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U.N. agency warns bird flu spreading at ‘unprecedented’ scale, calls for global response

 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.

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Putin Agrees to Limit Ukraine Attacks But Won’t Commit to Truce

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.”

nn: try scik joke

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Trump, Putin to start Ukraine peace talks with energy ceasefire

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.

nn: think Gaza cease fire.. cease is not peace1
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BofA Survey Shows Biggest-Ever Drop in Exposure to US Equities

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.

BofA survey
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.

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Oil Prices Jump as Israel Pounds Gaza Again

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.

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Israeli official says Gaza strikes were ‘preemptive’

An unnamed Israeli official told CNN that Israel’s renewed strikes on Gaza, which claimed well over 200 lives, were “preemptive” and aimed against what was described as Hamas’ “readiness to execute terror attacks, build up force and re-arm.” He said the strikes targeted “mid-ranking military commanders, leadership officials and terrorist infrastructure.” Israel’s strikes will continue “as long as necessary and will expand beyond airstrikes,” the official said. The official declined to elaborate on the aforementioned claims made against Hamas so as not to “hand out information to the enemy.”

NN: so much for the peace in the valley myth
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Trump: Iran will face ‘dire consequences’ for Houthi attacks

United States President Donald Trump warned on Monday that any future Houthi attacks would be considered direct Iranian aggression and met with severe retaliation. “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 wrote on Truth Social. The message follows what Trump defined as a “powerful” and “decisive” military strike against the Houthis in Yemen due to their involvement in the Middle East conflict by disrupting global shipping. For its part, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) answered that Iran would respond to any attacks from the US.

nn: its time trump delivers on these threats to attack iran….
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US Bitcoin ETFs Shed $5.5 Billion in Longest Run of Outflows

US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded their longest run of weekly net outflows since listing in January last year as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs drove a wider retreat from riskier assets.

Investors pulled over $5.5 billion in total from the group of 12 ETFs over the past five weeks, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The record outflows started shortly after Trump returned to the White House, underscoring how even crypto investors have focused more on the trade war he ignited than on his crypto-friendly policies like creating a digital-asset stockpile.

US Bitcoin ETFs Post Longest Streak of Weekly Outflows

“Bitcoin and crypto overall remain driven by the macro picture right now,” Greg Magadini, director of derivatives at Amberdata, said in a note. “I don’t expect Bitcoin to diverge from risk-assets for the time being.”

After scaling to record highs in the wake of Trump’s November election victory, Bitcoin has struggled in 2025 and is down about 12% year-to-date. The largest digital asset was trading around $83,500 as of 10 a.m. in London.

NN: the beginening of the end

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China’s retail sales increase by 4% in January-February…. They are BACK

Retail trade in China recorded a 4% yearly increase in the first two months of 2025, matching expectations and coming in higher than December’s 3.7%, according to the latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics published on Monday. Retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas rose by 3.8% year-on-year and retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas went up by 4.6%. Catering increased by 4.3% on a yearly basis, while online retail sales went up by 7.3% year on year. “In February, the total retail sales of consumer goods grew by 0.35% compared with that of the previous month,” the bureau said.

nn: well that put a end to the self-serving myth that China oil demand is faltering