Governments Push Citizens to Cut Back in Scramble to Save Energy

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0:33The Trump administration sues Harvard, alleging it violated the civil rights of its Jewish students. Plus, the Iran war is sending prices for oil and gas way up. Now, governments worldwide are urging households and businesses to curb their energy consumption. The International Energy Agency issued new guidelines this week, advice on governments on how to limit energy consumption. citizens to use less power. So fly less, use public transport, work from home, reduce the speed limit on highways. So really quite a broad range of measures to limit demand. And a national effort to strip Cesar Chavez's name from public infrastructure is underway.

1:16It's Friday, March 20th. I'm Julie Chang for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Osola. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that moved the world today. The Trump administration is suing Harvard University, alleging the school violated Jewish students' civil rights. The Justice Department says Harvard ignored hostility to Jews and Israelis on campus and failed to enforce anti-harassment rules. The lawsuit seeks to recover millions of taxpayer dollars that Harvard accepted while allegedly in violation of civil rights law. Harvard said it's committed to ensuring respect on campus and has taken steps to address anti-Semitism, like training and anti-discrimination rules.

2:01The school said the lawsuit was a, quote, retaliatory action by the government. The lawsuit is the latest tactic in the Trump administration's battle against Harvard and other elite universities. And turning to the Iran war, Iran is projecting defiance. Its new supreme leader says that, quote, safety must be taken away from Iran's enemies, and its armed forces are vowing to pursue them, even in tourist spots. Iran is denying that U.S. and Israeli airstrikes have crippled its ability to produce missiles. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is sending three warships and about 2 ,500 more Marines to the Middle East.

2:37It's the second deployment of Marines to the region in the past week. And President Trump again criticized NATO members for not joining a U.S. effort to open the Strait of Hormuz. Iran effectively closing the Strait has helped drive up prices for oil and gas. And because of that, governments around the world are pressuring people to use less energy. It's reminiscent of the 1970s, the last time we had a global energy crisis of this magnitude. WSJ global economics correspondent Tom Fairless has been following what's been one of the broadest efforts since then to change how much fuel people use. Tom, tell us about some of the policies you've seen and where.

3:13The International Energy Agency, or the IEA in Paris, issued new guidelines this week, advice on governments on how to limit energy consumption, citizens to use less power. So fly less, use public transport, work from home, reduce the speed limit on highways. So really quite a broad range of measures to limit demand. and the majority of the oil that is passing through the Strait of Hormuz, where the difficulties are, goes to Asia. And so it's really poorer countries there, especially, that quickly started to urge their citizens to find ways to save energy. Bangladesh has banned the use of air conditioning to cool buildings under 77 degrees.

3:58It's ordered universities to close. It's brought forward a public holiday for Ramadan. Sri Lanka has instituted a four-day work week, Wednesdays off so that they wouldn't have a run of three days when the government offices were closed. And Pakistan has initially closed schools for two weeks. In Thailand, presenters on TV removed their jackets in a kind of flamboyant effort to encourage citizens to turn down the air conditioning. and the civil servants there have been told to use the stairs instead of elevators where they can and to wear lighter clothing. So there's really a broad range of measures, new ones coming day by day.

4:40And energy-saving policies are likely to get stricter now that liquefied natural gas facilities in Iran and Qatar have been hit. Another shock to global supplies. And how have locals been responding to these policies? So far, there hasn't been widespread stories of unrest, but there has been more protests, especially when it comes to taxes. The Philippines, drivers of diesel-powered buses, they asked for taxes to be suspended because of these increased prices. European governments are capping or lowering energy prices to soften the impact on consumers. But economists warn that those measures could actually make the crisis worse.

5:23Why? That's the concern of economists. If you try and stabilize how much people are consuming, when there's a shortage of energy, then the price goes up. It's kind of economics 101. In 2022, in the last energy crisis, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government paid out hundreds of billions of dollars to citizens to try and lower their energy bills and try and stabilize industry. But this time, interest rates are much higher. Government debt is much higher. And it's going to be much more tricky to afford those kind of measures, which is why they are putting more emphasis on these behavioral changes.

6:00In France, they've done hundreds of inspections of gas stations to check that they're not raising prices too much. But if the crisis continues, then presumably they will have to do more in terms of supporting citizens and paying out subsidies. Global economics correspondent Tom Fairless, thank you for your time. Thanks so much for having me, Judy.

6:25As the war in the Middle East shows no signs of winding down, the three major stock benchmarks all fell. The Nasdaq led the losses, dropping 2%. It now stands about 9.5 % below its record. All three major indexes fell for a fourth straight week, the first time that's happened to the Dow since 2023. Brent crude oil futures, the international benchmark, rose more than 3 % to over$112 a barrel. They have soared more than 80 % in 2026. Shares of server-maker Supermicrocomputer dropped by about a third today, after prosecutors alleged that several of the company's employees smuggled high-end NVIDIA chips to China.

7:08The U.S. government in recent years has blocked China from importing those chips. Supermicrocomputer itself isn't a defendant. It put two employees on leave and fired a contractor. In media news, CBS News is shutting down its radio service in late May, eliminating all positions on the team. That's according to an email to staff viewed by the journal. CBS Radio rose to prominence in the early days of World War II when legendary newscaster Edward R. Murrow provided live coverage from London rooftops during Germany's bombing raids. The cuts are part of a broader layoff affecting about 6 percent of staff.

7:45Editor-in-chief Barry Weiss, who took over in October, is seeking to overhaul CBS News. Coming up, the cost of beef is going up, but fast food chains keep offering discounts, pressuring profit margins. That story and more after the break.

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8:39We exclusively report that UBS has received a license to offer full-service banking in the U.S. The Americas are already the Swiss bank's biggest region for wealth management, and UBS hopes that adding checkings and savings account services will help attract new customers in the U.S. That could help the bank expand beyond its traditional super-rich client base into a bigger pool of wealthy customers. And turning to the food industry, fast food restaurants have been struggling with the rising cost of beef, but they're still serving up discounts. Federal data shows beef prices are up 48 % over the past 12 months at the wholesale level, and those prices are expected to stay high.

9:22But as traffic to fast food chains began to fall in 2024, companies started to dish out more deals. And this year, companies are going further. For example, McDonald's will launch a$3 and less menu next month, and the combination of more discounts with higher costs only increases the pressure on fast food companies' profit margins. And heads up, we dropped a special bonus episode earlier today. In the latest What's News in earnings, we look at how retailers are dealing with inflation and price-conscious shoppers. That's in your What's News feed now.

9:59Across the country, there's an effort underway to remove Cesar Chavez's name from buildings, parks, and more after revelations this week of allegations that the late labor and civil rights icon abused women and girls. According to the Institute of Education Sciences, nearly 80 public schools in 15 states are named after Chavez, and his legacy looms largest in California, where 43 public schools are named after him. Yesterday, state lawmakers moved to rename Cesar Chavez Day on March 31st to Farm Workers Day. West Coast correspondent Jim Carlton has been speaking to people on the ground. Jim, you and I are both in San Francisco, California.

10:39I grew up in the LA region where Cesar Chavez was a prominent figure. Why was he so important in California specifically? And how would you describe his relationship with the state? Cesar Chavez is just a lion in California history. I've been in California for almost 40 years, and it's just everywhere you go, it's Cesar Chavez Park, Cesar Chavez Boulevard. He was just such an advocate for immigrant workers and for farm workers. And he basically led kind of a revolt against really dangerous conditions for farm workers. And he did a lot of things. There was worker strikes, which kind of shut down production.

11:15in the 1980s, there was boycotting graves. And so he ended up co-founding the United Farm Workers Union with Dolores Huerta, who was also very prominent in this struggle. And together, they really changed things for the better for a lot of mostly immigrant workers. Yes, and Dolores Huerta made sexual abuse allegations against Chavez this week. What has the sentiment been like among locals as officials talk about getting rid of the Dana's honor and taking his name off buildings? So the Mission District is heavily Hispanic. I went down there to Cesar Chavez Elementary School. There's a giant mural of Cesar Chavez over the schoolyard.

11:53And so I saw a guy out sweeping his sidewalk. His name is Tony Rivera. And I was asked, what do you think they want to rename this school and other places? And he almost started crying. He's 45 years old, grew up in the East Bay. He participated in a no-grapes protest. And he actually saw Cesar Chavez speaking in San Jose. But he said, that said, what Dolores Huerta went through, she's very brave for coming forward with the allegations of what Chavez had done to her, you know, pressured and forced her into sex, resulting in children on both cases. And he's in the camp that they need to take his name out of the public domain.

12:31Jim Carlton, West Coast correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Thanks for being here. OK, thank you. And that's What's News for this week. Tomorrow, you can look out for a weekly markets wrap-up, What's News and Markets. Then on Sunday, we'll be discussing how the Iran war, higher fuel prices, and a lapse in funding for TSA agents are disrupting air travel both in the U.S. and abroad. That's in What's News Sunday. And we'll be back with our regular show on Monday morning. Today's show was produced by Pierre Bien-Aimé with supervising producer Tali Arbel. Michael LaValle wrote our theme music.

13:06Aisha Al-Muslim is our development producer. Chris Dinsley is our deputy editor. And Falana Patterson is the Wall Street Journal's head of news audio. I'm Julie Chang. Thanks for listening.

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