美國計劃自動登記男性兵役資格

Recently BBC reported the following:

US plans to automatically register men for military draft eligibility

BBC - Bernd Debusmann Jr - White House reporter

9 Apr 2026

Young American men could be automatically registered for eligibility for the military draft as soon as December, ending decades of self-registration.

The new rule, proposed by a government agency, would see men being registered automatically rather than being asked to do so themselves within 30 days of their 18th birthday.

Proponents of the plan say that automatic registrations will save the government millions of dollars that are spent every year reminding those eligible that registration is required by law for men between 18 and 25.

The rule is still being reviewed and must be approved before implementation, though has prompted fears of mandatory US conscription in the event of a crisis.

The last US military draft took place in 1973 after years of massive public opposition during the Vietnam War.

The government agency, the Selective Service System (SSS), submitted the proposal to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on 30 March, according to the office's website.

The SSS website notes that the change "transfers responsibility for registration from individual men to SSS" through integration with other federal data sources, which it believes will result in a "streamlined" process.

In the US, most men between the ages of 18 and 25 are already required to register. Failing to do so is a crime, and can theoretically lead to five years in federal prison.

While prison sentences are virtually non-existent, failing to do so can also lead to an individual being made ineligible for federal student financial aid and federal jobs. Non-citizens who do not register can also be denied US citizenship.

A vast majority of US states and territories also automatically register men for selective service when driver's licenses are issued.

Despite those rules, compliance fell to 81% in 2024, according to government data.

The new change in favour of automatic registration was approved by Congress in December as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorises funding for the US military and its operations around the globe.

Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Chrissy Houlahan, who sponsored the language, was quoted as saying at the time that the move would allow the government to "rededicate resources".

"Basically that means money, towards readiness and towards mobilisation," Houlahan was quoted as saying by Military Times. "Rather than towards education and advertising campaigns driven to register people."

The change, however, prompted fears among some Americans that the US is moving towards a military draft if the war with Iran escalates or a crisis breaks out in the future.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt directly addressed a question on the draft and the possibility of US troops on the ground in Iran during an interview with Fox News in early March.

"It's not part of the current plan right now, but the president, again, wisely keeps his options on table," Leavitt responded. "There's no greater priority or responsibility to this president than, of course, protecting the American people and protecting our troops."

A wartime draft has been implemented by the US government six times in the country's history, most recently during the Vietnam War.

Approximately 1.8 million Americans were drafted during the war, which ultimately led to the creation of an all-volunteer military in 1973. Selective service registration was reinstated by then-President Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Translation

美國計劃自動登記男性兵役資格

最早由12月開起，美國年輕男性可能將自動登記入伍，結束數十年來自行登記的製度。

這項由政府機構提出的新規將要求男性在年滿18歲後的30天內會被自動登記，而不是像以往那樣被要求自行登記。

該計劃的支持者表示，自動登記將為政府節省數百萬美元，這些費用每年都用於提醒符合資格的18至25歲男性依法必須進行兵役登記。

該規定仍在審查中，必須獲得批准才能實施，但已引發人們對美國在危機情況下強制徵兵的擔憂。

在越戰期間經歷了多年的大規模公眾反對之後，美國最後一次實行徵兵制是在 1973 年。

根據美國聯邦資訊與監管事務辦公室網站顯示，美國兵役登記局（SSS）於3月30日向該辦公室提交了這項提案。

SSS網站指出，這項變更將透過與其他聯邦資料來源整合， “把登記責任從個人轉移到SSS” ，並認為這將使流程更加 “精簡” 。

在美國，大多數18至25歲的男性已被要求進行兵役登記。未登記屬於犯罪行為，理論上可判處五年聯邦監禁。

雖然監禁刑罰實際上並不存在，但未登記也可能導致個人失去聯邦學生資助和聯邦政府工作的資格。未登記的非公民也可能被拒絕授予美國公民身份。

絕大多數美國州和地區在發放駕照時也會自動登記男性加入兵役。

儘管有這些規定，但根據政府數據，2024年的登記率已降至81%。

去年12月，國會批准了自動登記的新規定，作為《國防授權法案》的一部分。該法案授權為美國軍方及其在全球的行動提供資金。

賓州民主黨眾議員Chrissy Houlahan是該條款的發起人，她當時表示，此舉將使政府能夠「重新分配資源」。

據《軍事時報》報道，Houlahan說：“這基本上意味著將資金用於戰備和動員，而不是用於教育民眾去登記和去做廣告宣傳活動。”

然而這改变令一些美國人擔心，如果與伊朗的戰爭升級或未來出現危機，美國可能會因此轉向徵兵制。

白宮新聞秘書Karoline Leavitt在3月初接受霍仕新聞採訪時，直接回答了有關徵兵和美軍可能在伊朗駐紮的問題。

Leavitt回應: 「這不屬於現行計劃的一部份，但總統再次明智地保留了所有選項」; 「對這位總統而言，最重要的任務和責任當然是保護美國公民和保護我們的軍隊」。

美國歷史上曾六次實行戰時徵兵制，最近一次是在越戰期間。

戰爭期間約有180萬美國人被徵召入伍，最終促成了1973年全志願兵役制的成立。 1980年，時任總統卡特恢復了兵役登記制度。

So, young American men could be automatically registered for eligibility for the military draft as soon as December, ending decades of self-registration. The new rule would see men being registered automatically rather than being asked to do so themselves within 30 days of their 18th birthday. The change, however, prompted fears among some Americans that the US is moving towards a military draft if the war with Iran escalates or a crisis breaks out in the future. I am wondering whether this change will be implemented as there may be political hurdles to be overcome.

微生物如何爬行（2/2）

Recently the New York Times reported the following:

How Microbes Got Their Crawl (2/2)

In the oceans and on land, scientists are discovering rare, transitional organisms that bridge the gap between Earth’s simplest cells and today’s complex ones.

The NYT - By Carl Zimmer - Carl Zimmer covers news about science for The Times and writes the Origins column.

ORIGINS

Feb. 18, 2026

(continue)

Even as scientists have improved at finding Asgard DNA, they are still struggling to study live Asgard cells. Christa Schleper, a microbiologist at the University of Vienna, and her colleagues spent eight years figuring out how to grow Asgards that they had found in oxygen-free sediment on the coast of Slovenia.

At last, the researchers put some live Asgards on glass slides and trained a video camera on them. When they sped up the footage, they saw the microbes crawling across the slide — the first time anyone had seen them in motion.

“There was a lot of shouting and jumping,” recalled Philipp Radler, a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Schleper’s lab.

The movement of the Asgards offers some tantalizing clues to the origin of eukaryotes. They crawl by reshaping their cellular skeleton, building long tentacles that they use to reach out and grip the slide. Other prokaryotes don’t move this way — but eukaryotes do. The videos suggest that Asgards evolved some of the key hallmarks of eukaryotes, such as a skeleton they could use to crawl, long before eukaryotes existed.

Other scientists have also been investigating another crucial step in the origin of eukaryotes: how they gained mitochondria.

The ancestors of mitochondria must have been microbes that breathed oxygen, and so must have lived where oxygen was abundant. Asgards that lived in oxygen-free sediments would not have encountered them. But Dr. Baker’s new study offers some clues into how this monumental meet-up may have happened.

Dr. Baker and his colleagues have found many new Asgards thriving in coastal waters with high levels of oxygen. A close look at their genes revealed hints that they use the oxygen for their metabolism.

“They appear to breathe oxygen and eat organic carbon — which is very familiar to us because we’re doing that right now,” Dr. Baker said.

Dr. Archibald said that scientists had come up with a lot of different scenarios for how eukaryotes evolved, but that it was hard to evaluate them without solid data. The Asgards that Dr. Baker and other researchers are finding now bring the origin of eukaryotes into sharper focus.

“We’re really breaking down impasses with real organisms,” Dr. Archibald said.

Dr. Baker and his colleagues now argue that the first steps on the path to eukaryotes took place on early Earth, when it lacked oxygen. Early Asgard microbes evolved a cellular skeleton, using it to creep around the ocean floor.

Earth’s atmosphere started to change around 2.5 billion years ago. Certain bacteria evolved photosynthesis, enabling them to absorb carbon dioxide and sunlight to grow. They cast off oxygen as waste. That oxygen gradually built up in the atmosphere, and then penetrated shallow coastal waters.

For many microbes, the new oxygen was toxic. But some Asgard microbes that lived in coastal waters adapted to withstand oxygen, and then to thrive on it. “And then they passed that on to eukaryotes,” Dr. Baker speculated.

Dr. Baker also suspects that Asgard microbes encountered bacteria that would become mitochondria in oxygen-rich coastal waters. He points to his team’s survey of the sea off the coast of China, where they found bacteria closely related to mitochondria living in the same sediments as Asgard microbes.

Once Asgards gained mitochondria, they dramatically ramped up their oxygen-based metabolism. These new eukaryotes gained an abundant energy supply that allowed them to grow larger with more capabilities, like preying on prokaryotes. The world would never be the same.

Kathryn Appler, a microbial ecologist at the Pasteur Institute who worked on the new study with Dr. Baker, said that scientists do not have to travel back two billion years to test this hypothesis. Instead, they can search coastal waters today. It’s possible that living Asgards are following the same path that the first eukaryotes took, forming intimate partnerships with bacteria.

“It keeps me up at night sometimes, wondering what is happening in the sediments today,” Dr. Appler said.

Translation

微生物如何爬行（2/2）

在海洋和陸地上，科學家正在發現一些罕見的過渡生物，它們連接著地球上最簡單的細胞和如今複雜的細胞

2026年2月18日

（繼續）

儘管科學家在尋找阿斯嘉德DNA方面取得了進展，但他們仍在努力研究活的阿斯嘉德細胞。維也納大學的微生物學家Christa Schleper和她的同事們花了八年時間，才弄清楚如何培養他們在斯洛維尼亞海岸缺氧沉積物中發現的阿斯加德。

最終，研究人員將一些活的阿斯嘉德放在載玻片上，並用攝影機拍攝。當他們加快影片播放速度時，他們看到這些微生物在載玻片上爬行 - 這是人們第一次看到它們動作。

 Schleper博士的實驗室的博士後研究員回憶道: 「當時一片歡呼雀躍」。

阿斯嘉德的動作為真核生物的起源提供了一些令人著迷的線索。它們透過重塑細胞骨架來爬行，形成長長的觸手，用來伸出並抓住玻片。其他原核生物不會以這種方式移動 - 但真核生物會。這些影片表明，阿斯嘉德早在真核生物出現之前就進化出了真核生物的一些關鍵特徵，例如可以用來爬行的骨骼。

其他科學家也在研究真核生物起源的另一個關鍵步驟：它們是如何獲得粒線體(mitochondria) 的。

粒線體的祖先一定是呼吸氧氣的微生物，因此它們一定是生活在氧氣豐富的環境中。生活在無氧沉積物中的阿斯加德生物不會遇到它。但Baker博士的新研究為我們揭示了這場意義非凡的相遇是如何發生的。

Baker博士及其同事在富含氧氣的沿海水域中發現了許多新的「阿斯嘉德生物」。仔細分析它們的基因後發現，它們似乎利用氧氣進行新陳代謝。

Baker博士說: 「它們似乎呼吸氧氣，並進食有機碳 - 這對我們來說非常熟悉，因為我們現在就在這樣做」。

Archibald博士表示，科學家提出了許多關於真核生物如何演化的不同設想，但由於缺乏可靠的數據，很難對這些設想進行評估。Baker博士和其他研究人員現在發現的「阿斯嘉德生物」使真核生物的起源問題更加更加明確清晰。

Archibald博士說: 「我們正在用真實的生物體打破僵局」。

Baker博士及其同事現在認為，真核生物進化的第一步發生在早期地球上，當時地球上缺乏氧氣。早期的阿斯嘉微生物進化出了細胞骨架，並利用它在海底爬行。

大約25億年前，地球大氣層開始改變。某些細菌進化出了光合作用，使它們能夠吸收二氧化碳和陽光來生長。它們將氧氣作為廢物排出。這些氧氣逐漸在大氣中積累，然後滲透到淺海沿岸水域。

對許多微生物來說，這種新的氧氣是有毒的。但一些生活在沿海水域的阿斯嘉微生物適應了氧氣，最終在氧氣中繁衍生息。 Baker博士推測道: 「然後它們將這種能力傳給了真核生物」。

Baker博士也懷疑，阿斯嘉德微生物在富氧的沿岸水域中遇到了一些最終演化成粒線體的細菌。他指出，他的團隊對中國沿海海域進行了調查，在那裡，他們在與阿斯嘉德微生物相同的沉積物中發現了與粒線體密切相關的細菌。

阿斯嘉德微生物一旦擁有了粒線體，其以氧為基礎的代謝能力就顯著提升。這些新的真核生物獲得了豐富的能量來源，使其體型更大，能力更強，例如能夠捕食原核生物。世界從此發生了翻天覆地的變化。

巴斯德研究所的微生物生態學家Kathryn Appler與Baker博士共同參與了這項新研究。她表示，科學家們無需穿越回20億年前來驗證這項假設。他們只需在當今的沿海水域進行探索即可。或許，現在的阿斯嘉德微生物正沿著最先出現的真核生物所走過的路，與細菌建立起緊密的共生關係。

Appler博士說道: 「有時我會為此徹夜難眠，思考如今的沉積物中正在究竟發生了什麼」。

              So, new studies are shedding light on one of the biggest steps in the history of life: the evolution two billion years ago of complex cells from simpler ones. Earth’s atmosphere started to change around 2.5 billion years ago. Certain bacteria evolved photosynthesis, enabling them to absorb carbon dioxide and sunlight to grow. They cast off oxygen as waste. For many microbes, the new oxygen was toxic. But some Asgard microbes that lived in coastal waters adapted to withstand oxygen, and then to thrive on it. And then probably they passed that on to eukaryotes. Once Asgard gained mitochondria, they dramatically ramped up their oxygen-based metabolism. These new eukaryotes gained an abundant energy supply that allowed them to grow larger with more capabilities, such as preying on prokaryotes. Probably, this process is still taking place in our environment somewhere.

Note:

1. A mitochondrion (pl. mitochondria) (線粒體) is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used throughout the cell as a source of chemical energy. They were discovered by Albert von Kölliker in 1857 in the voluntary muscles of insects. The term mitochondrion, meaning a thread-like granule, was coined by Carl Benda in 1898. The mitochondrion is popularly nicknamed the "powerhouse of the cell", a phrase popularized by Philip Siekevitz in a 1957 Scientific American article of the same name. (Wikipedia)

微生物如何爬行（1/2）

Recently the New York Times reported the following:

How Microbes Got Their Crawl (1/2)

In the oceans and on land, scientists are discovering rare, transitional organisms that bridge the gap between Earth’s simplest cells and today’s complex ones.

The NYT - By Carl Zimmer - Carl Zimmer covers news about science for The Times and writes the Origins column.

ORIGINS

Feb. 18, 2026

A flurry of new studies is shedding light on one of the biggest steps in the history of life: the evolution two billion years ago of complex cells from simpler ones. In the oceans and on land, scientists are discovering rare, transitional microbes that bridge the gap.

The differences between complex cells, including those in the human body, and simple microbes such as E. coli are stark. Complex cells are packed with compartments; one, known as the nucleus, stores DNA; others, called mitochondria, contain enzymes that generate the cell’s fuel supply. Complex cells are also supported internally by a mesh of filaments, that they use to crawl by breaking down parts of it and building new extensions.

E. coli has none of that: no skeleton, no mitochondria, no nucleus.

These differences, and many others, form one of the deepest divisions in the natural world. Species composed of complex cells are eukaryotes, a group that include animals, plants and fungi, along with protozoans. Simple microbes like E. coli are known as prokaryotes.

Prokaryotes arose more than four billion years ago. Eukaryotes emerged much later, somewhere between 2.5 and two billion years ago. How complex eukaryotes evolved from simpler prokaryotes has left scientists scratching their heads for decades.

In the 1990s, one important clue came from close studies of mitochondria, the fuel factories of the eukaryote cell. Researchers discovered a tiny set of genes inside mitochondria that was not at all like the DNA in the nucleus. Instead, mitochondria have a strong genetic link to bacteria that use oxygen to produce fuel.

That discovery suggested that the ancestors of eukaryotes swallowed oxygen-fueled bacteria and then used them to generate their own fuel. But that insight still left many questions about eukaryotes unanswered. For instance, what sort of organism was the original cell that engulfed mitochondria?

A major clue came in 2015. Scientists extracted fragments of DNA from sediment scooped up from the floor of the Arctic Ocean, and then pieced them together into entire genomes of sediment-dwelling microbes. One turned out to be unlike anything found before: a prokaryote with numerous genes previously found only in eukaryotes.

Among those eukaryote genes were some that were involved in building cellular skeletons. Others help build compartments in which eukaryote cells break down old proteins.

Scientists began looking for other members of this eukaryote-like lineage. The search at first was achingly slow, and most of the discoveries came to light in deep-sea sediments. Scientists named the lineage Asgard, after the home of the gods in Norse mythology.

Brett Baker, a microbial ecologist at the University of Texas at Austin, has spent the last few years speeding up the search. He and his colleagues have gone on Asgard-hunting expeditions to deep-sea sites off the coast of California and in shallow coastal waters in China. Back at their lab, the researchers used powerful new techniques to find DNA from rare microbes.

The search has paid off, as the scientists reported on Wednesday. They found 404 new species of Asgard on their expeditions. They also discovered that databases from previous surveys contained 30 more Asgard genomes that had gone overlooked. All told, in a single study, the scientists have nearly doubled the total diversity of known Asgards.

“We’ve exploded the diversity of Asgards, and there’s no end in sight,” said John Archibald, an evolutionary biologist at Dalhousie University in Canada who was not involved in the new study.

Many of the new Asgard microbes live in the deep sea, but others dwell in coastal waters. But others are land, in habitats ranging from permafrost tundras to lagoons. They may be rare, but they’re also widespread.

“If you can go in your backyard and sequence soil, you’ll get Asgard,” Dr. Baker said.

(to be continued)

Translation

微生物如何爬行（1/2）

在海洋和陸地上，科學家正在發現一些罕見的過渡生物，它們連接著地球上最簡單的細胞和如今複雜的細胞

一系列新的研究正在揭示生命史上最偉大的一步：20億年前，複雜細胞從簡單的細胞演化而來。在海洋和陸地上，科學家正在發現一些罕見的過渡微生物，它們連接著這個進化過程。

複雜細胞, 包括人體內的細胞，與大腸桿菌等簡單微生物之間的差異非常顯著。複雜細胞內部充滿了各種結構；其中一個被稱為細胞核，儲存著DNA；其他結構，例如粒線體(mitochondria)，則含有為細胞提供能量的酵素。複雜的細胞內部由絲狀網支撐，它們透過分解絲狀網的部分結構並建造新的延伸部分來爬行。

大腸桿菌則完全沒有這些結構：沒有骨骼，沒有粒線體，也沒有細胞核。

這些差異以及其他許多差異，構成了自然界最深刻的分類之一。由複雜細胞組成的物種是真核生物 (eukaryotes)，這一類群包括動物、植物、真菌以及原生動物。像大腸桿菌這樣的簡單微生物稱為原核生物 (prokaryotes)。

原核生物出現在40多億年前。真核生物出現得晚得多，大約在25億到20億年前。複雜的真核生物是如何從單純的原核生物演化而來的，幾十年來一直困擾著科學家。

在1990年代，對真核細胞能量工廠, 即粒線體的深入研究帶來了一個重要的線索。研究人員在細胞粒線體內發現了一組與細胞核DNA截然不同的微小基因。相反，粒線體與利用氧氣產生能量的細菌有著密切的遺傳關聯。

這項發現表明，真核生物的祖先可能吞噬了以氧氣為燃料的細菌，並利用它們來產生自己的能量。但這項見解仍留下了許多關於真核生物的未解之謎。例如，最初吞噬粒線體的細胞究竟是什麼樣的生物？

2015年，一項重要的線索出現了。科學家從北冰洋海底採集的沉積物中提取出一些DNA的碎段，並將它們拼接成沉積物中微生物的完整基因組。其中一種微生物與以往發現的任何微生物都截然不同：它是一種原核生物，卻擁有許多先前只在真核生物中發現的基因。

在這些真核生物基因中，有些參與建構細胞骨架，有些則有助於建構隔間以供真核細胞分解舊蛋白質。

科學家開始尋找這種類似真核生物譜系的其他成員。起初，搜尋工作進展極為緩慢，大部分發現都來自深海沉積物。科學家將這一譜系命名為阿斯嘉德（Asgard），取自北歐神話中眾神的居所。

德州大學奧斯汀分校的微生物生態學家Brett Baker在過去幾年裡一直致力於加速搜尋工作。他和他的同事曾多次前往加州海岸的深海區域以及中國沿海的淺海海域進行阿斯嘉德物種的搜尋考察。回到實驗室後，研究人員利用強大的新技術從稀有微生物中尋找DNA。

正如科學家們週三公佈的那樣，搜尋工作取得了豐碩成果。他們在考察中發現了404個新的阿斯嘉德物種。他們也發現，先前調查的資料庫中還包含30個被遺漏的阿斯嘉德基因組。總而言之，僅一項研究就使已知阿斯嘉德物種的多樣性幾乎倍翻了。

並未參與這項新研究的加拿大達爾豪斯大學的進化生物學家John Archibald說道:「我們已經極大地擴大了阿斯加德微生物的多樣性，而且這種探索似乎永無盡頭」。

許多新發現的阿斯嘉德微生物是生活在深海，但也有一些棲息於近海。還有一些生活在陸地上，棲息地涵蓋由永久凍土苔原到潟湖等各種區域。它們或許數量稀少，但分佈範圍卻很廣。

Baker 博士說: 「如果你能在自家後院採集土壤樣本，就能找到阿斯嘉德微生物」。

（待續）

Note:

1. The eukaryotes (真核生物) are the domain of Eukaryota or Eukarya, organisms whose cells have a membrane-bound nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms are eukaryotes. They constitute a major group of life forms alongside the two groups of prokaryotes(原核生物): the Bacteria and the Archaea. Eukaryotes represent a small minority of the number of organisms, but given their generally much larger size, their collective global biomass is much larger than that of prokaryotes. (Wikipedia)

2. Asgard (阿斯嘉德) is a location associated with the gods in Nordic mythology. It appears in several Old Norse sagas and mythological texts, including the Eddas. (Wikipedia)

3. The Asgard archaea (阿斯嘉德古菌) are a group of microorganisms thought to be closely related to the origin of eukaryotes. When people talk about “members” of this lineage, they usually mean the different phyla (groups) within Asgard archaea that have been discovered so far. Here are some of the main recognized members: Thorarchaeota -Found in marine sediments; has genes linked to protein degradation and metabolism. Odinarchaeota - Less well understood, but part of the early branching Asgard lineages. Heimdallarchaeota - Often considered the closest known relatives to eukaryotes based on genetic data. Helarchaeota -Associated with hydrocarbon metabolism in deep-sea environments. (ChatGPT)

US March Employment Statistics: Employment Increases by 178,000 from Previous Month, Easing Concerns about Slowdown

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

US Employment figure (Source: NHK)

米 3月雇用統計 就業者は前月比17万8000人増 減速懸念和らぐ

2026年4月3日午後10時01分

(2026年4月3日午後11時52分更新)

雇用統計

円相場や株価に影響を及ぼすアメリカの雇用統計が発表され、3月の農業分野以外の就業者は前の月から17万8000人増加し、市場の予想を上回りました。また、失業率も4.3％と前の月より0.1ポイント低下し、雇用情勢の減速への懸念はひとまず和らぎそうです。

アメリカ労働省が3日に発表した3月の雇用統計によりますと、景気の動向を敏感に示す農業分野以外の就業者は、前の月から17万8000人増加し、市場予想を上回りました。

2月のデータは下方修正され、前の月と比べて9万2000人の減少から13万3000人の減少になりましたが、金融市場では、アメリカを襲った寒波や医療大手のストライキなどが影響した可能性があり一時的な減少との受け止めが出ています。

また、失業率は4.3％で、前の月から0.1ポイント低下し、雇用情勢の減速への懸念はひとまず和らぎそうです。

一方、インフレに結びつくデータとして注目される労働者の平均時給は

▽前の年の同じ月と比べて3.5％

▽前の月と比べると0.2％上昇し、いずれも市場予想を下回りました。

金融市場では、賃金の上昇が個人消費を活性化してインフレを加速させる可能性は低下しているとの見方が出ていますがイラン情勢による原油価格の高騰が物価をどこまで押し上げるのかが今後の焦点になります。

Translation

US March Employment Statistics: Employment Increases by 178,000 from Previous Month, Easing Concerns about Slowdown

April 3, 2026, 10:01 PM

(Updated April 3, 2026, 11:52 PM)

Employment Statistics

US employment statistics, which would affect the yen exchange rate and stock prices, had been released. Non-agricultural employment in March increased by 178,000 from the previous month, exceeding market expectations. Also, the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, which would likely ease concerns about a slowdown in the employment situation for the time being.

According to the March employment statistics released by the US Department of Labor on the 3rd, non-agricultural employment, being a sensitive indicator of economic trends, increased by 178,000 from the previous month, exceeding market expectations.

The February data was revised downward, compared to the previous month that showing a decrease of 92,000 people, it had now decreased to 133,000 people.  However, financial markets believed this is a temporary decline, possibly influenced by the cold wave that hit the US and strikes at major healthcare companies.

Furthermore, the unemployment rate was 4.3%, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, easing concerns about a slowdown in the employment situation for the time being.

Meanwhile, the average hourly wage of workers, which was attracting attention as data linked to inflation,

-           rose by 3.5% compared to the same month last year,

-          and by 0.2% compared to the previous month, both below market expectations.

While some in financial markets believed that rising wages were less likely to stimulate personal consumption and accelerate inflation, the focus from now on would be on how far the surge in oil prices due to the situation in Iran could push up prices.

So, non-agricultural employment in March has increased. Also, the unemployment rate has fallen compared to the previous month, easing concerns about a slowdown in the employment. The focus now would be on how far the oil prices increase due to the situation in Iran will push up commodity prices in the US in the coming months.

Self-Driving Taxis Suddenly Stop in Wuhan, China

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

中国 武漢 自動運転タクシーが走行中に突然停止するトラブル

2026年4月1日午後11時51分

中国

中国内陸部の都市、武漢で多数の自動運転タクシーが走行中に突然停止し、路上で立往生するトラブルがありました。けがをした人はいなかったということですが、急速に拡大するサービスの安全性をめぐって懸念の声も出ています。

現地の警察によりますと、内陸部の武漢で3月31日夜、中国のIT大手「百度」が運行する自動運転タクシーが走行中に突然停止するトラブルが起きました。

SNSに投稿された動画では、自動運転タクシーとみられる複数の車がハザードランプを点滅させて路上で立往生していて、後続の車が前に進めず渋滞が起きている様子も確認できます。

これについて現地の警察は「初期段階の判断ではシステムの故障が原因とみられる。乗客は安全に降車しけが人はいない」と発表しました。

中国では各地で自動運転タクシーのサービスが急速に広がっていますが、地元メディアは安全性をめぐる懸念を伝えています。

Translation

Self-Driving Taxis Suddenly Stop in Wuhan, China

China

In Wuhan, an inland city in China, several self-driving taxis suddenly stopped while in motion, leaving them stranded on the road. No injuries were reported, yet concerns had been raised regarding the safety of this rapidly expanding service.

According to local police, on the night of March 31st in Wuhan, an inland city, self-driving taxis operated by the Chinese IT giant Baidu suddenly stopped while driving.

Videos posted on social media show multiple vehicles, believed to be self-driving taxis, with their hazard lights flashing, stranded on the road, causing traffic congestion as following vehicles are unable to move forward.

Regarding this incident, local police announced that "Initial assessments suggest a system malfunction was the cause. Passengers safely disembarked, and there were no injuries."

Self-driving taxi services were rapidly expanding across China, but local media outlets were expressing concerns regarding safety.

So, in Wuhan in China, several self-driving taxis suddenly stopped while was in motion, leaving them stranded on the road and causing chaos. Apparently, a system malfunction has caused the taxi stoppage. I am interested in knowing the reason for such a malfunction.

Conversational Generator AI May Display Fake or Fraudulent Websites in its Answers; Caution Advised

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

対話型生成AI 回答に“偽サイトや詐欺サイト”表示か 注意を

2026年3月30日午後4時02分

生成AI・人工知能

活用が広がる対話型の生成AIが、回答の中で、偽のショッピングサイトや詐欺サイトを表示していたとみられるケースが確認されました。調査したセキュリティー会社は、AIは誤った回答をすることがあるとして注意を呼びかけています。

セキュリティー会社の「トレンドマイクロ」は、2月、1か月間、偽サイトや詐欺サイトなどに、利用者がどのような経路でアクセスしているのかを分析しました。

その結果、ChatGPTなど対話型の生成AIの回答に表示されたURLを通じて、アクセスしたとみられるケースが420件余り確認されました。

実際に会社が検証したところ、例えば、「動画生成アプリの公式サイトを教えてください」という質問に対し、AIの回答では、公式サイトではなく、クレジットカード情報などを入力させる詐欺サイトのURLが表示されたことがあったということです。

このほか、人気商品の販売サイトについて尋ねた際にも、偽のショッピングサイトが表示されたケースなどが確認されました。

セキュリティー会社によりますと、偽サイトは不正な操作などで検索サービスで上位に表示されることがあるため、AIがこうした情報を参照して、回答した可能性があるということです。

セキュリティー会社の本野賢一郎 詐欺対策チーフアナリストは「AIは誤った回答をすることがあると意識し、AIの回答だけを信じないで、公式サイトやほかの情報源でも調べることが大切だ」と話していました

Translation

Conversational Generator AI May Display Fake or Fraudulent Websites in its Answers; Caution Advised

March 30, 2026, 4:02 PM

Generative AI/Artificial Intelligence

Conversational generator AI, whose use was expanding, was found to have displayed fake shopping sites and fraudulent websites in its answers. The security company that investigated the issue was warning users that AI could sometimes provide incorrect answers.

Trend Micro (トレンドマイクロ), a security company, analyzed how users accessed fake or fraudulent websites in February for the whole month.

As a result, over 420 cases were identified where users appeared to have accessed these sites through URLs displayed in answers provided by conversational generative AI such as ChatGPT.

The company's verification revealed that in response to the questions such as "Please tell me the official website for the video generation app," the AI's answer sometimes displayed a URL to a fraudulent website that tricked users into entering credit card information, instead of displaying the official website.

In addition, cases were confirmed that when users asked about websites selling popular products, fake shopping sites were displayed.

According to the security company, fake websites could sometimes rank highly in search results due to fraudulent manipulation, and it's possible that the AI ​​referenced this information in providing the answer.

Kenichiro Motono (本野賢一郎), chief fraud prevention analyst at the security company stated that "It's important to be aware that AI can sometimes give incorrect answers, and not to trust only the AI's response. It's crucial to also check official websites and other sources of information."

So, conversational generator AI is found to have displayed fake shopping sites and fraudulent websites. Fake websites can sometimes rank highly in search results due to fraudulent manipulation, and it's possible that the AI relies this information and provides the answer. Apparently, we should not trust the AI fully.

消息人士稱，烏克蘭無人機再次襲擊俄羅斯Ust-Luga港，其石油碼頭遇襲

Recently Reuters reported the following:

Ukrainian drones strike Russia's Ust-Luga port again, sources say oil terminal hit

Reporting by Reuters. Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Mark Potter

March 30, 202610:05 PM PDTUpdated 10 hours ago

MOSCOW, March 31 (Reuters) - Ukrainian drones on Tuesday struck Russia's Baltic Sea port of ‌Ust-Luga for the fifth time in 10 days, and industry sources told Reuters an oil loading terminal was hit, likely adding to Russia's difficulties in exporting crude.

Kyiv has stepped up attacks on Russia's oil export infrastructure over the past month, ​launching its heaviest drone strikes of the more than four-year war against the Baltic ports of Ust-Luga ​and Primorsk.

At least 40% of Russia's oil export capacity has been halted due to drone ⁠attacks, a disputed strike on a major pipeline and the seizure of tankers, according to Reuters calculations ​based on market data.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that some of Kyiv's allies had sent "signals" about the ​possibility of scaling back its long-range strikes on Russia's oil sector as global energy prices have surged due to the Iran war.

TRANSNEFT OIL TERMINAL HIT

Regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said three people, including two children, were treated for injuries, and several buildings had ​been damaged in the overnight attacks.

In a message on Telegram at 0409 GMT, he said air-raid alerts ​in the region had been lifted but gave no details on damage to the port.

He later said that the aftermath ‌of the ⁠attack on Ust-Luga had been "eliminated" or dealt with. He said the supply of hot water and heating to residential and other units in the region were restored.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the strikes "terrorist attacks," adding that Russia was working on protecting its critical infrastructure.

"This doesn't mean these facilities can be 100% protected from ​such terrorist attacks. However, intensive ​work is being carried ⁠out, and this applies not only to the port ... but to all other critical infrastructure facilities," he told a daily conference call with reporters.

Three industry sources told ​Reuters Ukrainian drones struck crude oil loading facilities operated by Russian pipeline monopoly ​Transneft (TRNF_p.MM), opens new tab in ⁠the latest attack. Transneft did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Ust-Luga, on the south-eastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, is a sprawling complex of oil-processing facilities and export terminals handling crude oil and oil ⁠products.

According to ​source-based data, the port exported 32.9 million metric tons of oil ​products last year. It typically handles about 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Authorities say Ust-Luga was hit on March 22, 25, ​27, 29 and 31, forcing suspensions of export operations.

Translation

消息人士稱，烏克蘭無人機再次襲擊俄羅斯Ust-Luga港，其石油碼頭遇襲

莫斯科，3月31日（路透社） - 烏克蘭無人機週二第五次襲擊了俄羅斯波羅的海港口Ust-Luga，這是10天內的第五次襲擊。業內消息人士告訴路透社，一個石油裝卸碼頭遭到攻擊，可能加劇俄羅斯原油出口的困難。

過去一個月，基輔加大了對俄羅斯石油出口基礎設施的襲擊力度，對波羅的海港口Ust-Luga和Primorsk發動了這場持續四年多的戰爭中最猛烈的無人機襲擊。

路透社根據市場數據計算，由於無人機打擊，對一條主要輸油管道的爭議性襲擊，以及油輪被扣押，俄羅斯至少40%的石油出口能力已停止。

烏克蘭總統澤連斯基週一表示，由於伊朗戰爭導致全球能源價格飆升，基輔的一些盟友已發出“信號”，探索可能縮減對俄羅斯石油行業的遠程打擊的可能性。

Transneft的石油碼頭遇襲

地區行政長官Alexander Drozdenko表示，包括兩名兒童在內的三人因夜間襲擊受傷接受治療，多棟建築物受損。

他在格林威治標準時間04:09透過Telegram發布消息稱，該地區的空襲警報已解除，但沒有透露港口受損情況的細節。

他隨後表示，Ust-Luga襲擊事件所帶來的影響已「消除」或處理。他表示，該地區居民住宅和其他單位的熱水和供暖供應已恢復。

克里姆林宮發言人Dmitry Peskov稱這次襲擊為“恐怖襲擊”，並補充說，俄羅斯正在努力保護其關鍵基礎設施。

他在與記者的每日電話會議上表示:「這並不意味著這些設施可以百分之百免受此類恐怖襲擊。但是，我們正在進行密集的工作，這不僅適用於港口……也適用於所有其他關鍵基礎設施」。

三位業內人士告訴路透社，烏克蘭無人機襲擊了俄羅斯管道的壟斷企業Transneft公司（股票代碼：TRNF_p.MM）所運營的原油裝載設施，這是最近一次襲擊。Transneft公司尚未對此置評。

Ust-Luga港位於芬蘭灣東南岸，是一個龐大的石油加工設施和出口碼頭綜合體，處理原油和石油產品。

據可靠消息，該港口去年出口了3,290萬噸石油產品。該油田通常每天處理約70萬桶原油。

據當局稱，Ust-Luga分別於3月22日、25日、27日、29日和31日遭受襲擊，導致出口作業暫停。

So, Ukrainian drones have struck Russia's Baltic Sea port of ‌Ust-Luga for the fifth time in 10 days, likely adding to Russia's difficulties in exporting crude. Apparently, Ukraine has the capability to attack far way targets inside Russia.