Putin’s ceasefire demands, alcohol tariffs and Versace
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Today, Vladimir Putin offers qualified support for a Ukraine ceasefire, saying the proposal needs serious reworking. How tariffs might impact your Friday nightcap. And Donatella Versace steps down. What's next for the iconic Italian brand? It's Friday, March 14th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the frontlines in 10 minutes every weekday.

I'm Jonah Green in New York. And I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. Are your alterative colitis symptoms proving difficult to manage?

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Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and TB. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Ask your doctor if Tramfaya can help you manage the cycle of UC symptoms. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit tramfayaradio.com. President Vladimir Putin says that Russia supports a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine in principle, but he added a list of demands to make it work.

On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy met with Russian officials in Moscow on the proposal, which Kyiv has already agreed to. Now we're going to see whether or not Russia is there, and if they're not, it'll be a very disappointing moment for the world. Don Durfee is our U.S. foreign policy editor.

So Don, do we know what Putin wants here and what message he's sending? Because it's not a no, but it's a very qualified maybe. That's right. But, you know, the devil is in the details here. And those include some things that are going to be very hard for the U.S. or the West to accept. Those include things such as not ever allowing Ukraine to enter NATO, not allowing any foreign troops on Ukrainian soil, and a recognition from the United States of

of Russia's control of the territories in Ukraine that it has already seized. Ukraine will worry that Putin is effectively trying to stall and buy some time. You know, his troops have made some progress in recent weeks on the battlefield, and Ukrainian troops are really on the defensive. So the Trump administration has taken a less hostile approach when it comes to Russia. And in fact, a lot of the diplomatic pressure here seems to be on Ukraine.

And now we have this response from Putin. Is this tactic paying off? Well, we'll really have to see, right? Putin is willing to talk. That's a success. But the real success will be whether Putin is willing to stop fighting and on what terms.

Putin is a past master of delaying things and ultimately getting what he wants. I should add, however, there are some reports out that the U.S. has actually put some more restrictions on Russia's oil, gas, and banking sectors, which could be a signal, right? It could be a signal that the U.S. is willing to make economic conditions tougher for Putin as part of negotiations.

And so what happens now? So from here, we'll have to see how the next stage of negotiations go between Russia and the U.S. And in particular, when do we see this call that's supposed to happen between Putin and Trump? And what kinds of commitments does Russia appear to be ready to make? More than half of Americans, including one in four Republicans, think President Donald Trump is too closely aligned with Russia.

That's according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, which also found little appetite among Americans for Trump's expansionist agenda, as the president talks of acquiring Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal. A California federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of recently hired employees who lost their jobs as part of the president's purge of the federal workforce.

It's the most significant blow yet to the effort by Trump and Elon Musk to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy. The arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil has seen hundreds protesting inside the lobby of a Trump Tower in New York. The protest was organized by the Jewish Voice for Peace. The Columbia student is in immigration custody in Louisiana.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to a peace treaty to end nearly 40 years of conflict. Before a deal is signed, Azerbaijan says Armenia must remove any implicit claims to the Nagorno-Karabakh region from its constitution. President Trump is threatening to slap a 200% tariff on wine, cognac and other alcohol imports from Europe. I really believe that this is a poker game.

They play in poker. And I think they need to act like grown-ups, sit at the table and make things fair. Mario Dutta is the owner-manager of Jacques Bresseries, a wine shop and French restaurant in New York City.

He says the uncertainty is already hitting business, with 60% of his imports from Bordeaux to Burgundy coming from the EU. We cannot buy inventory based on speculations. Distributors, the people that are selling us the product, they don't know how much inventory to hold on to because nobody wants to pay

two, three times more than what they would be paying today in a month from now. Trump's threat comes in response to a European Union plan to impose tariffs on American whiskey and other products next month, which itself is a response to Trump's 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. And Tesla is warning that it and other top American exporters are left exposed to these retaliatory tariffs.

It's a notable concern from Trump ally Elon Musk's company. It's not clear who wrote the warning letter. It was unsigned on company letterhead. Tesla has not responded to a request for comment.

Top U.S. Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer says he will vote to advance a Republican stopgap funding bill, signaling that his party would provide the votes to avert a government shutdown. Schumer says it wasn't an easy decision supporting a bill that was written only by Republicans and has drawn fierce attacks from Democrats. While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America entirely.

that are much, much worse. Relief over the likely avoidance of a U.S. government shutdown is giving stock futures a lift. But overall, it's been a brutal week for U.S. equities. The S&P 500 has tumbled to its first 10% correction in nearly two years due to concerns about Trump's trade war. But U.S. investors have only had a few weeks of pain. Try five straight months of losses with no end in sight.

That's what investors in India are enduring. Kamal Crimmins is here to explain what's going on. So this is India's longest equity slump in nearly three decades, with a trillion dollars wiped off stock values.

Weak corporate earnings and uncertainty over what a global trade war means for India is what's driving it. And it's causing real pain for retail investors. Many of them are young and they piled into equities when stocks were roaring ahead. And because they're now suffering big losses, that means, of course, that they're spending less, which is bad for the economy and for the stock market. So analysts reckon there's probably more pain to come.

After nearly 30 years, Donatella Versace is stepping down as creative director for the Versace brand. She's dressed many Hollywood celebrities over the years. You might recall that silk green chiffon dress that Jennifer Lopez wore to the Grammys in 2000. She took over the brand after her brother Gianni Versace was killed outside his home in Miami in 1997.

Her departure is fanning talk of a sale of Versace to rival Italian fashion house Prada. Elisa Anzolin has been following the developments in Milan.

Everyone identifies with Versace, with Donatella. She brought the brand like a very like bold and sexy aesthetic. And she has always claimed that she wanted to make women feel empowered so that women can express themselves and feel strong and confident wearing those clothes. We still don't know if Prada will...

by Versace at the end. For Prada, it's a major shift. Versace is very different from Prada. From one side, this is one of the elements that are the strength of such a deal.

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And before we leave you, a recommended listen. Canadians are angry. They're angry about Trump's rhetoric suggesting the country could be the US's 51st state. And they're angry about his escalating trade war and tariffs. Plus, a new leader is taking the helm at this critical moment for Canada.

We dig into all of that on our weekend special of Reuters World News Podcast. It drops on Saturday morning. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back on Monday with our daily headline show.