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March 18, 2024

The World is Smoldering:

Israel Raids Gaza Hospital Where It Says Militants Regrouped 
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-raids-gaza-hospital-where-it-says-militants-regrouped-1a26205a?mod=world_lead_story
The Israeli military said it launched an operation at Gaza’s largest hospital where it said militants had regrouped, an action Palestinian health officials said threatened the lives of patients and tens of thousands of displaced people there. 
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israeli troops were acting on “concrete intelligence that demanded immediate action” in their operations overnight Monday at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, in the enclave’s north. The Israeli military said it took control of a part of Al-Shifa after a five-hour battle, and apprehended about 80 people. 

Pakistan Carries Out Airstrikes Inside Afghanistan 
https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/pakistan-carries-out-airstrikes-inside-afghanistan-0e2011d1?mod=world_lead_pos2
Pakistan carried out airstrikes Monday inside neighboring Afghanistan, the Taliban administration in Kabul said, following a weekend of attacks inside Pakistan which the authorities blame on militants based across the border.
A Pakistani security official said that Pakistan’s air force hit seven hide-outs of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in at least three provinces in Afghanistan. Over a dozen airstrikes were carried out, according to the Pakistani official. 

China’s Economy Has a New Problem: Its Job Market

https://www.wsj.com/world/china/china-unemployment-job-market-63dca8ad?mod=world_lead_pos1
Joblessness in China rose for the third straight month, according to new data published Monday. At 5.3%, the official jobless rate is back to where it was in July after increases in December and January reversed almost half a year of steady progress. 
The rise in the unemployment rate was just one data point in a batch of new economic figures released in Beijing Monday. Most were positive: Industrial production rose handsomely in January and February compared with a year earlier, and investment poured into factories.

Lithium-Ion Batteries Are Everywhere. Fires Caused by Shoddy Ones Are on the Rise.
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/lithium-ion-batteries-are-everywhere-fires-caused-by-shoddy-ones-are-on-the-rise-ef6fb633?mod=us-news_lead_pos1
One minute, Omar Ortega was sitting watching TV, his 11-month-old niece napping beside him. The next, his apartment building’s fire alarm blared and his mother screamed: “Fire! Fire! Fire!” 
As smoke billowed from the building’s stairwell, the family, including Ortega’s special-needs sister, as well as his dad, who walks with a cane, rushed for the fire escape in Ortega’s bedroom. Ortega, 36, carried his niece in his arms. 

BOJ Rate Hike on Tuesday Is Now Widely Expected After Wages Jump
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-17/ueda-faces-decision-time-on-rate-hike-as-wage-momentum-picks-up?srnd=homepage-americas&sref=k5DuN3at
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda and his board have one more day to decide if it’s time for the nation’s first interest rate hike in 17 years amid simmering speculation that it will proceed.
Some 90% of BOJ watchers sees the chance of authorities ending the negative rate on Tuesday at the meeting’s conclusion, with that likelihood bolstered after the nation’s largest union group announced first-round results to annual wage negotiations that far exceeded expectations. 
“Chances have risen for the BOJ to choose March,” said Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Life Research Institute. “Waiting until April would be meaningless if the market is going to price in the move at 100% if they don’t act this time.”

Powell’s Silence Frustrates Markets as Post-Covid Economy Shifts
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-17/rates-in-2024-markets-react-as-powell-s-fed-stays-course?srnd=homepage-americas&sref=k5DuN3at
It’s tough to find enough workers, prices of key inputs are more volatile and there are longer lags between ordering equipment and having it show up on the Ontario, New York firm’s shop floor. There’s also strengthened support in Washington for the US chip-making industry — which uses Optimax lenses — as politicians take in an altered geopolitical landscape.
Many of these changes aren’t temporary, in Plympton’s view. Tight labor markets “are going to be with us for decades,” he says.

Ukraine hit with new wave of drone attacks
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/18/russia-ukraine-live-updates.html
Ukraine’s Air Force said it downed 17 out of 22 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones sent from Russia over a number of Ukrainian cities overnight. It reported that six people were injured and warned of further danger from ballistic missiles in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.

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