Saturday☕️

Earth Intelligence

15 Mar 2025 — 6 min read

Economics & Markets:

Yesterday’s U.S. stock market:

Yesterday’s commodity market:

Yesterday’s crypto market:

Geopolitics & Military Activity:

On March 13, 2025, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces, in collaboration with Iraqi Intelligence and Security Forces, conducted a precision airstrike in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, targeting a high-ranking ISIS leader. The operation resulted in the death of Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, also known as Abu Khadijah, who held multiple critical roles within the organization, including Chief of Global Operations, Delegated Committee Emir, and the second-in-command of ISIS globally. This strike marks a significant blow to the terrorist group’s leadership structure, as al-Rifai was instrumental in orchestrating ISIS operations worldwide, leveraging his position to coordinate attacks and maintain the group’s international presence.

The history of ISIS began on June 15, 2004, when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi established al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) amid the instability following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003. After Zarqawi’s death in a U.S. airstrike on June 7, 2006, AQI rebranded as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) on October 15, 2006, but its power eroded during the U.S. troop surge and the Sunni Awakening from 2007 to 2009, nearly collapsing by early 2010.
ISIS re-emerged under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who assumed leadership on May 16, 2010, and by April 8, 2013, renamed it the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), exploiting the Syrian civil war that began in March 2011. On June 29, 2014, Baghdadi declared a caliphate—an Islamic state led by a caliph claiming religious and political authority over all Muslims—spanning parts of Syria and Iraq, enforcing harsh Sharia law through actions like mass executions and enslavement, until its territorial defeat in Baghouz, Syria, on March 23, 2019, by a U.S.-led coalition under the Trump administration.
During the Biden administration, starting January 20, 2021, ISIS regained traction as an insurgency, with notable growth around mid-2021, prompting intensified U.S. efforts including the January 26, 2023, raid killing ISIS leader Bilal al-Sudani in Somalia, supported by the Joint Special Operations Command. The Biden era saw at least 18 airstrikes in Somalia in 2023 alone, targeting key figures to curb ISIS’s resurgence. These operations have continued into the second Trump administration, with the March 14, 2025, strike on al-Rifai and earlier February 1, 2025, airstrikes in Somalia’s Golis Mountains, reflecting a sustained focus on dismantling ISIS leadership to prevent its resurgence.

Environment & Weather:

Yesterday, March 14, 2025, a tornado outbreak struck Missouri, resulting in multiple confirmed tornadoes across the state. The National Weather Service had issued tornado warnings for several areas, including Fulton, Potosi, and Wentzville. Social media platforms spiked with reports of tornadoes impacting Franklin, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Warren counties, while the town of Hartville suffered damage such as widespread power outages. In Rolla, a video surfaced showing a tornado crossing a road, offering a vivid glimpse of the event. The same weather system prompted warnings in neighboring Arkansas and Illinois, expanding the outbreak’s reach.

On March 13, two EF2 tornadoes, characterized by wind speeds of 111 to 135 mph and capable of tearing roofs off sturdy homes or uprooting large trees, touched down in Kansas near the towns of Alta Vista and Rossville. The following day, March 14, another EF2 tornado hit Hanover, Indiana, and Milton, Kentucky, causing structural damage in those communities. Additional weather disturbances between March 13 and 14 affected Iowa, Georgia, and Mississippi, adding to a tally of at least 30 confirmed tornadoes across the Great Plains.

Space:

Yesterday, March 14, 2025, SpaceX launched the Crew-10 mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A, carrying the Dragon spacecraft Endurance with four astronauts: NASA’s Anne McClain (commander) and Nichole Ayers (pilot), Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. They headed to the International Space Station (ISS) for a four-month mission focused on science experiments as part of Expedition 72/73. The launch followed a delay from March 12 due to a hydraulic issue with ground equipment, but clear weather enabled it to proceed. The crew began their journey, set to dock with the ISS later today.

Later that day, March 14, 2025, Rocket Lab launched the “The Lightning God Reigns” mission from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. An Electron rocket took off from Launch Complex 1, delivering the QPS-SAR-9 satellite, also known as Susanoo-1, for Japan’s iQPS. This radar-equipped satellite reached a 575 km orbit to capture detailed Earth images, marking the first of eight planned launches for iQPS through 2026. Rocket Lab chose not to recover the rocket’s first stage, focusing on deploying the satellite. The mission supported iQPS’s efforts to improve Earth observation.

Today, March 15, 2025, China launched the SuperView Neo 3-02 mission from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. A Long March rocket carried commercial Earth observation satellites built by China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology Co. Ltd., each weighing about 540 kg. These satellites aimed to provide high-resolution imagery for mapping and monitoring purposes. The launch contributed to China’s growing network of orbital assets in 2025, serving both civilian and strategic goals.

Science & Technology:

Yesterday, March 14, 2025, Google announced that developers can now start building with Gemma 3, a set of lightweight AI models ranging from 1 billion to 27 billion parameters (A smaller model size compared to LLMs like Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok). Built from the same tech as Google’s Gemini models, Gemma 3 runs on devices like laptops and phones, not just servers, making it accessible to more users. Google released it with tools for platforms like Hugging Face and Keras, letting developers tweak it for tasks like text generation or image analysis without heavy cloud reliance.

Gemma 3 isn’t fully open source but comes with a free-use license that has restrictions, such as banning harmful applications, unlike unrestricted open-source models. It supports a 128,000-token context window for handling large inputs and can process text and images together. This launch lets developers customize it on their own hardware, aiming to broaden AI access while keeping some control.

Statistic: