US

Vance says talks failed to reach deal with Iran on ending Mideast war

BY AFP TEAMS IN ISLAMABAD, TEHRAN AND WASHINGTON

  • Iranian demands for any agreement to end the war include unfreezing sanctioned Iranian assets and ending Israel's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Vance has said would not be up for discussion in Islamabad.
  • Iran and the United States failed to reach an agreement to end the war in the Middle East, US Vice President JD Vance said Sunday after marathon talks in Islamabad, adding that he was leaving after giving Tehran the "final and best offer".
  • Iranian demands for any agreement to end the war include unfreezing sanctioned Iranian assets and ending Israel's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Vance has said would not be up for discussion in Islamabad.
Iran and the United States failed to reach an agreement to end the war in the Middle East, US Vice President JD Vance said Sunday after marathon talks in Islamabad, adding that he was leaving after giving Tehran the "final and best offer".
Vance said Washington was seeking a "fundamental commitment" from Iran that it would not develop a nuclear weapon, but that "we haven't seen that" after holding the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
However, he signalled that he was still giving Iran time to consider the offer from the United States, which on Tuesday said it would pause attacks with Israel for two weeks pending negotiations. 
Pakistan, which hosted the talks and whose leadership had ushered the rival sides to the table, said it would keep facilitating dialogue and urged both countries to continue respecting the temporary truce.
Iran's state broadcaster IRIB said negotiations stalled over "unreasonable demands of the American side", though the country's foreign ministry spokesman later noted that "no one" could have expected that after 40 days of war, they would reach an agreement within one session.
The United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, sparking retaliation from Tehran that has plunged the Middle East into conflict and the global economy into tumult. 
Iran and the US had entered the talks mediated by Pakistan with maximalist positions, with Washington piling pressure by saying it had sent minesweeping ships through the vital Strait of Hormuz maritime route.
Signs of strain in the negotiations appeared when Iranian media accused the United States of making "excessive demands" over the strait, through which one-fifth of the world's oil transited before its effective closure by Iran during the war.
US President Donald Trump had also insisted several hours into the talks on Saturday that the United States had already triumphed on the battlefield by killing Iranian leaders and destroying key military infrastructure.
"Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me. The reason is because we've won," Trump said.
After 21 hours of talks in the Pakistani capital, Vance told reporters that no deal could yet be struck.
"We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We'll see if the Iranians accept it," Vance said, before departing for a nearby airport and flying out of Pakistan.

Leverage

Suggesting efforts to keep the sides talking would continue, Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his government would "continue to play its role to facilitate engagement and dialogue between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America in the days to come".
"It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire," he added. 
The high-stakes meeting had unfolded in Islamabad with intense mistrust by both sides. 
Iran was in the middle of negotiations on its nuclear programme in February with Trump's real-estate friend Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner when the United States and Israel launched their attack. The first salvos of the war killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Both Kushner and Witkoff were part of Vance's team in Pakistan. The 70-strong Iranian delegation was led by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the powerful speaker of parliament, and included Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Iranian demands for any agreement to end the war include unfreezing sanctioned Iranian assets and ending Israel's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Vance has said would not be up for discussion in Islamabad.
The opening of the Strait of Hormuz has also presented a key friction point.
Iran throughout the war exercised its global economic leverage by asserting control of the important maritime route, sending oil prices soaring and piling political pressure on Trump as Americans complained of rising costs at the pump.
The US military said Saturday that two Navy warships transited through the strait to begin clearing it of mines and ensure it is a "safe pathway" for tankers.
The Iranian military denied that any American warships had entered the waterway and threatened to respond if they do so.
The Revolutionary Guards' Naval Command said Iranian promises of safe passage during a two-week ceasefire applied only to "civilian vessels under specific conditions".
The United States is heavily impacted by soaring oil prices on global markets but imports less directly from the Gulf than many of its European allies -- which Trump has berated for not joining a war that they were not consulted about beforehand.
"We'll open up the strait even though we don't use it, because we have a lot of other countries in the world that do use it that are either afraid or weak or cheap," Trump said.

Lebanon violence

Ghalibaf, speaking shortly after landing in Pakistan, made clear that Iran remained highly suspicious of the United States.
"Our experience in negotiating with the Americans has always been met with failure and broken promises," Ghalibaf said.
Vance said before leaving for Pakistan that if Iran was willing, the United States would "negotiate in good faith" but would not be receptive "if they're going to try to play us".
A major complicating factor has been Israel's assertion that the ceasefire does not affect Lebanon, where the Israeli military has launched massive strikes and a ground invasion in response to fire from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shia Muslim movement. 
Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes on the country's south on Saturday killed 18 people, bringing the death toll from Israel's operations since the war broke out past 2,000.
Israel and Lebanon will hold their own talks next week in Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that he wanted a peace deal with Lebanon that "will last for generations".
But Israel has ruled out a ceasefire with Hezbollah, signalling it will instead seek to pressure the historically weak central government in Beirut.
burs/hmn/ceg/axn

training

'Stop hiring humans'? Silicon Valley confronts AI job panic

BY BENJAMIN LEGENDRE

  • In his view, coding is not an obsolete skill -- AI has simply made it available to more people.
  • AI industry insiders want workers to code smarter, think harder and lean into their humanity -- but still dodge the question of how many jobs artificial intelligence will destroy.
  • In his view, coding is not an obsolete skill -- AI has simply made it available to more people.
AI industry insiders want workers to code smarter, think harder and lean into their humanity -- but still dodge the question of how many jobs artificial intelligence will destroy.
The reassurance rang out across HumanX, a four-day conference drawing some 6,500 investors, entrepreneurs and tech executives, even as a blunt advertisement at the entrance set the tone: "Stop hiring humans."
On the main stage, May Habib, chief executive of an AI platform called Writer, told the audience that Fortune 500 bosses are having a "collective panic attack" on the subject.
The anxiety is well-founded. More and more companies are directly citing AI in announcing job cuts.
High-profile examples are on the rise: Salesforce laid off 4,000 customer support workers, saying AI now handles 50 percent of its work.
Block chief Jack Dorsey announced plans to cut the company's headcount nearly in half, citing "intelligence tools" that have fundamentally changed how companies operate.
Not all claims have gone uncontested -- some economists say firms are pointing to AI to rationalize layoffs that are really about past overhiring or cost-cutting ahead of massive infrastructure investments.
OpenAI's Sam Altman has spoken of "AI-washing," and most speakers at the San Francisco event similarly dismissed the invocation of AI as a false pretext for job cuts -- even as they freely predicted disruption was just around the corner.
AI is going to "transform every single company, every single job, every single way that we do work," said Matt Garman, chief executive of cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services.

'Pretty unsettling'

The debate remains heated. Two years ago, Nvidia chief Jensen Huang declared that the ultimate goal was to make it so "nobody has to program" or code.
"We will look back on that as some of the worst career advice ever given," Andrew Ng, founder of training platform DeepLearning.AI, shot back on Tuesday.
In his view, coding is not an obsolete skill -- AI has simply made it available to more people.
Another argument has taken hold in Silicon Valley: interpersonal skills will become more valuable than ever, with some voices going so far as to tout a humanities education as sound tech career preparation.
"As AI can do more of a job, the things that will distinguish and differentiate a given employee are going to be the human skills -- critical thinking, communication, teamwork," said Greg Hart, chief executive of training platform Coursera, which has seen enrollment in its critical thinking courses triple over the past year.
Florian Douetteau, chief executive of Dataiku, a French company specializing in enterprise AI, agreed. 
The real human added value, he told AFP, is the "capacity for judgment."
He described a world in which an AI agent works through the night, its human counterpart reviews the results in the morning, and then the agent resumes working autonomously during the lunch break.
But the entrepreneur nevertheless expressed unease. 
"We are going to have a generation of people who will never have written anything from start to finish in their entire lives," he said. "That's pretty unsettling."

'Mistake was not preparing'

All of this advice risks ringing hollow for a generation already struggling to land a first job.
AI has automated entry-level tasks that once served as on-the-job training. Hiring of candidates with less than one year of experience fell 50 percent between 2019 and 2024 among America's major tech companies, according to a study by investment fund SignalFire.
"We should be preparing for the loss of knowledge work jobs in a number of categories," warned former US vice president Al Gore.
As the week's lone genuinely dissenting voice, Gore called for a real action plan to map threatened jobs and prepare workers for career transitions, so as not to repeat the mistakes of the globalization era.
"The mistake was not globalization. The mistake was in not preparing for the consequences of globalization," he said, drawing a parallel with the deindustrialization that followed the offshoring wave of the 2000s.
"Maybe we don't want to talk about it," he added, "because it may slow down the enthusiasm for the technology."
bl/arp/pnb/sst

US

US says warships transit Strait of Hormuz in mine clearance op

  • Iranian state broadcaster IRIB later quoted the Revolutionary Guards' Navy Command as saying: "Any attempt by military vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz will be dealt with severely." 
  • Two US Navy warships transited the Strait of Hormuz to begin clearing Iranian-laid mines, US Central Command said Saturday -- a claim Tehran denied as the Revolutionary Guards threatened to deal "severely" with military vessels crossing the strategic waterway.
  • Iranian state broadcaster IRIB later quoted the Revolutionary Guards' Navy Command as saying: "Any attempt by military vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz will be dealt with severely." 
Two US Navy warships transited the Strait of Hormuz to begin clearing Iranian-laid mines, US Central Command said Saturday -- a claim Tehran denied as the Revolutionary Guards threatened to deal "severely" with military vessels crossing the strategic waterway.
The announcement of the first such transit since the US-Israeli war with Iran began came shortly after President Donald Trump said Washington had started "clearing out" the strait, through which a fifth of the world's crude oil passes.
"Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce," said CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper.
The USS Frank E. Peterson and the USS Michael Murphy are the guided-missile destroyers involved in the operation, but CENTCOM said that "additional US forces including underwater drones" could join the effort in coming days.
Iran "strongly rejected" Washington's claims that US vessels entered the strait, military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari told state TV.
"The initiative for the passage of any vessel lies with the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he was quoted as saying.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB later quoted the Revolutionary Guards' Navy Command as saying: "Any attempt by military vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz will be dealt with severely." 
It added that passage of the strait would only be "granted to civilian vessels under specific conditions."
Earlier Saturday, Trump said in a social media post that the United States was "starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz."
He called it "a favor" to countries such as China, Japan and France that "don't have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves."
Trump insisted that Iran is "LOSING BIG!" in the conflict, while acknowledging that Iranian mines in the strategic strait still pose a threat.
"The only thing they have going is the threat that a ship may 'bunk' into one of their sea mines," Trump wrote.
The key shipping lane off the coast of Iran has been virtually blocked by Tehran since the United States and Israel started bombing Iran on February 28, though reopening the strait was ostensibly a condition of the shaky ceasefire put in place earlier this week. 
Senior Iranian and American officials held face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan on Saturday in a bid to bring an end to a conflict that has plunged the Middle East into violence and sent shockwaves through the world economy.
In an earlier post, Trump said empty tankers were headed to the United States from around the world to purchase oil, without providing details.
rle-sst/ksb/ac/acb

Tesla

In Europe first, Netherlands to allow Teslas to self-drive

  • The move aligns the Netherlands with what is allowed in the United States, where Tesla owners can already use the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) (FSD Supervised) function in the cars.
  • In a first for Europe, the Netherlands is poised to allow Tesla owners to use their car's self-driving feature -- as long as they are in the vehicle and keeping a watchful eye over it.
  • The move aligns the Netherlands with what is allowed in the United States, where Tesla owners can already use the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) (FSD Supervised) function in the cars.
In a first for Europe, the Netherlands is poised to allow Tesla owners to use their car's self-driving feature -- as long as they are in the vehicle and keeping a watchful eye over it.
The country's RDW agency for roadworthiness certifications said in a statement late Friday: "Thanks to the type approval, the driver assistance system can now be used in the Netherlands, with possible future expansion to all member states of the European Union."
The move aligns the Netherlands with what is allowed in the United States, where Tesla owners can already use the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) (FSD Supervised) function in the cars.
That mode hands over driving to the Tesla's computer system, including steering, braking, route navigation and parking, all under the active supervision of the driver, who remains at the controls ready to take over if needed.
The European subsidiary of Tesla, the electric-vehicle company run by the world's richest person, Elon Musk, hailed the Netherlands' move.
"FSD Supervised has been approved in the Netherlands & will begin rolling out in the country shortly!" it said on X. 
"No other vehicle can do this. We're excited to bring FSD Supervised to more European countries soon."
The Dutch RDW agency stressed the difference between FSD Supervised, with a human remaining at the controls, and full autonomous driving.
"A vehicle with FSD Supervised is not self-driving. It is a driver assistance system, and the driver remains responsible and must always maintain control," it said.
RDW's decision has to go to the European Commission for authorisation, so that its national certification has EU weight. 
Tesla sales have been facing headwinds in Europe -- including in the Netherlands -- in the last couple of years. 
Potential clients have turned off by Musk's political activism supporting hard-right politics in the US and Germany, while the brand is also facing increased competition from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers.
fpo/yk/rmb/pdw

OpenAI

OpenAI CEO's California home hit by Molotov cocktail, man arrested

  • Police in San Francisco responded after reports that someone had tried to set fire to a gate at the sprawling home.
  • The luxury San Francisco home of OpenAI boss Sam Altman was hit by a Molotov cocktail on Friday, the company said, as police announced the arrest of a suspect.
  • Police in San Francisco responded after reports that someone had tried to set fire to a gate at the sprawling home.
The luxury San Francisco home of OpenAI boss Sam Altman was hit by a Molotov cocktail on Friday, the company said, as police announced the arrest of a suspect.
No one was injured in the incident, and the firm behind the popular ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot would not confirm if the CEO was home at the time.
The motive for the attack and subsequent threats to set fire to OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters -- apparently by the same 20-year-old man -- were not immediately known.
But they come as Altman's profile has risen with the increasing use of AI, amid fears it could massively disrupt employment patterns and cause irreversible societal changes.
Police in San Francisco responded after reports that someone had tried to set fire to a gate at the sprawling home.
A statement from the San Francisco Police Department said officers were dispatched to the home just after 4:00 am (1100 GMT).
"At the scene, officers learned that an unknown male subject threw an incendiary destructive device at a home, causing a fire to an exterior gate. The suspect then fled on foot," SFPD said.
A short time later they were called to the firm's offices where a man was making threats.
"When officers arrived on scene, they recognized the male to be the same suspect from the earlier incident and immediately detained him," the statement said of the unnamed 20-year-old suspect.
A spokesman for OpenAI confirmed the attack on the chief executive's residence and the threats to the San Francisco headquarters.
"The individual is in custody, and we're assisting law enforcement with their investigation," the spokesman told AFP.

AI for war

Altman and OpenAI have become targets for people protesting AI as a threat to society.
Detractors have been particularly troubled by OpenAI's decision to provide its technology to the US Department of Defense.
In a rare post on his personal blog, Altman shared a photo of his husband and their baby "in the hopes that it might dissuade the next person from throwing a Molotov cocktail at our house."
The OpenAI chief defended his convictions and called for a de-escalation of rhetoric surrounding.
"I empathize with anti-technology sentiments and clearly technology isn't always good for everyone," Altman wrote.
"But overall, I believe technological progress can make the future unbelievably good, for your family and mine."
OpenAI last month said it was valued at $852 billion after a funding round that raised $122 billion.
The figure reflects the surging costs of computing power and came amid lingering questions about whether OpenAI and rival companies can generate sufficient revenue to cover expenses.
ChatGPT claims the top position in consumer AI, with more than 900 million weekly active users and some 50 million subscribers.
Use of ChatGPT's online search engine has tripled over the course of a year, according to OpenAI.
hg-gc/acb

agriculture

Small US farm copes with fuel hikes from Mideast war

BY RAPHAëL HERMANO

  • Earlier this week, a gallon (3.8 liters) of diesel -- the fuel most used on the farm located in New City -- rose as high as $5.70 compared with $3.70 in February.
  • An hour's drive north of New York City, the greenhouses at Cropsey Farm are seeing their first leaves of kale, spinach and arugula emerge.
  • Earlier this week, a gallon (3.8 liters) of diesel -- the fuel most used on the farm located in New City -- rose as high as $5.70 compared with $3.70 in February.
An hour's drive north of New York City, the greenhouses at Cropsey Farm are seeing their first leaves of kale, spinach and arugula emerge. But the farmer who runs the outfit is obsessed with something else: the soaring price of fuel.
Every year, Sue Ferreri typically allows a 10 percent "buffer" for production budgeting, "but it's well above that now...We're looking at 20, 25 percent, and it's mainly due to the diesel cost," she told AFP.
Fuel prices have jumped after the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, which led to a blockage of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a key conduit of oil and fertilizer.
Earlier this week, a gallon (3.8 liters) of diesel -- the fuel most used on the farm located in New City -- rose as high as $5.70 compared with $3.70 in February.
It's essential to the entire operation here: irrigating young plants, spraying fertilizers and plowing the soil.
Shipping costs are up, too, Ferreri said, describing "insane" prices for the delivery of essential farm equipment. Recently when she wanted to order a $60 piece of equipment, the shipping cost was $200, she said.

 'Pricey'

Eight people grow flowers, vegetables and fruit using sustainable farming practices on the ten-hectare (25-acre) farm. Customers include restaurant owners as well as local residents who buy produce in a restored 18th-century barn.
Cropsey Farm was already hit by fuel prices hikes following the war in Ukraine and had begun adapting its methods even before the Middle East conflict broke out.
Now, that shift is accelerating.
"We've been switching more to smaller equipment just because it's more efficient on fuel and it can still do what we need it to do," said head mechanic Jonah Monahan. 
For example, an ATV and walk-behind tractor are now on the farm -- both far less energy-intensive than the typical tractor.
But, added Monahan, "for big jobs, we still need the main tractor, which gets pricey."
In one greenhouse, two women lifted tulip plants out of the ground and used a hand-drawn rolling cart to transport them to a refrigerated shed to await sale.
Everything is done to squeeze fuel costs.

'Relief'

Beyond the tool adaptations, Ferreri said the farm is also shifting to "regenerative" practices, such as plowing the soil less deeply and maximizing space by rotating crops or pairing plants. 
The rapid adjustments at Cropsey, typical of a small operation, have not yet reached larger farms, said Ben Brown, an agriculture researcher at the University of Missouri.
"At this point, most farms are left with taking the higher prices and figuring out how to make it work financially," Brown said. 
"However, if elevated prices were to continue, we would expect to see producers shift some acreage to lower energy dependent crops," he said.
Ferreri said the fragile ceasefire agreed between Washington and Tehran gave her some "relief."
"But as a farmer, you can't trust the weather," she said. "We have to just anticipate the worst, hope for the best, and that's kind of where we're at."
rh/pel/pno/bjt/mjf/acb

software

Mythos AI alarm bells: Fair warning or marketing hype?

BY GLENN CHAPMAN

  • Meyers saw embedding a tiny AI model directly into malicious code infecting networks as a natural tactic to be explored by hackers.
  • Anthropic postponing the release of its new AI model Claude Mythos, said to be so skilled at coding it could be a wicked weapon for hackers, has encountered a mix of alarm and skepticism.
  • Meyers saw embedding a tiny AI model directly into malicious code infecting networks as a natural tactic to be explored by hackers.
Anthropic postponing the release of its new AI model Claude Mythos, said to be so skilled at coding it could be a wicked weapon for hackers, has encountered a mix of alarm and skepticism.
The company is among several contenders in a fierce artificial intelligence race. Promoting the awe of Anthropic's own technology boosts business and enhances its allure in the event it soon goes public, as is rumored.
"The world has no choice but to take the cyber threat associated with Mythos seriously," said David Sacks, an entrepreneur and investor who heads President Donald Trump's council of advisors on technology.
"But it's hard to ignore that Anthropic has a history of scare tactics."
Mythos has sparked fears of hackers commanding armies of AI agents able to break through computer defenses with ease.
At this week's HumanX AI conference in San Francisco, Alex Stamos of startup Corridor, which addresses AI safety, acknowledged a real threat from agentic hackers.
And Stamos quipped about what he referred to as Anthropic's "marketing schtick."
"They have these adorable cutesy cartoons about these products that are so incredibly dangerous that they won't even let people use them," Stamos said of the San Francisco-based startup.
"It's like if the Manhattan Project announced the nuclear bomb within a cute little Calvin and Hobbes cartoon."
The heads of America's biggest banks met this week with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to weigh the security implications of the yet-to-be released Claude Mythos, according to reports Friday.
"Mythos model points to something far more consequential than another leap in artificial intelligence," Cato Networks co-founder and chief executive Shlomo Kramer said in a blog post.
"It signals a shift that could redefine the balance between attackers and defenders in cyberspace."
A tightly restricted preview of Mythos was shared with partner organizations this week, under an initiative called Project Glasswing. They include Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Cisco, CrowdStrike and JPMorgan Chase.
According to Anthropic and partners, Mythos can autonomously scan vast amounts of code to find and chain together previously unknown security vulnerabilities in all kinds of software, from operating systems to web browsers.
Crucially, they warn, this can be done at a speed and scale no human could match, meaning it could be used to bring down banks, hospitals or national infrastructure within hours.
"What once required elite specialists can now be performed by software agents," Shlomo said.
"The immediate consequences will be a surge in vulnerability discovery, a true tsunami" of exploiting known and unknown vulnerabilities.

'Agent-to Agent War'

At HumanX, the apparent consensus was that it makes sense that AI agents already adept at coding will excel at finding weaknesses in software.
"We're not in an era where human beings can write code when we have superhuman (AI models) that are then going to find bugs in it," Stamos contended.
"It's just not possible."
He predicted the coming dynamic will involve humans supervising AI agents to protect networks against hackers using that same technology to attack.
Stamos referred to it as "agent-to-agent war," with humans on the sidelines giving advice.
Wendy Whitmore, of cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks, expects "some sort of catastrophic attack" this year connected to AI agent capabilities.
"The thing that keeps me up at night is that we're staring down the barrel of a massive influx of new vulnerabilities that are going to be found by AI," said Adam Meyers of CrowdStrike.
Meyers saw embedding a tiny AI model directly into malicious code infecting networks as a natural tactic to be explored by hackers.
"The ultimate weapon would be malware that has no pre-programming," Meyers said.
"It can do whatever you ask it to."
gc-bl/mlm

inflation

US inflation surges to 3.3% as Iran war impact bites

BY MYRIAM LEMETAYER

  • But experts predicted more economic pain ahead due to the war in Iran, especially for middle and lower-income households already squeezed by rising energy and airfare prices.
  • Inflation in the United States rose sharply in March, government data showed Friday, as higher energy prices due to the war in the Middle East hit Americans hard.
  • But experts predicted more economic pain ahead due to the war in Iran, especially for middle and lower-income households already squeezed by rising energy and airfare prices.
Inflation in the United States rose sharply in March, government data showed Friday, as higher energy prices due to the war in the Middle East hit Americans hard.
The nationwide sticker shock put pressure on President Donald Trump, who has ordered peace talks with Iran and faces mid-term elections in November.
The rate of inflation rose to 3.3 percent year-on-year in March, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). By comparison, this same consumer price index (CPI) was 2.4 percent year-on-year a month earlier.
Gasoline prices surged by 21.2 percent between February and March -- the largest monthly increase since the government began publishing a related index in 1967, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said.
Markets had anticipated the surge, according to the consensus published by MarketWatch.
The United States and Israel began bombing Iran on February 28 and Tehran retaliated by blocking traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway used to carry a fifth of the world's oil and gas deliveries.
Despite being the world's top producer of crude oil, the United States also felt the pain, as prices at the gas pump shot up. 
A gallon (3.78 liters) of regular gasoline currently costs an average of $4.15 in the United States, compared to approximately $3 just before the war.
The Trump administration -- elected in part on a promise to quash inflation -- maintains that the war's economic disruptions will be temporary.

More price pain ahead

Reacting to the data, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said the US economy "remains on a solid trajectory." 
Economic advisor Kevin Hassett claimed some wins for the White House, citing drops in the price of eggs, beef and concert tickets on Fox News.
US Vice President JD Vance said he hoped for a "positive" outcome as he departed Washington for US-Iran peace talks in Pakistan this weekend.
But experts predicted more economic pain ahead due to the war in Iran, especially for middle and lower-income households already squeezed by rising energy and airfare prices.
Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said that inflation soared in March to the highest level in almost two years.
"This is only the beginning. Food prices, travel and shipping costs are all going up in April and will exacerbate the pain," she said.
"March CPI was as expected, so no surprises. But there is a huge increase in fuel prices, boosting inflation," Christopher Low of FHN Financial told AFP.
"And we got the news last night that the ceasefire is not being honored by either side, apparently," he said. "There's still very little traffic through the Strait of Hormuz."
Some economists calculate the oil price surge will cost each US household at least $350 per household.
Consumer sentiment also dipped sharply -- 11 percent -- this month, according to a University of Michigan survey.
During the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting in mid-March, Chairman Jerome Powell said that the war risked delaying efforts to bring inflation under control in the United States. 
The US central bank's target for inflation is two percent -- an objective it has not met in five years due to the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and tariffs.
myl-ksb/bgs

Global Edition

Stocks up, oil down over week on guarded optimism for Iran

  • Inflation in the United States rose sharply in March, government data showed Friday, as higher energy prices due to the war hit Americans hard.
  • Wall Street stocks rose sharply over the week and oil prices fell as a fragile truce was struck between the United States and Iran, with ceasefire talks due to start in Islamabad on Saturday.
  • Inflation in the United States rose sharply in March, government data showed Friday, as higher energy prices due to the war hit Americans hard.
Wall Street stocks rose sharply over the week and oil prices fell as a fragile truce was struck between the United States and Iran, with ceasefire talks due to start in Islamabad on Saturday.
For the week, all three major US indices advanced by more than three percent. Oil prices retreated once again on Friday. For the week, they tumbled by approximately 13 percent.
The New York Stock Exchange closed mixed for the day Friday -- the Dow Jones shed 0.6 percent, the Nasdaq gained 0.4 percent, and the broader S&P 500 index was flat, slipping 0.1 percent.
"Markets are trading on a cautious tone ahead of the US-Iran ceasefire talks," Elias Haddad of Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) said in a note.
"For financial markets, the key issue is whether peak shipping security fear is now behind us."
Official sources say the talks in Islamabad will cover Iran's nuclear enrichment and the free flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
Since the ceasefire took effect, US President Donald Trump has voiced displeasure at Iran's handling of the strategic strait, which was meant to be reopened.
"The key issue for the oil market is whether ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will resume," Carsten Fritsch of Commerzbank said in a note. "So far, there are no signs of this happening."
Inflation in the United States rose sharply in March, government data showed Friday, as higher energy prices due to the war hit Americans hard. Prices rose 3.3 percent from a year earlier.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai responded by saying the US economy "remains on a solid trajectory." 
In Europe, London and Frankfurt closed virtually flat as Paris added 0.2 percent. 

Key figures at around 2015 GMT

New York - Dow Jones: DOWN 0.6 percent at 47,916.57 (close)
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.1 percent at 6,816.89 (close)
New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 22,902.90 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 10,603.48 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,245.80 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 1.1 percent at 23,806.99 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.7 percent at 55,895.32 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.5 percent at 25,752.40 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent at 3,966.17 (close)
burs-bgs/acb

music

Celine Dion's Paris concerts promise to spin the money on and on

BY KATELL PRIGENT

  • "Celine Dion's presence in Paris for a month and a half should definitely benefit business on Boulevard Haussmann," he said, referring to the high-end street that is home to Galeries Lafayette's flagship store.
  • Celine Dion's fans are not the only ones excited about the megastar's new tour in Paris.
  • "Celine Dion's presence in Paris for a month and a half should definitely benefit business on Boulevard Haussmann," he said, referring to the high-end street that is home to Galeries Lafayette's flagship store.
Celine Dion's fans are not the only ones excited about the megastar's new tour in Paris. Hotels, restaurants and shops are hoping for a multimillion-euro boost from concertgoers in the French capital.
The 58-year-old Canadian singer announced last month that she was returning to the stage for 16 concerts in the French capital in September and October, after a lengthy break prompted by a rare health condition.
She could prove the latest in a series of stars to bring with them significant economic uplift from music fans, following Taylor Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour and as the South Korean mega-group BTS embarks on its tour.
The Eiffel Tower was lit up to honour the return of Dion -- who sings both in French and English -- and with the city covered in billboards and posters, Parisian businesses are hoping the tour will prove a major money spinner.
Dion's tour could bring an additional 300-500 million euros ($351-$585 million) into the city, said Alexandra Dublanche, president of Choose Paris Region, the organisation that promotes the wider Paris area.
This includes ticket sales, hotel and restaurant bookings, retail spending and more, she told AFP, adding that international visitors tend to spend more than domestic travellers.
When Swift held four concerts in Paris in 2024, the city saw an economic boost of around 150-180 million euros, Dublanche said.
Dion has said she was diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disorder, and was forced to cancel her last tour dates due to both the Covid pandemic and ill health.
The latest tickets for Dion's shows went on sale on Friday, with an estimated half a million fans to attend the concerts, a third from overseas, according to Dublanche.
Others have put the figure higher. MKG Consulting estimated the potential economic impact at more than one billion euros, including a 180-million-euro boost for the Parisian hotel industry.
MKG analyst Vanguelis Panayotis said the economic benefits could reach 1.2 billion euros if taking into account transportation, and all the associated expenses and logistics of Dion's support team as well as fans.

'Driver of travel'

Swift's Eras tour became the highest-grossing musical tour in history, with ticket revenues estimated at more than $2.0 billion and hundreds of millions of dollars in extra economic activity in cities where she performed.
"Major musical events are a driver of travel," said Vanessa Heydorff, managing director for France at Booking.com.
The hotel reservation site said that searches for Paris around the dates of Dion's concerts increased by 49 percent.
The Adagio chain, which has 10 hotels in the city's La Defense district where the concerts will be held, saw a 400-percent increase in bookings.
"This will be good for Paris because the capital is currently experiencing a drop in hotel occupancy rates" due to the unstable international situation, said Didier Arino, chief executive at the consulting firm Protourisme.
Arthur Lemoine, CEO of the high-end Galeries Lafayette department stores, said they saw a boost in shoppers during Swift's concerts, not only during the days when she was performing in Paris but also around the timing of gigs in the city of Lyon.
"Celine Dion's presence in Paris for a month and a half should definitely benefit business on Boulevard Haussmann," he said, referring to the high-end street that is home to Galeries Lafayette's flagship store.
After South Korea's BTS announced two forthcoming concert dates in Paris, searches for hotels in the French capital soared by 590 percent, according to the Hotels.com website.
"This phenomenon is part of a broader trend called 'gig-tripping', where the concert becomes the starting point but not the sole reason for booking a trip," said Heydorff.
The challenge was to keep the visiting fans within the region in the days before and after the concert, he added.
For Panayotis, at MKG, "Events that draw fans -- whether a singer, an artist or a football team -- are becoming an extremely powerful indicator of tourism spending, something we're seeing everywhere."
"There's a real strategic advantage (for cities) in attracting events of this kind because they generate extremely strong economic benefits," he said.
kap/rox/ah/gil

US

War's impact on fertilisers stirs food producer fears

BY CATHERINE HOURS

  • - Price breaks - Even if production and shipping resumes in the Gulf, prices for nitrogen fertilisers will fall slowly and unevenly, warned Torero.
  • Even as Gulf tanker traffic slowly resumes, the road back to normal food production will be long and arduous, given the war's impact on fertiliser supplies, the UN has warned.
  • - Price breaks - Even if production and shipping resumes in the Gulf, prices for nitrogen fertilisers will fall slowly and unevenly, warned Torero.
Even as Gulf tanker traffic slowly resumes, the road back to normal food production will be long and arduous, given the war's impact on fertiliser supplies, the UN has warned.
With factories shuttered and soaring gas prices driving up production costs around the world, fertiliser prices have risen across the board and are unlikely to fall back easily.
"If the Strait of Hormuz reopened immediately, i.e. not only a ceasefire but vessels moving, the impact would be significantly positive -- but incomplete and uneven," the Food and Agriculture Organization's chief economist Maximo Torero told AFP.
"The FAO is clear that damage has already been done." 
According to Argus Media, the price of urea from the Middle East has, for example, risen by 70 percent in a matter of weeks.
Gulf countries are major exporters of nitrogen fertilisers like urea -- which provides plants with nitrogen to aid green leafy growth -- as well as ammonia and phosphate.
Italy notably called last week for a "humanitarian corridor" in the Strait of Hormuz for fertiliser as Torero warned that if high prices continue, farmers would face a stark choice: "Farm the same with fewer inputs, plant less, or switch to less intensive fertiliser crops," which would reduce food supply well into 2027.

Lasting blow to supplies

Torero warned the bottleneck in marine traffic since the conflict began on February 28 meant even if Hormuz were to reopen immediately "infrastructure damage is not fully reversible in the short term."
According to Kpler data, around 1.9 million tonnes of fertiliser are trapped on 41 vessels, equal to 12 percent of all produce shipped out of the strait in 2024.
On March 2, the ammonia plant at the Ras Laffan refinery in Qatar was attacked. Plants have also suspended or reduced production in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan and Qatar, whose Qafco complex accounted for 14 percent of global trade in urea. 
Overall, about one third of urea trade has been choked off, says the FAO.
In India and Bangladesh, nitrogen fertiliser plants have slowed down, unable to cope with the soaring cost of the gas required to operate.

Price breaks

Even if production and shipping resumes in the Gulf, prices for nitrogen fertilisers will fall slowly and unevenly, warned Torero.
"Unlike oil, the fertiliser sector does not have internationally coordinated strategic reserves, making supply disruptions more difficult to manage.
"Repair timelines are measured in months, not days."
Purchasers have also been hit by the fact that many pre-war contracts governing prices have been suspended as producers cite "force majeure," forcing reliance on higher spot market prices.
The FAO forecasts global fertiliser prices could average 15–20 percent higher in the first half 2026.
"A meaningful decline would likely take four to eight weeks after reopening, as production ramps up and shipping reschedules," says Torero. "Prices are unlikely to return to February 2026 levels before the third quarter of 2026, if at all this year."

Too late for some

He added many crop planting decisions have already been missed with the Northern Hemisphere already in planting seasons, meaning those yields will not be recovered.
"It's too late" in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Turkey, and Jordan, all heavily reliant on Gulf fertilizers. But perhaps not for second harvests in Asia if fertilizers arrive within 4 to 6 weeks."
He explained that "the time between a fertiliser shock and a harvest failure is measured in months. The time between a harvest failure and a food price surge is measured in months more. We are already inside that window."

"Ripple effect"

Prices spiked following previous disruptions during the financial crisis of 2008 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
"I think what makes this one potentially more critical is the number of production hubs that are involved and countries that are involved," says Sarah Marlow, global editor for fertiliser at Argus Media.
"And then the ripple effect has spread out from the Gulf to other countries, which have also been affected by a lack of raw materials, a lack of gas."
cho/sb/cw/gv

US

Middle East war: global economic fallout

  • Gasoline prices alone surged 21.2 percent between February and March -- the largest monthly increase since the government began publishing a related index in 1967.
  • Here are the latest economic events in the Middle East war: - US inflation surges - Inflation in the United States rose sharply in March, government data showed, as higher energy prices due to the war in the Middle East hit Americans hard. 
  • Gasoline prices alone surged 21.2 percent between February and March -- the largest monthly increase since the government began publishing a related index in 1967.
Here are the latest economic events in the Middle East war:

US inflation surges

Inflation in the United States rose sharply in March, government data showed, as higher energy prices due to the war in the Middle East hit Americans hard. 
Prices rose 3.3 percent year-on-year in March, much faster than the 2.4 percent registered in February. Gasoline prices alone surged 21.2 percent between February and March -- the largest monthly increase since the government began publishing a related index in 1967.

Stocks rise, oil steady

Stocks rose and oil was steady as investors remained guardedly optimistic about the US-Iran ceasefire ahead of planned weekend talks.
European indices were up about half a percent in late afternoon trading, with prices on Wall Street also up but by not as much.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate were hovering under $100 a barrel.

Lebanon faces food shortages

The United Nations warned Friday that food insecurity was on the rise in Lebanon, with prices surging and supply chains disrupted as Israel has continued military strikes on the country.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said the entire food system in Lebanon was reeling from the conflict, with Israel launching its heaviest strikes on the country this week.

Total refinery shut

French energy giant TotalEnergies said it had shut down a major refinery in Saudi Arabia after it was damaged during the war.
The Saudi energy ministry said there had been "multiple attacks" recently on its oil and gas sites, including the SATORP refinery, a joint venture of TotalEnergies and the Saudi state-owned Aramco group.
No details on production impacts, nor the type of attack, were disclosed.

EU considers windfall tax

The EU said it was looking into calls for a tax on windfall profits of energy companies to respond to the surge in prices caused by the Iran war.
The finance ministers of Spain, Austria, Germany, Italy and Portugal urged Brussels take the measure to ease the burden on consumers in a letter published last week.

Ireland to meet farmers

The Irish government was set to hold talks Friday with agricultural and haulage representatives, as days of protests over spiralling fuel prices sparked warnings over supplies, including for emergency services.
The demonstrations began Tuesday over the soaring cost of petrol and diesel amid the Middle East war, with protesters partly blocking Ireland's only oil refinery and restricting access to at least two other fuel depots.

IMF warns of 'scarring effects'

The International Monetary Fund will lower global growth forecasts because of the war, said managing director Kristalina Georgieva, warning of the conflict's "scarring effects" despite the fragile ceasefire.
Georgieva said the IMF expected to have to provide up to $50 billion in immediate financial assistance to countries affected by the war.
She added that food insecurity because of transport and supply chain disruptions caused by the war was expected to affect at least 45 million people and "even in a best case, there will be no neat and clean return" to the way things were before the conflict.
burs-gv/giv

Israel

On Iran truce, all sides want bigger China role, but does China?

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • But Morris said that China in the end had fewer interests at play than the United States, Iran, Israel or Gulf states.
  • For decades, the United States has cast itself as the guarantor of stability in the Middle East, allying militarily with Gulf Arab states as well as Israel and brushing aside global rival China's aspirations for a greater role.
  • But Morris said that China in the end had fewer interests at play than the United States, Iran, Israel or Gulf states.
For decades, the United States has cast itself as the guarantor of stability in the Middle East, allying militarily with Gulf Arab states as well as Israel and brushing aside global rival China's aspirations for a greater role.
The US-Israeli attack on Iran shattered the veneer of a US-led order in the Gulf: Tehran has not been deterred by the US military presence but in fact attacked oil-rich and once proudly safe Arab monarchies because of it.
China, at least to some extent, helped to halt the conflict. But paradoxically, Beijing is not taking a victory lap, reflecting what experts say is its calculation that it has much to risk from greater involvement and that it gains from the post-war situation, in which the United States appears weakened but still committed to Gulf security.
President Donald Trump, speaking to AFP, credited China with pushing Iran to accept the two-week ceasefire, barely an hour before a deadline was to expire on his genocidal threat to destroy all of Iranian civilization.
The account was confirmed by a senior Pakistani official source who said that China "stepped in and convinced Iran" just as hopes were fading.
But China's own statements have been circumspect, saying it backs the ceasefire but hardly trumpeting its own diplomacy.
Yun Sun, director of the China program of the Washington-based Stimson Center, said China's reticence was out of character and suspected Iran may have strategically tried to emphasize Beijing's power of persuasion.
"Iran has singled out China as a potential security guarantor so there is an incentive on the part of Iran in presenting the optics of China playing an oversized role, in the hope that China would then be accountable for the implementation of the ceasefire," she said.
"China doesn't provide security guarantees and how do you even try to guarantee something with President Trump? It would just create problems for China down the road," she said.
Vice President JD Vance will open talks Saturday with Iran in Pakistan, which has close relations with China and has also been aggressively courting Trump, in part as it seeks support against India.
Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said China "welcomes all efforts conducive to peace and supports Pakistan in actively undertaking mediation."
"As a responsible major power, China will continue to play a constructive role and make efforts to de-escalate tensions and quell the conflict," he said.

Major economic interests

China, the world's second largest economy, imports about half of its oil needs from the Middle East but has reduced reliance by embracing renewable energy. 
China is the biggest defier of years of unilateral US sanctions on Iranian oil. China now stands to benefit after Iran exerted control over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow gateway for tankers into and out of the Gulf.
In 2023, Iran and Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic ties in a meeting in Beijing, although the United States, then led by President Joe Biden, downplayed China's role.
"China's strategy in the Middle East has been masterful. It has dominated business and never fired a single bullet, but with the changes in the region it knows it needs a political element," a diplomat from a Middle East country said.
Lyle Morris, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis, said Trump may also want to give credit to China to sweeten the mood and press other demands when he visits Beijing next month.
But Morris said that China in the end had fewer interests at play than the United States, Iran, Israel or Gulf states.
"China's not a primary actor here," Morris said. "Ultimately, it's a supporting role, just by the nature of their capacity and their stakes in the conflict."

Not challenging US order

China, despite railing against US dominance, has little history of military deployments outside of Asia and is unlikely to seek to replace the US security presence in the Middle East.
For China, it is more important to keep forces near the South China Sea and Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy it claims, said Henry Tugendhat, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who studies China's role in the region.
"At the end of the day, China's greatest interest in the region is simply stability for the economic relations it seeks to foster with the region," he said.
"So it may yet accept a return to US security guarantees as their least bad option but that also depends on what's negotiated by all parties at the conclusion of this conflict."
sct/dw

economy

Pay fears grow for US security workers in shutdown

  • "There is a feeling of increasing anxiety and uncertainty," a spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees told politics news outlet The Hill.
  • Thousands of US homeland security employees are facing growing uncertainty over their pay after being told Friday's check could be their last until a record-long partial government shutdown is ended.
  • "There is a feeling of increasing anxiety and uncertainty," a spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees told politics news outlet The Hill.
Thousands of US homeland security employees are facing growing uncertainty over their pay after being told Friday's check could be their last until a record-long partial government shutdown is ended.
A memo from the federal government warned staff that without congressional action, funding gaps could halt future checks, US media reported, deepening anxiety among workers already strained by weeks of disruption.
The warning appeared to apply broadly across the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), though confusion quickly emerged over whether Transportation Security Administration officers -- who screen passengers at US airports -- would be affected.
The DHS is one of the largest government agencies, employing more than 260,000 people across a wide range of roles including airport security, border enforcement, disaster response and cybersecurity. 
President Donald Trump ordered the department to find funds to compensate essential workers required to stay on the job, allowing some back pay to be issued in recent weeks. But officials say those stopgap measures may not be sustainable if the shutdown drags on.
Union representatives say mixed messaging has left employees unsure whether they can rely on upcoming paychecks.
"There is a feeling of increasing anxiety and uncertainty," a spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees told politics news outlet The Hill.
The shutdown, which enters its eighth week on Saturday, stems from a standoff in Congress over immigration enforcement and border security funding, with Democrats seeking new limits on federal agencies and Republicans pushing to secure longer-term financing.
The impasse means tens of thousands of federal workers have either been sent home or are working without guaranteed pay, with some relying on loans, food banks or second jobs to make ends meet.
At the TSA, the strain has already disrupted operations. Absences surged at major airports earlier in the shutdown, and hundreds of officers have resigned since February, according to officials.
DHS workers have been informed in a memo from department heads that they are slated to receive a check on Friday for back pay up until April 4.
But they were warned not to expect further pay until Congress restores DHS funding. 
Authorities warn that continued uncertainty could trigger further staffing shortages, potentially disrupting travel in the coming months, including during major events such as the FIFA World Cup.
Congress is set to return from recess next week, when lawmakers will face renewed pressure to reach a deal.
Republican leaders are weighing a party-line funding package for parts of DHS, though divisions within the party and uncertainty over White House support could complicate efforts to end the shutdown quickly.
ft/ksb

pollution

Antwerp port reopens to North Sea shipping after oil spill

BY MAUDE BRULARD

  • By early Friday afternoon the port said its main maritime access route via the Scheldt estuary had "been reopened to shipping" but that Deurdanck Dock "remains closed until further notice".
  • Belgium's Antwerp port said Friday that it had reopened to North Sea shipping after an oil spill brought traffic to a near-halt in Europe's second-largest port.
  • By early Friday afternoon the port said its main maritime access route via the Scheldt estuary had "been reopened to shipping" but that Deurdanck Dock "remains closed until further notice".
Belgium's Antwerp port said Friday that it had reopened to North Sea shipping after an oil spill brought traffic to a near-halt in Europe's second-largest port.
The overnight spill occurred during a "bunkering operation" -- the process of filling a ship with fuel -- in the Deurganck Dock, used by some of the largest vessels in the world to load and unload goods in Antwerp.
The accident badly disrupted shipping as authorities raced to contain the risks of pollution and economic damage.
By early Friday afternoon the port said its main maritime access route via the Scheldt estuary had "been reopened to shipping" but that Deurdanck Dock "remains closed until further notice".
"Specialised vessels are actively engaged in cleaning up the oil," said a port statement, while working to "fully clear" the dock as well as several container terminals and locks affected by the spill.
"We are making every effort to safely and swiftly resume operations at these key locations and to minimise and resolve disruptions," Antwerp port said.
Belgian media reported that several dozen container and cargo ships had been affected by the traffic shutdown.
The port said that the source of the spill had been stopped, but that pollution had spread towards the Scheldt river with civil protection and maritime and coastal services closely monitoring the "potential impact on riverbanks and surrounding nature areas".
"The focus is on preventing further spread and on targeted clean-up of vulnerable zones," its latest statement said.
There was no official word on the scale of the spill, but local media VRT said the oil slick had spread over at least three kilometres -- almost two miles.
Local media reported that the spill occurred during the refuelling of the container ship MSC Denmark VI.
The ship's operator, MSC, confirmed the vessel was involved in the incident but declined to provide additional information. 
"Our priority is safety," a spokeswoman for the company's Belgian office told AFP, adding that they were focused on safeguarding "the crew, the terminal, the nature". 

Key gateway

The tidal Scheldt river estuary is the main maritime access route to Antwerp port, along with several narrower canals primarily used for inland navigation. 
The port said it was "doing everything possible to minimise both operational and ecological damage".
The Pieter Coecke, a Belgian-flagged pollution control vessel, was operating in the area of the spill Friday, according to the Marine Traffic website.
Flemish environmental group Climaxi said ship refuelling operations were the main cause of oil spills in the region, often contaminating the local bird and amphibian populations.
The latest incident appeared to have impacted several natural reserves, including the Doelpolder wetlands, that are key bird breeding grounds, it said.
Larger than 22,000 football fields, Antwerp port is a key gateway for goods coming into Europe from the United States, China and elsewhere.
Europe's largest after Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the port handles transit each year of around 267 million tonnes of goods and is used by around 20,000 seagoing vessels and 50,000 inland vessels, according to its website.
mad-ec/fpo/gv

US

Irish govt to meet farmers, hauliers over fuel cost fears

  • Ministers were set to meet later Friday with 10 representative organisations for farmers, agricultural contractors and haulage operators, but it was unclear if protesters would be present.
  • The Irish government was set to hold talks Friday with agricultural and haulage representatives, as days of protests over spiralling fuel prices sparked warnings over supplies, including for emergency services.
  • Ministers were set to meet later Friday with 10 representative organisations for farmers, agricultural contractors and haulage operators, but it was unclear if protesters would be present.
The Irish government was set to hold talks Friday with agricultural and haulage representatives, as days of protests over spiralling fuel prices sparked warnings over supplies, including for emergency services.
The demonstrations began Tuesday over the soaring cost of petrol and diesel amid the Middle East war, with protesters partly blocking Ireland's only oil refinery and restricting access to at least two other fuel depots.
Demonstrators, many organising online outside of formal representative bodies, have also used convoys on motorways to snarl traffic and tractors to gridlock central Dublin on occasions.
Industry group Fuels for Ireland said 100 petrol retailers have run dry, mainly in the west of Ireland, after customers started panic buying. 
It has warned of "real significant life-death problems" with supplies for emergency service vehicles, while Ireland's emergency planning group echoed the comments with "serious concern" about the situation.
Irish police warned Thursday the protests had become "blockades" which were putting critical supplies of food, fuel, clean water and animal feed at risk.
"This is not tolerable and is against the law," the country's national force, known as the Garda, said in a statement.
It added officers were "now moving to an enforcement phase" and those involved would "face the full rigours of the law".
Ireland's armed forces have been put "on standby" to assist with clearing the blockades, defence minister Helen McEntee has said.
Ministers were set to meet later Friday with 10 representative organisations for farmers, agricultural contractors and haulage operators, but it was unclear if protesters would be present.
Representative bodies recognised by the government, including the Irish Road Haulage Association and the Irish Farmers' Association, are not officially involved in the protest.
Those bodies and protesters have made varying demands around lowering the cost of fuel, in particular urging cuts to fuel taxes.
Demonstrators also want fuel prices to be capped and oil exploration off the west coast of Ireland to begin.
Government leaders have condemned the protests as "wrong" and "not in our national interest", and said the fuel blockades were holding the country to "ransom".
In March, Dublin announced a €250 million package to reduce fuel costs, notably including a diesel rebate for road hauliers
jj/jkb/cw

war

IMF to cut global growth forecast due to Mideast war

BY ASAD HASHIM

  • The IMF chief was kicking off the annual Spring Meetings co-hosted by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, which bring together top economic policymakers from around the world.
  • The International Monetary Fund will lower global growth forecasts due to the Middle East war, its chief said Thursday, warning of the conflict's "scarring effects" despite a fragile ceasefire.
  • The IMF chief was kicking off the annual Spring Meetings co-hosted by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, which bring together top economic policymakers from around the world.
The International Monetary Fund will lower global growth forecasts due to the Middle East war, its chief said Thursday, warning of the conflict's "scarring effects" despite a fragile ceasefire.
"Even in a best case, there will be no neat and clean return to the status quo ante," IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said.
Georgieva said that -- even in the fund's "most hopeful scenario" -- spiraling energy costs, infrastructure damage, supply disruptions and a loss of market confidence meant growth would be less than expected.
The IMF also anticipates having to provide up to $50 billion in immediate financial assistance to countries affected by the war, with food insecurity set to affect at least 45 million people.
"Given the spillovers from the war, we expect near-term demand for IMF balance-of-payments support to rise by somewhere between $20 billion and $50 billion, with the lower bound prevailing if ceasefire holds," Georgieva said.
The IMF chief was kicking off the annual Spring Meetings co-hosted by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, which bring together top economic policymakers from around the world.
Speaking on Bloomberg TV on Thursday, World Bank President Ajay Banga said his institution could put up as much as $25 billion "very quickly" in financing to developing countries affected by the war. He said as much as $60 billion may be made available over the longer term, if countries need it.
The US-Israel war on Iran, launched on February 28, has engulfed the Middle East in violence, snarled supply chains and sent oil prices surging after Tehran virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran and Washington have traded accusations of violations of the ceasefire terms, with talks aimed at a more durable peace slated for Saturday.
Georgieva highlighted the "asymmetric" effects of the crisis, hitting low-income energy importers much harder than others.
"Spare a thought for the Pacific Island nations at the end of a long supply chain, wondering if fuel still reaches them in the wake of such a severe disruption," she said.

Global inflation

On Wednesday, the World Bank said the Middle East -- which has seen retaliatory Iranian strikes hit countries across the Gulf and Israeli attacks in Lebanon -- saw "a serious and immediate economic toll" from the war.
Excluding Iran, overall regional economic growth was expected to slow to just 1.8 percent in 2026 -- a downgrade of 2.4 percentage points from before the war, the Bank said.
The IMF is also expected to revise global headline inflation upwards due to the oil price and supply chain shocks associated with the war.
On Wednesday, the heads of the IMF, World Bank and World Food Programme (WFP) met in Washington to discuss the economic and food security impacts of the conflict.
"Sharp increases in oil, gas, and fertilizer prices, together with transport bottlenecks, will inevitably lead to rising food prices and food insecurity," said a joint statement on the meeting.
The IMF and World Bank have also formed a coordination group to address the energy market impacts of the war. A top-level meeting of that body will take place on Monday.
As part of the meetings, the IMF will release its annual Fiscal Monitor report, which is expected to flag rising government debt as countries tackle repeated economic shocks.
In a new report this week, the IMF detailed the economic costs of war, estimating that output in countries where fighting takes place drops by three percent at the outset, "and continues falling for years."
An earlier report on the Iran war said "all roads lead to higher prices and slower growth," and highlighted the impact of a severely disrupted fertilizer supply chain on food security.
"Low-income countries are especially at risk of food insecurity; some may need more external support -- even as such assistance has been declining," the report said.
aha/bgs/acb/pnb

technology

New Jersey city spurns data center as defiance spreads

BY THOMAS URBAIN

  • Residents learned of the project just nine days before a scheduled city council vote in mid-February.
  • Residents of a New Jersey city mobilized within days to kill a planned data center -- and now activists nationwide want to know how they did it.
  • Residents learned of the project just nine days before a scheduled city council vote in mid-February.
Residents of a New Jersey city mobilized within days to kill a planned data center -- and now activists nationwide want to know how they did it.
Grassroots resistance to these computing fortresses is spreading across the United States, even as Big Tech pours hundreds of billions of dollars a year into AI infrastructure, pushing new projects into communities from coast to coast.
Forty miles (65 kilometers) from the New York skyline, rubble still litters a vacant lot in New Brunswick -- bordered by a railway line on one side and homes on the other.
This former automotive plant was where Amzak Capital Management had planned to build its complex. For now, it remains empty -- a trophy, activists say, for a community that fought back.
Residents learned of the project just nine days before a scheduled city council vote in mid-February.
They moved fast. A video went viral; flyers spread across the city, notably on the nearby campus of Rutgers University. More than 300 people showed up to proceedings held in a room with a seating capacity of barely 80.
Before the matter was even opened for public comment, the city council announced the data center component was being stripped from the redevelopment plan, recalled Ben Dziobek, founder of environmental advocacy group Climate Revolution Action Network.
"We've got tons of people reaching out to us from around the country asking us how we did it," said Charlie Kratovil, a Democratic mayoral candidate and member of environmental group Food & Water Action.
"It is definitely tapping into something that is bigger than any one of us."
New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill told AFP that while data centers have become critical to modern economies, "communities across the country are grappling with how to integrate them locally."
Key considerations, he said, include energy consumption, environmental impact, real estate footprint and benefit to local residents.
Those concerns resonated deeply in New Brunswick.
A 23-year-old resident who asked to be identified by the initials CJ noted that the data center would have been built in the middle of a working-class neighborhood, far from the businesses, hospitals, and university buildings of the more affluent city center.
For Brandon Guillebeaux, a longtime resident of this heavily Hispanic community, the trade-offs simply didn't add up.
"If it had brought thousands of jobs, it would have been worth it," he said. "But this was only going to be a few." Once operational, data centers typically employ very few workers on site.

A precedent?

A boom in generative AI has sent data center demand skyrocketing, with dozens of projects springing up across the United States.
The buildout comes at a cost: power-hungry facilities are straining local grids and driving up electricity bills, contributing to a nearly 17 percent jump in the average New Jersey household's energy costs last year.
Public sentiment is hardening. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found 65 percent of Americans oppose having a data center built in their community.
In early March, seven major AI sector players pledged to offset their electricity consumption by investing in new power generation -- though critics say voluntary commitments fall short of what is needed.
Other communities have pushed back, too. Last year, cities including Chandler, Arizona, and College Station, Texas, rejected proposed data centers -- though neither case drew the national attention that New Brunswick has.
"I really hope this sets a precedent," said CJ. "To show people that if they take action and publicly voice their opposition, they actually stand a chance" of winning.
That momentum is now reaching state capitals. In the coming weeks, Maine could become the first state to enact a moratorium on construction of these massive facilities -- which house millions of processors that form the backbone of the internet and AI.
In New Jersey -- the most densely populated state in the country -- numerous bills to regulate data centers are under consideration. Kratovil, the New Brunswick mayor, alongside prominent left-wing politicians including Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is pushing for a more comprehensive statewide moratorium.
"We want feasibility studies and a pause, so we know the actual local impacts -- not just rushing ahead at full speed," said Dziobek.
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