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.
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.
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.
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.