War may drive up costs for petroleum products

The Iran war’s most tangible and immediate effect for many people outside the Middle East has been spiking gasoline prices. But crude oil isn’t just refined as fuel. Petrochemicals derived from oil and natural gas go into making more than 6,000 consumer products.

A list produced by the U.S. Department of Energy includes everyday items ranging from computer keyboards, lipstick, tennis rackets and chewing gum to aspirin, umbrellas and nylon guitar strings. Petroleum derivatives also are used in a lot of product packaging.

MrBeast employee alleges harassment

A former Beast Industries employee is suing MrBeast’s media production company after she was allegedly fired from her social media manager job upon returning from maternity leave and following years of what she described as sexual harassment and workplace gender bias.

The lawsuit, filed by Lorrayne Mavromatis in federal court in North Carolina on Wednesday, accuses MrBeastYouTube, LLC and GameChanger 24/7, LLC of violating federal law that entitles eligible employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for qualifying family and medical reasons, including childbirth.

US stocks rally, but Brent oil also tops $100

The U.S. stock market set more records after GE Vernova and other big companies joined the parade reporting fatter profits for the start of the year than analysts expected. But oil prices rose on uncertainty about what will happen in the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 rallied 1% and topped its prior all-time high set on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite set its own record after climbing 1.6%. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil briefly topped $102.

Trump’s Truth Social stock keeps falling

The Trump family’s alternative to Facebook and Twitter is shaking up its leadership in hopes of reviving the struggling business.

Failing to gain a wide audience, the Truth Social platform has lost $1.1 billion in the past two years under former Republican congressman Devin Nunes. It’s not clear how to fix the problems.

Water to surge into drought-depleted lake

Desert canyons in eastern Utah will be churning this spring with huge volumes of water in a desperate attempt to keep a reservoir on the Colorado River generating electricity.

Federal officials plan to release enough water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming and Utah to lower its level by as much as 27 feet over the next year. The goal is to bring up the level of Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah line. A decades-long drought has Lake Powell at just 23% capacity and approaching the point where water won’t be able to flow into its turbines without air causing damage.

EU close to approving $106B loan for Ukraine

The European Union is close to approving a $106 billion loan package to support Ukraine’s military and financial needs for the next two years.

Cyprus, which holds the rotating EU presidency, launched a political procedure that could see the loan approved on Thursday. The loan package has been stalled since December due to Hungary’s veto.

AI firm aims to debunk Pentagon’s claims

Anthropic on Wednesday told an appeals court that it can’t manipulate its artificial intelligence tool Claude once it is deployed in classified Pentagon military networks.

The assertion aims to debunk the Trump administration’s attempt to brand the rapidly growing technology company as a supply chain risk.