20250317

1. Russia Demands 'Ironclad' Guarantees In Peace Treaty With Ukraine - Reuters

Russia will seek "ironclad" guarantees in any peace deal on Ukraine that NATO nations will exclude Kyiv from membership and that Ukraine will remain neutral, a Russian deputy foreign minister said in remarks published.

President Trump is expected to speak with his Putin this week on ways to end the three-year war in Ukraine, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN after returning from what he described as a "positive" meeting with Putin in Moscow.

2. EU Drops 4 Russians From Sanctions List In Deal With Hungary To Drop Its Sanctions Veto - UPI

The three Russians Hungary got removed from the sanctions list are oligarch Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyaryov, and Gulbahor Ismailova, sister of oligarch Alisher Usmanov.

A fourth Russian was removed from the sanctions list as the deal with Hungary was reached, but he was removed due to a weak legal case for keeping him on the list. For sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union to continue, they must be renewed every six months with the assent of every EU nation. Hungary has attempted to upend the sanctions twice in three months.

3. Russia Deputy Foreign Minister Visits North Korea: Reports - Reuters

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko is visiting North Korea, North Korean state media KCNA said.

His trip takes place following a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in the Ukraine war, where thousands of North Korean troops have been deployed to support Russian forces, according to Ukrainian, U.S., and South Korean officials.

4. China’s Xi Dismisses Invitation To EU-China Anniversary Summit - Reuters

Chinese President Xi Jinping has declined an invitation to visit Brussels for a summit to mark the 50th anniversary of EU-China diplomatic ties, the Financial Times reported.

Beijing told EU officials that Premier Li Qiang would meet the presidents of the European Council and Commission instead of Xi, the FT said, citing sources familiar with the matter. The Chinese premier usually attends the summit when it is held in Brussels, while the president hosts it in Beijing, but the EU wants Xi to attend to commemorate half a century of relations between Beijing and the bloc, the newspaper said.

5. China Launches 'Action Plan' To Spur Consumption, Lock In Retail Upswing - Nikkei Asia

China's government has mapped out an "action plan" that calls for supporting employment and the stock market to stimulate domestic consumption, with investors awaiting more details expected at a news conference on Monday.

After the plan was unveiled Sunday, the CSI 300 Index, a gauge of Chinese stocks listed on mainland exchanges, opened 0.35% higher on Monday morning, before fluctuating between negative and positive territory. The index had gained 2.43% on Friday and was trading at its highest level in about three months.

6. China Signals Anger At CK Hutchison's Panama Ports Sale, Rattling Investors - Nikkei Asia

Chinese authorities have signaled their displeasure over Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison selling its Panama Canal port assets to a consortium led by U.S. investment firm BlackRock, pushing the Li Ka-shing family company's share price sharply lower.

A commentary condemning the deal was published by Hong Kong's state-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao, warning that allowing the canal to be "Americanized" would lead to Washington using it for political purposes to restrict Chinese trade. The article was reposted in full by the joint official website of the Chinese Communist Party's Hong Kong and Macao Work Office and the central government's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, underscoring that it expressed Beijing's views.

7. China Holds Landing Exercise With ‘Invasion Barges’ In South China Sea - RFA

China appears to be conducting amphibious landing exercises with specially built vessels at a beach on the South China Sea, the sort of practice it would conduct if it was considering an invasion as tensions over self-ruled Taiwan grow.

Open source investigators analyzing Chinese social media this week detected the presence of a fleet of large ships, which they called “invasion barges” as they can be used to land heavy military vehicles and troops quickly onto beaches.

8. Japan Eyes Deploying Long-Range Missiles On Kyushu Island - Kyodo News

The move is part of the country's efforts to acquire "counterstrike capabilities" to hit enemy targets in the event of an emergency, government sources said.

The deployment, expected to commence at the end of the next fiscal year in March 2026, is aimed at bolstering the security of the country's southwestern Nansei island chain, strategically important for its proximity to Taiwan, amid growing fears the self-ruled democratic island may be invaded by China.

9. Beijing Pushes Healthy Chinese Food Recipes As Waistlines Expand - RFA

China is putting scales in hotel rooms and promoting healthy recipes tailored to different culinary regions on social media in a bid to stem the nationwide obesity problem, according to health officials and state media.

China’s National Health Commission is hoping the recipes and other advice will “popularize” a healthy lifestyle in a country where more than half the adult population is overweight or obese, experts said. The Commission has hired Olympic athletes and released WeChat emoticons to promote weight management.

10. Pacific Nation Of Kiribati Explores Deep Sea Mining Deal With China - RFA

The Nasdaq-traded The Metals Company, or TMC, said in a U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filing it terminated an agreement with a Kiribati state-owned company that gave it exploration rights to a 28,950 square mile area of seabed in the northeastern Pacific.

The breakdown in cooperation is paving the way for China to add to its regional foothold in the contentious industry. Kiribati’s Ministry of Fisheries and Ocean Resources said it held talks last week with China’s ambassador to “explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep ocean resources.”

11. Baidu Releases Reasoning AI Model To Take On DeepSeek - Bloomberg

The Ernie X1 model by Baidu - China’s internet search leader - works similarly to DeepSeek R1 — which shocked Silicon Valley by offering comparable performance to the world’s best chatbots at a fraction of their development cost.

Baidu’s reasoning model excels in areas like daily dialogs, complex calculations and logical deduction, it said in a statement.

12. Netanyahu Says He Will Seek To Dismiss Head Of Israel’s Internal Security Service - The Guardian

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will seek to dismiss the director of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, through a cabinet vote later this week, in a move that will prompt further accusations of authoritarianism.

Shin Bet is responsible for monitoring Palestinian militant groups. It recently issued a report accepting responsibility for its failures around the attack but also criticised Netanyahu, saying government policies were among its causes.

13. Iran Will Respond To Trump Letter After ‘Full Scrutiny,’ Ministry Spokesperson Says - Reuters

Iran will respond to a letter by President Donald Trump “after full scrutiny,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Last week, an Emirati official brought a letter from the U.S. president proposing nuclear talks with Tehran, which Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected, saying such a proposal was “deception” from Washington.

14. Iran Steps Up Crackdown On Female Singers - RFE/RL

In past weeks, several women have been detained or summoned by authorities, while their Instagram pages have been shut down.

Since the 1979 revolution, women in Iran have been banned from singing solo in public. But despite the restrictions, many female artists have turned to social media to share their voices—often defying both the singing ban and the country’s strict hijab laws.

15. Hungary's Orban Vows Crackdown On Media, NGOs - D.W.

Speaking at an event marking Hungary's national day, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said it was time to eliminate what he called a "shadow army" of NGOs, journalists, judges and politicians who he said were serving the interests of the EU and a "liberal American empire."

The right-wing populist, has taken a tougher stance against foreign-funded media and NGOs since President Trump’s inauguration. He has also welcomed recent steps taken by Washington to dismantle USAID, claiming the development agency was being used to fund liberal causes in Hungary and undermine his government.

16. Greenland Parties Unite To Reject Trump's Annexation Plans - D.W.

All five parties in Greenland's parliament have united to reject President Donald Trump's calls to take over the strategically important Arctic island.

"We, all party leaders, cannot accept the repeated statements on annexation and control of Greenland," the parties said in a joint statement posted on Facebook. "We … find this conduct unacceptable to friends and allies in a defense alliance."

The party leaders released their statement on Friday after Trump repeated his desire to take control of Greenland during a meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte.

17. N. Korea Warns U.S. War Reinforcements Will Be 'Wiped Out' After Stealth Jet Deployment To Japan - Yonhap

A commentary carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency criticized the recent U.S. deployment of a squadron of F-35B fighters to an air base in Iwakuni, Japan, accusing Washington of increasing uncertainties for a nuclear war.

"The U.S. anti-communist outposts ... are within the constant sighting and striking range of the DPRK's indefinite forces," it said. "Any war reinforcements of the U.S. will be completely contained and wiped out."

18. RFA Operations May Cease Following Federal Grants Termination - RFA

An executive order issued by President Trump Friday calls for the reduction of non-statutory components of the United States Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, the federal agency that funds RFA and several other independent global news organizations.

It was not immediately clear how and when operations would cease, but RFA is solely funded through federal grants. China watchers cautioned that cuts to RFA in particular could impact Washington’s ability to counter Beijing.

Executive order aims to eliminate the parent agency of VOA, RFA, RFE/RL and other U.S. government-funded news outlets.

19. Americans Sour On Economy As Inflation Expectations Hit Highest Level Since 1991 - Yahoo Finance

The latest University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey showed Consumer sentiment hit its lowest level since November 2022. The index slid to a reading of 57.9, below the 64.7 seen last month and the 63 expected by economists.

Long-run inflation expectations, which track expectations over the next five to 10 years, climbed, too, hitting 3.9% in March, up from 3.4% in February. This marks the highest level of long-term inflation expectations since 1991.

20. Bitcoin-Related Convertible Bond ETF Comes To Market - CoinDesk

REX Shares has launched a first-of-its-kind convertible-bonds exchange-traded fund (ETF), allowing investors exposure to the convertible debt issued by corporates to add bitcoin to their balance sheet.

Called the REX Bitcoin Corporate Treasury Convertible Bond ETF (BMAX), the fund is necessarily mostly made up of convertible paper issued by Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR), by far the largest issuer of such debt. Other top 10 holdings include the convertible notes of bitcoin miners Marathon Digital (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT).

21. Gold ETFs Inflow Takes Over Bitcoin ETFs Amid Historic Rally - CoinDesk

Gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have overtaken bitcoin ETFs in assets under management as investors shift toward the traditional safe-haven asset as BTC price tumbled more than 19% over the past three months, while the precious metal climbed 12.5%.

Bitcoin ETFs, which saw significant inflows following their U.S. launch in January last year, have experienced major outflows, losing about $3.8 billion since Feb. 24 of this year, according to Farside Investors data. Meanwhile, gold ETFs recorded their highest monthly inflows since March 2022 last month, according to the World Gold Council.

22. Nostalgic People Better For Friendships, Mental Health - HealthDay News

Nostalgia might be met by eyerolls from some, as the emotion might inspire insipid images of rose-tinted glasses, gooey sentimentality and living in a time-lost past.

But people prone to nostalgia have an edge when it comes to their health and well-being, a new study says. Nostalgic people have more close friends and put more effort into maintaining friendships and relationships than less sentimental sorts, researchers reported in the journal Cognition and Emotion.