Flagship

US calls for ceasefire in UN resolution

The U.S. called for “an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza in a draft United Nations Security Council resolution set for a Friday vote. The language marked a “nuanced shift” in Washington’s posture toward Israel by prioritizing the end of hostilities, while “loosening” its link to the release of Israeli hostages, The Guardian’s world affairs editor wrote. Advocates have pushed the U.S. — which has vetoed several previous ceasefire resolutions — to use the U.N. body to steer Israel away from its planned invasion of the Gazan town of Rafah. The resolution marks the “most significant public divergence” between the two allies, The Wall Street Journal wrote. Less than 40% of Americans say Israel’s conduct during the conflict has been acceptable, while about one-third find it unacceptable, according to new Pew Research Center data.

India eyes its own democracy ranking

India is planning its own democracy index after it fell in international rankings. The government approached a local think tank to develop a homegrown ratings system that would lean “more closely to New Delhi’s narrative than Western-based rankings,” Al Jazeera reported. Groups like Freedom House have demoted India’s democratic bonafides in recent years, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party pursues a Hindu nationalist agenda. On Thursday, the main opposition party’s bank accounts were frozen over a tax dispute, and a prominent opposition politician was arrested, leading critics to accuse Modi of a crackdown weeks before national elections begin.

Xi to meet with US biz leaders

Chinese leader Xi Jinping plans to meet with U.S. business leaders in Beijing next week to lure foreign investment and allay concerns about regulatory risk. U.S. executives will reportedly make up the largest global delegation at the annual China Development Forum, which begins Sunday, after many skipped last year’s gathering following the Chinese spy balloon saga. While U.S.-China relations remain tense and firms are increasingly looking to alternatives such as India to diversify their supply chains, China remains “critical” to companies like Apple, CEO Tim Cook said in Shanghai on Thursday, according to Chinese state media. Apple’s sales have dropped in China, challenged by local smartphone competitors like Huawei and Oppo.

Reddit’s ‘unusual’ IPO

Reddit went public Thursday, the first major social media company to do so since 2019. The initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange “was different from most — which is fitting since both the company and its user base are rather unusual,” Bloomberg wrote. Known for its opinionated users, the company reserved up to 8% of its IPO offering for the most active Redditors, warning that it added “increased volatility” to the stock. But Reddit’s stock ended its first day of trading up 48%, signaling investor interest despite the company not turning an annual profit since its 2005 launch. Reddit remains one of the 10 most popular U.S. websites and has become increasingly valuable as a search engine.

Reactions divided for ‘3 Body Problem’

Western reviewers love Netflix’s adaptation of the acclaimed Chinese science fiction novel The Three Body Problem; Chinese nationalists, not so much. They criticized the Game of Thrones’ creators take on Liu Cixin’s beloved work for its multiethnic cast, its U.K. setting, and China’s portrayal as “tyrannical.” U.S. reviews called the show “mind-bending” and “more diverse,” with “a streak of techno-optimism,” and Beijing’s entertainment critics hailed it as a sign of Chinese sci-fi literature’s global popularity. Inside China, most sci-fi writers self-censor, and time travel narratives are banned. Liu’s works have also been altered: A Cultural Revolution scene in The Three Body Problem was moved from the beginning to the middle of the first book over concerns that it was “too politically charged.”

Father of tech singularity dies

Vernor Vinge, who created the concept of the “technological singularity,” died aged 79. Vinge, a five-time Hugo Award-winning science fiction writer, posited a future where an explosion of technological progress would surpass human comprehension, fundamentally ending our dominance. He drew an analogy with black holes, singularities in space-time, within which the laws of physics break down. Vinge’s idea, inspired by computing pioneers like I. J. Good, was the cornerstone of modern sci-fi. It’s also recognizable in ideas about the “hard takeoff” of superintelligence, as predicted by thinkers like Nick Bostrom, in which AI improvements hasten AI development, causing a recursive acceleration.

Russian schools play Tucker Carlson

Russian students ranging from first-graders to high-schoolers are reportedly being quizzed on American political commentator Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with President Vladimir Putin. After being made to watch parts of it, students are questioned on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and U.S. sanctions, among other topics, Meduza reported. Schools and colleges began piloting the extracurricular lesson — “From Rus’ to Russia” — this month, with one school saying the interview determined whether students’ answers about the war were correct. Carlson, a former Fox News firebrand, has sympathized with Russia’s stance on the Ukraine war, Semafor’s Max Tani wrote, and “is a familiar face on Russian state-controlled television.”

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Macron boxing pics mirror Russia stance

New photos showing French President Emmanuel Macron intensely boxing were “intended for Vladimir Putin,” experts said. Analysts linked the images, released Tuesday by Macron’s official photographer, to his increasingly muscular stance toward Russia: Macron has called on Europe to step up its response to Russia and refused to rule out the possibility of sending French troops to Ukraine. The macho photos “are part of the neo-populist virilism that certain leaders are fond of today, starting with the master of the genre (until now) Vladimir Putin,” a French history professor said. A shirtless Putin has been photographed riding a horse, shooting a gun, and fishing.

UK automakers deny Russia sales

British car exports to Azerbaijan have spiked 2,000%, but the industry denied it had anything to do with neighboring Russia, despite a near-simultaneous leap in car exports from Azerbaijan to Russia. U.K. sanctions banned the sale of cars to Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. But in January, $55 million worth of cars was sold to Azerbaijan, Sky News reported, making it Britain’s 12th biggest car export market: Before the war, the highest monthly figure was about $12 million, and Azerbaijan was rarely in the top 75 markets. Similar increases have been seen in other former Soviet states such as Kazakhstan and Georgia. A car industry spokesman insisted that Azerbaijan was a “flourishing market” and that the rise was the result of “pent-up demand.”

US measles cases on the rise

The U.S. had more measles cases in the first week of 2024 than in all of 2023. Vaccination rates have slipped — data shows that 93% of kindergarten-age children are vaccinated, below the 95% required for population immunity — and the Centers for Disease Control and the American Medical Association have urged Americans to get their shots. Absolute numbers are small — 60 cases nationwide, most of which are from overseas travel — but measles is highly contagious, with each patient infecting 20 others on average in a population with no immunity. About 20% of measles infections in unvaccinated patients lead to hospitalization, and the disease kills about one child in every 300 infected, Ars Technica reported.

Sen. Michael Bennet; Sen. Ron Wyden; Kevin Scott, CTO, Microsoft; John Waldron, President & COO, Goldman Sachs; Tom Lue, General Counsel, Google DeepMind; Nicolas Kazadi, Finance Minister, DR Congo and Jeetu Patel, EVP and General Manager, Security & Collaboration, Cisco have joined the world class line-up of global economic leaders for the 2024 World Economy Summit, taking place in Washington, D.C. on April 17-18. See all speakers and sessions, and RSVP here.

WeChat is the center of the Chinese internet — powering everything from messaging to payments — and the main portal where China’s news outlets and bloggers publish their work.

China’s “center of the universe”

You have likely never heard of Caoxian county in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, but it is increasingly the center of twin economic growth drivers: traditional clothing, and live streaming. Hànfú — traditional clothing historically worn by China’s predominant Han ethnic group — was once mostly sold by a handful of home-based, mom-and-pop shops on apps like Taobao, but its production and sale has since expanded into an international operation comprising hundreds of different factories and companies, all centered around Caoxian. The county’s hànfú sales this past Lunar New Year exceeded $41 million, according to Sanlian Lifeweek Magazine.

Because much of Chinese e-commerce is done via social media, Caoxian is also drawing live streaming influencers who model and market the clothing: Hundreds of young girls — many of whom studied for careers in nursing or lab work — are moving there, lured by employment that can, at least for now, guarantee steady income.

Seeing miracles

A new “miracle drug” in China claims to prevent nearsightedness. Diao’a eye drops are a low concentration of atropine, a medication normally used to treat certain types of poisoning. In recent weeks, social media users have complained that pharmacies are selling out of the drops, with the surge largely driven by millions of parents’ “nearsightedness anxiety” on behalf of their children, according to DataVision, a financial news blog.

Researchers are divided over whether the drug works, but the craze is driven by the fact that China has among the highest rates of nearsightedness in the world: 89.7% among high schoolers, according to a study last year. The government’s goal is to reduce this figure by more than 11%, DataVision reported, and parents are looking for cheaper alternatives to glasses and contacts. “Faced with such horrific figures, how can parents not be anxious?” the blog wrote.

Chinese go east

With Japan’s currency at near-historic lows against China’s yuan last year, Chinese homebuyers have flocked to Tokyo and other Japanese cities to invest in property, according to 36kr, a tech and business forum. One Tokyo realtor told 36kr that more than 40 potential Chinese buyers approached him in the last six months alone, and most who stuck with him “paid in full” for houses priced between $200,000 and $500,000.

Japan’s declining birth rate means there is a low supply of new housing, 36kr reported, and housing prices are skyrocketing for the average Japanese homebuyer. But thanks to a cheaper yen, those rising prices have been offset by the exchange rate, at least for foreigners, the site wrote. This has made the Japanese market much more enticing for wealthier Chinese families who have lost confidence investing in their own country’s shaky real estate sector.

• March 22: Shakira releases new album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran.
• March 23: Sydney, Hong Kong, and Singapore are among the cities celebrating Earth Hour by turning off lights in major business districts and landmarks.
• March 24: Senegal holds its delayed presidential election.

The Denver Art Museum is returning 11 Southeast Asian artifacts connected to a prominent British art dealer and smuggler. The pieces include a 13th-century Buddha sculpture and a 12th-century figurine of Prajnaparamita, the Buddhist goddess of wisdom. The statues, dating back to the Khmer empire that spanned much of present-day Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, passed through the hands of Douglas Latchford before being donated to the museum, The Art Museum wrote. Latchford was charged in 2019 with trafficking stolen Cambodian art and falsifying records, but the case ended when he died a year later.

• NATO may take over some US responsibilities for Ukraine aid.
• Hydrogen’s biggest problem: No one wants to buy it.
• Big tech companies are relying on old playbooks to expand their AI empires.