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The top U.S. antitrust enforcer has told Reuters that so-called acquihires, whereby firms - notably in the technology sector - pay ​large sums in deals with startups to ​take their technology and talent, but stop short of ⁠formally acquiring the target, are a “red flag.” Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed ​Assefi said: "When I see conduct that appears aimed to circumvent [the formal merger review process], as a litigator, as an enforcer, that's more of a red flag to ​me than if ​you had ⁠just participated and complied [with the review process]." Assefi said companies should be willing to engage ​in ⁠the merger review process.

 

Reuters

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The Federal Reserve has voted 11-1 to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.5%–3.75% for a second straight meeting, signaling potential rate cuts later this year even as rising oil prices tied to the Iran conflict threaten to keep inflation elevated. Policymakers remain divided as inflation has ticked up to 3.1%, while the labor market shows signs of softening with job losses and unemployment rising to 4.4%. The war-driven energy shock has increased uncertainty, making it harder for the Fed to balance slowing growth against persistent price pressures. The outlook is further complicated by disagreement within the Fed over whether policy is restrictive enough, with one official dissenting in favor of a rate cut, and by a looming leadership transition as Chair Jerome Powell’s term nears its May expiration amid delays confirming a successor. He said he will not resign his separate position as a governor until a Department of Justice probe of the central bank is “is well and truly over, with transparency and finality.” 

 

Bloomberg

CNBC

Washington Post

Wall Street Journal

Jerome Powell, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, said on Wednesday that he would continue to lead the central bank until his replacement, Kevin Warsh, was confirmed by the Senate. Powell also said he will not leave his Board of Governors position, which technically extends until early 2028, until the Department of Justice investigation of him is “well and truly over with transparency and finality.” Critics say the investigation is part of a broader, politically motivated pressure campaign on Powell and the institution, with the goal of having him lower interest rates or resign, CNBC notes.

 

Axios

CNBC

New York Times

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has urged companies to strengthen the security of Microsoft's endpoint management tool, ​after a March 11 cyberattack on medical device maker Stryker's computer systems that caused widespread disruption to its business. ​The company said it had experienced a global ⁠disruption to its Microsoft environment.

 

Reuters

The Trump administration has in a court filing said that the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic was justified and lawful, and it opposes the artificial intelligence lab’s ​lawsuit challenging the decision. The legal filing says Anthropic is unlikely to succeed on its claims that its speech protections were violated under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, asserting the dispute stems from contract ​negotiations and national security concerns rather than retaliation. "It was only when Anthropic refused to release the ⁠restrictions on the use of its products - which refusal is conduct, not protected speech - that the President ​directed all federal agencies to terminate their business relationships with Anthropic," the filing from ​the U.S. Justice Department said, observing that "no one has purported to restrict Anthropic’s expressive activity."

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

Business Insider

Mining majors Rio Tinto and BHP have secured key land needed to advance the Resolution Copper project in Arizona. The long-contested federal land exchange was finalized after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled on March 13 in favor of the project developers and the federal government, denying requests by opponents to halt the transfer. Reuters says the move marks what is likely the end of a long-running and complex legal fight in which the religious rights of the San Carlos Apache people ​were pitted against rising demand for copper for the energy transition. Multiple courts, including the Supreme Court, had repeatedly rejected their requests to block the project.

 

Metal.com

Mining Weekly

Reuters

Microsoft is weighing legal action against its partner OpenAI and Amazon over a $50bn deal that could violate its exclusive ​cloud agreement with the ChatGPT maker, the Financial Times reports. The dispute ​centres on whether OpenAI can offer Frontier via Amazon Web Services without violating the ​Microsoft partnership, which requires the start-up's models to be accessed through the ⁠Windows-OS maker's Azure cloud platform.

 

Financial Times

Reuters

Encyclopedia Britannica and its subsidiary Merriam-Webster have sued OpenAI, alleging the company committed copyright infringement by scraping their articles to train its AI. Britannica also accuses OpenAI of violating copyright laws when it generates outputs that contain “full or partial verbatim reproductions” of its content and when the AI lab uses its articles in ChatGPT’s RAG (retrieval augmented generation) workflow. “ChatGPT starves web publishers like [Britannica] of revenue by generating responses to users’ queries that substitute, and directly compete with, the content from publishers like [Britannica],” the lawsuit says.

 

TechCrunch

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts has said hostility toward individual Supreme Court members is creating a dangerous environment, in his first public comments since President Donald Trump slammed justices who had voted to strike down his global tariffs. Following that ruling, Trump said justices who ruled against him were “fools,” “lapdogs,” “unpatriotic,” “disloyal to our Constitution” and “an embarrassment to their families.” Roberts did not mention the U.S. president by name in his remarks at an event at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “The problem sometimes is that the criticism can move from a focus on legal analysis to personalities, and you see . . . that it’s more directed in a personal way,” Roberts said. “And that, frankly, can be quite dangerous.” He added: “Judges around the country work very hard to get it right. And if they don’t, their opinions are subject to criticism. But personally directed hostility is dangerous and it’s got to stop.”

 

The Hill

Bloomberg

Houston Chronicle

NBC News

The Guardian

Attorney General Pam Bondi has been subpoenaed by Congress to address questions regarding the Justice Department's investigation into convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and the management of millions of related files. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has scheduled her deposition for April 14, following a vote supported by five Republicans. Rep. James Comer emphasized the need for Bondi's insights, saying: “The Committee has questions regarding the Department of Justice's handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.” The Justice Department has labeled the subpoena as “completely unnecessary” and has defended its actions, asserting that it has worked diligently to review and release documents as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Critics, however, have accused the department of over-redacting files and mishandling sensitive information.

 

U.S. News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to Novo Nordisk for failing to report serious adverse events related to its medications, Ozempic and Wegovy. In a letter dated March 5, the FDA highlighted "serious violations" in safety reporting for semaglutide, the active ingredient in both medications. Notably, the company did not report three deaths, including a suicide, by the legal deadline. The FDA emphasised that the letter does not imply the drugs caused these events but raises concerns about the timeliness of safety information sharing. Novo Nordisk said it is addressing the issues raised.

 

U.S. News

Italy’s antitrust watchdog has announced a fact‑finding inquiry into the quantum computing sector, citing risks linked to ​market concentration, technological lock‑in and the growing impact on access of ‌large cloud "hyperscalers" that have begun offering quantum computing capabilities. The authority has concerns ⁠that onerous investment requirements, a ​sharp increase in ​quantum‑related patent ⁠filings, and reliance on ​proprietary hardware and software could favor a small number of ​dominant players. Reuters notes that Alphabet's Google, Amazon and Microsoft are among technology firms that are investing in quantum computing.

 

Reuters

A strike at South Korea's Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of ‌memory chips, could worsen bottlenecks in the global supply of semiconductors, the biggest workers' union at the company has said. "I expect there would be production disruption," Choi Seung-ho, who leads the Samsung Electronics Labour Union (SELU), said last week, as members began voting on a plan to strike in May. If a deal cannot be agreed, the union plans a strike for 18 days from May 21, Choi said. An official for Samsung said production ⁠stoppages caused by "even a single strike" could damage trust with customers and take years to recover.

 

Reuters

The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) is calling on U.S. lawmakers to update the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) to better reflect the role of internal auditing in corporate governance and compliance. In a new position paper, the IIA argues that while SOX has been central to financial reporting integrity since 2002, it does not explicitly recognize internal audit functions. The group recommends clarifying the definition and role of internal auditing in law, strengthening coordination between internal and external auditors, and reassessing compliance requirements under key SOX provisions. It also suggests leveraging technology and internal audit capabilities to reduce compliance costs. The proposal comes amid renewed political interest in reviewing SOX, and aims to improve efficiency while maintaining strong investor protections as the risk environment evolves.

 

Accounting Today