergency. It has also disrupted drinking water services and impacted some beaches near Esmeraldas. Petroecuador, which has not disclosed the volume of oil spilled, deployed tanker trucks to recover as much crude as possible in affected areas where many residents depend on fishing for subsistence. The company announced that three ships would start delivering drinking water to Esmeraldas on March 19.The National Emergency Operations Committee (COE) instructed the Ministry of the Environment to declare an “environmental emergency” across Esmeraldas province and the Mangroves Estuary River Wildlife Refuge, which hosts more than 250 species, including otters, howler monkeys, armadillos, frigate birds, and pelicans. The COE also ordered the temporary closure of Las Palmas, Camarones, and Las Piedras beaches. “There are no life forms in the water” of two affected rivers, where “a mixture of oil and water circulates,” marine biologist Eduardo Rebolledo from the Catholic University of Esmeraldas told a local TV channel. “In rural Esmeraldas, drinking water is scarce, and residents heavily depend on river water,” he added.

Containership oil spill contaminates vessels at Keelung Port - A containership docked at Keelung Port has spilled oil during refuelling, contaminating several nearby vessels on 16 March. The Port of Keelung Taiwan International Ports Corporation received an alert regarding a suspected oil spill from the 1,675 teu Kanway Global on 16 March. Furthermore, the incident has raised concerns about the port’s environmental management and operational safety. According to the local environmental protection bureau, approximately 100 liters of heavy oil leaked into the harbor during the fuel barge connection procedure. In response, containment booms and oil-absorbent materials have been deployed to minimize environmental and operational disruptions. The three affected pilot boats will require drydocking for maintenance, while the other vessels have delayed their departures until the clean-up is completed. As reported, the containership oil spill affected multiple vessels, including TS Pusan, TS Surabaya, YM Immense, and three pilot boats all of which had their hulls and mooring lines contaminated.

Red Sea tensions push oil prices higher -Oil prices traded higher on Monday after the United States vowed to keep attacking Yemen’s Houthis until the Iran-aligned group ends its assaults on shipping. Brent futures rose 56 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $71.14 a barrel by 0800 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 56 cents, also 0.8 per cent, to $67.74 a barrel. The US airstrikes, which the Houthi-run health ministry said killed at least 53 people, are the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One US official told Reuters the campaign might run for weeks. Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have disrupted global commerce and set off a costly campaign by the US military to intercept missiles and drones. Oil prices rose slightly last week, snapping a three-week losing streak fed by concern over a global economic slowdown driven by escalating trade tension between the US and other nations. Both benchmarks pared some gains after rising more than 1 per cent in early Asian trade as China reported a mixed start to the year. Industrial output slowed in January-February, while retail sales growth accelerated slightly, government data showed on Monday. The state council, or cabinet, unveiled what it called a “special action plan” on Sunday in a bid to boost domestic consumption and economic recovery amid a burst of US trade tariffs against China, among key trading partners. That effort has threatened to upset the global trade order. “The oil market is thus in a balance between the negative effects of Trump’s tariffs versus the positive effects of Chinese simulative measures,” “It seems that the positive political signals from China on stimulus there is set to lift Brent crude up and out of the depressed range it has traded in over the past 8-9 trading days,” Schieldrop said in a note on Monday. Analysts at Goldman Sachs cut oil price forecasts, saying they expected the US economy to grow slower than expected, due to the tariffs imposed on countries such as Canada, China and Mexico. “We reduce by $5 our December 2025 forecast for Brent to $71/bbl (WTI to $67), our Brent range to $65 to $80, and our 2026 average forecast to $68 for Brent (WTI to $64),” the analysts said in a note. Oil demand was expected to grow at a slower pace than previously expected, while supply from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) was expected to exceed forecasts, the Goldman analysts said.

The Oil Market Traded Higher After China Released a New Policy Plan -- The oil market on Monday traded higher after China announced plans to increase domestic consumption and the Trump administration vowed to keep attacking Yemen’s Houthi rebels. China released a policy plan aimed at reviving consumption by raising wages, increasing pensions and creating incentives for childbirth, while also reporting increased industrial output and higher retail sales in the first two months of the year. The market was also well supported by the news that the Trump administration launched military strikes against the Houthis on Saturday in response to the group’s attacks against Red Sea shipping. The market opened higher and breached its previous highs as it rallied to a high of $68.37 in overnight trading. The market later traded to a low of $67.25 by mid-day and settled in a sideways trading range during the remainder of the session. The April WTI contract settled up 40 cents at $67.58 and the May Brent contract settled up 49 cents at $71.07. The product markets ended the session in positive territory, with the heating oil market settling up 3.72 cents at $2.2038 and the RB market settling up 3.25 cents at $2.1812. U.S. Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, said the United States will keep attacking Yemen’s Houthis until they end attacks on shipping, as the Iran-aligned group signaled it could escalate in response to deadly U.S. strikes the day before. The airstrikes, which the Houthi-run health ministry said killed at least 53 people, are the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One U.S. official told Reuters the campaign might continue for weeks. President Trump said that Iran will be held responsible and face “dire” consequences for any further attacks by Yemen’s Houthis. On Sunday, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said that his militants would target U.S. ships in the Red Sea as long as the U.S. continues its attacks on Yemen. Meanwhile, Hossein Salami, the top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said the Houthis made their own decisions. He said “We warn our enemies that Iran will respond decisively and destructively if they carry out their threats.” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for “utmost restraint and a cessation of all military activities” in Yemen and warned new escalation could “fuel cycles of retaliation that may further destabilize Yemen and the region, and pose grave risks to the already dire humanitarian situation in the country.”U.S. President Donald Trump said he has no intention of creating exemptions on steel and aluminum tariffs and said reciprocal and sectoral tariffs will be imposed on April 2^nd.U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and discuss ending the war in Ukraine, with territorial concessions by Ukraine and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant likely to feature prominently in the talks, after positive talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Moscow.Goldman Sachs lowered its December 2025 and average 2026 forecasts for Brent and WTI crude oil prices, citing slower oil demand growth prospects and expectations of higher OPEC+ supply. The bank expects Brent crude at $71/barrel in December, down $5 from its previous forecast, and sees WTI at $67/barrel. It also cut its 2026 average Brent forecast to $68/barrel from $73/barrel, and WTI to $64/barrel from $68/barrel.

Oil rises as Trump says Iran will be held responsible for any future Houthi attacks – Oil prices rose on Monday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would hold OPEC member Iran responsible for any future attack by the Houthis, a militant group in Yemen that has launched missile strikes on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and on Israel. U.S. crude oil futures rose 40 cents, or 0.6%, to close at $67.58 per barrel. Global benchmark Brent gained 49 cents, or 0.69%, at settle at $71.07 per barrel. "Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN," Trump said in a post on social media platform Truth Social. "IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!" Trump's threat comes after the U.S. launched a new wave of airstrikes against the Houthis over the weekend. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday the U.S. campaign will continue until the militant group halts its attacks. "This campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence," Hegseth told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures." "The minute the Houthis say we'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones, this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting." The Houthis began targeting commercial shipping traversing the Red Sea in late 2023 in support of Hamas, after the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise attack on southern Israel and Israel responded with a ground and air campaign in Gaza. The Houthis and Hamas are both allied with Iran. Trump has reimposed a "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran with the goal of driving down the Islamic Republic's oil exports. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently said the Trump administration's goal is to collapse Iran's economy. The White House believes Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon, an allegation the Islamic Republic denies. Trump's national security advisor, Mike Waltz, said Sunday that "all options are on the table" to ensure Iran does not acquire a nuclear bomb. "We cannot have a situation that would result in an arms race across the Middle East in terms of nuclear proliferation," Waltz said on ABC's "This Week." Trump has said he wants to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran. In 2018, the president withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal negotiated by President Barack Obama, an agreement called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Oil prices ease 1% as Ukraine peace talks offset Mideast instability worries - Oil prices eased about 1% on Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed moves to end the three-year-old war in Ukraine, which could result in a possible easing of sanctions on Russian fuel exports. Earlier in the day, prices hit a two-week high on worries that instability in the Middle East could reduce oil supplies, and hopes that economic stimulus plans in China and Germany could boost demand for the fuel in two of the world’s biggest economies. Brent futures fell 52 cents, or 0.7%, to $70.55 a barrel by 12:33 p.m. EDT (1633 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 66 cents, or 1.0%, to $66.92. Even if the U.S. and Russia work out a ceasefire in Ukraine, many analysts said they expect it will take a long while before Russian energy exports increase in a major way. “Russian fossil fuels might at some stage resurge in abundance without sanction shackles, but … (that) does not mean the energy largesse will be lifted,” analysts at oil broker PVM said in a note. Russia produced about 9.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in 2024, down from a recent high of 9.8 million bpd in 2022 and a record 10.6 million bpd in 2016, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data going back to 1997. In the Middle East, U.S. President Trump vowed to continue the U.S. assault on Yemen’s Houthis unless they end their attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Trump said he would hold Iran responsible for any attacks carried out by the Houthi group that it backs in Yemen. If the U.S. acts against Iran, or the Houthis act against other Arab producers, global oil supplies could decline. Iran, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), produced about 3.3 million bpd of crude in 2024, according to the U.S. EIA. Elsewhere in the Middle East, Israeli air strikes in Gaza killed over 400 people, Palestinian health authorities said, as attacks ended a weeks-long standoff over extending a ceasefire that halted fighting in January. In Nigeria, an OPEC member, a blast struck the Trans Niger oil pipeline, its owner confirmed on Tuesday. The pipeline can transport around 450,000 bpd from onshore fields to the Bonny export terminal. In Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, parliament approved plans for a massive spending surge, throwing off decades of fiscal conservatism in hopes of reviving economic growth. In China, the world’s second biggest economy, retail sales growth quickened in January-February in a welcome sign for policymakers’ efforts to boost domestic consumption even as joblessness rose and factory output eased, underscoring the strains on an economy facing fresh U.S. tariffs. In the U.S., the world’s biggest economy, U.S. single-family homebuilding rebounded sharply in February amid a thaw in winter weather, but rising construction costs from tariffs and labor shortages threaten the recovery. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned that U.S. tariffs would reduce economic growth in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and weigh on global energy demand. Analysts at energy data and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie projected Brent crude oil prices would average $73 per barrel in 2025, down $7 per barrel from 2024 due to U.S. tariff policies and OPEC+ plans to boost output. Earlier this month, OPEC+, which includes OPEC and allies like Russia and Kazakhstan, decided to proceed with a planned oil output increase in April.

The Market Weighed Instability Against Peace Talks to End the War in Ukraine - The oil market posted an outside trading day as the market weighed the instability in the Middle East against the U.S.-Russia peace talks seeking to end the war in Ukraine. The market rallied in overnight trading and breached its previous highs as it posted a high of $68.72. The market was well supported after President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to continue the U.S. assault on Yemen’s Houthis unless they end their attacks on ships in the Red Sea. President Trump said he would hold Iran responsible for any attacks carried out by the Houthi group. The market was further supported by the Israeli air strikes in Gaza that ended a weeks long standoff over extending a ceasefire that halted fighting in January. However, the market later gave up its sharp gains and breached its previous low as it sold off to a low of $66.73 in afternoon trading. The market traded lower as President Trump spoke with his Russian counterpart about a possible Ukraine ceasefire. The crude market later bounced off its low and retraced some of its losses ahead of the close amid reports that while the U.S and Russia agreed that the war between Russia and Ukraine needs to end with a “lasting peace” and further negotiations would begin immediately, Russia stopped short from agreeing to the broader 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine said it was ready to implement. The April WTI contract settled down 68 cents at $66.90 and the May Brent contract settled down 51 cents at $70.56. The product markets ended lower, with the heating oil market settling down 93 points at $2.1945 and the RB market settling down 1.28 cents at $2.1684. The White House said U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a call on Tuesday that the war between Russia and Ukraine needs to end with a “lasting peace” and talks to achieve that goal will begin immediately in the Middle East. The two leaders agreed to seek a limited 30-day ceasefire against energy and infrastructure targets in Ukraine. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin stopped short of accepting a broader U.S. backed 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine has said it is ready to accept. He emphasized that the “complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Ukraine is a condition for any permanent peace deal.Palestinian health authorities said Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza and killed more than 400 people on Tuesday, ending weeks of relative calm after talks to secure a permanent ceasefire stalled. Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas each accused the other of breaching the truce, which had broadly held since January. Hamas, which still holds 59 of the 250 or so hostages Israel says the group seized in its October 7, 2023 attack, accused Israel of jeopardizing efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting, but the group made no threat of retaliation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered strikes because Hamas had rejected proposals to secure a ceasefire extension during faltering talks. Egypt and Qatar, mediators in the ceasefire deal along with the U.S., condemned the Israeli assault. Meanwhile, U.N. Under-Secretary-General, Tom Fletcher, said the return to hostilities in Gaza must cease and humanitarian aid and commercial essentials be allowed to enter the embattled territory.

Oil ends lower after Russia agrees to cease-fire on Ukraine's energy infrastructure Oil futures finished with a loss on Tuesday as Russia's temporary cease-fire on Ukraine's energy infrastructure lifted the possibility that the U.S. will ease sanctions on the flow of crude from Moscow.Prices for oil gave up early gains on growing tensions in the Middle East following U.S. attacks on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen over the weekend that threatened to disrupt crude flow in the oil-rich region.

• -- West Texas Intermediate crude CL00 for April delivery CL.1 CLJ25 declined by 68 cents, or 1%, to settle at $66.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after ending Monday 0.6% higher.
• -- May Brent crude BRN00 BRNK25, the global benchmark, fell 51 cents, or 0.7%, at $70.56 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
• -- April gasoline RBJ25 shed 0.6% to $2.17 a gallon, while April heating oil HOJ25 lost 0.4% to $2.19 a gallon.
• -- Natural gas for April delivery NGJ25 settled at $4.05 per million British thermal units, up nearly 0.9%.

During a call with U.S. President Donald Trump Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a limited cease-fire against Ukraine's energy infrastructure.The White House said the two leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure cease-fire and that talks toward a "permanent peace" would start immediately."The rationale here is that any peace progress would increase the chances of removing sanctions on Russian oil shipments, increasing global supplies," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, in emailed comments before news of the call's outcome. Terry Haines of Pangaea Policy, meanwhile, said stopping attacks on energy and infrastructure is important largely because it "lessens the possibility of nuclear mistakes, real or not, and allows civilians to breathe easier, at least temporarily."Oil prices had traded higher early Tuesday on the back of "multiple geopolitical risk[s], including Israel launching a series of military strikes across Gaza, which broke their truce agreement, [and] Russia stating that they would only come to a cease-fire if arms were cut off to Ukraine," Alex Hodes, director of energy-market strategy for StoneX, said in a Tuesday newsletter. President Donald Trump has also pushed U.S. forces to target Houthi rebels, he noted.The U.S. over the weekend launched strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, raising the risk of disruptions to oil flow in the region. Trump on Monday said he would hold Iran responsible for any future attacks by the Houthis in Yemen, who have targeted shipping in the Red Sea."A potential escalation with Iran is precisely what could cause long-term disruption in the oil market," Samer Hasn, senior market analyst at XS.com, said in emailed commentary."As tensions between Iran and the United States escalate to the point of direct military conflict, two scenarios could emerge if a historic agreement is not reached - which remains highly unlikely - such as tightening strict restrictions on Iranian oil exports" or targeting nuclear energy facilities, he said. "If the situation spirals out of control and we face a direct military escalation against Iran, this could involve targeting oil facilities and supply lines, whether in Iran itself or the region."

Oil prices dip as Russia eases energy attack risks - Oil prices edged lower on Wednesday after Russia agreed to a U.S. proposal to halt attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, raising the possibility of increased Russian oil supply in global markets. Brent crude futures slipped 0.16% to $69.97 a barrel by 1130 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped 0.18% to $66.78. The decline followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to stop targeting Ukrainian energy facilities, though he did not commit to the full 30-day ceasefire sought by U.S. President Donald Trump. The agreement eases concerns over supply disruptions, but Russian oil exports remain constrained by sanctions. While the move signals a step toward market stability, immediate changes in global energy flows are unlikely. Meanwhile, fears of an economic slowdown pressured oil prices further. U.S. tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China have added to concerns about weaker global trade and energy demand. Investors are also focused on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting, where interest rates are expected to remain unchanged in the 4.25%-4.50% range. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East continue to add uncertainty. Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, which ended a brief ceasefire, and ongoing disruptions in the Red Sea have raised concerns about supply routes. Trump also reiterated U.S. military actions against Yemen’s Houthis and warned Iran against further involvement. In the U.S., crude stockpiles rose by 4.59 million barrels in the week ending March 14, while gasoline inventories fell by 1.71 million barrels and distillate stocks declined by 2.15 million barrels, according to industry data. The Energy Information Administration’s official report is due later in the day.

WTI Flat As Crude Stocks Keep Rising; Pump-Prices Tumble For 4th Straight Week - Oil futures are chopping sideways (after yesterday's tumble) with increased Middle East tensions countered by bearish factors like Putin's agreement not to attack Ukrainian energy facilities and OPEC+ plans to start raising output in less than two weeks time.The API report overnight was "mostly bearish, however being offset by draws in inventories at Cushing as well as gasoline and distillates," Dennis Kissler of BOK Financial says in a note. "Look for more of a choppy trade as Russian/Ukraine talks proceed."Will the official data back that up? API

• Crude +4.6mm
• Cushing -1.1mm
• Gasoline -1.7mm
• Distillates -2.1mm

DOE

• Crude +1.745mm
• Cushing -1.01mm
• Gasoline -527k
• Distillates -2.81mm

Crude inventories rose for the 7th week in the last 8but stocks at the critical Cushing Hub fell for the second week in a row. Products saw drawdowns for the 3rd week in a row...Graphs Source: Bloomberg. Total crude stocks are at their highest since July 2024... US Crude production remains near record highs... WTI is hovering around yesterday's lows after the big roller-coaster run... Finally, we note that US gas prices continued their downward trend for a fourth straight week, with prices currently hovering around $3 per gallon, according to gas price-tracking website GasBuddy.“The national average is now $3.02/gal, while diesel averages $3.56/gal,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a March 17 post on X. “The most common price for gas: $2.99. For diesel, $3.69/gal. 34 states see average #gasprices below $3.”Data from GasBuddy shows that the U.S. national monthlyprice of gas at the beginning of February and March was lower than last year’s prices, and also lower than the same time in 2023.In a March 17 statement on the situation, the White House said that President Donald Trump is “delivering needed economic relief.”“After years of soaring prices and economic pain, the Trump Administration’s focus on cutting regulations and unleashing American energy is leading to stability for Americans’ bottom lines,” it said.

Oil rises on US fuel demand, Fed rate decision caps gains (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed a draw in fuel inventories, but the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates steady capped gains. Brent crude futures settled up 22 cents, or 0.31%, to $70.78 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) closed 26 cents, or 0.39%, higher at $67.16. U.S. crude stocks rose by 1.7 million barrels last week to 437 million barrels, U.S. government data showed, exceeding the 512,000-barrel rise analysts had expected. However, distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 2.8 million barrels last week to 114.8 million barrels, far surpassing expectations for a 300,000-barrel drop. "The EIA showed a net draw including products, which is incrementally bullish," The Israeli military resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip, a day after local health workers said more than 400 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes that shattered a ceasefire. U.S. President Donald Trump this week vowed to continue his country's assault on Yemen's Houthis and said he would hold Iran responsible for any attacks carried out by the group that has disrupted shipping in the Red Sea. "Traders are being forced to refocus on Mideast geopolitical risks as Israel and the United States launch attacks on Gaza and Yemen, respectively," The Fed held rates steady at the 4.25%-4.50% range as expected, but policymakers signaled they still anticipate reducing borrowing costs by half a percentage point by the end of this year in the context of slowing economic growth and a downturn in inflation. U.S. tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China have raised fears of recession, and worries of slower energy demand weighed on oil prices. Investors also watched Ukraine ceasefire talks. Russia agreed to Trump's proposal that Moscow and Kyiv temporarily stop attacking each other's energy infrastructure, a move analysts say increases chances for peace and eventually for Russian oil to re-enter global markets. However, the prospect of a full ceasefire remained uncertain. Russia and Ukraine accused each other of violating a new agreement to refrain from attacks on energy targets, hours after it was agreed by Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. A prisoner swap went ahead. "Even if a deal is struck, it will likely take some time before Russian energy exports increase in a significant way, with the short-term impact being around diversion of flows in order to attract better pricing," Russia is among the world's top oil suppliers, but its output has waned during the war, which resulted in sanctions on Russian energy.

Markets: Oil prices gain as US inventories drop -- Oil prices edged higher on Thursday, supported by a sharper-than-expected decline in United States distillate inventories and renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.As of 2:35 pm AEDT (3:35 am GMT), Brent crude futures climbed $0.39, or 0.6%, to $71.17 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $0.27, or 0.4%, to $67.43 per barrel.The gains followed data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showing a significant drawdown in distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil. Stockpiles fell by 2.8 million barrels last week, far exceeding analysts’ expectations of a 100,000-barrel decline. However, U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.7 million barrels, surpassing the forecasted increase of 1.1 million barrels.Geopolitical risks also contributed to oil price gains, with tensions escalating in the Middle East. Israel launched a fresh ground offensive in Gaza on Wednesday, ending a ceasefire that had lasted nearly two months. Meanwhile, the U.S. conducted airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen in response to attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that Iran will be held accountable for any future Houthi actions.Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to a partial ceasefire in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on a call.

The Expiring April WTI Contract Traded Off the Board up 1.64% - The expiring April WTI contract on Thursday traded higher and went off the board up 1.64%. The market was well supported by the news that the U.S. issued new sanctions against Iran. The market also remained supported by the renewed tensions in the Middle East, with Israel launching a new ground operation on Wednesday in Gaza. The oil market traded higher in overnight trading but found some resistance amid the strength in the dollar after the Federal Reserve indicated it was in no rush to cut rates further this year due to uncertainties surrounding U.S. tariffs. The market posted a low of $66.88 by mid-morning. However, the market bounced off its low and rallied higher after the U.S. issued Iran-related sanctions, targeting entities including for the first time a Chinese teapot or independent refinery and vessels that supplied crude such processing plants. The market rallied to a high of $68.47 by mid-day and settled in a sideways trading range ahead of the April contract’s expiration at the close. The April WTI contract expired up $1.10 at $68.26, while the May WTI contract settled up $1.16 at $68.07 and the May Brent contract settled up $1.22 at $72.00. The product markets ended higher, with the heating oil market settling up 2.24 cents at $2.2543 and the RB market settling up 2.15 cents at $2.1911. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the next round of U.S.-Russia talks will take place on March 24^th in the Saudi capital Riyadh and at an expert level. Separately, Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukrainian experts would be present at upcoming talks involving the United States and Russia but will not be in the same room as Russia.OPEC+ issued a new schedule for seven member nations including Russia, Kazakhstan and Iraq to make further oil output cuts to compensate for producing above their agreed levels. The plan will represent monthly cuts of between 189,000 bpd and 435,000 bpd. The scheduled cuts last until June 2026.The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is considering a plan to extend Chevron’s license to pump oil in Venezuela. During a meeting on Wednesday with Chevron CEO Mike Wirth and other industry executives, President Trump expressed openness to reversing his administration’s recent order that gave the company until early April to end its Venezuela operation. According to the report, the Trump administration is also weighing a plan to impose tariffs or other financial penalties on countries that buy oil from Venezuela. These tariffs are intended to make it harder for China or other countries to establish a base in Venezuela and to fortify Chevron and keep oil flowing to the U.S. Data from the Environmental Protection Agency showed that the United States generated fewer renewable blending credits in February versus the prior month. It reported that about 1.12 billion ethanol (D6) blending credits were generated in February, compared with about 1.25 billion in January. Credits generated from biodiesel (D4) blending fell to about 376 million in February from 486 million in January.

Oil prices settle $1 higher after US issues new Iran-related sanctions (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday after the United States issued new Iran-related sanctions and renewed tensions in the Middle East countered strength in the dollar. Brent crude futures settled up $1.22, or 1.72%, at $72 a barrel. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) contract for April expired on Thursday, and settled up $1.10 or 1.64% at $68.26. The more actively traded WTI May contract settled up $1.16, or 1.73% at $68.07. The U.S. on Thursday issued Iran-related sanctions, targeting entities including for the first time a Chinese "teapot", or independent refinery, and vessels that supplied crude oil to such processing plants. China is the largest importer of Iranian oil. “Teapot” refiners are private Chinese refineries that are the primary purchasers of Iranian oil. Iran produces more than 3 million barrels per day of crude oil. "We were looking for some kind of catalyst to move and that was the ticket that pushed us back towards the high," Elsewhere, OPEC+ issued a new schedule for seven member nations including Russia, Kazakhstan and Iraq to make further oil output cuts to compensate for pumping above agreed levels. The plan will represent monthly cuts of between 189,000 barrels per day and 435,000 bpd, according to a table on OPEC's web site. The scheduled cuts last until June 2026. Meanwhile, U.S. crude inventories rose 1.7 million barrels, exceeding expectations for an increase of 512,000 barrels in an earlier Reuters poll. Putting a lid on crude prices was the dollar, which inched up after the Federal Reserve indicated on Wednesday it was in no rush to cut interest rates further this year due to uncertainties around U.S. tariffs. The U.S. dollar was up 0.5%, making crude more expensive for foreign buyers. The U.S. central bank left its key interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, a move widely anticipated by the market, but maintained its projection of two 25-basis-point rate cuts by the end of this year. Interest rate cuts typically boost economic activity and energy demand. Some analysts, however, are expecting an uneven oil price uptrend in the near term. "I am expecting a choppy upward drift in the oil markets right now," said Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst at OANDA, adding that stimulus measures by China and renewed hostilities between Israel and Hamas were bullish price drivers. Global risk premiums rose after Israel launched a new ground operation on Wednesday in Gaza after breaking a ceasefire of nearly two months. "Amid the prevailing uncertainty, the risk of sanctions is once again coming into focus, as the Trump administration adopts a tougher stance on Venezuela, Iran, and Russia," J.P. Morgan analysts said in a note on Thursday. The U.S. kept up airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation for the group's attacks on ships in the Red Sea. U.S. President Donald Trump has also vowed to hold Iran responsible for future Houthi attacks. Trump's push to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China has raised recession fears, weighing on oil prices. "Tariff concerns seem to be holding oil back a bit," J.P. Morgan said it expects Brent prices to recover into the mid-to-high $70s over the next couple of months, before dipping below $70 and ending the year in the mid-$60s, averaging around $73.

Oil Prices Slip After US Fed Rate Decision And Stronger Dollar --Crude oil prices fell on Friday as a stronger US dollar and the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates steady fuelled fresh concerns about the trajectory of the US economy and global oil demand. Brent crude dropped by 0.1%, trading at $71.76 per barrel, down from $71.83 at the previous session’s close. Similarly, the US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), slipped by 0.1% to $68.26 per barrel, compared to its prior session close of $68.33. The market downturn was compounded by lingering uncertainty over potential trade actions by former US President Donald Trump, including the imposition of new tariffs, which could dampen global oil demand. Crude prices faced additional pressure from a strengthening dollar, which gained 0.2% to open at 104 on the US dollar index after the Fed’s decision on Wednesday to maintain its benchmark interest rate at 4.25% to 4.50%. The Fed also raised its inflation and unemployment projections for 2025 while lowering its economic growth forecast. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged concerns about tariffs, noting that they could strain consumer spending and overall economic performance. Meanwhile, Trump urged the central bank to cut rates, criticising the decision to hold them steady. Despite the downward pressure, new US sanctions on Iran and OPEC+’s planned production cuts helped limit further losses by raising concerns about tighter supply. The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 19 entities and vessels linked to Iran’s oil exports, while the State Department sanctioned a Chinese oil terminal for purchasing and storing Iranian crude from a sanctioned vessel. Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, predicted a potential 1 million barrels per day decline in Iran’s oil exports due to these tighter restrictions. He noted that while rising OPEC+ output could counterbalance the decline, planned production cuts by OPEC+ members are likely to keep overall output stable in the coming months.

Oil Futures Fall Amid Weak Demand, Ample Supplies -- Oil futures fell Friday morning amid by ample supplies and global weak demand, despite the United States imposing a fourth round of sanctions on Iranian oil trade and a Chinese teapot refinery, which is expected to limit crude availability. The April NYMEX WTI futures contract fell by $0.35 to $67.72 bbl while the front-month ICE Brent futures contract dropped by $0.43 $71.57 bbl. April RBOB futures contract fell $0.0155 to $2.1756 gallon and April ULSD futures decreased by $0.0136 to $2.2407 gallon. The U.S. Dollar Index rose by 0.12% to 103.62 against a basket of foreign currencies. On Thursday, March 20, the U.S Department of State imposed sanctions on China-based Shandong Shouguang Luqing Petrochemical Co., Ltd., a teapot oil refinery, "for purchasing and refining hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Iranian crude oil." The sanctions also include 12 entities and one individual, as well as eight vessels shipping millions of barrels of Iranian oil to China. "These vessels--are part of Iran's "shadow fleet" of tankers that supply teapot refineries, including Luqing Petrochemical," the DOS stated. Meanwhile, Iran is expected to respond in the coming days to a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump seeking talks on Tehran's nuclear program, Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday, while ruling out direct negotiations under sanctions, China's Xinhua news agency reported. Stricter sanctions on Iranian, Russian and Venezuelan oil trade have been expected to limit supplies and put upward pressure on global oil futures. However, a combination of global weak demand, led by China, uncertainty on the trade tariffs and geopolitical events in the Middle East have maintained oil prices bearish. Abundant supplies of commercial crude oil reported by the Energy Information Administration and American Petroleum Institute this week also have offset gains seen in the oil futures market the prior trading day.

Oil prices rise for second consecutive week on expected tighter supply (Reuters) - Oil prices settled higher on Friday and recorded a second consecutive weekly gain as fresh U.S. sanctions on Iran and the latest output plan from the OPEC+ producer group raised expectations of tighter supply. Brent crude futures rose 16 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $72.16 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 21 cents, or 0.3%, to $68.28. On a weekly basis, Brent rose 2.1% and WTI about 1.6%, their biggest gains since the first week of the year. On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury announced new Iran-related sanctions, which for the first time targeted an independent Chinese refiner among other entities and vessels involved in supplying Iranian crude oil to China. That probably sent a message to the market that Chinese companies, the largest buyers of Iranian oil, are not immune to sanctions pressure from the U.S. It was Washington's fourth round of sanctions against Tehran since President Donald Trump in February promised "maximum pressure" and pledged to drive Iran's oil exports down to zero. The tightening U.S. sanctions regime will probably keep some market participants involved in shipping Iranian crude more cautious going forward. Analysts at ANZ Bank said they expect a 1 million barrels per day (bpd) reduction in Iranian crude oil exports because of tighter sanctions. Vessel tracking service Kpler estimated Iranian crude oil exports above 1.8 million bpd in February. Oil prices were also supported by the new OPEC+ plan for seven members to cut output further to compensate for producing more than agreed levels. The plan would represent monthly cuts of between 189,000 bpd and 435,000 bpd until June 2026. The plan likely caps the upside in OPEC+ production over the coming months, UBS's Staunovo said. OPEC+ this month confirmed that eight of its members would proceed with a monthly increase of 138,000 bpd from April, reversing some of the 5.85 million bpd of output cuts agreed in a series of steps since 2022 to support the market. Oil market participants will want more proof of Iraq, Kazakhstan and Russia complying with cuts announced on Thursday to gain more support from the plan. Kazakhstan's oil output has reached a record high in March on the back of oilfield expansion, further exceeding OPEC+ production quotas, two industry sources told Reuters.

Ukraine Hit Russian Refinery Supplying '50%' of Moscow's Fuel: Kyiv - Ukrainian drones struck a Russian oil refinery in Moscow that supplies the capital with about half its fuel, Kyiv's military said.The strike is part of an ongoing campaign by Ukraine to attack facilities on Russian soil that are "involved in ensuring armed aggression against Ukraine," Kyiv said. Oil hubs and refineries have boosted Russia's economy and supplied fuel to President Vladimir Putin's military since the conflict began on February 24, 2022.Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces worked with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and military intelligence (HUR), to conduct the drone strike on the Moscow Oil Refinery overnight on March 11, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said.The general staff said the Moscow Oil Refinery is capable of processing 11 million metric tons of oil per year and covers 40 to 50 percent of the capital's gasoline and diesel supplies.A few days later, on March 14, Ukrainian drones struck the Tuapse Oil Refinery in Russia's Krasnodar Krai, dealing a blow to President Vladimir Putin.It is one of the country's largest oil hubs with a processing capacity of 12 million tons of oil per year. The Rosneft-owned oil refinery, which is still reported to be burning today as a result of the strike, is of strategic importance for the Russian military, providing fuel to Putin's prized Black Sea Fleet.Ukraine's drone attacks on Russia have persisted as U.S. officials engage in talks with Moscow aimed at bringing an end to the war, which is now in its fourth year.Ukraine has agreed to support a Washington-backed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war.President Donald Trump has threatened to hit Russia with "large-scale sanctions" and tariffs if his Russian counterpart doesn't agree to a ceasefire and peace deal.Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Putin, said during an interview on state TV on Thursday that he was wary of the notion of a temporary ceasefire. He said he told Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser, that he considers it to be "nothing more than a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military, nothing more.""We believe that our goal is a long-term peaceful settlement; we strive for this, a peaceful settlement that takes into account the legitimate interests of our country, our well-known concerns," Ushakov said, according to Russian state-run news agency Interfax."It seems to me that no one needs any steps that imitate peaceful actions in this situation," Ushakov added, noting that he was giving his "personal position" on the matter, not Putin's.

Ukrainian Drones Set Fire to Russian Oil Depot Near Damaged CPC Station – A Ukrainian drone strike started a fire at a Russian oil depot connected to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pumping station damaged in an attack last month. The depot, located in the village of Kavkazskaya, halted all operations early Wednesday, according to a statement from the regional emergency service. The facility was used to send Russian crude to the Kropotkinskaya pumping station, part of the CPC export conduit, until the station halted operations in mid-February.

‘It No Longer Exists’: Massive Fire Wipes Out Oil Depot in Russia’s Krasnodar Region After Drone Attack – kyivpost - A massive fire has engulfed the Naftatrans oil depot in the village of Kavkazskaya in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai following a drone attack, eyewitnesses told Russian independent ASTRA Telegram channel.The fire broke out after a Ukrainian drone attack on Wednesday, March 19, according to the regional operational headquarters. Initial reports indicated that the fire covered about 20 square meters, damaging a pipeline between storage tanks.Authorities initially stated there were no casualties and that the facility’s fire suppression system had been activated. The fire was classified as a level 4 emergency.However, the situation has since escalated. Witnesses reported a third oil tank exploding on Friday, March 21, sending thick black smoke into the air. “The fire is out of control. The smoke is spreading to the city. We’ve shut our windows and doors and are waiting for instructions,” a resident told ASTRA.Authorities have advised people to stay indoors but have not ordered an evacuation. The nearest homes are about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the site.Firefighters are struggling to contain the blaze. “They can’t put it out. The base is completely on fire – it no longer exists. Everything will burn to the ground,” an eyewitness said on ASTRA. The Naftatrans depot, linked to a railway oil terminal and a pipeline in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium system, was believed to store up to 100,000 tons of petroleum products. Local reports indicate there are casualties among firefighters.

Russia says Ukrainian drone attack on oil depot already violates proposed ceasefire (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry said on Thursday that Ukraine had already violated a proposed ceasefire on energy sites in the three-year-old war by attacking a Russian oil depot. Russia's TASS news agency reported foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state television Channel One that it was up to the United States, which had proposed the ceasefire, to confront Ukraine over its actions. The Kremlin said this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed in a call with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to observe a 30-day ceasefire on energy targets. The accord fell short of a wider agreement that the U.S. had sought, and which was accepted by Ukraine, for a blanket 30-day truce. Firefighters in southern Russia were still battling a blaze at an oil depot triggered by a Ukrainian drone attack, regional authorities said on the Telegram messaging app. "We believe that the Kyiv regime has already broken the ceasefire proposed by the U.S. president," Zakharova said on television, according to TASS. "Now the question is - you will forgive me - how is Washington going to handle this terrorist scum gone mad? How are they going to put them in their place and get them on to something like the right track?" Ukrainian officials have also accused Russia of failing to align their actions with their pledges by launching attacks on civilian targets. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that Russian attacks on infrastructure, including hospitals and rail equipment, showed "Putin's words are very different from reality". In earlier comments, Zakharova had described the attack on the oil depot as a "provocation" and an attempt by Ukraine to disrupt peace initiatives. Authorities in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar said a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an oil depot near the village of Kavkazskaya. The depot is a rail terminal for Russian oil supplies to a pipeline linking Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. A statement issued by authorities in the Krasnodar region on Thursday evening said efforts were continuing to bring the blaze under control. The statement said 429 firefighters and 174 pieces of equipment had been drafted to tackle the fire covering 3,750 sq m (40,400 sq ft).

Second Blast Hits Russian Oil Depot Holding 100,000 Tons of Fuel – A second explosion rocked a Russian oil depot in the Kavkazsky district of Krasnodar, which has been on fire for two days following a drone attack. On Telegram, the Krasnodar Krai Operations Centre, a regional government body that coordinates crisis response and emergency management, said an explosion of oil products occurred "due to the depressurization of the burning tank" while firefighters were extinguishing a blaze that had been ongoing since a drone attack on March 19.The Naftatrans oil depot is part of critical infrastructure of southern Russia, and it makes up the Kavkazskaya station, which provides the transport of oil to the pipeline system of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium that ultimately gets shipped for export by sea.The blaze at the depot comes as the U.S., Russia and Ukraine work through the technical details of an agreement to halt attacks against energy infrastructure.On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone with U.S. President Donald Trump and said Kyiv was prepared to pause attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure as an initial step toward what he hoped would lead to a "lasting peace."On March 19, drones attacked the Naftatrans oil depot, which reportedly holds 100,000 tons of fuel across its five tanks.The pipeline between two tanks was damaged in the attack, and one of the tanks caught fire, according to Russian independent media outlet Astra.Work at the depot was suspended, and 30 workers on shift were evacuated, with no casualties, The Moscow Times reported, as the area of the fire spread to 10,000 square meters.Two days later, "while extinguishing the fire at the oil depot, an explosion of petroleum products and a release of burning oil occurred due to the rupture of a burning tank in the Kavkazsky district," the operations center said.Three pieces of equipment were damaged, and two firefighters were injured. Some 456 firefighters and 181 equipment units were involved in extinguishing the fire.Local authorities have closed the road to Krasnodar, and nearby residents have been advised to stay indoors and keep their windows closed.

Ceasefire in Doubt as Syrian Troops Occupy Lebanon Border Village, Burn Homes -Yesterday’s clash at the border between the Lebanese Army and the Syrian Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government’s forces seemingly ended with a ceasefire overnight. Eight Syrian soldiers were killed in the Monday fighting, along with five (some unconfirmed reports say seven) on the Lebanese side. A Lebanese boy was also reported killed, and scores were wounded.The expectation was that the situation would be calming down somewhat, but it didn’t last. HTS fighters once again invaded Lebanon overnight, and by 2 AM they had gone five kilometers deep, occupying much of the Lebanese side of the border town of Hawsh al-Sayyid Ali.Neither HTS nor Syrian state media have indicated why they invaded again so soon after a ceasefire, which said that both defense ministers should consult before any moves along the border. Lebanon’s Army is sending a growing number of reinforcements to areas all throughout the border area, unsure of what is to come.On top of occupying the border town, the mayor of Hawsh al-Sayyid Ali reported that the troops occupied the public school in the area, and over 500 residents have been displaced, fleeing deeper into Lebanon from the invading forces.The HTS forces in the town are reportedly ransacking and burning homes as they go. Though Lebanese forces are deployed to that area, they have so far not gone into the town into the areas the HTS is already occupying.The fighting erupted yesterday when HTS forces on the outskirts of al-Qusayr, a major town near the border, started shelling al-Qasr. Over the weekend, al-Qasr was the site of the deaths of three HTS fighters, who were allegedly kidnapped and summarily executed. The HTS has blamed Hezbollah, though Hezbollah maintains they were not involved in anything going on.The fighting raged around al-Qasr for much of Monday, leading civilians to flee toward the bigger town of Hermel. The Lebanese Army forces in the area returned fire at the Syrian security forces attacking, and gunmen reportedly from Lebanese clans also participated in the fighting.The HTS has been conducting crackdowns among the Shi’ite and Alawite population living in the area along the Lebanon border since they took power in December. The area around al-Qusayr was targeted as a drug smuggling route, with allegations large amounts of Captagon had been smuggled over the border. HTS blamed that on Hezbollah as well.In reality, it seems much of the drug smuggling was being done by clans on both sides of the border, and the crackdowns very much rubbed them the wrong way. This led to some fighting in early February just across the border from al-Qasr, with the clans briefly kidnapping some HTS members. Syria briefly invaded Lebanon at the time.Though this new fighting is broadly over the same issue, official Syrian statements continue to push the narrative that they’re fighting Hezbollah, while in reality it seems it is primarily clans who have at most tangential relationships to them who are resisting HTS incursions into their territory on both sides of the border.

Israeli Armored Vehicles Sweep Into Syria’s Quneitra In Largest Incursion Yet - With growing focus on Israel’s resumption of hostilities against the Gaza Strip, the country has continued its military aggression elsewhere in the region as well. In Syria, there are more attacks, and an even bigger ground invasion.Israel first started invading southern Syria in December, after the Assad government was ousted. Tuesday evening saw the biggest ground force sent into Syrian territory yet in Quneitra Governorate, where roughly 50 armored vehicles from the Israeli Army led the charge into al-Adnaniyah, seizing the town and sweeping through the farmlands in the surrounding area.Locals reported the vehicles were sweeping the area for hours, and expressed concern that this which would end in their forcible displacement from their homes, as has happened in other villages in recently-occupied parts of southern Syria. Israeli tanks were also reported further south, in the area around al-Rafid. It is so far unclear what they are doing in the area, but Israeli troops reportedly took over an old military post in the vicinity, which may be related.Further north, Israel carried out multiple drone strikes against old artillery positioned in Khan Arnabeh. Israeli officials claimed the artillery, which apparently had been abandoned in the area some time ago, “posed a threat” to Israel. Monday evening, Israel also carried out airstrikes against the Daraa Governorate. The main target was the town of Izra, but some strikes were also reported on the outskirts of Daraa City itself. At least four civilians were killed in these strikes, and 18 others wounded. T^he strikes in Daraa too were presented in Israeli reports as targeting old Syrian military installations in the area, though indications are that they hit civilians neighborhoods in both instances.Though Israel’s focus in Syria is mostly on the south, where they’re actively seizing territory, they also were reported to have carried out two airstrikes in the Homs Govenrorate, further to the north. The attacks hit old army outposts outside the villages of Shinshar and Shamsin. It does not appear there were any casualties in those cases.

LIVE: Israel strikes Gaza, killing over 300 including many children --Israel’s surprise attack on Gaza shattered a period of relative calm during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and raised chances of a full return to fighting in a 17-month war that has caused widespread destruction across Gaza and killed more than 48,000 Palestinians. Here is what all sides are saying about the Israeli attacks.

• At least 326 people have been killed in wave of Israeli attacks across Gaza, Health Ministry says. The number is expected to rise as many remain under the rubble of bombarded buildings.
• Israel, which has enforced a total blockade of Gaza, issues new forced displacement orders for several areas.
• Hamas says Israel carried out a “treacherous” attack on besieged and defenceless civilians in order to overturn the Gaza ceasefire deal. Palestinian Islamic Jihad accuses Israel of “deliberately sabotaging” the ceasefire, which had been in place since January 19.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in talks to extend the ceasefire.
• Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 48,577 Palestinians have been confirmed dead and 112,041 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza. Gaza’s Government Media Office updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of Palestinians missing under the rubble are presumed dead. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks and more than 200 were taken captive.

UNICEF official describes a harrowing night of airstrikes -- A United Nations staffer in the Gaza Strip described a “very tough night” as Israel resumed heavy strikes across the territory after a nearly two-month ceasefire. Rosalia Bollen, a communications specialist with the U.N. children’s agency, said she woke up around 2 a.m. to “very loud explosions.” She said the UNICEF bass near the southern city of Rafah “was shaking very heavily.” When the strikes subsided, she heard “people yelling, people screaming and ambulances.” “The bombardments have continued throughout the night,” though at a lower intensity than the initial barrage, she said. “The whole night, there’s been just the constant buzzing of drones and planes flying over.” She said the strikes hit tents and structures housing displaced families. “We’re seeing, as of this morning, at least several dozen children killed,” she said.

Ben Gvir To Rejoin Israeli Government Following Massive Gaza Bombing - Itamar Ben Gvir and his Jewish Power party have agreed to rejoin the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the resumption of large-scale Israeli bombings on the besieged Gaza Strip and the mass slaughter of Palestinians.Ben Gvir resigned from his post as national security minister in response to the Gaza ceasefire deal.“We welcome the return of the State of Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to intense fighting,” Ben Gvir wrote on X. “As we said in recent months when we withdrew: Israel must return to fighting in Gaza: this is the right, moral, ethical and most justified step in order to destroy the terrorist organization Hamas and return our hostages.”According to Haaretz, the Israeli cabinet is set to approve Ben Gvir’s return to the government on Tuesday, and the Knesset is expected to approve it on Wednesday.Ben Gvir is one of the most extreme Israeli politicians and is an outspoken proponent of the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the establishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza. “I will be very happy to live in Gaza,” Ben Gvir said in an interview last year when discussing the potential of settling the territory.Israel’s massive bombing campaign in Gaza comes over two weeks after Israel imposed a total blockade on all goods entering the Gaza Strip. Ben Gvir welcomed the move and called for the Israeli military to bomb aid stockpiles inside the territory.“The government must also order the bombing of the aid stockpiles that have accumulated in Gaza in enormous quantities during and before the ceasefire, alongside a complete halt of electricity and water,” Ben Gvir said

Israel Lied About Murdered Children To Justify Murdering Children -Caitlin Johnstone -Israel resumed its genocidal campaign of annihilation in Gaza early Tuesday morning, killing hundreds in a matter of hours, including many children. As of this writing, the death toll from this assault is reportedly at least 413. Israel is not even pretending that Hamas violated the ceasefire agreement it signed on to in January, saying instead that the decision to resume the onslaught was made because Hamas had been rejecting a significantly altered new agreement put forward by the Trump administration which would have allowed Israel to postpone moving toward a lasting peace.“ This follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators,” reads a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Netanyahu said. Of course we all know Israel is not really acting against Hamas; Israel is acting against the entire population of the Gaza Strip. The plan to eliminate all Palestinians in Gaza has been openly confessed to by the president of the United States, who went as far as posting a freakishly disturbing AI-generated music video on social media about the future of Gaza after its US-backed ethnic cleansing. Israel is simply making the enclave as dangerous and uninhabitable as possible so that everyone who lives there will be forced to either leave or die. And this was all planned in advance. As soon as the Gaza ceasefire agreement was announced, the Netanyahu-aligned pundits in Israeli media were already saying they knew for a fact that the prime minister wasn’t going to allow the deal to move on to its second phase. After Netanyahu visited Washington and stayed for nearly a week, the Israeli outlet Haaretz reported that the prime minister was planning to sabotage the ceasefire deal upon his return. Now here we are, watching Netanyahu completely torch the ceasefire after weeks ofactively sabotaging it. Not only was this all planned in advance — it was also propagandized for in advance. Israel and the western political-media class spent days pushing the atrocity propaganda narrative that Hamas had murdered child hostages Kfir and Ariel Bibas in the early weeks of the Gaza onslaught — not just murdered them, but murdered them with their bare hands. To this day, Israel has presented the public with no evidence of any kind that the Bibas siblings were murdered by the bare hands of their captors, rather than by the same Israeli airstrikes that were killing women and children every day in the same area as common sense would suggest. Given Israel’s extensive history of lying about exactly this sort of thing, we can safely assume that the evidence was never presented because there isn’t any evidence.

Israel Makes Its Most Explicit Statement Of Genocidal Intent Yet -Caitlin Johnstone- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has published an explicit statement of genocidal intent toward the people of Gaza, threatening civilians in the enclave with collective punishment in the form of “total devastation” if they do not find a way to overthrow Hamas and free all Israeli hostages. Katz’s statement reads as follows:“Residents of Gaza, this is your final warning. The first Sinwar destroyed Gaza, and the second Sinwar will bring upon it total ruin. The Israeli Air Force’s attack against Hamas terrorists was only the first step. What follows will be far harsher, and you will bear the full cost.“Evacuation of the population from combat zones will soon resume. If all Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not kicked out of Gaza, Israel will act with force you have not known before.“Take the advice of the U.S. President: return the hostages and kick out Hamas, and new options will open up for you — including relocation to other parts of the world for those who choose. The alternative is destruction and total devastation.” When Katz says “Take the advice of the US president,” he is referring to a statement made by President Trump earlier this month which made essentially the same threat addressed “to the People of Gaza,” saying, “A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!”When I criticized the US president for these remarks which explicitly threaten Gaza’s civilians, I got a deluge of Trump supporters telling me he wasn’t reallytalking about “the people of Gaza” as he said, but was rather speaking only about the ones who are actively holding hostages. Katz’s statement makes it abundantly clear that they were wrong, and that those of us who called a spade a spade at the time were correct.The Israeli defense minister is simply following Trump’s position and reiterating what everyone who isn’t a blinkered partisan hack knew Trump was saying two weeks ago. He is doing this in exactly the same way Benjamin Netanyahu followed Trump’s position on ethnically cleansing Gaza last month by enthusiastically endorsing the plan Trump put forward to permanently remove all Palestinians from the enclave. Trump puts forward the plan, and Israeli officials put it into action.So you’ve got both the US and Israeli governments openly threatening the entire population of the Gaza strip with the war crime of collective punishment if they don’t somehow kick Hamas out of Gaza, and additionally announcing the intent to inflict “total devastation” upon that population if they do not.This is about as explicit an admission of genocidal intent as you can possibly come up with.In its genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, South African prosecutors compiled a mountain of evidence of Israeli officials announcing the intent to commit genocide in Gaza, such as Netanyahu describing Gaza’s population as “Amalek” in reference to a Bible story about a people who were completely annihilated on the orders of God, or former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant describing Palestinians in Gaza as “human animals” while declaring a “total siege” on the enclave.And Katz’s statement is probably the most clear and explicit admission yet. It’s hard to imagine a clearer declaration of genocidal intent than delivering a video statement addressed to a civilian population threatening them with “total devastation” if they don’t do as they’re told.We may be sure that these statements by Katz and Trump have been added to files held by those who hope to successfully prosecute these monsters for war crimes one day. We may also be sure that they will be recorded in what will eventually be seen as one of the darker chapters in our civilization’s history.

All Hell Breaks Loose In Turkey: Arrest Of Erdogan's Top Opponent Sends Lira Crashing To Record Low, Triggers Marketwide Trading Halt - You can take the banana out of the republic, but you can never take the banana republic out of Turkey. One day after we pointed out that Erdogan was resorting to ruthless authoritarian practices traditionally reserved for such EU nations as Romania, in which the Turkish dictator was preparing to block his top political challenger from competing against him... Erdogan has done just and early Wednesday morning, Erdogan stunned markets when he arrested the popular mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, 54, who is also the top contender for the presidency. The detention of Imamoglu came a day after Turkish authorities revoked his university diploma in a move that could bar him from challenging Erdogan in the next presidential election. He beat Erdogan’s handpicked candidate in last year’s Istanbul mayoral race and was set on Sunday to be named the presidential candidate for the Republican People’s Party, the main opposition group known as the CHP. The arrest ignited a historic selloff in the country's markets, sparking a market-wide trading halt after the Borsa Istanbul which plunged 8% amid a wholesale liquidation panic, and sent the lira crashing as much as 11% to record lows. It served as a stark reminder of the risks involved in investing in this particular Banana republic, where Erdogan’s 22-year rule has been punctuated by periods of political turmoil, recurrent market meltdowns and hyperinflation. To arrest the collapse, Bloomberg reported that state lenders sold around $8 billion in FX to support the lira after it tumbled to a record low. The nation’s stocks dropped so abruptly they triggered a trading halt while borrowing costs surged as investors dumped the government’s debt. Turkish assets posted the biggest losses worldwide: The lira weakened as much as 11% to trade past 40 mark against the US dollar before trimming losses to 5.5% at 38.8565 per dollar as of 12:45 p.m. in Istanbul after local central bank spent billions in dollars to halt the plunge. The intervention in the lira market was carried out through multiple lenders, the people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter. The central bank wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Increasing violence in Australian public schools- Educators and students in Australia’s public schools are experiencing a sharp rise in violence. Although media coverage often tends to sensationalise the most extreme incidents, longer-term data highlights a growing and alarming trend, reflecting deeper economic, social and political issues. Incidents have included students violently assaulting their peers, bullying, sexual harassment, school suspensions, and students and parents confronting and assaulting teachers and principals. In the country’s most populous state, for example, the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education recorded 1,517 assaults in schools in 2023, up from 843 in 2022. Incidents involving weapons increased from 241 in 2022 to 728 in 2023. In the same year, the police were called to schools almost 20,000 times, including for weapons-related incidents, 66 of which involved a knife, sword, scissors or screwdriver, while 7 involved a pistol or a shotgun. This has created unsafe and toxic school environments, negatively affecting the physical and emotional well-being of both students and educators. As a result, there has been a rise in students refusing to attend schools, school lockdowns and teachers leaving the profession further deepening the crisis in public education. The Australian Catholic University’s 2023 The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey reported that violence directed at school leaders and teachers has increased markedly. When the survey began in 2011, of the 2,005 principals interviewed, 760 reported threats of violence (37.9 percent) and 547 reported physical violence (27.3 percent). In 2023, with 2,307 principals interviewed, 1,243 experienced threats of violence (54 percent) and 1,112 experienced physical violence (48 percent). More than half of the school leaders interviewed indicated they often seriously consider leaving their jobs due to workplace violence and stress. A 2024 Monash University of Education study, Australian Teachers’ Perceptions of Safety, Violence and Limited Support in Their Workplaces reported similar results. The study, published in the Journal of School Violence, surveyed over 8,200 teachers in 2019 and 2022. The number of teachers feeling unsafe at work rose from 19 percent in 2019 to 24.5 percent in 2022. Primary sources of safety concerns included aggressive behaviours from students and parents, coupled with a perceived lack of support from school leadership and educational systems. A comment from a teacher quoted in the Monash study report provided an insight into the seriousness and complexity of some of the related issues confronted by educators: The classroom and a school are unpredictable places these days. I have had experiences of students walking into my classroom having slit their wrists, I have dealt with a student attempting to jump from the building, I have faced disclosures of rape and teen pregnancy. I have had to mitigate family violence, peer violence, and volatile parents. I have had to apologize to students and parents for managing my classroom. No one has ever asked after these events if I am ok or followed up with me. I’ve managed other staff breaking down or looking to me for support. Most of the reason I need [to] seek private therapy is because of work. I am not ok. This testimony underscores the often overwhelming mental and emotional strain placed on educators, who are forced to handle both academic responsibilities and serious challenges within their classrooms. As schools, particularly public schools, reflect the broader problems in society, working on the frontlines of the social crisis, teachers are left to manage difficult student crises and growing economic disadvantage, striving to create a safe and supportive learning environment—without the necessary training or resources. What the media covers up is the deeper systemic issues fuelling this development and the inadequate support in schools and society at large. A serious analysis of school violence must consider its roots in the broader social crisis under capitalism, involving intensifying social inequality, the impoverishment of entire communities, and the normalisation of violence.

Trump regime demands Australian universities end “anti-US” and “socialist” links -- Over the past fortnight, in line with the Trump administration’s fascistic “Make America Great Again” agenda, United States government agencies have sent Australian researchers working on joint projects with American colleagues a 36-point questionnaire, clearly threatening to cut off their funding.The five-page questionnaire, which appears to be a global notice, essentially demands that all research serve US military and strategic interests, as well as the Trump White House’s far-right offensive against government jobs, social services, science, public health, public education, environmental protection and “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) programs. To be completed and returned within 48 hours, the political interrogation features questions about any connections to socialist or communist parties, China or other designated US enemies, and “anti-American beliefs,” as well as “gender ideology.”Universities and researchers in Australia and internationally are being targeted as part of the Trump administration’s termination of billions of dollars of research grants both in the US and globally, which has already triggered protests from thousands of scientists, educators and students across the US. In Australia, this missive imperils hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding and thousands of jobs. This is intensifying the pressure on the country’s public universities, which are already axing more than 2,000 jobs as a direct result of the Albanese Labor government’s reactionary cuts to international student enrolments and continued chronic under-funding of universities.The questionnaire combines the Trump administration’s drive to suppress left-wing opposition to its anti-immigrant offensive and Elon Musk-led domestic war on working-class services, jobs and conditions, with its global war plans, particularly directed against China. One question asks: “Can you confirm that your organisation does not work with entities associated with communist, socialist or totalitarian parties, or any party that espouses anti-American beliefs.” Another demands: “Can you confirm that your organisation has not received ANY funding from PRC [People’s Republic of China] (including Confucius Institutes and/or partnered with Chinese state and non-state actors), Russia, Cuba or Iran.” Question 6 asks whether the university prohibits collaboration, funding or support for policies that are “contrary to US government interests, national security, and sovereignty.” Other questions demand that projects must help in ending “illegal immigration” or “strengthening US border security.” Further questions include: “Can you confirm this is not a climate or ‘environmental justice’ project or include such elements?” “What impact does this project have in increasing American influence, trust and reputation within foreign governments?” and “Does this project directly impact efforts to strengthen US supply chains or secure rare earth minerals?”Questions insist that research projects must “strengthen patriotic values” and “reinforce US sovereignty by limiting reliance on international organizations or global governance structures (e.g., UN, WHO).” The questionnaires were dispatched by various US federal agencies, enforcing an executive memo from the office of the president requiring researchers to identify all funding was consistent with “policies and requirements.”Australian universities have already had research grants suspended or terminated by the Trump administration. According to the “Group of Eight” (Go8) elite universities, their researchers were notified shortly after the US election that projects spanning a range of topics, from agriculture to foreign aid and diversity and equity, had been cancelled under US higher education cuts, pending a review.Several research-intensive universities also have received show-cause notifications to justify funding, seeking a response within 24 hours. For decades, the US has been by far the largest international research partner for Australian universities, including about 80 percent of all current collaborations at Go8 universities. About $515 million in funding for research at Go8 universities in 2024 came from the US, much of which went to military and medical science projects.That highlights how far the universities are already integrated into US military and weapons research. This includes expanding ties with military conglomerates, such as the Lockheed Martin research centre at the University of Melbourne.The US offensive has provoked alarm and outrage among university staff, many of whom face potential unemployment, as well as a wholesale assault on research and free speech. In response, the Albanese government has nevertheless avoided any criticism of the Trump White House, instead pleading for the continuation of the partnership with US institutions.A spokesperson for Education Minister Jason Clare said Australia was “engaging with the US government to understand what these measures mean for future funding and collaboration,” adding: “Australia and United States research institutions have a long history of cooperation that has helped develop new technologies and solutions to global challenge.”University managements have scurried to underscore their commitment to the US strategic alliance, complaining that it could be damaged by Washington’s measures. Go8 chief executive Vicki Thomson stated:“Go8 universities are deeply engaged in collaborative activities with the US, especially through our defence initiatives and the AUKUS alliance… For every one of our members, the US is the largest research partner by far.”The AUKUS pact involves spending hundreds of billions of dollars on long-range nuclear-powered submarines, other weaponry and upgraded Australian military bases for use in a war against China, and ensuring that all research is subordinated to that effort. The reaction of the main campus trade union, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), displayed a similar pitch to that of the university managements while striking a nationalist stance against “blatant foreign interference.” NTEU national president Alison Barnes urged the Labor government to “push back” and “guarantee Australian researchers would be protected.” Barnes stated: “Donald Trump’s hateful agenda is racist, transphobic and misogynistic. The idea of research funding being tied to any of those values is sickening.” But her media statement was completely silent on the Trump administration’s demand for an unconditional alignment behind US militarism.