America said that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to end “the use of force” in the Black Sea and to work to ban strikes on energy facilities. America said it would help restore Russia’s ability to export agricultural products. However, the Kremlin later stated the deal was contingent on a set of related sanctions being relaxed. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, accused Russia of “trying to distort agreements”.
Mike Waltz, America’s national security adviser, said he accepted “full responsibility” for accidentally adding a journalist to a secret group chat. In an interview with Fox News, Mr Waltz claimed that he intended to add someone else, but mistakenly included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine. Earlier, Donald Trump said Mr Waltz had “learned a lesson” from the incident.
America’s vice-president said he would travel to Greenland on Friday. J. D. Vance will join a trip planned by his wife, Usha. They will visit an American army base on the autonomous Danish island, which Mr Trump wants America to acquire. Officials in Greenland have criticised the planned visit as “aggressive”. Mr Waltz had been set to join it, but it is now not clear whether he will.
The annual rate of inflation in Britain declined to 2.8% in February, down from 3% in January. The fall was slightly bigger than forecast, providing some rare good news for Rachel Reeves. The chancellor gave her spring statement, an update on the government’s finances, on Wednesday.
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.
Indonesia’s rupiah fell to its lowest level against the dollar since the Asian financial crisis in 1998. The slide prompted the country’s central bank to intervene in bond and currency markets. The bank blamed “global factors”, including Donald Trump’s tariffs, for the rupiah’s fall. But markets are also spooked by Indonesia’s spending plans, including President Prabowo Subianto’s costly free-school-meals scheme.
A crypto platform backed by Mr Trump’s family will issue a stablecoin, a digital asset that will be pegged to the dollar. World Liberty Financial was created last year by the president’s sons and the son of Steve Witkoff, the administration’s diplomatic dealmaker. Mr Trump has been peddling a meme cryptocurrency, raising conflict-of-interest concerns. Recently he 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.