Flagship

Europe vows support for Ukraine

European countries vowed to increase defense spending at a UK-hosted summit Sunday, as Britain’s prime minister called for a “coalition of the willing” to defend Ukraine after US-Kyiv talks imploded. Following Friday’s meltdown between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Europe is forced to confront a “worst-case scenario” of facing Russia alone, Bloomberg wrote. The continent’s leaders are scrambling to craft a peace plan for Ukraine, even as they acknowledge that US involvement remains critical for a deal. Europe must “turn the televised fight in the Oval Office to their advantage,” The Economist argued, and move beyond words: “If ever there were a time for Europe to stand up and stand together, it is now.”

US-Kyiv rift opens door for China

Washington’s deepening rift with Ukraine presents an opportunity for China to make inroads in Europe and Asia, analysts said. If Europe loses trusts in the US, Beijing could fill the void by offering to help rebuild post-war Ukraine, a Kyiv-based expert wrote. America’s pivot has also unnerved some of Washington’s closest Asian partners, and “China is swooping in, offering to replace the United States as the partner of choice,” the head of a Sydney-based think tank said. Even as President Donald Trump tries to keep the US ahead of China, his methods appear more aligned with Beijing’s theory of power than any modern president’s, Bloomberg wrote, “ushering in a much more comfortable world for the Communist Party.”

Israel blocks Gaza aid as truce expires

Israel halted aid deliveries to Gaza Sunday after the first phase of a US-negotiated ceasefire deal expired, raising fears of a resumption in fighting. Israeli officials said Hamas had rejected an extension backed by Washington that would require the release of half of the remaining hostages before further negotiations. Hamas, meanwhile, accused Israel of violating the original agreement. Spurred by US President Donald Trump’s much-criticized proposal to effectively take over Gaza, Arab nations have ramped up efforts to resolve the conflict. Egypt said it would present a Gaza reconstruction plan this week, although one longstanding question remains unanswered, The Wall Street Journal noted: “What to do with Hamas.”

The pragmatism of Syria’s leader

Syria’s new leaders announced a committee to draft a transitional constitution, as the country rebuilds following the overthrow of the Assad regime. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has stressed that a new transitional government would be more inclusive and ensure human rights. In a New Lines profile tracing the president’s personal transformation from Al-Qaida militant to rebel leader to statesman, two Syrian authors argued that al-Sharaa’s past instinct to eliminate his rivals will be tested, given the diverse and divided country he now governs. Still, al-Sharaa has a history of successfully changing both himself and his organization, “with a high degree of pragmatism without losing his local base, or at least not the majority of it.”

Adani revives US investment push

India’s Adani Group revived plans to make major investments in the US, despite the company’s billionaire founder facing federal charges there, the Financial Times reported. Adani, who is widely seen as a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pledged $10 billion in US energy investments after Donald Trump’s reelection before being indicted on bribery charges. The Trump administration has since rolled back the enforcement of laws against foreign corruption, signaling that the case against Adani could collapse, the FT wrote. If so, then Adani’s planned investment would likely proceed, an India expert said: “The prospect of Adani… buying America would be warmly welcomed by Trump.”

US startup lands on the Moon

American space startup Firefly on Sunday became the second ever private firm to soft-land on the Moon. The NASA-funded Blue Ghost holds ten experiments: The space agency hopes Blue Ghost and other commercial probes — including another lander arriving this week — will help it answer questions about the lunar environment in preparation for its planned astronaut missions later this decade. The back-to-back landings are part of a surge in private space exploration that analysts have said represents the foundations of a lunar economy: The Moon has the natural resources to make rocket propellant, for example, and could act as a launchpad for future missions further into space — including to potentially mine metal-rich asteroids.

Sports team values skyrocket

The value of the world’s biggest sports teams has skyrocketed in the last 15 years, driven by increasing television revenues, improved stadiums, and more sophisticated business operations. In 2010, not a single sports team was worth $2 billion — now, there are more than 100 valued above that mark. America’s NFL dominates the top 10: Most pro American football teams have a similar value thanks to its shared revenues and salary cap, meaning even the weakest make reliable money, Sportico reported. Soccer’s highest-value clubs, by contrast, are worth many times more than those further down the league tables, especially as the worst can be relegated from the top divisions that command the most lucrative television and advertising contracts.

American squirrels adapt to cars

Black squirrels are becoming more common in the US, apparently in response to the evolutionary pressures of cars. Research suggests that in rural areas, gray fur is favored by natural selection as it’s hard for the squirrels’ natural predators to see. But in cities, black fluff could offer the animals a greater advantage: Studies of roadkill in upstate New York suggested that black squirrels were less likely to be hit by cars because they are easier for drivers to spot. “Roadkill is a really common way for squirrels to go in cities,” one researcher told New Scientist, suggesting that evolution has boosted black squirrels’ numbers in urban spaces.

Parisians try ‘pitch dating’

Dissatisfaction with dating apps is driving young French people to try “pitch dating,” in which one person — typically armed with a slideshow — tries to convince an audience to give a friend a chance at romance. Paris has hosted pitch dating events for years; a recent gathering saw one young woman extol her gym enthusiast, foodie friend using a Spotify-inspired presentation to a crowded Parisian bar, Le Monde reported. Apps are not for everyone: Tinder’s monthly users fell from 75 million in 2021 to 56 million last year, and young Parisians are increasingly looking for potential partners somewhere “other than as an identity reduced to pixels,” one French event organizer said.

Awards season isn’t just for A-listers

As Hollywood prepared to award its highest accolades at the Oscars Sunday, a group of less recognized — but just as important — performers got their moment in the spotlight. The Los Angeles Union Background Actors Awards, or the Blurries, doled out prizes including best male and female background actor, best background actor ensemble, and best first responder look. The ceremony, now in its seventh year, highlights the uncredited workers whose “silent but purposeful presence gives energy to the principal actors,” The Los Angeles Times wrote. As one winner at this year’s ceremony said: “I am not an extra. We all are actors.”

March 3:

• Former FIFA officials Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini appear in Swiss court for a retrial on fraud charges.
• China’s largest bubble tea chain, Mixue Group, debuts on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
• Australian filmmaker George Miller celebrates his 80th birthday.

A new exhibition in London highlights decades of Brazilian modernist art, 81 years after a similar showcase in the city doubled as a World War II fundraiser. The 1944 presentation at the Royal Academy stemmed from a cultural mission in which Brazilian artists donated their work to benefit the Allied cause. The gallery’s chief curator said he hoped the new exhibition partly offers a “compensation for the 1944 show and also raises the profile of artists who are not known in Britain,” like Anita Malfatti and Djanira da Motta e Silva. Centered on pieces made between 1910 and 1970, it traces the post-imperial period in which “the young country wanted to establish a new identity that represented the diversity and culture of Brazil,” Artnews wrote.

US President Donald Trump got elected promising relief for voters’ pocketbooks, but he’s already running into harsh economic reality, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller, Burgess Everett, and Shelby Talcott reported.

“The tariff regimen has to be right, or it’s going to be inflationary,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who faces a tough 2026 reelection race, warned. Congressional Republicans are still a long way from openly critiquing the president, but the fact there’s any daylight just five weeks in may betray deeper fault lines to come.