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Precursor in Paris: US, China Hold Trade Talks in Paris Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit (Bloomberg)
Trade negotiators led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng held talks in Paris on Sunday to map out plans for a leaders’ summit later this month.
The first day of the talks concluded around 6 p.m. local time, and the delegations are poised to meet again on Monday. The trade negotiators are expected to review the latest developments in a truce reached in November and discuss topics including the war in Iran as well as investment and purchases.
The outcomes will set the stage for Trump’s trip to China from March 31 to April 2, the first visit by an American president to Beijing in nearly a decade.
Trump threatened to delay his summit with Xi Jinping if Beijing doesn’t help secure the Strait of Hormuz, as the US-Israel war stifles oil supplies and unsettles ties between the world’s biggest economies.
Arctic Alignment: Canada, Nordics Deepen Arctic Security Ties, Back Greenland Sovereignty (Bloomberg)
Canada and the Nordic countries agreed to ramp up defense production and deepen security cooperation to counter Russia in the Arctic and push back against US pressure on Greenland.
The leaders announced the pledge after a meeting in Oslo on Sunday, underscoring at a joint news conference that Russia remains the region’s primary threat, even as concerns about US interest in Greenland linger.
Cross-Country Conditions: Wild Weather Halts Flights, Dumps Snow and Knocks Out Power (Bloomberg)
Blizzards, wildfires and thunderstorms swirling toward the eastern US have knocked out power to thousands and grounded hundreds of flights across the Midwest.
Heavy snow touched off blizzard warnings from South Dakota to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on Sunday, the National Weather Service said. Meanwhile, high winds are shaking power lines and tree branches from Texas to upstate New York, while raising the wildfire risk across the Great Plains.
High-Speed Wagers: Polymarket Five-Minute Bets Capture ‘Addictive’ Crypto Craze (Bloomberg)
On prediction markets platform Polymarket, you can bet on where Bitcoin will be five or 15 minutes from now. The rules are as simple as a coin flip: pick whether Bitcoin will be higher or lower when the clock runs out. Win or lose, it resets. Then do it all over again.
In a little over a month, five-minute bets have become some of the busiest on Polymarket’s website, with as much as $60 million changing hands every day, according to user-compiled data on Dune Analytics. With each new shortening of the clock, turnover has surged and the advantage has tilted further toward participants with the fastest systems. Polymarket’s daily crypto markets — tracking whether Bitcoin will be above or below a certain price by the end of the day — pull in far less volume, often netting less than $1 million a day.
🔊 New Episode Alert: Today's Daily Read Podcast just dropped, featuring an AI-powered breakdown of today’s biggest headlines. We go beyond the scroll with key takeaways, smart context, and the “why it matters” behind each story—so you can stay ahead in less time. Listen now on Spotify
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March Madness Kicks Off: Brackets Open Across US College Basketball with an Action-Packed Week Ahead (New York Times - The Athletic)
March Madness is here, and the men’s and women’s brackets are officially open as participants lock in their picks for an exciting week of college basketball.
This week, the men’s tournament begins with the First Four on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by first-round games on Thursday and Friday, while the women’s tournament starts with the First Four on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of first-round matchups on Friday.
Viewers can catch the men’s games on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, and the women’s games across ESPN’s networks and on the ESPN app.
Bloomberg’s annual Bracket for a Cause challenge, started by Peter Grauer over a decade ago, brings the excitement of March Madness together with charitable giving, inviting leaders from business and finance to compete with their picks while supporting meaningful causes. To date, the competition has raised over $7 million for charity.
Submit your bracket through the NCAA here, or if you're a Terminal user, register your picks for both the men's and women's tournaments using BRKT <GO>.
Check out next-gen stats on the upcoming games from ShotQuality, a sports data company using computer vision and multi-agent AI systems to create proprietary predictive metrics.
Academy Awards: Oscar Winners Revealed, With “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners” Leading the Night (New York Times)
The movie awards season finally came to a close Sunday night, with the 98th edition of the Academy Awards, which took place at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.
“One Battle After Another,” which was nominated for 13 awards, received the highest honor of the night: best picture. Paul Thomas Anderson won for best director and Sean Penn, though he wasn’t in attendance, received the best supporting actor award. The film also won in the newly added category, best casting (Cassandra Kulukundis).
With a record-breaking 16 nominations, “Sinners” took home four awards. Its writer-director Ryan Coogler won best original screenplay, and its star, Michael B. Jordan, received best actor.
Jessie Buckley became the first Irish winner of the best actress Oscar for her performance in “Hamnet,” a historical drama based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel.
Conan O’Brien hosted the show with a slew of gags about the future of A.I., while a heartfelt in memoriam segment honored Rob and Michelle Reiner, Robert Redford, Diane Keaton, Catherine O’Hara and others.
View the full list of winners here.
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