Flagship

‘Pro-Ukrainian’ group blamed

Last year’s attacks on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines were linked to pro-Ukrainian groups. Unexplained blasts destroyed three of the four Baltic Sea pipelines in September. Fingers initially pointed at Moscow, but why Russia would attack its own pipeline was unclear. Die Zeit reported that a yacht owned by two Ukrainian citizens was behind the sabotage, and that traces of explosives were found on the yacht’s table by German investigators. German prosecutors confirmed this morning that they searched a ship suspected of transporting explosives used in the blasts. The New York Times said intelligence seen by U.S. officials suggested a “pro-Ukrainian” group was involved. There is no suggestion that the Ukrainian government had any knowledge of the attacks.

Concerns over rising US rates

Markets reacted with unease at signs of rising interest rates, and moves by U.S. legislators to more seriously contemplate a potential debt ceiling default. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said rates will increase higher and faster than expected, driving up bond yields and pushing stocks lower. Major global investors such as BlackRock and Schroders said interest rates could rise as high as 6%, from 4.5%-4.75% currently. Republicans in the House of Representatives, meanwhile, will soon consider a bill requiring the government to continue making certain payments if it breaches the debt ceiling, Semafor’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig reported, a fallback plan that is technically feasible but extremely complex.

China’s shake-up

China’s planned bureaucratic overhaul looks set to further entrench Communist Party control. The proposals, which are likely to be rubber-stamped this week, include a new financial regulator, a new nationwide data bureau, and a restructured science and technology ministry that aims to help China “move faster toward greater self-reliance.” Overall central government staffing will be cut by 5%. The moves “mark a further departure” from decades-long efforts to improve governance and to separate the Party and the state, The Wall Street Journal wrote. Further reforms to China’s cabinet and leadership lineup are also expected, one analyst told the South China Morning Post, “as the party consolidates its power.”

Georgia protests NGO law

Thousands of people in the Georgian capital Tbilisi braved pepper spray and water cannon to protest a law the country’s president says is “dictated by Russia.” The bill, requiring organizations receiving significant overseas funding to register as “foreign agents,” passed its first reading on Tuesday. It’s similar to a 2012 Russian law used to suppress Western-funded media and NGOs. Protesters waving European Union flags chanted “down with the Russian law” in scenes reminiscent of Ukraine’s 2013 Euromaidan revolution. Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has led to diplomatic setbacks: Finland and Sweden seek to join NATO, and Baltic states such as Lithuania lean increasingly toward the EU.

Congress examines COVID origins

A U.S. congressional committee into the origins of COVID-19 begins hearings today. The Republican-led group will examine whether or not the pandemic started after a leak from a Chinese laboratory, a claim given more weight recently by a U.S. government department concluding that was the most likely explanation. The row over the Western response to the virus also rages on, as decisions to close schools, churches, and other venues are reexamined. The science commentator Zeynep Tufekci tweeted that “there’s an attempt to relitigate 2020 under the comfort of 2023,” forgetting, now that we have vaccines and treatments, how terrible and confusing those first months were.

Big Oil warns of underinvestment

Oil and gas chief executives at the industry’s main annual conference argued for more drilling this week, but counterintuitively insisted those plans needn’t jeopardize progress toward decarbonization, Semafor’s Climate & Energy Editor Tim McDonnell writes from the meetings in Houston. Energy executives blamed government climate policies for the underinvestment but, as Tim notes, a new study found that a lack of oil and gas exploration was driven at least as much by the industry’s poor financial returns over the past decade. And the idea that more drilling is compatible with cutting emissions is fanciful. “Any scenario where emissions go down enough to meet our climate goals means we’re using a lot less hydrocarbons,” one analyst said.

— To read Tim’s story, out later today, subscribe to Semafor’s Net Zero newsletter.

Mexico spies on journalists

Mexico’s armed forces spied on journalists and a human rights activist, according to documents hacked from a military database. Pegasus, the powerful spying software, was used at least five times to gain access to mobile phone data despite President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s assertions that such surveillance would be “illegal” during his administration. The role — and budget — of Mexico’s armed forces has surged during Lopez Obrador’s presidency. Military personnel are now assigned tasks including policing, building airport runways, and running the country’s ports. “You could say that Mexico has the building blocks for a military state,” a security researcher said.

Racist attacks on Tunisia migrants

Anti-migrant remarks by Tunisia’s ever more autocratic ruler triggered racist attacks on sub-Saharan nations’ citizens and sparked international condemnation. President Kais Saied said two weeks ago that increasing migration was part of a conspiracy to reshape Tunisia’s demographics and make it “only an African country.” After his speech, security forces carried out dozens of arrests of migrants, and attacks on migrants rose, Al Jazeera reported. The African Union has since postponed a conference due to be held in Tunis this month, the World Bank said it would pause future work with the country, and multiple other African countries began repatriating their citizens.

Sales surge for Hogwarts Legacy

Hogwarts Legacy is Europe’s fastest-selling game, other than FIFA titles, in six years of records. GamesIndustry.biz reported that after just three weeks on sale, it’s already the fifth-best-selling game of the last 12 months. Since European charts began in 2017, only five games have had bigger launches, all of them annual FIFA soccer games: it has outsold Call of Duty, Elden Ring, Grand Theft Auto, and other huge names. The game, set in the Harry Potter universe, was the subject of online boycotts over Potter author J.K. Rowling’s comments about transgender identity.

Understated winner of architects’ Nobel

The British architect David Chipperfield won the Pritzker Prize, known as the “Nobel of architecture.” Previous winners include Frank Gehry and Norman Foster. Chipperfield’s award is notable because the judges praised him not for having a recognizable style but for the opposite: “A gifted architect can sometimes almost disappear,” the jury said. Chipperfield creates “buildings designed specifically for each circumstance.” The 69-year-old said he was “not that interested in architecture as an autobiographical exercise.” He told CNN: “When we finish a building, we go home — we leave it, and it belongs to somebody else.”

The slow death of the floppy disk

The supply of floppy disks is running low. Most computer users stopped using floppy disks decades ago: CD-ROMs, flash drives, and eventually internet downloads replaced them. But in some industries where tech is replaced rarely, they’re still vital. They carry software updates and routines for old airliners, industrial embroidery machines, and robotic animals in Chuck E. Cheese restaurants. But production stopped more than 10 years ago, WIRED reported. The owner of a floppy disk exchange site sells around 1,000 a day, sourcing them from individuals, but their increasing rarity means where he once bought 3.5” disks for seven cents each, they’re now a dollar.

• A nationwide strike in Greece over last week’s deadly train crash.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency’s quarterly board meeting, held as concerns rise over Iran’s nuclear program.
• Holi, a Hindu festival marking the beginning of spring.

That’s the median gender-pay gap across 29 OECD nations — also known as the rich-country club — according to The Economist’s annual glass-ceiling index released on International Women’s Day. Iceland is the best place to be a working woman, it found, followed by Sweden, Finland, and Norway. For the 11th year running, Japan and South Korea came last among rich countries. The rankings assess where women have the best and worst chance of equal treatment at work, taking in factors such as labor force participation and childcare costs. The 12% gap in 2022 represents a 0.4 percentage point increase from 2021, after years of shrinking. Globally, the International Labour Organization estimates, women are paid on average 20% less than men with huge variations between countries.

A new podcast tells the story of British antiquities smuggler Douglas Latchford’s decades-long looting of Cambodian artwork, some of which is on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dynamite Doug — produced by our friends at Project Brazen — is based on dozens of interviews, as well as troves of emails and secret recordings, and tracks Latchford’s collusion with Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge to illegally buy priceless art. To spotlight the Met’s role in the episode, a Cambodian dancer staged an unsanctioned dance in front of one of the works of art on display at the museum that was stolen by Latchford. “For us, the statues are spiritual, and belong back in Cambodia,” she said.

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