Plus: Future of lunar roving | Friday, March 11, 2022
| | | | | | | Presented By Amazon | | | | Axios PM | | By Mike Allen ·Mar 11, 2022 | | Happy Friday afternoon: Today's PM — edited by Justin Green — is 499 words, a 2-minute read. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Behind the scenes of Ukraine talks | | An explosion is seen in an apartment building today after a Russian army tank fires in Mariupol, Ukraine. Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Ukrainian and Israeli officials are at odds over whether Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to take Vladimir Putin's proposal for ending the war. - "Bennett is basically telling us to surrender and we have no intention of doing that," a senior Ukrainian official told Axios from Tel Aviv author Barak Ravid.
The big picture: Bennett has emerged as a key mediator between Ukraine and Russia. Driving the news: A senior Ukrainian official claimed Bennett initiated the call on Tuesday and recommended Zelensky take the offer. - Zelensky and his advisers didn't like Bennett's recommendation, according to the Ukrainian official.
- A senior official in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said that the details of the call as described by the Ukrainian official were not true.
The bottom line: The Ukrainian president and his aides think that Bennett's diplomatic involvement is largely motivated by his goal of not taking a clear position on the Russian invasion in order to maintain good relations with Russia, according to the Ukrainian official. Share this story. |     | | | | | | 2. Catch up quick | | Photo: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images - Hong Kong's current COVID wave (isolation facility pictured above) is so big that the city stopped giving tracking wristbands to patients in isolation, reports the South China Morning Post.
- The U.S. is moving to revoke Russia's "most favored nation" trade status. Go deeper.
- YouTube is blocking access worldwide to channels associated with Russian state-funded media. Go deeper.
- New research: Americans owe at least $195 billion in medical debt, despite 90% of the population having some kind of health coverage. Go deeper.
| | | | | | | | A message from Amazon | | Amazon expands fully paid education benefits for employees | | |  | | | | Amazon now funds full college tuition as well as high school diplomas, GEDs, and ESL proficiency certifications for its front-line employees. More info: As of January, more than 750,000 employees are eligible, including hourly workers who've been on the job for as little as three months. See all the benefits. | | | | | | 3. Future of lunar roving | | A prototype of the lunar rover is tested in December at Dumont Dunes near Death Valley National Park, Calif. Photo: Astrolab via Reuters An L.A.-area startup yesterday unveiled a full-scale, working prototype for a next-generation lunar rover that's as fast as NASA's old "moon buggy" but does much more, Reuters reports. - Why it matters: Executives at Venturi Astrolab say the four-wheeled, car-sized FLEX rover is designed for use in NASA's Artemis program, aimed at returning humans to the moon as early as 2025.
The rover, with the approximate wheelbase of a Jeep, is designed for exploration, cargo delivery and site construction. | | | | | | | | 4. 🦞 Lobsterflation |  | | | It's gonna cost you. Photo: Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images | | | | Lobster prices have soared so much that restaurants are either giving their customers sticker shock or taking lobster off the menu entirely, reports Axios chief economics correspondent Neil Irwin. Why it matters: The lobster price shock is both a supply problem and a demand problem — a microcosm of the U.S. economy. - By the numbers: Maine lobstermen were able to sell their catch straight off the boat for $6.71 a pound in 2021, up 59% over the pandemic-depressed 2020 level — and up 39% over 2019.
Restaurants are adapting. Washingtonian magazine reports that this means $100 for a 2-pound lobster at D.C. steakhouse The Prime Rib. - The Salt Line restaurant has cut lobster rolls from the menu and replaced them with shrimp and clam rolls.
- "Lobster rolls just aren't meant to be that expensive. It's almost embarrassing to pass that cost to our guest," partner Jeremy Carman told Washingtonian.
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