New York City in brief

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported March’s inflation at 3.3%, the highest since mid-2024, with food, gasoline, and rent doing much of the heavy lifting. The recent flare-up in Iran boosted global oil prices, pushing key costs up while wage increases failed to keep pace—real earnings fell 0.6%. Jerome Powell at the Fed admits reining in prices now requires more “complicated” choreography than anticipated.

New York officials dismantled three fentanilo-packaging factories in the Bronx and Manhattan, seizing some 42kg of the opioid (worth $7.5m), cash, and firearms, and charging eight suspects. All three labs, replete with industrial tools and ominously branded baggies, worked barely five kilometres apart—one so conveniently located, it put the Bronx Zoo and local schools within accidental narcos’ reach. The city’s public health crisis remains unconvinced.

From December, all American men will be automatically registered for the military draft at 18, thanks to Congress’s updated Defence Authorisation Act—a move the Selective Service System hopes will reverse declining sign-ups and cut red tape. Women remain exempt, and an actual draft still requires a separate legal step, but at least the paperwork might now march in step, even if the nation doesn’t.

Sixteen attorneys general, led by California and Illinois, have sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, accusing it of gutting fair housing rules by sidelining “disparate impact” protections—a move cheered by Trump-era holdovers. While HUD manages a $77.3 billion budget, only $86 million goes to fair housing; private groups, not Washington, field most complaints. Progress may be slow, but the rent for justice apparently never drops.

After 21 hours holed up in Islamabad, US and Iranian officials managed nothing more conclusive than some very tired translators, as J.D. Vance announced talks ended with no progress: Tehran refused to swear off a nuclear weapon, Washington stuck to its conditions, and the two sides eyed the Strait of Hormuz—still blocked, still spooking oil markets. We suppose hope remains slightly more buoyant than maritime traffic.