America said that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to end “the use of force” in the Black Sea and ensure “safe passage” for commercial shipping. The countries also agreed to “develop measures” to ban strikes on energy facilities in Ukraine and Russia, and America said it would help restore Russia’s ability to export agricultural products. However, Russia subsequently stated that the agreement would only come into force once a set of related sanctions had been relaxed, casting doubt over whether anything had changed.
Members of the Trump administration denied that they had done anything wrong after Mike Waltz, America’s national security adviser, accidentally added a journalist to a secret war-planning group chat. Appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, America’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, denied that classified material was shared. Mark Warner, a Democratic senator, said the leak was “reckless, sloppy and stunning”.
Police arrested dozens in Turkey for insulting the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his family, according to the country’s interior minister. Mr Erdogan said that protests against the arrest last week of Ekrem Imamoglu, a popular opposition leader, were “evil”. The opposition said it would end its street protests but urged supporters to boycott companies that it claimed support the government.
Israel’s government passed a long-delayed budget for 2025. The plan will increase spending by 21% this year, compared to 2024, and push defence spending to a record 110bn shekels ($30bn). The budget’s passage will strengthen the ruling coalition of Binyamin Netanyahu. The prime minister had to pass the budget by March 31st or call an election.
A conflict monitoring group in Sudan said that more than 250 people were killed in an air strike on Tora, a village in Darfur. The Sudanese army was accused of carrying out the strike, but denied targeting civilians and described the reports as “false claims”. The Sudanese army has been fighting the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group, for nearly two years.
Israeli police released from detention Hamdan Ballal, an Oscar-winning Palestinian director who says he was beaten by Israeli settlers after fighting broke out near his home in the West Bank. The Israel Defence Forces said it sent soldiers to disperse the “violent confrontation” on Monday. Mr Ballal and three others, including one Israeli, were among those detained for allegedly throwing rocks at soldiers.
A crypto platform backed by Donald Trump’s family will launch a stablecoin, a digital asset that will be pegged to the dollar. World Liberty Financial was created last year by Mr Trump’s sons and the son of Steve Witkoff, the president’s diplomatic dealmaker. In January America’s president peddled a meme-cryptocurrency, raising ethics concerns, and most recently pledged to establish a “strategic bitcoin reserve”.
Who will win Canada’s election next month? Our poll tracker has the odds, updated daily.
Figure of the day: 23%, the share of the world’s copper that it is mined in Chile. Read the full story.