Free Republic

The roller coaster of this year’s United Nations Climate Conference (COP28) has ended with a historic new agreement: For the first time, world governments have said countries should transition away from fossil fuels. The deal comes after days of tense negotiations, especially over the fossil fuel language, which caused the Dubai conference to stretch into overtime. Climate advocates have praised it as a step forward, but also raised concerns about potential loopholes in its language and criticized it for not going further as the climate crisis deepens — and fossil fuel production continues to increase.

The consumer price index (CPI) fell to a 5 percent annual increase in March from 6 percent in February, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, dropping a full percentage point as prices for goods ranging from fresh produce to automobiles became cheaper. That’s the lowest level of annual consumer inflation since May 2021. Prices have been coming down since last June, when they topped out at a 9.1 percent annual increase.