Happy Monday. An extreme, solar storm brings the northern lights way south, Russia launches a new offensive against Ukraine, a new record takes place atop Mount Everest, and a billboard featuring a pregnant woman is considered too provocative for Times Square.

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Good morning,

Think climbing Mount Everest once is impressive? How about 29 times?! Kami Rita, a Mount Everest Sherpa guide, climbed the world’s highest peak for the 29th time on Sunday — extending his record for the most times to the summit.

• Rita reached the peak Sunday morning, along with other climbers — it takes about two months to climb the mountain.

• He first climbed Everest in 1994. His father was a Sherpa guide too. Sherpa guides are vital for the hundreds of annual climbers that reach the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit.

Have a good one!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

PS: Don’t forget to refer friends & family to the Mo Newsletter. You can win free Mo News merch and other perks— details here!

Mo News Podcast: A daily conversation about the news that matters.

✨ NORTHERN LIGHTS REACH FAR SOUTH

An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth produced stunning displays of color in the skies across the Northern Hemisphere this weekend. NOAA issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning—the category 5 hurricane equivalent of warnings— when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated.

The effects of the aurora borealis aka Northern Lights were seen as far south as Florida. They lasted throughout the weekend and could appear again this week.

So far, there have been no reports of large-scale power or communication disruptions, which can happen with these events.

SOLAR OUTBURSTS
Eruptions from the sun have been hitting the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Known as a coronal mass ejection, each eruption can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.

• After traveling across space, slamming into the Earth’s atmosphere, those particles are redirected by Earth's magnetic field toward the poles — why usually the northern lights are NOT seen closer to the equator.

• Why now? The sun goes through 11-year cycles of low activity and high activity — it’s currently at a high activity peak. That’s when the sun is kind-of burping energy particles at us.

The displays started Friday, likely peaked last night and could go into tomorrow.

• Getting the best shot: Experts suggest using your phone camera to get the best views — it can sometimes capture light that the naked eye can’t.

• The last time we had an extreme warning: Back in 2003, an extreme geomagnetic storm impacted power in Sweden and South Africa. While the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history, the Carrington Event of 1859, hit telegraph communications.

WATCH OUT SATELLITES
Bill Nye “the Science Guy “warns that the solar storm could present “a real danger” because the modern world relies heavily on electricity. The events do not impact weather or the climate, but power and satellites.

• Unexpected electrical currents can trigger temporary power outages on Earth, while the energetic particles released by the sun can also disrupt spacecraft systems and satellites.

• Here’s how Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are holding up:

🇷🇺 RUSSIA ATTACKS NEW FRONT IN UKRAINE

Over the weekend Russian forces pushed into northeastern Ukraine, seizing a number of small towns along the border and, in some cases, forcing Ukrainian troops to retreat from positions.

• The towns are just north of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, home to 1.3 million people.

  • The last time Russia pushed into Kharkiv was at the beginning of the war in 2022, and Ukrainians quickly pushed them back.

The move signals a shift from the east and south, where the war has long been waged, and could be the big Russian offensive Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been worried about.

HOLDING RUSSIA BACK
Ukrainian officials say the defensive lines have been successful so far in keeping Russian forces’ attempts to break through to Kharkiv, but reports show that the situation is intensifying.

• Ukraine’s outnumbered and outgunned troops were already stretched thin trying to defend a 600-mile front running from south of Kharkiv to the city of Kherson on the Black Sea — about 20% of the country.

• And military experts say that’s Russia’s goal: exhaust Ukrainian troops and supplies to break through at certain points of the frontline.

SPEAKING OF SUPPLIES
Ukraine has been running out of bullets and other critical supplies. The new approved shipment from the US will take time to arrive. And, even then, it is expected that it will only maintain the status quo.

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that the US was doing "everything we can to rush this assistance out there."

• On Friday, the Biden administration announced a new $400 million package of military aid for Ukraine. That’s in addition to the $95 billion Congressional aid package that passed last month and a few more billion from the Pentagon.

  • Since the start of the war, the US has sent Ukraine more than $100 billion in military and economic assistance.

🤰 LACTATION AD BANNED FROM TIMES SQUARE

An ad in Times Square to promote a lactation cookie recipe — used to stimulate milk production — was taken down after the company that operates the digital billboard said it was unacceptable content. Social media erupted with criticism about the decision.

THE BACKLASH
Cookbook author Molly Baz partnered with breastfeeding start-up Swehl for the 45-foot-tall Times Square digital billboard to promote breastfeeding. The ad shows Baz, pregnant with her first child, in a rhinestone bikini top partially covered by two oatmeal cookies.

• The ad was going to play once an hour for an entire week. But three days after launching, Clear Channel Outdoor, which operates the board, pulled the digital billboard, saying it violated “guidelines on acceptable content.”

  • It was replaced with a photo of Baz from the campaign eating one of the cookies in jeans and a crop top.

• Baz responded, posting, “Extremely disappointed and yet not at all surprised that our cheeky little breastfeeding empowerment campaign was deemed “inappropriate” and noted the “irony” when looking around Time Square at other ads for underwear and lingerie, writing, “Bring on the lingerie so long as it satisfies the male gaze.”

  

  Another ad still on display in Times Square.

  • Good news for Swehl: The brand saw a 500% increase in traffic to their website. Here’s the recipe for the cookies 😉 

Bottom line: New York Times’ Alisha Haridasani Gupta writes, “A double standard that persists in the advertising world: a sexualized breast is acceptable, a nursing or lactating one is not.” And the same goes for other women’s products: Commercials for menstrual products had to use blue liquid instead of red until 2017. Then back in 2020, a postpartum recovery ad was not allowed during the Oscars.

MO NEWS COMMUNITY REACTS
People had different reactions to the ad, here are some from the Mo News community.

• @rebeccapetersonstudio responded, “I would argue the ad IS sexualizing nursing/breastfeeding/breasts. Not saying there isn’t a double standard, but the ad isn’t showing a woman actually in the act of nursing a baby.” While @jamiemblanchard said, “I don’t see how this ad is sexual.”

• @a_flippin_mom commented, “Moms can be hot AND breastfeed.” And @r.socha pointed out, “Considering half of the Times Square billboards are people in lingerie… this is pretty crumby.”

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Smoke from Canadian wildfires reaches US for second straight year (ABC NEWS)

📌 Melania Trump vetoes decision to have Barron Trump serve as RNC convention delegate (AP NEWS)

📌 30 students out of 7,000 walk out on Jerry Seinfeld address at Duke due to his recent support for Israel (POLITICO) Seinfeld’s full commencement address with his 3 lessons for life (VIDEO)

📌 Biden taps Obama, George Clooney, Julia Roberts and the Clintons for mega fundraisers (NBC NEWS)

📌 Gold bars and envelopes full of cash: Sen. Bob Menendez’s trial (D-NJ) begins today (CNN)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 White House to raise tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles to 100 percent (NBC NEWS)

📌 Israel pushes deeper into Rafah and battles a regrouping Hamas in northern Gaza (AP)

📌 Putin replaces defense minister in shakeup of Kremlin national security team (POLITICO)

📌 US aims to stay ahead of China in using AI to fly fighter jets, navigate without GPS and more (ABC NEWS)

📌 A car-free town in the Amazon teaches us some lessons for net-zero emissions (NPR)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Apple is revamping outdated Siri with AI to catch up with chatbot competitors (BUSINESS INSIDER)

📌 First person to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant dies almost 2 months later (CNN)

📌 Nearly 90% of adults over age 20 in the US are at risk of developing heart disease (NBC NEWS)

📌 Schools turn to artificial intelligence to spot guns as companies press lawmakers for state funds (ABC NEWS)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Actor Steve Buscemi punched in random NYC attack on street (NY POST)

📌 Oprah Winfrey apologizes for her ‘major’ role in ‘diet culture’ (TODAY)

📌 ‘SNL’ host Maya Rudolph channels Beyoncé for spicy sketch and Mother’s Day monologue (NY POST)

📌 Switzerland's Nemo emerges victorious at Eurovision Song Contest (USA TODAY)

📌 Rihanna and A$AP Rocky celebrate son RZA’s 2nd birthday with N.Y.C. bash (PEOPLE)

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🗓 ON THIS DAY: MAY 13

• 1939: The first commercial FM radio station in the US was launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

• 1940: In Winston Churchill’s first speech as British prime minister after taking over for Neville Chamberlain, he tells Parliament, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

• 1981: Pope John Paul II survived an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City. The attempt ushered in new security reforms, including the famous popemobile

• 2004: ‘Frasier,’ starring Kelsey Grammer, had its series finale.