Politics

European leaders frantically tried to repair relations between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky following a very public bust-up at a meeting in the White House, which led to America suspending military aid and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine. During a big speech to Congress, Mr Trump mentioned an “important letter” that he had received from the Ukrainian president that talked of working together to achieve peace with Russia, which Mr Trump said he appreciated. In a social-media post Mr Zelensky admitted that the White House meeting did not turn out as intended, and offered to suspend long-range drone attacks, if Russia does the same.

Conflict solutions

European leaders and Canada held an emergency summit after that now infamous encounter in the Oval Office, to discuss a plan, led by Britain and France, to stop the fighting in Ukraine. The European Commission later proposed the creation of a €150bn ($162bn) fund for EU countries to spend on defence. Emmanuel Macron suggested European allies could also be protected by French nuclear weapons and called another summit.

In Germany Friedrich Merz, the probable next chancellor, announced plans to loosen the country’s constitutional “debt brake”, which curtails government borrowing, and proposed that defence spending be exempt from the debt limits. In reaction, the yield soared on the German government’s ten-year bonds, pushing up its borrowing costs in the market.

In his big speech to Congress Mr Trump defended the whirlwind policies of his first six weeks in office. “We are just getting started,” he said. A few days earlier the president signed an executive order making English the official language of the United States for the first time, although federal agencies can still continue to provide documents in other languages.

The Supreme Court rejected Mr Trump’s emergency request to freeze $2bn in foreign aid. The court will be busy over the next few years hearing legal challenges to the president’s many orders and decrees.

Andrew Cuomo, a former Democratic governor of New York state, announced that he is running to become mayor of New York City. He joins a crowded field of candidates vying to unseat Eric Adams, who is ensnared in a corruption scandal. The federal Justice Department has asked Mr Adams’s federal charges be dropped, which is seen as a quid pro quo for his backing of Mr Trump’s deportation policy. Mr Cuomo carries his own baggage. He resigned from office in 2021 amid claims of sexual misconduct.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said it would lay down its arms after a 40-year conflict with Turkey. The PKK, which is designated as a terrorist group in Turkey, made the announcement following calls from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, for a ceasefire. The Turkish government gave the news a cautious welcome.

Austria’s new government was sworn in, six months after an election. Christian Stocker of the conservative People’s Party becomes chancellor heading a coalition that also includes the centre-left Social Democrats and the liberal Neos party. Despite gaining the most votes at the election, the right-wing, pro-Russian Freedom Party was shut out of power after its attempt to form a government failed.

The government of Thailand defended its decision to send 40 Uyghurs it had held back to China. The Uyghurs are a Muslim ethnic group who face repression in China’s Xinjiang region. The deportations have been criticised by many countries, including America, but Thailand’s defence minister claimed the Uyghurs had returned voluntarily.

Separately, 100 criminals were arrested in Thailand for tricking people into working in scam centres across the border in Cambodia. There has been a crackdown across South-East Asia in recent weeks against such centres, which lure people online with promises of job offers, only for them to end up in slave-like captivity.

At least 18 people were killed in a suicide-attack on a security facility in north-west Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban are active in the area. Meanwhile, Pakistani security forces arrested Mohammad Sharifullah, a commander in the local chapter of Islamic State, who was allegedly behind a bombing that killed 13 American troops during America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Harbouring intentions

A consortium led by BlackRock, an investment company, agreed to acquire CK Hutchison’s majority stake in Panama Ports. Hong-Kong based Hutchison has a contract to run the Balboa and Cristobal ports at either end of the Panama Canal until 2047. Following his visit to Panama in February, Marco Rubio, America’s secretary of state, warned that its ownership of the shipping hubs was “unacceptable”, suggesting it amounted to Chinese control of the canal, and that America would take action if the status quo was maintained.

The American Treasury revoked a licence that allowed Chevron to export oil from Venezuela. It has given the company a tight deadline of April 3rd to wind down its operations. The decision is expected to hit the Venezuelan economy hard. Chevron’s joint ventures with the state-controlled PDVSA represent about a quarter of the country’s entire oil output and its dollar earnings. The regime of Nicolás Maduro, which stole last year’s presidential election, condemned the decision.

Germany joined Britain in restricting aid to Rwanda over the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is evolving into a wider regional war. M23, a militia backed by Rwanda, continued its advance south of Lake Kivu as more troops from neighbouring Uganda and Burundi entered the fray. Thousands of people have been killed and more than half a million have been displaced by the fighting since January.

The security forces in South Sudan arrested the petroleum minister, the deputy army chief and other officials allied with Riek Machar, the country’s senior vice-president. The arrests came as troops surrounded Mr Machar’s house and followed an attack on an army base by a group loyal to Mr Machar, raising concerns about the stability of a peace deal. The agreement in 2018 ended a bloody civil war in which Mr Machar and Salva Kiir, the president, led opposing parties.

Donald Trump demanded that Hamas release its remaining hostages, threatening that “it is over for you’” if the terrorist group does not comply. It emerged that America has been negotiating with Hamas, marking a shift in long-standing American policy not to hold direct talks with terrorists. Israel cut off aid to Gaza to put more pressure on Hamas. Meanwhile, Arab leaders endorsed a proposal put forward by Egypt for the reconstruction of Gaza, a riposte to Mr Trump’s plan, which involves the relocation of the territory’s population. The Arab proposal did not lay out the details of who would govern Gaza, how to secure the territory or the future of Hamas.