Brazil’s supreme court ruled that Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s former president, will stand trial for leading an alleged coup plot after losing an election in 2022 to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The court also decided that seven other allies of the hard-right populist should also be tried for similar crimes. If convicted, Mr Bolsonaro could face decades in prison. He denies any wrongdoing.
Delivering her spring statement before Parliament, Rachel Reeves, Britain’s chancellor, said that cuts to welfare benefits would save £3.4bn ($4.4bn) and that planning reform would improve economic growth. Ms Reeves also confirmed an additional £2.2bn for defence spending over the next year. Meanwhile the Office for Budget Responsibility, Britain’s fiscal watchdog, cut its growth forecast for 2025 from 2% to 1%.
The Atlantic published a transcript of messages sent by American officials in a secret military-planning group. The magazine—whose editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, was accidentally added to the group—released the messages after officials told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that the messages had not contained sensitive information. The messages include details of strikes on Yemen that officials shared shortly before they were launched.
American stocks fell after Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that Donald Trump would announce tariffs on cars on Wednesday. The S&P 500, an index of big firms, fell by more than 1%. The NASDAQ, an index of tech firms, fell by nearly 2%. The jolt follows a brief recovery in the American stockmarket earlier this week.
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s de-facto president and leader of its army, declared Khartoum “free”, hours after his forces reportedly recaptured the capital’s airport. The Sudanese Armed Forces have recently taken back large parts of Khartoum (including the presidential palace on Friday) from its rival, the Rapid Support Forces. The advance marks a potential turning point in a war that has displaced 12m people.
Ulf Kristersson, Sweden’s prime minister, said that the country would raise defence spending from 2.4% of GDP to 3.5% by 2030. All four parties that support Mr Kristersson’s government agreed to the increase, which will be funded mostly by borrowing. Mr Kristersson said that Sweden needed to boost its defence in part because of “uncertainty with the transatlantic relationship”.
The European Commission published a 30-step preparedness plan amid growing threats from Russia. The initiative, which borrows from similar plans in states like Finland, urged member-states of the EU to encourage citizens to maintain stockpiles of enough food for 72 hours. It also said that the bloc should establish a “crisis hub” to co-ordinate its response to conflicts or other emergencies.
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.