U.S. wholesale prices fell last month in another sign that inflationary pressures are easing. But President Donald Trump’s trade wars cloud the outlook. The Labor Department said Friday that its producer price index — which tracks inflation before it hits consumers — fell 0.4% from February, first drop since October 2023. Compared with a year earlier, producer prices rose 2.7%, down from a 3.2% year-over-year gain in February and much lower than the 3.3% economists had forecast. Gasoline prices fell 11.1% from February and egg prices, which had skyrocketed because of bird flu, plummeted 21.3%. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale inflation fell 0.1% from February, the first drop since July.

Weeks after ordering all Food and Drug Administration employees back into the office, the agency is reversing course, allowing some of its most prized staffers to work remotely amid worries that recent layoffs and resignations could jeopardize basic functions, like approving new medicines. An internal email obtained by The Associated Press states that FDA leadership are “allowing review staff and supervisors to resume telework” at least two days a week. The policy shift was confirmed by three FDA staffers who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal agency matters. The message was sent Tuesday to some of the FDA’s hundreds of drug reviewers.

A Japanese pilot slammed his Zero fighter plane into the USS Missouri and ignited a fireball on April 11, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa. The suicide attack instantly killed the pilot, but none of the battleship’s crew members were badly hurt. The Missouri’s captain ordered a military burial at sea with full honors, marking one of the more unusual and little-known episodes of World War II. The pilot received the same funeral that the ship would have given one of its own sailors. Eighty years later, the Missouri is a museum moored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, not far from the submerged hull of the USS Arizona, which sank in the 1941 Japanese bombing that propelled the U.S. into the war.

The Senate confirmed retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, filling the position almost two months after President Donald Trump fired his predecessor. Trump nominated Caine to become the top U.S. military officer in February after abruptly firing Gen. CQ Brown Jr., the second Black general to serve as chairman, as part of his Republican administration’s campaign to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks. The Senate confirmed Caine 60-25 in an overnight vote before heading home for a two-week recess. Caine is a decorated F-16 combat pilot who served in leadership in multiple special operations commands, in some of the Pentagon’s most classified programs and in the CIA.

A woman in Australia unknowingly gave birth to a stranger’s baby after she received another patient’s embryo from her in vitro fertilization clinic due to “human error,” the clinic said. The mix-up was discovered in February when the clinic in the city of Brisbane found that the birth parents had one too many embryos in storage, said the provider, Monash IVF, in a statement supplied Friday. Staff discovered an embryo from another patient had been mistakenly thawed and transferred to the birth mother, a spokesperson said. Australia news outlets reported the baby was born in 2024. Monash IVF didn’t confirm how old the child was. The company, one of Australia’s biggest IVF providers, said an initial investigation had not uncovered any other such errors.

Australian opposition leader Peter Dutton confirmed on Friday that his family home had been the target of an alleged bomb plot, but said concerns for his personal safety did not restrict his election campaigning. Dutton is campaigning to replace Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at elections on May 3. Both leaders are accompanied in public by Australian Federal Police security teams as they crisscross the country for weeks. “I’m incredibly grateful to the AFP that my family are kept safe. I’ve never felt unsafe one day in this job, particularly with the protection from the AFP. It hasn’t stopped me from doing anything, and it won’t on this campaign,” Dutton told reporters in Perth.

A Turkish court has sentenced six individuals, including three members of the same family, to a combined total of 100 years in prison for conducting espionage on behalf of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, according to Turkish media reports published Thursday. The Istanbul 23rd Heavy Penal Court handed down the sentences following a lengthy investigation and surveillance operation led by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT). The group was arrested in April 2024 in Istanbul. At the center of the case is Ahmet Ersin Tumlucalı, an insurance company owner, who was convicted of running a covert network that carried out surveillance operations for Mossad.

FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker and senior officials from the Department met with Jewish community leaders from across New York City on Tuesday, to discuss fire safety ahead of the Passover holiday. The meeting took place at FDNY Headquarters in Brooklyn and focused on proactive measures to help ensure a safe and joyous celebration. “We want everyone to have a happy Passover, and that means being smart when it comes to celebrating,” said Commissioner Tucker. “The FDNY will be out in your community ensuring you have a safe holiday.” The Commissioner emphasized the Department’s ongoing commitment to working closely with community organizations to promote fire safety awareness during the Yom Tov season.

A man was taken into custody early Friday morning after attempting to rob a deli cashier at machete-point near New Utrecht Avenue and 55th Street. The incident unfolded around 1 a.m. when Boro Park Shomrim received a hotline call about a suspicious individual. Volunteers kept a close watch as the suspect entered a local deli. After being refused by the cashier, the man reportedly pulled out a large machete and demanded money. Shomrim immediately alerted the NYPD and helped guide responding officers, who arrested the suspect moments later on 13th Avenue. The large machete was recovered from the suspect’s pocket, as seen in the video below. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

A subway tunnel under construction near Seoul collapsed on Friday, likely leaving two workers trapped at the site, officials said. The National Fire Agency said in a statement that authorities were mobilizing 55 rescue workers and 18 vehicles to rescue possible victims. The collapse happened at Gwangmyeong, a city just south of Seoul. Gwangmyeong city officials said authorities earlier withdrew workers from the construction site and stopped traffic around the area after receiving reports that a ventilation shaft at the site was at a risk of collapse. The officials said it wasn’t immediately known whether any workers re-entered the site. (AP)