Israeli Cabinet approves plan to capture Gaza. Israel’s government approved a plan to seize the entire Gaza Strip and hold the territory indefinitely. Since Israel launched its ground war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, its soldiers have taken control of certain sections of the Palestinian territory and later withdrawn. But officials say that Hamas militants then return to those areas. The takeover is intended to uproot them decisively and force a return of the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The new plan is likely to displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians already in the midst of a humanitarian emergency. – Staff

A new German government starts. A new governing coalition led by Friedrich Merz and his center-right Christian Democrats was set to be sworn in Tuesday. It faces a daunting to-do list, including boosting a stagnant economy, overhauling a slow and unpopular asylum system, and launching a new era of greater military readiness. The stakes are enormous for both Germany and Europe. Failure to make significant headway would likely weaken the European Union at a time of greater uncertainty in the alliance. – Staff

The Pentagon will cull its officer corps. The Department of Defense will cut at least 20% of all four-star generals currently on active duty along with 20% of all generals in the National Guard. The move is part of the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to root out “unnecessary bureaucratic layers,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Monday. Another 10% of the roughly 800 U.S. military officers who hold the rank of one-star general – or rear admiral in the Navy – and above will also be let go. There are currently 44 four-star generals and admirals in the armed forces. – Staff

Donald Trump eyes tariffs on foreign films. He said over the weekend he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to place a 100% tariff on all movies produced overseas coming into the United States. While no final decisions have been made, a spokesperson said Monday that the administration is exploring all options. American film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023, and the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Domestic production dropped 26% last year compared with 2021. – AP

The U.S. sanctions Myanmar militia for cyberscamming. The United States imposed sanctions Monday on a Myanmar warlord, his two sons, and the militia he leads, for facilitating digital scams, human trafficking, and cross-border smuggling, the Treasury Department said. The Treasury said the warlord, Saw Chit Thu, is a central figure in a network of illicit and highly lucrative cyberscam operations targeting Americans. Britain and the EU have already imposed sanctions on Mr. Saw Chit Thu. The militia leases land and provides security for compounds where trafficked individuals are forced into scamming strangers online, the department said in a statement. – Reuters

Democratic states sue to save new wind projects. A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general moved to block President Trump’s move to suspend leasing and permitting of new wind projects. They say it threatens to undermine the wind industry and a key source of clean energy. Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., filed the lawsuit in federal court in Boston on Monday. One of Mr. Trump’s first executive orders in January was to direct his administration to halt offshore wind lease sales and stop the issuance of permits, leases, and loans for wind projects. – Reuters

The 5,525-mile-long U.S. border with Canada has been overshadowed by an immigration debate that’s often focused on the border with Mexico. But this northern frontier catapulted into U.S. awareness after President Donald Trump pointed to Canada as a source of illegal migration and fentanyl. A March drive along the Vermont-Quebec border with U.S. Border Patrol agent Paul Allen is a window into how things have changed here under Mr. Trump’s policies – and the ripple effects on the communities that call this region home.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have been rising since gunmen killed 26 tourists, all but one of them Indian, in Indian-administered Kashmir two weeks ago. India blames Pakistan, which denies responsibility. Along the Line of Control, a 450-mile de facto border that divides Kashmir between the two countries, small-arms fire crackles nightly. Residents of Tilawari village, on the Indian side of the line, have witnessed ceasefires as well as deadly violence over decades, and are fortifying local bunkers. They hope the friction will ease. “Everyone has watched the war in Gaza,” says one father of four. “You can see how much worse it could get and we don’t want that.”

The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution explicitly prohibits anyone from seeking a third term as president of the United States. Donald Trump’s supporters hope he can find a loophole. They already have red caps that read “Trump 2028.” Ever a master at stirring public debate, the president has variously dismissed and encouraged the speculation.

Less than a decade after a golf course closed in the San Geronimo Valley in the hills of west Marin County, California, coho salmon are spawning again and bird-watchers have replaced birdie-watchers. From Florida to California, a nationwide movement to rewild fairways and sand traps marks a shift in thinking about how green spaces can better serve the public at a time of greater climate uncertainty. As one conservation proponent puts it, “We’re repairing the mistakes we made back when we didn’t know any better.”

In Rachel Cockerell’s first nonfiction book, she sets out to rescue a historical footnote: a plan to create a Jewish state in Texas at the beginning of the 20th century. Stitching together selections from contemporaneous newspaper articles, journals, and speeches, Ms. Cockerell examines the role her great-grandfather David Jochelman played in this effort, seen at the time as a temporary, last-resort refuge for persecuted Jews. She spoke recently with the Monitor’s Dina Kraft about writing “Melting Point: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land.”

It was not so long ago that American owners seemed well on their way to ruining British soccer. This year, they are well on their way to winning it over. Literally. In the season ending this month, American-owned teams are poised to finish first and second in the top three tiers of British football. The success is, to some degree, just the law of averages. But something of a model for success is emerging. Call it the Wrexham Way, with the Welsh club’s Hollywood owners showing how to get pretty much every step right.

Ukraine made military history last week: One of its newest drones shot down a very expensive Russian fighter jet. Yet just as historic was who won credit for this feat.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first congratulated the military. But then he thanked “everyone developing and deploying new technological solutions.” By “everyone,” he meant thousands of people, even those tinkering with drones in their garage.

The Russian invasion has ignited a burst of ingenious engineering in Ukraine and spawned hundreds of startups competing to push the boundaries of drone warfare week by week. Each milestone in drones on the battlefield has slowed Russia’s capabilities. It has also inspired Europe and the United States to boost their defense innovation.

“80% of Russian casualties in Ukraine are caused by low-cost ... drones,” U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan posted on social media last month. “If America doesn’t start investing in fast, scalable drone tech to match this shift, we’ll lose the next war before it starts.”

This global attention has sparked interest in the source of Ukraine’s ingenuity – other than the war-defining purpose of defending national sovereignty. Private investment in homegrown defense technology is one big driver. Last year, spending in that sector rose 900%, according to the Ukrainian Council of Gunsmiths.

Just as critical is the role of the government as an incubator. It supports a competitive market among defense companies that also allows a sharing of ideas, or what is called a “united coordination platform.”

This mix of freedom and cooperation – something missing in Russia’s state-run, top-down approach in military manufacturing – gives Ukraine an advantage that helps make up for its smaller population. Another advantage is progress in preventing corruption in defense procurement, helped by a climate of transparency that creates a level playing field.

“Our military tech is just miles from where everyone else is, nobody can innovate as quickly as we can because we have to,” Daniel Bilak, a volunteer soldier with the Ukrainian forces, told Euronews.

Ukraine’s innovative spirit was honed during the dark decades of Soviet rule in the 20th century. Its people realized that sovereignty exists in each individual, not just in the nation. That heritage of independent thinking is now playing out in drone victories. No wonder President Zelenskyy thanked Ukraine’s creative engineers as much as the military.