After two days of negotiations in Saudi Arabia, 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. The White House said that America would help restore Russia’s ability to export fertiliser and agricultural products.
Democratic lawmakers demanded an investigation after America’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, mistakenly added a journalist to a top-secret group discussing a plan to bomb Yemen. The group—which also included J.D. Vance, the vice-president and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state—exchanged classified information over Signal, an encrypted messaging app. In the group Mr Vance also expressed contempt for Europeans.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, called demonstrations in the country “evil” and blamed opposition parties for a “movement of violence” after days of mass protests over the jailing of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and opposition leader. Thousands of protesters gathered again on Monday, despite the government banning public gatherings in many cities. The president is widely believed to be behind Mr Imamoglu’s arrest.
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.
Tesla’s sales fell in Europe for the second consecutive month. The carmaker, owned by Elon Musk, sold 17,000 electric vehicles in the region in February—a 40% decline from one year earlier. The drop came despite a 26% rise in EV sales over the same period. Mr Musk’s support for hard-right parties, including the Alternative for Germany, has alienated some European consumers.
Xiaomi raised $5.5bn in a share sale in order to help fund its foray into the ultra-competitive electric-vehicle market. The Chinese firm—better known for smartphones—wants to raise production from 135,000 electric vehicles last year to 350,000 in 2025. Earlier BYD, China’s biggest electric-vehicle-maker, said that annual revenue topped $100bn for the first time in 2024, overtaking that of Tesla, its American competitor.
Sepp Blatter, former president of FIFA, football’s global governing body, and Michel Platini, former head of UEFA, which runs the sport in Europe, were acquitted for the second time of corruption charges in Switzerland. The charges related to a payment of SFr2m ($2.2m) by Mr Blatter to Mr Platini in 2011. The pair say the payment was for Mr Platini’s advisory work.
Who will win Canada’s election next month? Our poll tracker has the odds, updated daily.
Figure of the day: 47%, the share of Facebook friendships of Britons with low socioeconomic status that are with high-status users—compared with just 39% in America. Read the full story.