Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 📝 The Israel-Hamas ceasefire could be in jeopardy
• 🌕 A historic Moon landing
• 😅 Citigroup’s $81 trillion “near miss”

… and more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.48-minute read (1,191 words).

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“It's much better to do good in a way that no one knows anything about it.”

–Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is facing an uncertain future, after Phase 1 of the deal expired on Saturday without signs of progress towards the second phase.

Catch up quick: Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary ceasefire in mid-January featuring three phases, with the second and third phases to be further negotiated during the first.

Phase 1, which involved Hamas freeing some Israeli hostages in exchange for some Palestinian prisoners and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza, has proceeded smoothly over the past month-and-a-half. But the two sides have remained stuck on negotiations over the final two phases and a more permanent end to the war.

Tensions escalated this weekend. On Sunday, Israel halted all goods and supplies entering Gaza and threatened “additional consequences,” citing Hamas’s refusal to accept a proposal by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to continue the ceasefire after Phase 1’s expiration.

• Hamas accused Israel of trying to derail the previous ceasefire agreement. The group says it wants to continue negotiating a more permanent ceasefire – but under the same conditions as the first 42 days of the framework, which it says was part of the January deal.

What’s in the Israeli-approved proposal? While Witkoff hasn’t made his plan public, Israel says it calls for the temporary ceasefire to continue for ~7 weeks – covering the Ramadan and Jewish Passover periods – while negotiations over a permanent peace deal continue.

Israel also says Witkoff’s proposal would begin with Hamas releasing half of its remaining living and dead Israeli hostages, with the rest handed over when a permanent deal is reached.

• Under terms of the January ceasefire, Phase 2 was to be centered around the release of Hamas' remaining hostages and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Looking ahead…While both Israel and Hamas stopped short of saying the ceasefire had ended this weekend, officials from both sides also say they’re currently preparing for a return to the fighting.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, will the Israel-Hamas ceasefire remain in effect until a more permanent peace deal is reached?

• Yes
• No
• Unsure/other

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Blue Ghost, a lunar lander built by Texas-based space startup Firefly, early yesterday pulled a Simone Biles and stuck its landing on the Moon.

With the successful touchdown, the 10-year-old Firefly becomes the first private outfit to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface without it crashing or falling over.

• Intuitive, another space company, reached the Moon with one of its crafts in February 2024, but it toppled over upon landing.

NASA🤝 private companies

En route to its destination, Blue Ghost, named after a rare US species of firefly, snapped some pretty sweet photos. But now its work starts; while on the lunar surface, the robotic craft will be carrying out 10 separate experiments for NASA.

If it seems like a lot…that’s because Blue Ghost’s payload is the largest to date under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS), a $2.6 billion initiative created to finance lower-cost methods of delivering cargo to the Moon without the agency needing to build its own spacecraft, as it historically has done.

These data-gathering missions are seen as pivotal to lay the groundwork for NASA's future Moon and Mars missions carrying actual astronauts.

👀 Looking ahead: The Moon’s about to get more crowded than a wedding dance floor after the “Cha Cha Slide” comes on. Intuitive is prepping for a Round 2 later this week, while Japanese company ispace is planning for its already en-route lunar lander to touch down in June.

Matcha is proving she really is that girl. The green tea drink – made of finely ground powder long-revered in Japan for its health benefits and energy-boosting properties – has become so popular globally that its fragile supply chain can’t keep up.

• Japan, producer of a majority of the world’s matcha, has seen production nearly triple from 2010–2023, according to data from the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
• And within the last five years, it’s reached a tipping point: More than half of Japan’s matcha is now exported.

The world wants its green powder fix

International sales of matcha have been growing. In the US specifically, matcha sales have reached $10+ billion over the past 25 years.

Behind the craze: As with many things these days, much of the demand can be attributed to social media. 1.7+ million posts dedicated to the tea and its various preparation methods can be found on TikTok alone.

Producers are struggling to keep up. Matcha is difficult to produce in bulk, due to the tea leaves' small harvesting window and delicate preparation. Slow production rates plus a shortage of tea farmers have led companies to impose purchase limits and price hikes on matcha goods – leaving shelves and cafes low on stock around the world.

👀 Looking ahead…The disconnect between supply and demand is only expected to get worse. Kametani, a Japanese tea supplier, anticipates a 20-30% increase in matcha orders this year compared to last year.

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📊 US markets closed mixed last week (S&P: -1.0%; Dow: +1.0%; Nasdaq: -3.5%). | 🪙 President Trump announced the creation of a “strategic crypto reserve” that will include bitcoin, ether, XRP, Solana’s SOL token, and Cardano’s ADA.
• ✌️ Farewell Skype: Microsoft is shuttering the internet calling service in May to focus on Teams.
• 🥚 The USDA unveiled a $1 billion plan aimed at combating avian flu and reducing high egg prices.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with 120/Life

• 🏆 Anora took home best picture and four other awards at last night's Oscars; see all the winners here. | 🇬🇧 The Brit Awards turned into the BRAT Awards; Charlie XCX took home best artist, album, and song of the year.
• 🏈 The NFL Combine wrapped up yesterday; see the full results, winners, and losers at every position.
• 🎢 The Kingda Ka, a record-breaking Six Flags rollercoaster, was demolished on Friday to make room for new developments. | 🎸 A Missouri woman pleaded guilty in scheme to acquire and resell Graceland, Elvis Presley’s iconic Memphis home. (Dive deeper: The Graceland Grifter)

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• ⚛️💻 Amazon unveiled its first quantum computing chip; it follows similar announcements from Google and Microsoft in recent months. | 📧 Microsoft said Outlook email access was restored Saturday night after an hourslong outage.
• 🚀🔭 NASA is preparing to launch a new space telescope that will see the universe in 100+ different “colors” of infrared light.
• 🪙🇰🇵 North Korean hackers have now laundered over two-thirds of the ~$1.4 billion it stole last month from crypto exchange Bybit. (Dive deeper: The biggest digital heist in history just occurred)

MISCELLANEOUS

in partnership with NoNetz

• 🧑‍⚖️ A federal judge declared President Trump's firing of the head of the Office of Special Counsel, a federal watchdog agency, illegal; the decision is being appealed, with the case expected to ultimately end up before the Supreme Court. | ✍️🗣️ President Trump signed an executive order declaring English as the official language of the US; the order means federal agencies are no longer required to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.
• 🏛️📝 The DOJ released what it called the first phase of declassified files relating to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; the 341-page release includes flight logs and contact info, though analysts say no new bombshells were uncovered.
• 🇺🇦🇺🇸 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky left the White House on Friday without signing a mineral rights deal with the US; it followed a televised meeting featuring heated interactions between Zelensky and President Trump/VP JD Vance. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

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At least your last mistake at work didn’t almost cost the company 14 figures. Citigroup credited a client’s account with $81 trillion when it meant to send only $280, an error that could hinder the bank’s attempt to persuade regulators that it has fixed longstanding operational issues, the Financial Times reports.

The erroneous internal transfer, which occurred last April and has not been previously reported, was missed by both a payments employee and a second official assigned to check the transaction. However, a third employee detected a problem with the bank’s account balances, catching the payment 90 minutes after it was posted, per the FT. It was reversed several hours later.

The transaction was one of Citibank’s ten reported "near misses" – which occur when a bank processes the wrong amount but is able to recover the funds – north of $1 billion last year.

☝️ The Sony World Photography Awards unveiled the 30 finalists and shortlisted photographers in its 2025 Professional competition, which drew 419,000+ entries.

🤔 Did You Know? Gorillas fart almost nonstop due to their diets: ~45 lbs/day of fiber-rich nettles, wild celery, and other vegetation

📰 Worth a Read: Are chatbots of the dead a brilliant idea or a terrible one?

🖱️ Clickbait: The hardest tongue twister in English

Monday: The third day of Women’s History Month

Tuesday: Mardi Gras; US tariffs of 25% on Mexican and Canadian goods are set to take effect; President Trump will address Congress

Wednesday: Ash Wednesday

Thursday: EU leaders hold emergency summit to discuss Ukrainian and European security

Friday: SXSW kicks off in Austin, TX

On Friday, we covered how House Republicans approved a budget proposal in a 217-215 vote, with one Republican joining all Democrats in opposition to the proposed spending and tax cuts included in the bill.

❓ Our question to you: In general, do you support the recently approved House budget resolution seeking to enact spending cuts combined with tax cuts?

• 👍 Yes: 36%
• 👎 No: 56%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 8%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 2,081 votes and 219 longform responses.

🌱 A 2.6-square-foot park in Japan officially claimed the title of the world's smallest. The minuscule recreational space offers a stool made of a block of wood held up by a rock, with a little bush encircling it.

🕺 UK Care home resident Hilda Jackson held a rave for her 105th birthday party. Complete with neon face paints, strobe lights, and a live DJ, the centenarian says she “had a wonderful time.”

🤿 A Marine veteran broke the record for the fastest time to scuba dive on all seven continents, plunging into all of the waters over the course of 19 days, 19 hours, and 40 minutes. 

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Calor
2. Cern
3. Ep
4. Fund
5. Mont

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1. Calor = Heat (e.g., calorie)
2. Cern = Sift (discern)
3. Ep = Upon (epicenter)
4. Fund = Bottom (fundamental)
5. Mont = Mountain (Montana)