USA OUTLOOK April 01 TO 04

USA OUTLOOK

April 01 TO 04

US traffic deaths down 3.6% in 2023 but above pre-pandemic levels

U.S. traffic deaths fell by 3.6% in 2023, the second straight yearly decline, but are still significantly above pre-pandemic levels, auto safety regulators said on Monday.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that 40,990 people died in traffic crashes last year compared to 42,514 deaths in 2022. Fatalities are still much higher than the 36,355 people killed in 2019. At the time, traffic deaths had fallen for three straight years.

The fatality rate in 2023 was higher than any prepandemic year since 2008. Total miles driven last year topped pre-pandemic levels for the first time.

As U.S. roads became less crowded during the COVID-19 pandemic, some motorists perceived police as less likely to issue tickets, experts said, likely resulting in riskier behavior on the roads.

U.S.traffic deaths jumped10.5%in2021to 42,915, the highestnumberkilledonAmericanroads inasingle year since 2005.

Souce:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-traffic-deaths-down-36-2023-above-prepandemic-levels-2024-04-01/

Trapped vessels start moving out of Baltimore after bridge collapse

The Port of Baltimore opened a temporary channel on Monday, freeing some tugs and barges that had been trapped by last week's bridge collapse, but officials said wider restoration of commercial shipping remained frustrated by unyielding conditions.

Baltimore's shipping channel has been blocked since a fully loaded container ship lost power and collided with a support column of the Francis Scott Key Bridge last Tuesday, killing six road workers and causing the highway bridge to tumble into the Patapsco River.

A recovery team led by the U.S. Coast Guard and the state of Maryland aims to quickly reopen the port, the largest in the U.S. for "roll-on, roll-off" vehicle imports and exports of farm and construction equipment.

But first it must free the cargo vessel Dali, stuck under steel bridge debris with 4,000 containers and a 21-member crew stranded aboard since the accident.

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Photo: REUTERS/File

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US job openings rise slightly; labor market steadily easing

U.S. job openings edged up in February, though labor market conditions are gradually easing in support of expectations that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates by June.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, from the Labor Department on Tuesday showed there were 1.36 vacancies for every unemployed person in February, down from 1.43 in January. The decline in the vacancy-tounemployment ratio reflected a spike in unemployment at the start of the year. Economists, however, argued that the drop in the ratio in February did not mark a material shift in the labor market.

"There is nothing here to worry Fed policymakers, who want a strong labor market, but the very slow progress in reducing the apparent excess demand for labor is not likely to encourage the Fed to cut interest rates in the immediate future," said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York.

US electric grid growing more vulnerable to cyberattacks, regulator says

U.S. power grids are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks, with the number of susceptible points in electrical networks increasing by about 60 per day, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation(NERC)saidinawebcastonThursday.

The grids' virtual and physical weak spots, or points in software or hardware that are susceptible to cyber criminals, grew to a range of 23,000 to 24,000 last year from 21,000 to 22,000 by the end of 2022, executives with the energy regulator said.

"It's very hard to keep pace with addressing all those vulnerabilities," said Manny Cancel, senior vice president of NERC.

Geopolitical conflict, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza, have dramatically increased the number of cyber threats to North American power grids, NERC said. Threats also commonly come from China, and the regulators said they expect the upcoming U.S. presidential election to increase the probability of attacks on the grid.

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Non-proliferation experts urge US to not support nuclear fuel project

Nuclear proliferation experts who served under four U.S. presidents told President Joe Biden and his administration on Thursday that a pilot project to recycle spent nuclear fuel would violate U.S. nuclear security policy.

SHINE Technologies and Orano signed a memorandum of understanding in February to develop a U.S. plant to recycle, or reprocess, nuclear waste. It would have a capacity of 100 tonnes a year beginning in the early 2030s.

The project would violate a policy signed by Biden in March, 2023 that says civil nuclear research and development should focus on approaches that "avoid producing and accumulating weapons-usable nuclear material," the experts said in a letter, opens new tab to the president.

"If such a facility were constructed in the United States, it would legitimize the building of reprocessing plants in other countries, thereby increasing risks of proliferation and nuclear terrorism," they said.

Souce:

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/non-proliferation-experts-urge-us-notsupport-nuclear-fuel-project-2024-04-04/

Photo REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights