Flagship

Kyiv agrees to halt energy attacks

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted a limited ceasefire with Russia after a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, agreeing to halt strikes on energy infrastructure. It was the first known conversation between the two leaders after their explosive February showdown in the Oval Office, and followed Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. Trump and Zelenskyy’s exchange marked a swift improvement in Washington-Kyiv relations, with the US president promising to help source air defense ammo for Ukraine — although Trump also floated the idea of the US owning Ukrainian power plants. But the “narrow agreement” between Russia and Ukraine still leaves “a wide chasm” on how they see the war ending, The New York Times wrote.

How awake is Europe, really?

A European Union rearmament plan to deter Russia appears to exclude the US for now, according to spending plans unveiled Wednesday. US arms companies are being frozen out of the $163 billion funding push for EU capitals to buy from European defense firms. US President Donald Trump’s skepticism toward traditional alliances has forced Europe to rethink its security dependence on the US, and take charge of its own defense. But talk of “a unified and serious continent” is premature, the Financial Times’ Janan Ganesh argued. It’s unclear whether Europeans will be OK with reduced social spending in favor of more defense investment: Europe is “half-awake, with rheum in its eyes, perhaps still hoping to ignore the alarm.”

Stocks rise after Fed decision

The US Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady on Wednesday, as policymakers warned of rising economic uncertainty amid growing fears of tariff-fueled inflation. While Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the risk of a recession is “not high,” the central bank cut its GDP growth projections for 2025. Powell’s thread-the-needle approach — he said tariffs will have only a “transitory” effect on inflation, and forecast two rate cuts this year — was welcomed by investors; Wall Street rallied after a tumultuous few weeks. But the persistent uncertainty showed how “the Fed is as lost in the wilderness as the rest of us trying to decipher the continual shifts in economic policy from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” one inflation analyst said.

Israelis protest as Gaza invasion restarts

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets Wednesday to push for a renewed ceasefire and protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to consolidate power. The demonstrations came as Israel restarted a ground invasion of Gaza after talks to extend a ceasefire failed. Israel said its incursion, following deadly air strikes, was aimed at pressuring Hamas to release remaining hostages, but it also cemented Netanyahu’s coalition government by appeasing a right-wing party opposed to a longer ceasefire. Even as Netanyahu scores a political win, “the nation is roiling,” The Times of Israel wrote. Israelis’ anger over domestic and national issues shows just how “unhappy much of the public is with the path the country is walking down,” The Jerusalem Post wrote.

Columbia preparing to yield to Trump

Educators at top US universities are warning that US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on higher education will tarnish the country’s global standing as an academic powerhouse. Their concerns come as Columbia University — which has become a primary target of Trump’s campaign against elite universities — is reportedly preparing to yield to the White House’s demands, including banning masks on campus, to restore $400 million in federal funding. A professor at Columbia and the president of Princeton University argued, in separate pieces, that Trump’s attacks endanger academic freedom in the US that has long attracted the world’s finest minds, thereby “presenting the greatest threat to American universities since the Red Scare of the 1950s.”

Ben & Jerry’s political activism clashes

Ben & Jerry’s alleged that its CEO was fired by owner Unilever over the ice cream company’s political activism. The complaint filed Tuesday is the latest clash between the brand and its parent company over its social stances: Last year, Ben & Jerry’s complained that Unilever tried to stop it from calling for a Gaza ceasefire, and in 2022 it sued Unilever for blocking it from selling ice cream in the Palestinian territories. It’s not the only activist company facing tensions with new owners. Cosmetics giant L’Oreal’s 2006 purchase of British firm The Body Shop, which is known for its animal rights and ethical sourcing stances, sparked concern from consumers that its social mission would be undermined.

Fewer India medical visas for Dhaka

India is giving out fewer medical visas to Bangladeshis as ties between the countries worsen, creating an opening for China to boost relations with Dhaka. Before former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted last August, New Delhi approved 5,000 to 7,000 visas per day to those seeking medical treatment; that figure now is down to fewer than 1,000, Reuters reported. Tensions between the South Asian neighbors have risen since Hasina, a long-time ally of India, was overthrown, giving China an opportunity to exert more regional influence. A group of Bangladeshis traveled to China this month to “explore the potential of the medical tourism market,” a Chinese ambassador said.

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What’s behind China’s open-source AI

The flood of open-source artificial intelligence models from China may seem unexpected, but is in fact part of Beijing’s strategy to dominate in the US-China tech war, a Financial Times Asia columnist argued. Chinese tech giants including Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent in recent weeks have released AI models that anyone can download and modify, a contrast from many US models that are kept proprietary. But this approach allows the Chinese companies to skirt US sanctions and effectively widen their talent pool, letting global developers “continuously improve their models — without shouldering all the development costs,” June Yoon wrote. The strategy, though, is risky, since nothing is stopping other countries from building on the Chinese models and surpassing them.

Bitcoin creator may be a ‘jerk’

A 15-year quest to uncover the anonymous creator of Bitcoin suggests it might be a 70-something Australian with a history of “racist, homophobic, and misogynist” internet posts. The true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym of the person behind the 2008 Bitcoin white paper, has been debated for years: Cryptocurrency enthusiasts treat him almost as a saint. The tech writer Benjamin Wallace wrote in Intelligencer that tracing particular words in Nakamoto’s sparse communications, plus other tantalizing pieces of evidence, point toward obscure programmer James Donald — although Donald did not admit it when confronted. Wallace concluded that while “we will likely never know beyond a reasonable doubt” who Nakamoto really is, he may have been not a saint but “a jerk.”

Golden age of Japanese baseball

Five stars from Japan shared the spotlight this week for Major League Baseball’s opening series in Tokyo, in what is being hailed as a “golden age” for Japanese baseball. The biggest star among them is the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani — “a sports icon, pop star and national hero rolled into one,” according to The New York Times, or a “unicorn” per his manager: Ohtani’s record-setting exploits have painted his home country “Dodger blue.” While Japan has long held a passion for baseball, enjoying a golden era in the 1960s, some predict an even brighter future. “Better players than Ohtani will appear,” Japanese baseball historian Nobby Ito told The Athletic. “The next 50, 100 years — much better.”

March 20:

• The People’s Bank of China makes an interest rate announcement.
• The International Olympic Committee elects a new president.
• Brazil and Colombia compete in a qualifying match for the 2026 World Cup.

A new exhibition in London shines a light on the intricacy of Japanese carpentry. A gallery at the Japan House has been transformed “into a woody wonder world of chisels and saws, mortises and tenons,” The Guardian wrote. The centerpiece is a reconstruction of a hall from a temple built between 1185 and 1333: Its tiered rooftop is supported by brackets of wooden blocks that look like “a game of black-belt-level Jenga.” The complexity and intentionality of Japanese carpentry comes from the country’s deep respect for forests, the exhibit’s curator said. “If a carpenter uses a 1,000-year-old tree, they must be prepared to take on more than 1,000 years of responsibility for the building that they create.”

Vice President JD Vance has serious momentum behind him toward the 2028 GOP nomination. His strongest opponent so far isn’t a person — it’s time, Semafor’s Burgess Everett and Shelby Talcott wrote.

“Vance, no matter his clout with MAGA die-hards, is unlikely to have the same swath of loyal followers that Trump has enjoyed,” they argued, but he could be in a good position to succeed Trump if he aggressively defends the president for three more years.