Russia’s energy ceasefire, Israel, Fed economic projections and Nvidia
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Today, Russia agrees to stop attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure. For now, what renewed Gaza strikes mean for Israel's internal politics. NVIDIA reassures investors of its AI dominance. And splashdown as astronauts Butch and Sunny return to Earth. It's Wednesday, March 19th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday.

I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. And I'm Sharon Reich-Garson in New Jersey. The PC gave us computing power at home, the internet connected us, and mobile let us do it pretty much anywhere. Now generative AI lets us communicate with technology in our own language, using our own senses. But figuring it all out when you're living through it is a totally different story. Welcome to Leading the Shift.

a new podcast from Microsoft Azure. I'm your host, Susan Etlinger. In each episode, leaders will share what they're learning to help you navigate all this change with confidence. Please join us. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. First, to some breaking news from Turkey, where President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival has been detained. Ekrem Imamoglu is the popular mayor of Istanbul and is being held on charges including corruption and aiding a terrorist group.

The main opposition party has called it a coup against our next president. The government denies the claims and says the judiciary is independent. It's not the ringing endorsement of the ceasefire plan that US President Donald Trump had hoped for. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to stop targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure for 30 days. Ukraine says it'll support the scaled-back agreement.

And the White House says talks on a more complete ceasefire and a permanent peace deal will begin immediately. Our foreign policy editor, Don Durfee, is following the talks. Putin has really stuck to many of the conditions that he has laid out previously. Many analysts commented after this call that it really seemed like

he was trying to play for time here. He's willing to come to the table, but he actually hasn't given up all that much. You can assume that attacks on Ukrainian forces on the front lines will continue. And even with the energy infrastructure, I think it's worth noting that it may benefit Russia more than it benefits Ukraine. One area of success that Ukraine has had is its long-range drone attacks on Russian oil facilities, which has been quite painful for the Russians.

Looking ahead to further talks, what can we expect? Prior to his call with Putin, Trump had said that some of the issues that will be discussed is territorial concessions, as well as the fate of this nuclear power plant, the Shaperizhia, that the Ukrainians have said that they want back. And if the Ukrainians and the Europeans are not directly involved in those talks, they're going to be sitting by pretty anxiously, watching for the outcome of whatever might be discussed and potentially agreed in those discussions.

Ultimately, none of this happens unless Ukraine agrees to it, right? And they're not going to just roll over here. We've also got a Reuters exclusive out this morning on how several U.S. national security agencies have halted work on a coordinated effort to counter Russian sabotage, disinformation, and cyber attacks. It eases pressure on Moscow as the Trump administration pushes Russia to end its war in Ukraine. You can read the full story by following the link in the pod description.

The Chief Justice, John Roberts, says it was wrong for Trump to call for the impeachment of a federal judge who ordered a halt to the removal of alleged Venezuelan gang members. Roberts says the correct response would have been to file an appeal. And Trump has released material related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The documents have appeared on the National Archives website, with more than 80,000 expected to be published.

Israel is not backing down after airstrikes which killed more than 400 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that it's just the beginning. Israel will fight and Israel will win. We will bring our people home and we will destroy Hamas. We will not relent. The renewed attacks on the Gaza Strip prompting thousands of Israelis to protest in Tel Aviv.

For The View from Inside Israel, we're joined by our bureau chief, James McKenzie. So James, with these renewed airstrikes, we've also got the reappointment of hardliner Itamar Ben-Gavir as Minister of National Security into Netanyahu's government. What does that tell us? Ben-Gavir left the government after the ceasefire agreement, which he agreed with. And now the ceasefire agreement is...

seems to be the dead letter at the moment. The question that a lot of people are asking about what happened yesterday, is this the definite and final end of any attempts to reach some kind of ceasefire agreement, or is this essentially a kind of way of pressuring Hamas into making more concessions? Netanyahu himself said yesterday that ceasefire attempts would continue only under fire.

So it seemed to suggest that it's not the end of everything, but it's certainly a different phase and a different approach. And I think that's what's persuaded Ben-Gurion to come back.

And there's also been resistance among reservists, right? The reservists spent a lot of time in uniform and the kind of public enthusiasm has waned, obviously. So there is a bit of a question about what form this latest episode in the war is going to take. Are we going to see a repeat of the big invasion of Gaza by land? And part of the calculation on that will be whether or not the sort of basic pacification

public support is there for these massive engagement reserves. The Federal Reserve wraps a two-day meeting today, with most market watchers expecting no change to the federal funds rate. But as the Board of Governors release their long-term projections for the economy, our Fed reporter Howard Schneider is here to break down what we might expect.

They do this once a quarter, all 19 of them will say where they think the year will end in terms of growth, GDP.

unemployment, inflation, and the federal funds rate that they think would be appropriate alongside that. And look, you know, since the election in November, they've relied a lot, leaned a lot on this idea that uncertainty is growing. You know, you see this in consumer sentiment. You've seen stock markets decline. You saw a jump in import prices. Suggestion there may have been some front-loading of tariff purchases that drove up prices already a little bit.

So we'll see when they say now, here we are in March, what things are going to look like at the end of 2025. You might see a little bit of a nick to growth, a little bit of a bump up in inflation. And then, you know, what are the things going to happen with the unemployment rate? And of most interest, where is the federal funds rate going to end up?

And for a deep dive into the U.S. economy and the recession fears swirling around it, check out the latest episode of Reuters Econ World. It's out later today on the Reuters app or wherever you get your podcasts. Chipmaker NVIDIA is holding its annual developer conference this week, and CEO Jensen Wang presented the keynote address. How are you doing? How do you like it?

How do you like your new physics engine? Huang defended the company's lead in selling costly AI chips to customers, which has recently been questioned by investors after China's DeepSeek made a competitive chatbot with allegedly fewer AI chips. But his presentation failed to reassure investors. NVIDIA shares fell 3.4%. We caught up with our tech reporter Stephen Nellis just outside the conference to learn more.

So Steven, at the big keynote on Tuesday, what was Jensen Wang's big reveal? So the big reveal is a chip that will not be here for another two years. However, that's very normal in this industry. And the actual chip is just part of a bigger system that NVIDIA is designing here. So NVIDIA is actually designing a whole bunch of different chips that come together into these giant racks.

And then you put thousands and thousands of those together inside a data center that consumes hundreds of megawatts or even gigawatts of power. And that is what produces these incredible AI systems that we're seeing these days. And that is what NVIDIA is supplying. All the parts you need to make what Jensen Huang calls an AI factory. And splashdown, Crew 9 back on Earth.

That's the moment NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams and their families have been waiting a long time for. Their week-long mission into space turning into a nine-month adventure. Their return was celebrated not just at NASA, but also in India. People dancing and singing and letting off fireworks in Gujarat, in Williams' ancestral village.

She and Wilmol will now spend a few days at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for health checks, before being reunited with their families. Our recommended read today is about changes to bullfighting laws in Mexico City, which have been welcomed by animal rights activists, but angered fans of a centuries-old tradition. The measures aim to make bullfighting less harmful to both bulls and matadors.

There's a link to a story in today's pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.