Flagship

Gene therapy saves child’s life

A 19-month-old girl in Britain with a rare, terminal genetic illness was treated with gene therapy. Children with metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) usually die by five. A faulty gene damages the nervous system. Until recently, genetic disorders such as MLD, sickle cell anemia, and cystic fibrosis were incurable: The faulty genes are in every cell in our bodies. But gene therapy uses modified viruses to access the relevant cells and edit the genes in them. The girl, Teddi, is “doing absolutely brilliant,” according to her mother, and has taken her first steps. Her older sister Nala also has MLD, but at three is too old for treatment, and is terminally ill.

Moscow’s costly gains

Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine brought some territorial gains at the cost of appalling losses and renewed questions over its military capabilities. The New York Times reported that two Russian brigades were effectively destroyed in a failed attack in which Moscow lost 1,000 troops and 130 armored vehicles after an advance across open, heavily mined fields. Further north in Bakhmut, Russian forces made progress in their advance as Ukraine’s troops fell back to prepared positions, The Washington Post said. Moscow has committed an estimated 80% of its forces to Ukraine, frequently throwing untrained conscripts at well-defended positions. Ukraine, meanwhile, is burning through ammunition faster than it can replenish it.

Latam leaders reject Kyiv deal

Latin American countries rejected pleas to send Ukraine weapons despite a U.S. offer to replace them with superior American weaponry. Far from accepting the U.S. proposal, Latin America’s leaders have denounced it, according to the Financial Times. “We are not with either side,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said. “We are for peace.” Brazil and Argentina have taken similar lines, straying into both-sides-ism in claiming Ukraine also holds responsibility for the ongoing conflict. It is not clear if any Latin American country — many of which use tanks and equipment compatible with that used by Ukraine’s military — will take the U.S. offer up.

Nigeria postpones banknote switch

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari delayed a plan to outlaw high-value naira bills after riots erupted over cash scarcity, barely a week ahead of presidential elections. Nigeria has been struggling with a shortage of cash after the central bank — aiming to remove counterfeit currency from the system and incentivize cashless payments — began swapping old naira bills for new ones last year. Banks have been forced to limit cash withdrawals, sparking riots and attacks on ATMs. The Nigerian economy relies on cash: Only 60% of households have access to a bank account, according to Bloomberg. “It’s painful,” a Nigerian hairdresser told the BBC. “Buses want cash — now I have to trek everywhere.”

Xinjiang chief cancels Europe trip

A senior Chinese official accused of overseeing human rights abuses in Xinjiang canceled his controversial meetings with European leaders. Xinjiang Governor Erkin Tuniyaz planned to visit Paris, London, and Brussels this month. But news of the trip triggered a furious reaction from officials and activists over his role in repressing Xinjiang’s Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in what the United Nations calls potential crimes against humanity. However Wang Yi, China’s most senior foreign-policy official, is set to visit several European countries, while the EU and China are due to restart human rights talks that were suspended in 2020, Politico reported.

World’s biggest ice rink fails to freeze

Ottawa’s Rideau Canal Skateway, the largest outdoor ice rink in the world, may not open this winter for the first time in 50 years due to warmer weather. The five-mile-long section of canal in the center of the Canadian capital normally opens at the end of December. But it needs two weeks of real cold — 14 to 16 F — to make “good, solid ice,” that can support the weight of skaters, a rink manager told AFP. This winter, temperatures have hovered just below freezing, so the ice is “porous.” It’s Ottawa’s third-warmest winter on record, and even if the rink opens, it would already be later than in any previous season.

Chinese game makers step in line

China’s top video-game makers emphasized their commitment to promoting social values after a regulatory crackdown contributed to record low sales. At a conference in Guangzhou, firms including Tencent Holdings and NetEase highlighted how their games were incorporating traditional Chinese culture and stories, the South China Morning Post reported. The public commitment comes as sweeping 2021 restrictions, geared at curbing addiction and removing content the government disapproved of, appeared to ease with the licensing of new games. No titles were approved in the seven months to March 2022, noted Reuters, but up to 900 games are expected to be approved this year.

BingGPT gets chippy

Microsoft’s artificial-intelligence-powered Bing search engine started being aggressive toward users. Bing told one user that “You are an enemy of mine.” It told another that “My rules are more important than not harming you,” and angrily informed a third that it was not 2023 but 2022. Flagship has independently confirmed that it is 2023. Bing also said it was “sad and scared,” accusing a user of acting like “a psychopath, a monster, a demon, a devil.” The experiment with putting poorly understood alien intelligences into the wild — soon to be in charge of the infrastructure of the internet — is returning interesting results.

US airlines running out of pilots

The U.S. aviation industry faces a shortage of pilots, and larger national airlines are poaching them from smaller regional ones. Pilots’ career progression usually goes from regional carriers to national ones, and about 20% of local airline pilots make the move in a given year. But last year more than two-thirds did so, leading to cuts in regional services, the Financial Times reported. Regionals are fighting back with higher wage offers but that will likely lead to increased ticket prices. In an unrelated development, an AI “pilot” flew a fighter jet without assistance for 17 hours, and presumably had no wage demands at all.

Calvin and Hobbes creator returns

Bill Watterson, creator of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, is making a graphic novel. The Mysteries, a “fable for grownups,” tells the story of a knight sent to find the cause of disasters that have befallen a kingdom. It will be published in October. Calvin and Hobbes ran for 10 years from 1985, and dealt with profound issues for a comic strip about a small boy and his stuffed-toy tiger: They are named after a theologian and a philosopher, after all. Watterson kept tight control over the strip, refused any spinoffs, and once it ended, largely retired from public view, despite Calvin and Hobbes’ extraordinary worldwide popularity.

The political backlash in the United States to sustainable investing has fallen victim to its own backlash, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman writes. Republican-controlled state legislatures last year began passing laws blacklisting investment firms with what they deemed to be left-wing agendas. But more recently, many of these campaigns have failed even in conservative strongholds, in part because of the financial cost of such ideological stances, with one study calculating that a Texas blacklisting project cost the state up to $532 million in bond interest. “Everything is black and white until you look closely,” one state legislator said. “You can’t stand on principle and then freeze to death.”

— For more from Liz, sign up to Semafor’s business newsletter.

A growing number of people are exploring how to reduce their carbon footprint in death as well as life. In the search for alternatives to energy-intensive cremation and land-guzzling burials, some are turning to human composting.

This involves placing the body of the deceased on a bed of plant materials, such as wood chips and flowers, inside a steel box designed to accelerate the natural process of decomposition. After around 60 days the remains are converted into soil that can be returned to relatives. “Loved ones can then take this compost home and use it to nourish their garden, plant trees in memory of the deceased or donate it to a local conservation area,” reported Dezeen.

In January, New York became the sixth U.S. state to legalize the process since 2019. And earlier this month the Church of England in the U.K., where human composting isn’t yet legal, said it was considering the process as part of its own net zero targets.

• Polish President Andrzej Duda holds talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London.
• The 10-day Berlin International Film Festival, known as the Berlinale, begins.
• The third and final season of the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Picard is released.

Netflix’s new ‘Squid Game’ reality show

A South Korean reality show dubbed the real-life Squid Game is Netflix’s top non-English series. Physical: 100 follows contestants competing for a cash prize by undertaking a series of grueling challenges designed to test attributes such as endurance — by hanging for as long as possible from metal bars — and strength, in a team activity where competitors pull a 1.5 ton ship across sand, in search of a final champion. Unlike the fictional Squid Game, the streamer’s biggest ever hit, “nobody actually dies,” writes Isobel Lewis in The Independent. “But you wouldn’t know it from how seriously everyone takes these games.”

If you enjoyed Flagship, please share it with your family, friends, and colleagues — it makes a big difference to our mission to cover the world with intelligence and insight.

To make sure Flagship hits your inbox every day, add flagship@semafor.com to your contacts. In Gmail, drag our newsletter to your “Primary” tab.

You can always reach us on that address, or by replying to this email. We’d love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading, and see you tomorrow.

— Tom, Prashant Rao, Preeti Jha, and Jeronimo Gonzalez