Ukrainian forces are reported to have been all but pushed out of Kursk. They had captured large swathes of the Russia territory in a surprise attack last summer, but a months-long counterattack has now forced a retreat. Ukrainian soldiers continue to defend a small position on the Russian side of the border, and President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied reports that they are surrounded.
Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, claimed on social media that more than 250 gang members had arrived in his country after being deported from the United States. Mr Bukele’s announcement came hours after a federal judge temporarily forbade Donald Trump from using an 18th century law to deport alleged gang members. Mr Bukele evidently found the timing funny, writing: “Oopsie… Too late”.
Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said that he would hold a vote among his cabinet this week to dismiss Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet. Mr Netanyahu has been feuding with the country’s security service, as both seek to blame the other for the Hamas attack on October 7th 2023. The prime minister has accused Mr Bar of running a “campaign of blackmail threats” against him.
A fire in a nightclub in North Macedonia killed at least 59 people and injured more than 100. Some 1,500 people were attending a concert at the Pulse club in Kocani, about 100km east of the capital, Skopje. Pance Toskovski, the interior minister, said that initial reports suggest that the blaze was caused by pyrotechnics.
Media-advocacy groups denounced Mr Trump’s decision to cut off funding for Voice of America, a government-sponsored news organisation. VoA was set up as a radio station during the second world war to counter Nazi propaganda in Europe and has since broadcast across the world in support of America’s foreign policy. Mr Trump said that the federal government should not pay for such “radical propaganda”.
Baidu became the latest Chinese tech giant to unveil a new artificial-intelligence model. Baidu was one of the first big Chinese firms to release an AI chatbot, but it fell behind rivals such as ByteDance and, in particular, DeepSeek. The swift rise of China’s AI industry has spooked investors in American competitors.
A SpaceX capsule carrying new crew members has docked with the International Space Station. Two of the astronauts on the ISS had intended to be there for only eight days, but technical issues with the spacecraft they arrived on kept them trapped in orbit for nine months. After a two-day handover, they will be able to come home at last, as soon as the weather allows re-entry.
Figure of the day: 13m, the number of pints of Guinness stout consumed globally on St Patrick’s Day. Read the full story.
Donald Trump’s return to the presidency has brought exceptional changes to American politics—with consequences for the rest of the world, too. Read The US in brief, a daily update of the domestic political stories that matter. Sign up here to receive it as a newsletter, each weekday, in your inbox.