America has suspended all military aid to Ukraine, according to multiple reports. The White House has not publicly commented, but Reuters quoted an official as saying that the embargo would stay in place until America’s “partners” show they are committed to peace. The move comes after a spectacular and public falling out between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky during a press conference last week.
Stocks fell after Mr Trump said that 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico would go into effect on Tuesday. The president said there was “no room left” for either country to negotiate a deal to delay the levies, as they managed to do last month. The NASDAQ, one of America’s main stock indexes, dropped by 2.6%; the Dow fell by 1.8%, or nearly 800 points.
Britain’s prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, told Parliament he would accelerate talks with allies over a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine as Europe scrambles to develop a strategy to end the conflict. Earlier, France’s president, Emmanel Macron, proposed pursuing an initial one-month truce “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure”, though British officials said no such plan had been agreed.
Police arrested a 40-year-old man who drove a car into a crowd of people in Mannheim, a city in south-west Germany. The incident killed at least two people and injured several others. Police did not confirm whether they thought the crash was deliberate. Germany has suffered several attacks involving vehicles recently; in February one collision killed a mother and child in Munich.
The Vatican said that Pope Francis had two episodes of “acute respiratory insufficiency”, caused by a buildup of mucus in his airways and a bronchospasm, that required “non-invasive” ventilation. The 88-year-old pontiff has been in hospital for two weeks with pneumonia, and suffered another bronchospasm, similar to an asthma attack, on Friday. The Vatican said that the pope’s prognosis remained “guarded”.
TSMC said it would invest $100bn to build new chip factories in America over the next four years. The Taiwanese chipmaker supplies the majority of the world’s advanced semiconductors but until now kept most such technology and manufacturing at home; Mr Trump had previously accused Taiwan of “stealing” America’s chip industry. TSMC has already invested $65bn to construct three factories in Arizona.
At least one person died and several were injured in a shooting between security forces on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to Taliban officials. The incident occurred at the Torkham crossing, which Pakistan closed in February, stranding thousands of vehicles on either side. Pakistani and Afghan officials blamed each other for starting the latest clash on Monday.
Figure of the day: €210bn ($218bn), the value of Russian assets frozen in European banks. Read the full story.
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