Fed protects Wall Street

US regulators led by the Federal Reserve are said to have thwarted a push to make climate risk a focus of global financial rules. European central bankers have been advocating for the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to agree on requiring lenders to disclose their strategies for meeting green commitments. But in closed-door meetings, US officials have cited their narrow mandate and concerns that the committee was overstepping its purpose. The rift at the group, which brings together representatives from regulators and central banks around the world to coordinate rules and oversight of lenders, has been particularly pronounced between some Fed officials and the European Central Bank, which has been an avid supporter of more stringent climate requirements. “Policies to address climate change are the business of elected officials and those agencies that they have charged with this responsibility,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday. “The Fed has received no such charge.” —David E. Rovella

Special Counsel Jack Smith publicly assailed US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a 43-year-old appointee of Donald Trump who Smith said risks fatally damaging his prosecution of the former president on charges he mishandled top secret government files. In a court filing, Smith called Cannon’s understanding of key legal issues “fundamentally flawed” and urged her to clarify her intentions so he can potentially challenge her rulings before the US Court of Appeals. Cannon ordered Smith and Trump last month to draft instructions for a jury even though she has yet to set a trial date. Cannon’s order was especially controversial because it directed Smith to assume Trump may have had the right to declare the documents—including highly sensitive national security files—are personal rather than official under a 1978 law known as the Presidential Records Act. “Any jury instructions that reflect those scenarios would be error,” Smith wrote. “Whatever the court decides, it must resolve these crucial threshold legal questions promptly.” Cannon has been criticized by legal experts from the start for a series of unorthodox rulings that have benefitted Trump, who has sought to delay all four felony prosecutions he faces. His first trial, over accounting fraud allegations, is set to begin this month in Manhattan.

Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of film and TV giant Paramount Global, is said to have reached a tentative agreement to sell her stake in the company to David Ellison’s Skydance Media. Skydance is holding exclusive talks with a panel of independent directors at Paramount as part of a provisional accord to buy Redstone’s family holding company National Amusements. National Amusements holds a near 80% voting stake in Paramount, the owner of several major film and TV properties including CBS and MTV.

Walt Disney shareholders handed Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger a big vote of confidence, rejecting dissident investor Nelson Peltz’s bid for a board seat at the giant entertainment company. Shareholders elected all of Disney’s choices for the board, turning aside the nomination of Peltz. Investors also rejected Peltz’s ally, former Disney finance chief Jay Rasulo. Peltz’s Trian Fund Management holds a Disney stake worth more than $3.5 billion and has been agitating for seats to address lagging shareholder returns and what he sees as inadequate corporate governance.

Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in a quarter century leveled dozens of buildings on the eastern side of the island, killing at least nine people and disrupting semiconductor production at some of the world’s leading chipmakers. The quake measured 7.4 in magnitude, according to the US Geological Survey, which pinned the epicenter near the eastern city of Hualien. Shocks were felt as far away as Japan and China.

US President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday as tensions between the two leaders deepen following the killing of seven aid workers from several countries who were delivering food to displaced Palestinians in Gaza. Biden on Tuesday issued his most forceful criticism yet of Israel’s conduct after its military attacked a convoy of workers from World Central Kitchen. The US for weeks has been increasing pressure on Netanyahu over civilian deaths in Gaza and expressing concern about a plan to invade the population-dense Rafah region. Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken by the deaths” of the aid workers and called for swift investigations. Hamas health officials in Gaza said more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed there during the war, which began last October when Israel said 1,200 Israelis were killed in an attack by Hamas militants.

Spotify is said to plan price rises of its popular audio service in several key markets for the second time in a year, a crucial step toward reaching long-term profitability. The streaming giant will increase rates by about $1 to $2 a month in five markets by the end of April, including the UK, Australia and Pakistan. It will raise prices in the US, its largest territory, later this year.

Apple is said to be investigating a push into personal robotics, a field with the potential to become one of the company’s ever-shifting “next big things.” Engineers at Apple have been exploring a mobile robot that can follow users around their homes, and the iPhone maker also has developed an advanced table-top home device that uses robotics to move a display around. Wall Street reacted coolly to the news, which comes in the aftermath of the company’s ditched electric vehicle program.

The season’s best books deftly take big picture issues (everything from fame to climate change to Washington’s lobbying industry) and bring them down to a human scale. Most important, each is a truly great read—novels and nonfiction that will be part of the conversation for years to come. Here are the ten top reads.

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