U.S. unemployment unexpectedly rose to 4.4% in February, triggering sharp declines across global financial markets already rattled by Middle East tensions (Reuters). The Pentagon appointed a former Musk government-efficiency aide as Chief Data Officer to lead AI initiatives, despite past promotion of white supremacist content online (Washington Post).

SoftBank is reportedly seeking a $40 billion loan for investment in OpenAI, while AMD announced a multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta (Financial Times, Reuters). Senator Markwayne Mullin was named Homeland Security chief to replace Kristi Noem following controversy over a $220 million advertising contract (Politico).