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03.24.2025

 

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Good morning. It's Monday, March 24, and we're covering Ukraine-Russia ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia, a turning point for higher education, and much more. First time reading? Join over 4 million intellectually curious readers. Sign up here.

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Need To Know
 

Ukraine-Russia Talks

US officials are meeting separately with Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia this week to begin negotiations on a limited ceasefire plan, with hopes of reaching a deal by April 20. Talks with Ukraine were held yesterday evening, while talks with Russia will be held today. 

 

Discussions are expected to focus on safety for shipping in the Black Sea and temporarily protecting energy facilities and critical infrastructure from attacks. Russia and Ukraine agree on the latter, but details on when and how still need to be decided. US special envoy Steve Witkoff is aiming for a 30-day ceasefire to allow time for negotiations on a permanent truce. Ukraine previously accepted a 30-day ceasefire proposal, but Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to endorse it. Russia's demands for any agreement include an end to arms supplies for Ukraine, which Kyiv rejects.

 

The talks come after Russia and Ukraine traded drone attacks over the weekend. See the latest updates on the three-year conflict here (w/maps). 

 

Columbia Concedes

Columbia University has agreed to a series of demands from the Trump administration in an effort to restore $400M in funding that was revoked earlier this month. The administration had canceled federal grants and contracts over concerns that Columbia failed to adequately protect against antisemitism on campus. 

 

The university's policy changes include banning identity-concealing masks during protests, hiring 36 campus security officers who can arrest or remove people, appointing a new senior vice provost to oversee the Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies department, and implementing a formal definition of antisemitism. It is unclear whether the changes are sufficient enough to reinstate federal funding.

 

The move has raised concerns about government interference in academic affairs and sets a precedent for other colleges and universities facing similar scrutiny, including Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Michigan. Last week, the Trump administration paused $175M in funding to the University of Pennsylvania for allowing a transgender woman to compete in women's sports.

 

Francis Leaves Hospital

Pope Francis returned Sunday to his Vatican apartment after a five-week stay at a hospital for a double pneumonia. He was initially admitted to the hospital on Valentine’s Day for a respiratory infection, which rapidly worsened, requiring regular ventilation, multiple blood transfusions, and several procedures. Francis will now begin a two-month convalescence after enduring two nearly fatal critical episodes. 

 

The pontiff appeared (watch here) for the first time in public since Feb. 14 on a balcony at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, whose 10th-floor suite has hosted ailing popes since the 1980s. Observers noted the 88-year-old appeared bloated and frail, and his speech sounded thin and gasping due to severe lung damage. Before his stay, Francis had maintained a relatively rigorous schedule of meetings, speeches, and travel—a routine analysts expect the Argentine will not revive soon. 

 

The 38-day hospitalization was the longest of Francis’s 12-year papacy—he had been admitted three other times—and marks the second-longest of any recent pope behind John Paul II’s 1981 55-day stay.

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In The Know
 

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Sweet 16 set for NCAA men's basketball tournament; see complete bracket (More) | ... and women's Round of 32 wraps today; see latest schedule (More)

George Foreman, two-time world heavyweight boxing champion, Olympic gold medalist, and entrepreneur, dies at 76 (More) | Sports world reacts to Foreman's death (More)

Conan O'Brien, comedian and five-time Emmy winner, becomes 26th recipient of prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor (More

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Science & Technology

> Joint studies from OpenAI and MIT Media Lab find higher use of ChatGPT may correspond with increased loneliness and higher emotional dependence on the chatbot (More) | Everything you need to know about OpenAI (1440 Topics)

> Archaeologists discover over 3,000-year-old Egyptian tomb believed to belong to a pharaoh during the less-known Abydos Dynasty; discovery is second of its kind this year (More) | Learn more about ancient Egypt (1440 Topics

> Study finds carbon absorbed by the land—about one-third of all carbon emissions—is mainly stored in nonliving pools like soils and sediments, allowing the carbon to remain sequestered 10 to 100 times longer than in living plants (More

 

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close higher Friday (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow +0.1%, Nasdaq +0.5%); S&P 500 and Nasdaq snap four consecutive weeks of declines (More

> Ticket reseller StubHub files for initial public offering; reports net loss of $2.8M on revenue of roughly $1.8B for 2024, compared with a $405M profit on $1.4B in revenue for 2023 (More) | What are IPOs? (1440 Topics)

> Tesla vehicles from model year 2017 or newer accounted for record 1.4% of all vehicles traded in this month through March 15, up from 0.4% in the same period last year, per analysis from national car shopping site Edmunds (More

 

Politics & World Affairs

> South Korean court overturns impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, reinstating him as acting president (More) | Turkish court formally arrests and orders jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu—President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rival—pending outcome of corruption trial (More

> Department of Defense personnel may be subjected to polygraph tests amid new investigation into alleged leaks at the Pentagon, according to internal memo (More) | President Donald Trump announces $20B contract with Boeing for new F-47 fighter jet (More) | IRS reportedly nearing agreement to verify whether ICE officials have correct address for people expected to be deported (More

> Israeli airstrike in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis kills Hamas political leader Salah Bardawil; Gaza death toll passes 50,000, per Hamas-run Health Ministry (More) | Israel strikes Lebanon after Hezbollah fires rockets into Israel; exchange considered worst violence since November (More

In partnership with SmartAsset

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Etcetera
 

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"Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his [or her] goals."

- Dorothy Height

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