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News reports from around the world.
Several thousand Tesla employees will soon be seeing pink slips
( ) -q-25- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “and increased productivity.”
After reporting dismal first-quarter sales, Tesla is planning to lay off about a tenth of its workforce as it tries to cut costs.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. News of the layoffs was first reported by electric vehicle website Electrek.
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VERBATIM: CEO Elon Musk detailed the plans in a memo sent to employees. The layoffs could affect about 14,000 of the 140,473 workers employed by the Austin, Texas, company at the end of last year. Musk’s memo said that as Tesla prepares for its next phase of growth, it needs to look at every aspect of the company for cost cuts and increased productivity.
The IRS is quicker to answer the phone on this Tax Day
( ) -q-20- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “in plain language.”
Today (MONDAY) is Tax Day and the IRS is promoting the customer service improvements the agency rolled out since receiving tens of billions in new funding dollars through the Inflation Reduction Act.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The promotion also in part is meant to quickly normalize a more efficient and effective IRS before congressional Republicans threaten another round of cuts to the agency.
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VERBATIM: Agency leadership is trying to bring attention to what’s been done to repair its image as an outdated and maligned tax collector. Two improvements include cutting phone wait times and digitizing more documents. The IRS is also improving the “Where’s My Refund” tool to show more account details in plain language.
Retail sales up a strong 0.7% in March from February
Americans increased their spending pace in March at a better-than-expected pace from the previous month. The Commerce Department says retail sales rose 0.7% last month after being up a revised 0.9% in February. The numbers show how shoppers remain resilient despite inflationary pressures and other economic challenges. Sales fell a revised 1.1% in January, dragged down in part by inclement weather.
Listen DownloadHomebuyers’ quandary: to wait or not to wait for lower mortgage rates
( ) -v-37- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “std.”
Shop for a home now or hold out for possibly lower mortgage rates? Correspondent Jeremy House has more on the story.
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VERBATIM: It’s a question confronting many home shoppers this spring homebuying season amid widespread expectations that mortgage rates could come down once the Federal Reserve begins lowering its own short-term rate. Economists generally anticipate that the average rate on a 30-year mortgage could start declining later this year after surging to a 23-year high of nearly 8% in late October. Holding out for more attractive rates could give homebuyers some financial breathing room. But there’s a potential downside to waiting: Lower rates can bring out more buyers, driving up prices…JH reporting.
US-China competition to field military drone swarms could fuel global arms race
( ) -q-20- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “dozens of drones.”
U.S. and Chinese military planners are gearing up for a new kind of warfare.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The world’s only AI superpowers are engaged in an arms race for swarming drones that is reminiscent of the Cold War, except drone technology will be far more difficult to contain than nuclear weapons.
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VERBATIM: It’s the kind of warfare in which squadrons of air and sea drones equipped with artificial intelligence work together like a swarm of bees to overwhelm an enemy. The planners envision a scenario in which hundreds, even thousands of the machines engage in coordinated battle. A single controller might oversee dozens of drones.
Citing TikTok and Nippon, Treasury wants to boost foreign investment review powers
U.S. Treasury wants to enhance the power of a little-known, secretive government committee to review deals made between U.S. firms and foreign investors. A new proposed rule would strengthen powers for the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. It’s tasked with investigating corporate deals for national security concerns and holds power to force the company to change. This comes as high-profile deals involving foreign investment in the U.S., like Chinese firm ByteDance’s social media app TikTok, have received increased scrutiny by lawmakers and even President Biden.
Listen DownloadProducer prices rose 2.1% from last year as inflation remains stubborn
( ) -q-24- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “gain in February.”
U.S. producer prices rose in March from a year earlier at the fastest pace in nearly a year.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The figures offer more evidence that progress against inflation may have stalled this year and raising doubts about whether and when the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates.
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VERBATIM: The Labor Department says its producer price index — which measures inflationary pressure before it reaches consumers — rose 2.1% last month from March 2023. It’s the biggest year-over-year jump since April 2023. Compared to February, though, wholesale prices were up just 0.2%, down from a 0.6% gain in February.
China protests EU’s investigation of subsidies in green industries
( ) -q-27- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “Romania and Bulgaria.”
China has accused the European Union of protectionism and “reckless distortion” of the definition of subsidies in response to a new EU investigation into Chinese wind turbine makers.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.
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VERBATIM: The Commerce Ministry said China had made “solemn representations” on the issue in a meeting in Brussels with the EU director general for trade defense. The investigation opened by the European Union is the latest announced against Chinese companies in the past two months. The investigation is looking into whether Chinese subsidies is giving wind turbine companies an unfair advantage for projects in Spain, Greece, France, Romania and Bulgaria.
Lufthansa reaches pay deal with cabin crew union
( ) -q-27- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “to offset inflation.”
Lufthansa and a union representing cabin crew have reached a pay deal.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Some bonuses also will be increased. The union will put the deal to a ballot of its members. The pay dispute was one of several that led to strikes and caused widespread flight cancelations in recent months.
Listen DownloadChina sanctions 2 U.S. companies over ‘support for arms sales to Taiwan’
( ) -q-25- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “in the field.”
China has sanctioned two U.S. companies over what it says is their support for arms sales to Taiwan.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Taiwan is the self-governing island democracy Beijing claims as its own territory to be recovered by force if necessary.
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VERBATIM: The announcement freezes the assets of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems held within China. It also bars their management from entering the country. Filings show General Dynamics operates a half-dozen Gulfstream and jet aviation services operations in China, which remains heavily reliant on foreign aerospace technology even as it attempts to build its own presence in the field.
Trump, Johnson To Hold Joint Press Conference At Mar A Lago
Senator J.D. Vance Shaping Up As Likely Trump Running Mate
McConnell Says Failure To Pass Ukraine Aid Would Be “Strategic And Moral Malpractice”
US inflation up again in March in latest sign that price pressures remain elevated
( ) -q-24- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “inflation is headed.”
Consumer price increases remained high last month, boosted by gas, rents, and car insurance.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The March figures, the third straight month of inflation readings well above the Fed’s 2% target, threaten to torpedo the prospect of multiple interest rate cuts this year.
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VERBATIM: Prices outside the volatile food and energy categories rose 0.4% from February to March. Measured from a year earlier, those core prices were up 3.8%. The report will likely give pause to the Federal Reserve as it weighs when and by how much to cut interest rates this year. The Fed closely tracks core prices because they tend to provide a good read of where inflation is headed.
A new version of Scrabble aims to make the word-building game more accessible
( ) -q-23- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “than 75 years.”
Scrabble is getting a bit of a makeover, at least in Europe.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Whether the new version will expand beyond Europe one day has yet to be seen. While Mattel owns the rights to Scrabble around much of the world, Hasbro licenses the game in the U.S., for example. A spokesperson for Hasbro says there are currently no plans to roll out the European updates to Scrabble in the U.S.
Listen DownloadCongress summons Boeing’s CEO to testify on jetliner safety
A Senate subcommittee has opened an investigation into the safety of Boeing jetliners, intensifying concerns about the airworthiness of the company’s aircraft. The panel has summoned Boeing’s CEO to a hearing next week. During the hearing, Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour is expected to detail safety concerns involving the manufacture and assembly of the 787 Dreamliner. The subcommittee says those concerns could involve “potentially catastrophic safety risks.” Salehpour is also expected to describe alleged retaliation he faced after bringing his concerns forward.
Listen DownloadDelta says travel demand remains strong despite flight scares
Delta Air Lines is reporting a small profit and says travel demand is strong heading into summer. The airline’s CEO says recent flight scares seem to be having no effect on ticket sales. Delta says it earned $37 million in the first quarter, compared with a loss a year ago. It is predicting better-than-expected earnings in the second quarter too.
Listen DownloadPew: Republicans Making Big Gains In Party Affiliation Among Registered Voters
Politics Take Center Stage After Arizona Court Upholds 1864 Abortion Law
McConnell Throws Support Behind TikTok Bill
Norfolk Southern agrees to pay $600M in Ohio train derailment settlement
Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action lawsuit settlement. The agreement is related to a fiery train derailment in February 2023 in eastern Ohio. The company says the settlement, if approved by the court, will resolve all class action claims within a 20-mile radius from the derailment. For those residents who choose to participate, the settlement will cover personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius from the derailment.
Listen Download6 northern European nations sign a deal to protect North Sea
Six northern Europe countries bordering the North Sea have signed an agreement to work together to protect underwater infrastructure in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean from an increased risk of sabotage. The Danish Ministry for Climate, Energy and Utilities calls the North Sea a hub for critical infrastructure that connects Europe. It notes there was “an increased risk of sabotage and unwanted attention from hostile actors.” The move comes after the yet-unsolved 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. They occurred in international waters but within Swedish and Danish economic zones.
Listen DownloadFinding an alternative way to get back into the job market
( ) -q-30- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “a successful career.”
Despite a strong job market, there are still thousands of people who have found themselves out of work across industries stretching from tech to retail to media.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.
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VERBATIM: Rather than trying to find another job in their old role, some workers are turning to online content creation. In an estimated $250 billion industry. According to Goldman Sachs Research, 4% of global content creators pull in more than $100,000 annually. YouTube has more than 3 million channels in its YouTube Partner Program, which is how creators earn money. But experts warn that it takes time, energy and resources to turn content creation into a successful career.
