Unbiased headline news for Thursday April 11, 2024 – Consumer prices rose 3.5% in March compared to a year ago, accelerating markedly from the previous month and reversing some of the progress achieved in a two-year fight to cool inflation, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed.

Price increases have cooled dramatically from a peak of about 9%, but inflation still stands more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%. A spike in housing and gasoline prices at the outset of this year has helped prolong the nation’s bout of elevated inflation.

The U.S., Japan and Australia will create a joint air defense network, President Biden announced alongside the Japanese prime minister.

“Together, our countries are taking significant steps to strengthen defense security cooperation,” Mr. Biden said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the White House Rose Garden. “We’re modernizing command and control structures”, Biden stated.

The third-longest river in Europe has burst from its banks joining others as floods have swept across parts of Russia and Kazakstan with more flooding on the way, according to multiple reports.

Melting snow was the cause of the Ural River flooding which has so far forced more than 100,000 people to be evacuated as protests have sprung up against Russian authorities over the government’s response.

The Arizona Republican lawmakers quickly shut down discussion on a proposed repeal of the state’s newly revived 1864 law that criminalizes abortion throughout pregnancy unless a woman’s life is at risk.

House Democrats and at least one Republican tried to open discussion on a repeal of the 1864 abortion ban, which holds no exceptions for rape or incest. GOP leaders, who command the majority, cut it off twice and quickly adjourned for the week. Outraged Democrats erupted in finger-waving chants of “Shame! Shame!”

Police in Birmingham Alabama are searching for the gunman who shot and killed a UPS worker in a targeted attack, authorities said.

The shooting unfolded at about 6:05 PM Tuesday as UPS driver Anthony Lamar Love Jr. walked to his car at a Birmingham UPS facility after his shift ended, Birmingham police sergeant Laquitta Wade said. Love was confronted by a gunman who fired about 10 shots and then fled the scene, Wade said.

One person was killed and five others injured, including two children, after gunmen opened fire in a residential area of Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, police said.

A suspect vehicle is being sought in connection with the shooting, police said. The incident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. eastern-time in the Carver Langston neighborhood in Northeast DC, on the 1100 block of 21st Street, police said.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced a new rule mandating the first-ever national standard for the presence of so-called “forever chemicals” in drinking water.

The new standard limits six types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, found in drinking water — a move the EPA says will protect abou 100 million people from exposure. PFAS are a ubiquitous group of chemicals found in a host of industrial and personal products, including fire extinguishing foam, food packaging, dental floss and others.

Ford is recalling nearly 43,000 small SUVs because gasoline can leak from the fuel injectors onto hot engine surfaces, increasing the risk of fires.

The recall covers certain Bronco Sport SUVs from the 2022 and 2023 model years, as well as Escape SUVs from 2022. All have 1.5-liter engines. Ford says in documents filed with U.S. safety regulators that fuel injectors can crack, and gasoline or vapor can accumulate near ignition sources, possibly touching off fires.

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