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The Inflation Reduction Act and the pandemic and geopolitical impacts on major supply chains are driving increased spending on manufacturing-related construction spending in the United States. Spending on factory building is at a record high, thanks to the incentives for clean energy in the IRA and efforts to reshore supply chains to the U.S., especially in semiconductors and critical materials supply for electric vehicles and renewable energy, analysts and industry officials say. Manufacturing-related construction spending hit a record $108 billion in 2022, according to Census Bureau data cited by The Wall Street Journal. https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Inflation-Reduction-Act-Leads-To-Record-Spending-On-New-US-Factories.html

UPDATE: Judge Limits Fox’s Options for Defense in Dominion Trial WILMINGTON, Del. — A judge ruled on Tuesday that Fox News could not argue that it broadcast false information about Dominion Voting Systems on the basis that the allegations were newsworthy, limiting a key line of defense for the network as it faces the beginning of a potentially costly defamation trial next week. The judge, Eric M. Davis of Delaware Superior Court, also ruled that Dominion could not refer to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol except in very narrow circumstances, saying he did not want jurors to be prejudiced by events that weren’t relevant to the central question in the case: Did Fox air wild claims about Dominion’s purported involvement in a conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election from Donald J. Trump knowing that they were lies? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/11/business/fox-news-dominion-trial.html Archive link

The UK is set to be one of the worst performing major economies in the world this year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It says the UK economy's performance in 2023 will be the worst among the 20 biggest economies, known as the G20, which includes sanctions-hit Russia. The IMF predicts the UK economy will shrink this year, although this is a small upgrade from its last forecast. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65240749

Top lawmakers on Capitol Hill who oversee the intelligence community finally have been granted the ability to look over the classified documents found improperly in the homes of President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, three sources familiar with the matter tell CNN, ending a months-long standoff between Congress and the administration. The members of the “Gang of Eight”, which includes the House and Senate leaders from each party as well as the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, are privy to the most sensitive classified information. They began to get the documents last week. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/11/politics/gang-of-eight-classified-documents/index.html

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A growing number of prominent Republicans are rallying around the idea that to solve the fentanyl crisis, America must bomb it away. In recent weeks, Donald Trump has discussed sending “special forces” and using “cyber warfare” to target cartel leaders if he’s reelected president and, per Rolling Stone, asked for “battle plans” to strike Mexico. Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) introduced a bill seeking authorization for the use of military force to “put us at war with the cartels.” READ MORE https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/10/gop-bomb-mexico-fentanyl-00091132

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says it has confirmed the deaths of almost 8,500 civilians since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, and believes the toll could be thousands higher. The OHCRH said in an updated report published on April 11 that 8,490 civilians have been killed and 14,244 injured since Russia launched its invasion on February 24, 2022, until April 9, 2023. "OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration," the UN agency said in a statement. READ MORE https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-war-civilian-deaths-russia-invasion/32358863.html

The photo shows the face of a young woman with long dark hair and a soft smile who says she is “feeling pretty today :).” And on Reddit — where Claudia, as she’s named, offers to sell nude photos to anyone who privately messages her — she is quite popular: “Holy crap you are beautiful,” one commenter said. But Claudia is fake — a bundle of surprisingly convincing photos made by artificial-intelligence image tools, possibly deployed to pull in cash from unsuspecting buyers, according to two synthetic-media researchers. READ MORE https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/04/11/ai-imaging-porn-fakes/ Archive no paywall

You can now explore Mars from the comfort of your own home via NASA's detailed new 3D map of the Red Planet's surface. The 5.7 trillion pixel mosaic is so large that if it were printed out, it would cover the famous Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. It took six years and tens of thousands of hours to develop, formed from 110,000 images. READ MORE https://news.sky.com/story/nasas-new-mars-map-lets-you-explore-the-planet-for-yourself-in-3d-12855003

NEW YORK — A federal judge wants to know if ex-President Donald Trump plans to attend a New York trial this month resulting from a columnist’s claims that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued an order Monday directing parties in the case to notify him by April 20 whether they will be present throughout the trial, scheduled to start April 25 in Manhattan federal court. And later in the day, he rejected a request that names of anonymous jurors be released to lawyers, saying Trump’s latest public statements about a criminal case against him in state court show jurors might be harassed if their identities got out. READ MORE https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/will-trump-attend-civil-rape-trial-judge-wants-know-rcna79091

A group of China-skeptic lawmakers from around the world criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s “ill-judged remarks” on Taiwan, made in a recent interview with POLITICO. Macron’s comments “not only disregard the vital place of Taiwan in the global economy, but undermines decades-long commitment of the international community to maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait,” the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) said Monday in a statement. “It should be emphasized that the president’s words are severely out of step with the feeling across Europe’s legislatures and beyond,” read the statement, which was signed by lawmakers including 15 MPs from national legislatures in the EU — including one from Macron’s own party in France, as well as three MEPs and 13 U.K. parliamentarians. READ MORE https://www.politico.eu/article/china-skeptic-mps-emmanuel-macron-speak-europe/

Fedha appeared as a woman with light-coloured hair, wearing a black jacket and white T-shirt A Kuwaiti media outlet says it has created a virtual news presenter using artificial intelligence (AI). "Fedha" made her debut on the Twitter account of Kuwait News, an affiliate of the Kuwait Times. She appears as an image of a woman with light-coloured hair, wearing a black jacket and white T-shirt. READ MORE https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-65238950

Former President Donald J. Trump has a minor addition to his mounting pile of legal challenges after he failed to meet the deadline to disclose his personal financial holdings. But the threatened initial penalty — a meager $200 — is the latest sign of how weak federal enforcement of campaign laws has become. The personal financial disclosure will eventually provide the first look at Mr. Trump’s post-presidential businesses, including his holdings in Truth Social, the social media company he helped create. READ MORE https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/10/us/politics/trump-campaign-fec-filing.html Archive no paywall

US President Joe Biden says his trip to the island of Ireland will underscore the United States' commitment to peace and prosperity. He is due to arrive in Belfast later, where he'll be met by the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The pair will hold a bilateral meeting on Wednesday, after which President Biden will deliver remarks commemorating the Good Friday Agreement at Ulster University. READ MORE https://news.sky.com/story/joe-biden-set-to-arrive-in-northern-ireland-to-mark-25-years-of-the-good-friday-agreement-12854824

For many, it may sound like a good idea: reducing everyday journeys to a quarter of an hour on foot, by bike or by public transport, with the goal of helping citizens to better meet basic needs. This is what the 15-minute city concept sets out to achieve. "We need to make cities for walking, for having more medical services, educational activities, for the needs of our daily tasks, to make cities livable," says Carlos Moreno, a professor at Paris's Sorbonne University who has been credited with developing the concept. READ MORE https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-are-15-minute-cities-creating-new-lockdowns-and-movement-restrictions/a-65226117

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As Congress considers ways to avoid defaulting on the nation’s debt, the latest Fox News survey finds most voters see the national debt situation as a major problem, if not a crisis. And while majorities also see the funding of Social Security as a problem or crisis, they would rather continue funding entitlement programs than reduce the federal budget deficit. While a large majority call the debt situation a major problem (50%), if not a crisis (28%) – fewer feel that way than did a decade ago. READ MORE https://www.foxnews.com/official-polls/fox-news-poll-71-choose-funding-social-security-medicare-over-budget-cuts

The Biden administration is asking a judge to clarify how the federal government is supposed to comply with Friday’s dueling court orders on the abortion pill mifepristone, even as Justice Department lawyers move to have one of those decisions put on ice. One ruling, from a conservative judge in Amarillo, Texas, essentially invalidated the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug. The other ruling, issued about 20 minutes later by a liberal judge in Spokane, Wash., directed the FDA to maintain access to it in much of the country. READ MORE https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/10/dueling-abortion-pill-rulings-put-biden-administration-in-legal-pickle-00091286

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The previous registrar had spent nearly three decades in the job, and Taylor, 37, hoped to do the same when she was first hired in 2019. She loved her staff and the volunteer poll workers, and she took pride in the detail-oriented work. She implemented dozens of new laws in 2020, ran elections through the pandemic and impressed many in the rural, conservative, tight-knit community of Buckingham County. But then the voter fraud claims started. READ MORE https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/buckingham-county-virginia-election-staff-quits-baseless-voter-fraud-rcna76435

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Off topic post deflecting the cost of the Ukraine war to the West with the pay of nurses in the UK