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President Donald Trump pulls back on his threats as a ceasefire deal is reached. Iran, the United States, and Israel have agreed to a two-week ceasefire. Tehran says it will negotiate with the U.S. in Pakistan starting Friday. Earlier Tuesday, Trump had threatened devastating strikes on Iran, warning that 鈥淎 whole civilization will die tonight鈥� if a deal wasn鈥檛 made to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu鈥檚 office has expressed support for the ceasefire but said it won鈥檛 stop fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. (Please check the Monitor website and app for further coverage.)聽鈥� The Associated Press

Taiwan opposition party head Cheng Li-wun is making an unusual visit to China. She is expecting to have a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week. Calling her six-day trip a 鈥渏ourney for peace,鈥� she says she seeks to promote trust and a peaceful resolution of differences between Taiwan and China. China鈥檚 Communist Party has never ruled Taiwan but claims the self-governing island as its territory and has vowed to unify, by force if necessary. Taiwan鈥檚 23 million people broadly support maintaining the status quo.

Republican wins Georgia House race, while liberal wins seat on Wisconsin high court. District attorney Clay Fuller has won a U.S. House seat in Georgia. Tuesday鈥檚 special election arose when GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned, after her criticism of President Donald Trump resulted in his threatening to support a primary challenge against her. Meanwhile in another swing state, Wisconsin, Chris Taylor won a seat on the state鈥檚 Supreme Court. Her victory widens a liberal majority that will preside when issues such as abortion, voting rights, and congressional maps end up in court.

Russia continues to use foreign soldiers in the Ukraine war. On Monday, Cameroon announced that 16 of its nationals have been killed in the conflict. Ukrainian officials estimate that Russia employs 24,000 foreign soldiers from 44 countries, including more than 1,700 fighters from African countries such as Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. According to the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, some are recruited with promises of civilian jobs in Russia only to be forced to choose between conscription or deportation.
Our coverage: Nepalis thought they were going to Russia to 鈥榟elp.鈥� They were made to fight 鈥� and die.

Highly decorated Australian soldier arrested for war crimes. Ben Roberts-Smith has been charged with five counts of murder of unarmed Afghan civilians during a 2009-2012 tour of duty. Mr. Roberts-Smith, Australia鈥檚 most famous soldier, has received multiple medals for gallantry. Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator examined alleged war crimes first reported by newspapers in 2018.聽

Experts claim to find previously unknown Van Gogh work in Hungary. According to the art publication Blikk, the painting is a variation of 鈥淭he Dance Hall in Arles,鈥� and is owned by a private collector. Zs贸fia V茅gv谩ri, whose Budapest laboratory examines artifacts, dated the canvas between 1885 and 1890. Its better-known counterpart, which hangs in the Louvre, was painted in 1888. Many of the paintings Ms. V茅gv谩ri examines are fakes. She calls this one a very special surprise.

鈥� Compiled by Monitor writers around the world

Before the Iran war, regional powers were rushing for a diplomatic solution to rising tensions between the United States and Iran. Now, facing President Donald Trump鈥檚 threats of a civilization鈥檚 obliteration, those efforts are at a global peak.

President Donald Trump has long regarded his reputation for unpredictability as an asset in negotiations. His threat to destroy Iran鈥檚 civilization marked a new level of intimidation, and ultimately a two-week pause in hostilities and the temporary opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump鈥檚 energy strategy faces limits as the Iran war spikes U.S. gas prices, squeezing consumers and threatening Republican prospects in the midterms. He must now choose between escalating the war and backing down, risking both image and oil prices.

Conservative groups allied with President Trump are calling for the White House to broaden its immigration enforcement strategy with worksite raids to deport anyone in the country illegally. Some critics say the government has already been doing that, but hard-liners want more to achieve the president鈥檚 promised mass deportations.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, generating charges that, if he followed through, he would be committing war crimes. Who defines a war crime, and who enforces it?

In 鈥淭iny Gardens Everywhere,鈥� environmental history professor and award-winning author Kate Brown probes gardens as small patches of resilience, resistance, and regeneration. 鈥淲e can go a long way toward feeding ourselves with these tiny urban spaces,鈥� she says.

The world has learned enough from past energy crises to know that a shortage of a finite resource like oil requires help from a more boundless resource: trust and cooperation. That鈥檚 especially true as the Iran war led to a near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz to the petroleum exports from Gulf countries.

From neighborhoods to the United Nations, the closure triggered shared action worldwide to ensure energy supplies. One big reason: The crisis was the largest-ever disruption in the global oil market, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency, even more serious than the energy crises of 1973, 1979, and 2022 combined.

In March, many countries coordinated to achieve the largest release of emergency oil reserves in history. On April 5, OPEC and its allies agreed to increase production in May. 聽In addition, the IEA joined with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to coordinate assistance to countries in need. And Saudi Arabia was praised for quickly diverting much of its exported oil from the strait to a cross-country pipeline reaching the Red Sea.

The reaction hints of a potential transformation in the geopolitics and architecture of the world energy system. Yet smaller steps in which people simply assist each other 鈥� such as carpooling or consolidating errands 鈥� have also ticked up. In the Philippines, public workers now turn off their computers during lunch breaks. Egypt has sped up its renewable projects for communities. The European Union has asked businesses to promote telecommuting.

Nations that have become more dependent on each other for energy might decide now to seek total self-reliance. Yet what the war has shown is that caring about vital resources requires countries and people to be more cooperative, not less. Voluntary collaboration, much more than markets or top-down government policy, has led humanity to be better stewards and users of natural resources.

With so much distrust now on display during the Iran war, the world can鈥檛 help but reach for a higher level of trust to cooperate on its energy future.