TOKYO—With eyes on an increasingly assertive China, “Quad” leaders from the Indo-Pacific nations of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia met on Tuesday morning to discuss cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. The four Indo-Pacific leaders vowed to stand together for a free and open region at the start of talks, vowing also to work on fighting for peace, prosperity, and stability in the region, and coordinating responses to address U.N. predictions of catastrophic climate change and energy security. “This is what this [is] about, democracy vs. autocracy—we have to make sure democracy is delivered,” U.S. President Joe Biden said….

TOKYO—With eyes on an increasingly assertive China, “Quad” leaders from the Indo-Pacific nations of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia met on Tuesday morning in Tokyo, Japan, to discuss cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. The four Indo-Pacific leaders vowed to stand together for a free and open region at the summit, vowing to work towards peace, prosperity, and stability in the region, while coordinating responses to address U.N. predictions of catastrophic climate change and energy security. “This is what this [is] about, democracy vs. autocracy—we have to make sure democracy is delivered,” U.S. President Joe Biden said….

How Inflation Changed The Price Of A Burger With inflation standing at 8.3% year-over-year in April, everyday items are becoming pricier for U.S. consumers. As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz details below, food prices in particular took some significant steps up, as seen in the example of shopping for hamburger ingredients. You will find more infographics at Statista Meats experienced some of the highest price increases among food items: Ground beef now costs almost 15 percent more than in April 2021 and bacon is 17.7 percent more expensive than one year ago. On the other hand, the price of tomatoes was up just 0.4 percent over the course of one year, showing that some item suffered less inflation than others. At a 6.2 percent price increase, fresh vegetables as a whole saw the lowest rate of inflation of any food category. Energy – the most volatile item in the Consumer Price Index together with foods – drove overall price increases even more. In short supply following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ensuing sanctions, energy costs rose by 30.3 percent since April 2021. This increase is independent of the base effect as energy prices had already reached pre-pandemic levels again one year ago. Inflation had already started to rise in 2021 in the aftermath of Covid-19 lockdowns that continue to affect global supply chains. It was further pushed up by the Russian invasion of Ukraine that saw energy supply disrupted by sanctions and Ukrainian products missing from world markets. As a result, inflation is reaching an increasingly broad range of products. For example, while the price of used cars and trucks had already skyrocketed in 2021, new vehicles have now also become 13 percent more expensive than they had been a year ago. Given the high price of gas and cars, inflation is indirectly