Author: Press Room

That Was a Very Bad Inflation Report We better hope that April showers bring May flowers because last month we got drenched in inflation—and we could use a bloom of good news as we head into the summer months. Tuesday’s consumer price index (CPI) report was bad enough on the surface. Prices rose 0.6 percent in April, following March’s blistering 0.9 percent increase. Compared with a year ago, consumer prices were up 3.8 percent, a sharp acceleration from the 3.3 percent annual pace recorded in March. The usual excuses were available. Energy prices did a lot of the damage. The…

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that “we might see more cases” of the deadly Andes strain of hantavirus emerge in the coming days, after an 11th case was recorded.The virus has killed three people who left Argentina on a cruise ship last month, and infected eight others. The most recent case was confirmed by the Spanish Health Ministry on Tuesday, and involves a passenger who had been quarantined in a military hospital in Madrid after traveling on the ship.“At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak, but…

The overwhelming majority of the German public is dissatisfied with the performance of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition government on immigration. A survey from INSA on behalf of Berlin’s BILD newspaper this week found that 78 per cent of voters do not think that the government has sufficiently addressed the immigration issue. In contrast, just 11 per cent of voters agreed with Chancellor Merz’s declaration that “large parts” of the migrant crisis have been solved. Perhaps more crucially, even supporters of the Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its regional sister party, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), remain pessimistic over…

Prices for goods and services produced by U.S. companies soared in April, far exceeding economists’ estimates and marking the worst monthly inflation in more than four years. The Producer Price Index for final demand rose 1.4 percent compared with the previous month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday. Compared with a year ago, producer prices are up six percent, the biggest increase since December 2022. The surge was driven by a war-fueled spike in energy prices that is beginning to ripple through broader segments of the economy, including freight transportation and manufacturing supply chains. Energy costs alone rose 7.8…

NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein’s defense urged jurors Tuesday to put an end to a #MeToo-era rape case that has gone to trial three times, arguing that the former Hollywood honcho should be acquitted. “It’s just not true,” lawyer Marc Agnifilo said as closing arguments began in the retrial of an allegation that Weinstein raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a New York hotel in 2013. “She has taken on a false narrative about all of this.” Prosecutors will get their turn later Tuesday to make their case to the jury, which will have to sift through the…

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will attend Wednesday’s Republican Study Committee lunch, according to three people granted anonymity to describe plans for the private meeting. He will join Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby and Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) as guests of the group of conservative House Republicans. Read the full article here

Madrid has joined a chorus in Europe calling for a standalone force amid the growing rift with the US Spain has become the latest European nation to call for the EU to build its own army as opposed to relying on the NATO framework, citing a growing rift with the US. The idea itself, however, has split European NATO members, with many still viewing the US-led military bloc as a preferable defense mechanism.Whatever the outcome of those debates, most NATO nations are engaged in an accelerated militarization campaign costing hundreds of billions of dollars in the long run, citing an…

The family of George Floyd slammed comedians Tony Hinchcliffe and Kevin Hart over a joke told during Netflix’s The Roast of Kevin Hart, which streamed live on Sunday. “The black community is so proud of you,” Hinchcliffe told Hart during the roast, adding, “Right now, George Floyd is looking up at us all laughing so hard he can’t breathe.” Floyd’s family and friends reacted through Travis Cains, a spokesman for The Gianna and George Floyd Foundation, telling TMZ that Hart condoning Hinchcliffe’s remark is “sad for the culture.” They also slammed Hart for allegedly giving the comedian the green light to make a joke about Floyd,…

Spain’s refusal to allow the United States, its NATO ally, to use its military bases for the war in Iran remains in place, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares reiterated Tuesday. The Spanish socialist government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has stood out as one of the fiercest critics of the United States’ military actions against the Iranian regime, which Sánchez has accused of being a “absurd, cruel, and illegal” conflict. In line with its opposition to the United States’ actions against Iran, the Spanish government barred the U.S. planes from utilizing the Spanish military bases in Rota, Cádiz and…

Abdul El-Sayed, an Egyptian-American Muslim and a Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Michigan, reportedly lacks a medical license in Michigan and New York, though he has claimed he is a physician, according to a recent report. While El-Sayed, who is running to fill Sen. Gary Peters’ (D-MI) seat, has claimed in interviews that he’s “been a doctor” for his “whole career” and also lists being a “physician” on his LinkedIn account, Politico reviewed medical records from the two states and found El-Sayed has “never been granted a medical license in those states.” Though the outlet’s review found that he…