Australia’s defense minister said Tuesday a deal to buy nuclear-powered attack submarines from the United States was necessary to counter the biggest conventional military buildup in the region since World War II.

Australian officials said the deal will cost up to $245 billion over the next three decades and create 20,000 jobs. It comes at a time that China is rapidly building up its own military.

U.S. consumer price increases eased slightly from January to February but still pointed to an elevated inflation rate that is posing a challenge for the Federal Reserve at a delicate moment for the financial system.

The government said Tuesday that prices increased 0.4% last month, just below January’s 0.5% rise. Yet excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices rose 0.5% in February, slightly above January’s 0.4% gain. The Fed pays particular attention to the core measure as a gauge of underlying inflation pressures.

Ten more people have been charged in connection with a scheme to steal more than $250 million from a federal program designed to provide meals to low-income children in Minnesota, federal prosecutors said Monday.

A total of 60 people have now been charged in the conspiracy, in which authorities say a group of people took advantage of rules that were relaxed during the COVID-19 pandemic and falsely claimed they were providing food to children. Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said in September that the conspiracy was the largest pandemic-related fraud scheme to date.

Errol Mickelson can be reached at mick9345@stthomas.edu.