Flagship

US moon lander touches down

For the first time in 50 years, a U.S.-built spacecraft touched down on the moon. The Odysseus robotic lander is also the first ever private spacecraft to land softly on another world. Echoing Neil Armstrong’s famous comments, the NASA chief called it “a giant leap forward for all of humanity.” Odysseus touched down near the lunar south pole, believed to hold lots of water ice: The lander will investigate the area for suitable sites for NASA’s upcoming Artemis mission, which hopes to land astronauts on the moon by 2026 and eventually build a “base camp” from which to explore both the lunar surface and the wider solar system.

Navalny’s mother alleges blackmail

Alexei Navalny’s mother said she had been shown her son’s body but that Russian authorities were “blackmailing” her to allow a secret burial. The opposition figure died in suspicious circumstances last week in an Arctic penal colony, and Lyudmila Navalnaya said that she was told authorities would “do something” with his body if she refused. Yulia Navalnaya, his widow, met with U.S. President Joe Biden, who paid tribute to Navalny’s fight “against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia,” while the White House said it would impose new sanctions on Moscow. Tomorrow marks the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the West wants to hold Russia accountable for its war and Navalny’s death.

How China and Russia need the West

Chinese and Russian advances in artificial intelligence and on the battlefield in Ukraine respectively are still heavily reliant on Western technology, two new reports noted. Beijing’s AI progress — in many ways rapid and well-funded — is dependent “almost entirely on underlying systems from the United States,” The New York Times said. Moscow, meanwhile, has managed to evade Western sanctions to maintain a “brisk business in imports” of weapons and components needed for its war in Ukraine, according to Foreign Policy. Relying on an adversary for key supplies during times of conflict is hardly unprecedented: During World War I, Britain and Germany traded militarily important rubber for glass lenses, even as they fought.

Fed rate cut hopes pushed back

Traders and analysts pared back expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts this year after policymakers indicated any reductions would likely come later than expected. Higher-than-expected inflation and other recent strong economic indicators spurred three Fed officials to indicate in separate speeches that they favored waiting to be sure inflation was indeed slowing to the central bank’s 2% target before lowering rates from their current level, the highest since 2001. At the start of the year, traders expected rate cuts as early as next month, but Goldman Sachs analysts said they now projected the first reduction in June, while some investors are betting on July.

FCC to investigate AT&T outage

AT&T’s network went down across the U.S. on Thursday. The country’s biggest cell phone provider restored access by mid-afternoon, but for some hours many customers were unable to text, use the internet, or make calls — including emergency calls. The company ruled out a cyber attack, suggesting the problem was caused by a faulty software update. Verizon and T-Mobile reported smaller network outages. The Federal Communications Commission is investigating, because the inability to make emergency calls represents a public safety concern: The big mobile providers are now vital national infrastructure, and the fact that a bug can affect millions of people’s access to emergency services is a “serious problem from the FCC’s perspective,” one analyst told CNN.

India smartphone appeal grows

India is becoming an increasingly lucrative market and a more important producer for the world’s smartphone giants. The country is now a bigger market for iPhones — which long struggled for a foothold because of their relatively high price — than any European Union country, according to Morgan Stanley analysts, and is on pace to overtake China by 2027. Apple has moved more of its iPhone production to India in recent years to diversify away from China, fearful of a worsening business climate in the country as well as persistent tensions between Washington and Beijing, and now Google is following suit: The company is shifting supply chains for its high-end Pixel 8 smartphone to southern India in the coming weeks, Nikkei reported.

US isolation, Israeli diplomacy

Accidentally released audio of a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting pointed to growing U.S. isolation over its support for Israel in its war against Hamas. Washington’s allies railed against Israel’s conduct of the conflict, and suggested deaths could be averted if the U.S. joined calls for a ceasefire, The Washington Post reported. The diplomats’ meeting in Brazil came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time formally presented his post-war plans, proposals he has held back for fear of fracturing his right-wing coalition. The document calls for “local officials” to administer Gaza, but appears to rule out either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. It was swiftly rejected by Palestinian leaders who argued it prevented the establishment of a state.

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South Africa impeaches judges

South Africa impeached a top judge for misconduct, the first such decision since the end of apartheid. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of the move after an inquiry found John Hlophe had sought to influence justices at the country’s highest court in favor of former President Jacob Zuma. Parliamentarians also impeached a retired judge over a 2007 drunk-driving incident. Though the impeachments were hailed as strengthening the rule of law in South Africa, the Mail & Guardian noted that the time it took to conclude both cases “points to weaknesses” in the system for holding members of the judiciary to account.

Buenos Aires mosquito plague

Buenos Aires is under attack by hordes of mosquitoes. The El Niño climate phenomenon meant Argentina saw long periods of drought last year, before recent heavy rains led to huge numbers of mosquito eggs — which can lie dormant for a long time — hatching simultaneously. South America has seen a spike of mosquito-borne dengue infections recently, although the Aedes albifasciatus mosquito currently plaguing Argentina does not transmit human diseases. Argentina President Javier Milei’s government blamed the previous administration for failing to maintain mosquito control policies, an accusation the now-opposition party rejected. Climate change is expected to increase both rainfall and the range of tropical mosquitoes, possibly making events like this more likely in future.

CERN’s antimatter breakthrough

Scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, used lasers to freeze positronium, an exotic atom made of both matter and antimatter. Antimatter is a mirror of normal matter: “Antihydrogen,” for instance, has a positive “positron” orbiting a negative antiproton, where hydrogen has a negative electron orbiting a positive proton. Positronium, meanwhile, is a positron and an electron orbiting each other. If matter and antimatter touch they annihilate, releasing huge amounts of energy, meaning positronium usually only exists for 142 billionths of a second. But by freezing it to -148 degrees Fahrenheit, scientists slowed the atoms down for study. Scientists at CERN hope further breakthroughs will teach them about the early universe, as well as having practical implications for medical imaging, cancer treatment, and even interstellar travel.

March 20 | Washington D.C.
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• The European Commission president and Belgian prime minister meet the Polish premier in Warsaw.
• Nikki Haley campaigns in South Carolina ahead of the state’s primary.
• Japanese Emperor Naruhito celebrates his 64th birthday.

Each Friday, we’ll tell you what a great bookstore suggests you read.

Vancouver’s Black Bond Books recommends Nicola Griffith’s Hild. Bookseller Marianne describes it as “a fantastic, in-depth look at what St. Hilda’s life might have been like during the dark ages” and recommends it “to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.” Buy it from Black Bond Books or your local bookshop.

A graphic novel series that explores growing up in a working-class neighborhood in the Ivory Coast in the 1970s is enjoying a revival. Aya, first released in France in 2005, follows the story of the titular character as she navigates coming of age in Abidjan, the country’s largest city — where the author Marguerite Abouet also spent her childhood years. “The series mixes humor and biting takes on society, with a feminist twist,” wrote The New York Times’ West Africa correspondent. The books, which have been translated into 15 languages, are now finding a new generation of readers in the French-speaking African diaspora as well as the U.S., with the most recent volume released earlier this month — its success put down to its relatable characters.

• Ethiopia wants to be a hub for African medical tourism.
• Meet the company using AI to change customer service.
• The Biden administration nominees that languished in Senate limbo.