The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it downed a missile launched from Yemen before it entered Israeli airspace. The missile triggered sirens across central Israel before it was downed. There have been no reports of injuries or damage. The Yemen-based Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they were targeting the Ben Gurion Airport. On Tuesday, the Houthis launched a ballistic missile toward Israel which was also shot down before crossing the border.
Trump says Iran will suffer ‘dire’ consequences for any more Houthi attacks
President Donald Trump on Monday said that further attacks or retaliation by the Houthis would be considered an attack by Iran and it would face “dire” consequences. Trump’s threat comes after the United States launched a new series of airstrikes against the Yemeni group beginning Saturday. The Houthis on Sunday claimed to have thwarted “a hostile attack the enemy was preparing to launch against our country.” A U.S. official told ABC News that the Houthis fired 11 drones and one ballistic missile at the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier group in the Red Sea on Saturday, none of which came close to hitting any U.S. vessels.In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called the Houthis “sinister mobsters and thugs” said their attacks “emanate from, and are created by, IRAN.”
Trump said Iran is “dictating every move, giving them the weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated Military equipment, and even, so-called, ‘Intelligence.'”
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump said.
Nick Note: Its put up or shut up time. Donald Trump promised yesterday that if there’s any more Houthis attacks Iran would be held responsible and suffer dire consequences. All hell would break loose. Don’s been promising a lot of hell breaking loose and the problem is it sounds like bullshit to me. He’s bluffing and around the world his is being called out. He told Hamas if they didn’t release all of the hostages in 24 hours all hell would break lose. Nothing happened. He promised peace in the Ukraine nothing happened. In fact the drone attacks ae increasing. He published on truth social media, were inquiring minds get their news, any further attacks by the Houthis using Iranian weapons all hell would break lose,,,…. well i am still waiting. I’m afraid don is losing credibility. Hs is becoming an embarrassment. He better do something and soon otherwise he’s going to become the laughing stock of mankind. If you promise all hell’s going to break loose then it better happen.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bird flu has devastated poultry and dairy farms, and sent the price of eggs soaring in the United States since it was first detected in North America in late 2021. But what has been the toll on wild birds? More than 170 species of North American wild birds – including ducks, geese, gulls, owls, eagles and others – have been infected with bird flu.
Take precautions around sick or dead wild birds, experts recommend. But you can keep your bird feeder up. Despite the spread in birds and other wild animals, scientists say the threat to the general population is currently low.
Which wild birds can get bird flu?
More than 12,000 individual birds have tested positive since the virus began spreading, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. The count is a “gross underestimate” because most dead birds are never taken to a lab for testing, said Bryan Richards at the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in in Madison, Wisconsin.What does the bird flu outbreak mean for backyard bird feeders? AP correspondent Jennifer King reports. Dabbling ducks, such as mallards and blue-winged teal, can carry the virus with few symptoms because “these viruses co-evolved in waterfowl,” said Richards. But ducks can also shed the virus in their feces or saliva, sometimes infecting other birds or mammals like foxes.
Birds without natural immunity that migrate or roost together in large flocks, such as geese, are most likely to die in large numbers. A recent bird flu outbreak among migratory eared grebes in Utah killed between 15,000 and 25,000 birds near Great Salt Lake, state wildlife officials said in early February.Seabirds, which tend to roost in large numbers, are also highly impacted. Songbirds such as Northern cardinals, blue jays or chickadees — the kind of birds that might visit bird feeders — can also become infected and die, but their populations appear to fare better since they don’t gather closely in large groups where the virus could spread, said Michael J. Parr, president of the American Bird Conservancy.
Symptoms vary, but may include lack of coordination, inability to fly and respiratory distress. “If people see a wild bird acting weird, the best thing they can do is call their local wildlife rehabilitator” and avoid handling it directly, said Dr. Dana Franzen-Klein, a veterinarian and medical director at the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center.If you must handle an infected bird, it’s best to wear gloves and a mask as a precaution. Experts say bird feeders are generally safe and aren’t a notable source of spreading bird flu. But if you also keep backyard chickens, Parr of the American Bird Conservancy recommends taking the bird feeder down to prevent possible transmission to poultry. Birdfeeders and nesting boxes should also be cleaned regularly.The risk of spread to people from bird feeders “is very, very low,” he said. In the case of critically endangered California condors, scientists organized a vaccination program after some birds became infected. But that’s not a realistic option for most wild bird species. Instead, experts recommend giving wild birds the best chance by taking other steps to protect habitats and reduce various risks that species face, such as exposure to pesticides or lead ammo. Bald eagles, which are federally protected but no longer endangered, are scavengers that will eat dead animals. “That first year, we lost a lot of eagles” likely from bald eagles eating infected ducks or bringing them to their nests, said Richards. Scientists also documented an unusually high number of eagle chicks that didn’t survive into adulthood during the first breeding season after the virus appeared in North America, likely because the chicks got the virus or sick parents weren’t able to adequately feed and care for them. But over time, the number of confirmed infections in eagles nationwide has declined from 427 in 2022 to 48 last year. That may mean that eagles that survived the first year now have some acquired immunity, said Franzen-Klein. This past migration season, researchers counted a record number of bald eagles migrating through northern Minnesota.
NN: Its time to follow Bird Flue another China genetically engineered virs
Crude oil inventories in the United States saw an increase of 1.7 million barrels during the week ending March 14,
according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration released on Wednesday. Crude oil prices were trading down prior to the crude data release by the U.S. Energy Information Administration after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a build of 4.593 million barrels in U.S. crude oil inventories amid a strong gasoline draw. The Brent benchmark was trading down 0.14% at 10:05 a.m. ET at $70.46 —essentially unchanged from this same time last week. The WTI benchmark, meanwhile, was trading down 0.25% at $66.73—down roughly $.50 from last week’s level. For total motor gasoline, the EIA estimated that inventories decreased by 500,000 barrels for the week to March 14, with production averaging 9.6 million barrels daily. This compares with a large inventory decrease of 5.7 million barrels for the previous week and an average daily production of 9.6 million barrels daily. For middle distillates, the EIA estimated another inventory decrease, this time of 2.8 million barrels, with production increasing to an average of 4.6 million barrels daily. This compares to an inventory dip of 1.6 million barrels in the week prior, when production stood at an average 4.5 million barrels daily. Distillate inventories are now 6% below the five-year average for this time of year. Total products supplied over the last four weeks were down week over week, averaging 20.6 million barrels per day—a 2.5% increase over this time last year. Distillate products supplied over the last four weeks are up 8.3% compared to this time last year, while gasoline products supplied were on par with levels from the same period last year. Oil prices began trading up shortly after release.
President Vladimir Putin refused to give Donald Trump the 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine he and his team had demanded on the path toward ending the three-year conflict. It was still good enough for the US president.The agreement that came out of the two leaders’ phone call on Tuesday was a disappointment for US officials who had insisted the only acceptable outcome was a halt in the fighting to make way for a permanent peace.Instead, Putin agreed only to limit attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure while demanding that the US and other nations stop the flow of weapons and intelligence to the neighbor his military invaded.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he’d agree to such an idea provided the US plays the role of middleman. And Trump, never one to admit defeat, hailed the result as a victory — and as a possible first step toward a bigger deal. “Many elements of a Contract for Peace were discussed,” Trump said in a social media post about the call, in which the two leaders also agreed to start a negotiating process toward a larger ceasefire. “That process is now in full force and effect, and we will, hopefully, for the sake of Humanity, get the job done!” Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Putin to help set the stage for the leaders’ call, said in a Fox News interview that a US delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz will go to Saudi Arabia for further talks on granular details aimed at moving toward a ceasefire. Even the faint progress on Tuesday for Trump’s high-profile but controversial ceasefire proposal could be enough to silence some criticism that he’s selling out the Ukrainians. It may even constitute a political win at a time when some analysts feared Trump might formally recognize Russia’s sovereignty over Ukraine’s Crimea region or make some other concession.“I was expecting the worst,” retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of US Army Europe, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “The fact we did not hear those is better than if we had. But we have to be very clear — I think Vladimir Putin has zero interest in any true long-term settlement as long as he remains in power, and his objective still remains the destruction of Ukraine.”Witkoff said the agreement to reduce hostilities stretches beyond energy infrastructure to infrastructure in general — even though the Russian summary of the call didn’t say that — and that there was consensus on those two issues between Trump and Putin. He also said he hopes Ukraine will agree to a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea. “And I think it’s a relatively short distance to a full ceasefire from there,” he added.
nn: this is se sik shit! “Today, Putin effectively rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire,” the Ukrainian leader said in a post on X in English. “It would be right for the world to respond by rejecting any attempts by Putin to prolong the war Although Ukraine was the focus of the call with Putin, Trump signaled he also has his eye on broader geopolitical and economic gains from a renewed relationship with Russia. The next big question is whether European allies will see things the same way as Trump. So far, they suggested they won’t. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK and European Union are in talks to accelerate arms shipments to Ukraine ahead of a potential full ceasefire, not stop them as Putin demanded. Lammy said he discussed the possibility of sending more military support to Ukraine before any broad cessation in fighting is implemented at a meeting in London with the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, on Tuesday. The idea was also raised at the Group of Seven meeting of foreign ministers in Canada last week, he said. Crude oil prices dipped on the news of the partial ceasefire, as they do on any positive news about progress towards peace in the Ukraine, since peace would likely mean the lifting of U.S. sanctions in Russian energy, facilitating the access of Russian oil to international markets.
A United Nations health agency has called the spread of H5N1 bird flu “unprecedented” and called on world leaders to coordinate a global response. On Monday, the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization cited hundreds of millions of poultry lost around the world as concern rises among health experts over the spread of the H5N1 bird flu and its spillover into other mammals, including cows. Godfrey Magwenzi, deputy director-general of FAO, said that the growing health crisis has a “serious impact on food security and food supply in countries, including loss of valuable nutrition, rural jobs and income, shocks to local economies, and, of course, increasing costs to consumers.” He noted a major shift in the last four years in its geographic spread, with at least 300 new wild bird species since 2021 afflicted with bird flu, which pose “a serious threat to biodiversity.”
Expert oncerned U.S. not prepared for bird flu spread in humans
USDA trying to rehire employees working on bird flu
USDA to invest $1B in 5-point strategy to combat bird flu, lower egg prices
The United States has recorded about 70 bird flu cases of bird flu in poultry and cattle, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, health officials have called for urgent action to strengthen biosecurity, surveillance and “rapid-response mechanisms” to curb the outbreak. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has scrambled to rehire federal employees working on the U.S. government’s bird flu response after they fell victim to mass firings by the administration and billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” said FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol, as she called for a coordinated global response. “By working together, we can reduce the impact of avian influenza and protect both animal and human health — locally and globally.” Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its plan to invest $1 billion to stop the spread and hopefully reduce the rising price of eggs. Some restaurants have begun to charge a surcharge on egg dishes to cover the added cost.
President Vladimir Putin committed in a phone call with Donald Trump to limit Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy assets but declined to agree to a broader 30-day ceasefire as the US had sought. Putin and Trump agreed to “an energy and infrastructure ceasefire” and to begin negotiations on a “maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace,” the White House said in a statement after the two spoke by phone for more than 90 minutes. The talks will begin “immediately” in the Middle East, the White House said, without saying who would lead the negotiations. The Kremlin’s account of the call said Putin imposed several conditions for a lasting ceasefire, including suspension of arms and intelligence support for Ukraine. Ukraine must also stop mobilizing new recruits, it said. “The key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working toward its resolution through political and diplomatic means should be the complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv,” the Kremlin said. The Russian demands will force a tough choice on Trump, who had called for an immediate halt to the fighting for 30 days before working out details of a longer-term agreement. Recent comments by Trump have prompted fears that the US may be willing to sacrifice Kyiv’s interests as part of a push for a deal. Before the call, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that “many elements of a Final Agreement have been agreed to, but much remains.” Ukraine and its European allies are anxious that Russia won’t honor any deal with Trump to end the war, leaving Kyiv vulnerable to attack in the future. After Trump came to office having pledged rapidly to end the conflict, they also worry that Putin may leverage US interest in securing a deal to make additional demands that would undermine Ukraine or threaten Europe’s future security. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Trump ahead of the US leader’s conversation with Putin. Starmer told Trump that Ukraine must be put in the “strongest possible position” in order to secure a “just and lasting peace,” his official spokesman said. “The two leaders agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside,” the White House said in its readout. “This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved.”
United States President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed on Tuesday that the Ukrainian peace talks should start with “an energy and infrastructure ceasefire.” According to a readout published by the White House, both parties emphasized the need to start the negotiation with the “implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. ” Talks are set to begin immediately in the Middle East. During an hour-and-a-half-long talk, both leaders also discussed the broader geopolitical landscape, emphasizing cooperation to prevent conflicts and limit the proliferation of strategic weapons; in that sense, Trump and Putin agreed that Iran must never threaten Israel.
Investors slashed exposure to US equities by the most on record in recent weeks as expectations of global economic growth worsened, according to Bank of America Corp.
Fund managers’ allocation to US stocks sank to about 23% underweight, the lowest since June 2023. A net 44% of respondents in the survey conducted in March said they expected global growth to deteriorate, rising sharply from the previous month. “Pessimism on global growth outlook is bad news for stocks,” strategist Michael Hartnett wrote in a note. Global investors are hunting for opportunities elsewhere after US stocks tipped into a correction earlier this month. Chinese tech stocks are in hot demand and Europe has also benefited due to a brighter regional economic outlook.Still, Hartnett said the swift decline in investor sentiment was consistent with the end of a correction in the US equity market, although the S&P 500 would rise back above 6,000 points only if there was an easing in trade war and inflation concerns.
Source: Bank of America Corp.
The strategist last week recommended buying the S&P 500 at 5,300 points — about 7% lower than current levels. The index has recovered after sinking as low as 5,504 as investors worried about the impact from President Donald Trump’s trade war. European stocks have outperformed the US this year, also boosted by cheaper valuations. BofA’s survey showed a net 39% of global investors are now overweight European equities, the highest share since mid-2021.The survey was conducted from March 7th to March 13th and canvassed 171 participants with $426 billion in assets under management.
Israel has carried out “extensive strikes” on Gaza, killing at least 220, according to sources from both Israel and Gaza cited by the BBC. The strikes came as a ceasefire that began in mid-January failed with the warring parties unable to agree on the terms to extend it. The reignition of the war between Israel and the Palestinian state affects oil prices as there is always a risk of regional escalation in the conflict, notably featuring Iran. This was the case today as well, with Brent crude inching up to $71.29 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate rising to $67.78 per barrel at the time of writing. “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” a statement by Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. “This follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators,” the statement also said. Hamas, for its part, has called on mediators to intervene and salvage the ceasefire, although it responded to Israel’s strike with accusations of treachery and overturning the ceasefire, the BBC also reported. The Israel-Palestine war was not the geopolitical factor pushing oil prices higher. U.S. strikes on Yemen earlier in the week also acted as a booster for the benchmarks, highlighting the fragile situation in the world’s biggest oil-producing region. In addition to geopolitics, news from China also served to prop up oil prices, as Beijing released its latest round of measures aimed at stimulating consumer demand through higher salaries and childcare subsidies. The news was followed by data showing refining throughput in the country had increased over the first two months of the year, and figures suggesting rebounding consumer spending, which are normally taken as a bullish sign for crude oil demand.
