Moscow celebrates Victory Day. Russia’s premier holiday occurs annually on May 9, when the former USSR’s victory over Nazi Germany is marked with a military parade on Red Square. Kremlin prestige is measured by the foreign leaders who join Vladimir Putin on the tribune, while the public participates with local events honoring their victorious ancestors. This year, 29 Russia-friendly world leaders are attending, including Chinese leader Xi Jinping, whose presence underscores a growing alliance between the two nations. The message is that Russia remains strong and not isolated despite three years of sanctions. The one dark cloud is the threat, however remote, of a Ukrainian drone attack on the event. – Staff

U.S. and Britain strike trade deal. The agreement will scrap 25% tariffs on British steel and aluminum and lower tariffs on 100,000 cars from 27.5% to 10% each year. The first since President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, the deal sets an example for other nations wanting to negotiate with the U.S. While the nations’ leaders hailed the deal as historic, others have questioned how much has changed. Most goods from the UK continue to face a 10% duty. – Staff

India-Pakistan conflict escalates with drone attack. India’s military claims a Pakistani drone and missile attack struck the city of Jammu in Indian Kashmir late on Thursday. The assault came on the second day of clashes between the two countries, their worst confrontation in over two decades. India said it hit nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan on Wednesday in retaliation for what it says was an Islamabad-backed attack in Indian Kashmir on April 22. World powers from the United States to China have called for calm in the nuclear flash point region. – Reuters

Ukraine finalizes minerals deal. Ukraine’s parliament voted on Thursday to ratify a minerals deal with the U.S., an agreement Kyiv hopes will secure future military assistance from Washington in its fight to repel Russian troops. The deal, signed last month, hands the U.S. preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and sets up the investment fund, which could be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine for the first 10 years. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hopes the deal will bolster Ukraine’s position in ceasefire talks. – Reuters
Related Monitor coverage: Chinese restrictions on exports of rare earth minerals – which have critical military and commercial uses – are spurring calls for increased U.S. production.

Bill Gates plans to donate almost all his wealth. Mr. Gates pledged on Thursday to give away $200 billion via his charitable foundation by 2045 and lashed out against huge cuts to U.S. foreign aid. The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft said he was speeding up his plans to divest almost all of his fortune and would close the foundation Dec. 31, 2045, earlier than planned. Mr. Gates said he hoped the money would help eradicate diseases like malaria, end preventable deaths among women and children, and reduce global poverty. – Reuters
Related Monitor coverage: The Trump administration froze foreign aid in February, leaving one of global health care’s great success stories – the campaign to contain AIDS – fighting to survive.

The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant improperly deported from the United States to a prison in his native country, has become Exhibit A in an escalating confrontation that the Trump administration has triggered with the cornerstones of American democracy and the rule of law. The Monitor spoke with a dozen experts who have spent their careers studying, and working to defend, democratic institutions, from Hungary to Colombia to El Salvador. They were nearly unanimous that President Donald Trump is making moves characteristic of burgeoning autocracies.

When representatives for the United States and China sit down for talks in Geneva Saturday, they will take the first step toward normalizing a key economic partnership that has spun out of control. In a series of tit-for-tat escalations initiated by President Donald Trump, the world’s two biggest economies have imposed tariffs so high that trade between the two is dwindling. Yet both sides worry about the potential economic damage. The U.S. needs Chinese goods and resources to keep its economy humming. China needs the U.S. as a customer for the same reason.

Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi rebels reached a ceasefire with the United States after a seven-week campaign of airstrikes degraded their military capabilities. But analysts say the Houthis are already in rebuilding mode. Houthi leaders have made clear they remain undeterred, and have instead portrayed American and Israeli military campaigns against them as bolstering their regional street credibility as members of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” alliance.

Even as many centrist politicians stave off assaults from the far right, voters in some countries are taking President Trump’s example as a cautionary tale, not an inspiration. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, a centrist from the Liberal Party, described the dramatic shift in world politics that helped him win his come-from-behind election victory last week as a “hinge moment of history.” Yet he could also have been describing three other democratic elections that followed: in Britain, Australia, and Romania. All are part of a battle over the future shape of democracy.

Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court case that found a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, turns 10 years old in June. More than two-thirds of Americans consistently support marriage equality. But one attorney who argued the case likens the right to a “split screen” in the Trump era. President Donald Trump has not suggested he supports a bid to overturn the ruling. But Republicans in at least six states have introduced measures urging the court to revisit Obergefell. The resolutions are symbolic, but send a clear signal, supporters and detractors say.

There are many motives for protecting the natural world. One that’s often overlooked in conservation circles is faith. From India to rural Ghana, forests with spiritual significance have long drawn worshippers and tourists. Now, however, they are also gaining global recognition for their role in forest conservation. Faith, it turns out, is more powerful than a fence. Our story today takes you to a sacred forest in Osogbo, Nigeria.

In many societies, women continue to confront a host of cultural strictures on what they “can” or “cannot” do, should or shouldn’t do: Study beyond high school. Hold certain types of jobs. Drive a car too far from home.

Or ride a motorbike. This constraint isn’t just a minor inconvenience, though. When public transportation is unavailable and cars are unaffordable, a motorized two-wheeler is a lifeline. Owning and operating one helps individuals get to a job or grow a business. Every day, thousands of sputtering mototaxis (as they’re known in Latin America and the Middle East), boda-bodas (East Africa), or ojek (Indonesia) transport people and products along city streets and rural roads.

Typically, such taxi businesses have been almost entirely run by men. But bit by bit, women operators are throwing off societal and self-imposed limitations and starting a new journey.

In a remote part of Sierra Leone, for example, “bike lady” Mariama Timbo transports villagers to and from market on a motorbike, The Guardian reported. Earning about $2.50 a day, she’s bought a plot of land. Now, she’s teaching young women to ride and start a business. “A single bike has changed my story,” she said.

In Kenya, a group called Boda Girls trains women drivers and facilitates loans to purchase motorbikes. In distinctive pink uniforms, the participants transport girls and women to schools, hospitals, and work – and are community role models. In southern India, Uber Moto Women is a response to women’s concerns around safety and mobility. And Uber said it offers female drivers “flexible earning opportunities.”   

Women mototaxi drivers contend with harassment from male peers and passengers. Self-defense training, as well as being part of messaging apps and associations, helps though critics say these do not address root causes of aggression against women.

But for many women, family censure can be an even bigger challenge. Parents or husbands disapprove. Neighbors snicker. Wearing trousers in public is frowned upon. Yet, with persistence, many women drivers become family breadwinners. As a result, their children eat better, they can buy livestock and land, and they gain new respect at home and beyond.

“Inclusive, safe, and affordable transportation is ... crucial for women,” a World Bank study said. Without it, they are denied the ability “to move freely ... and are less likely to find good jobs.” The number of women transport providers in many countries is still minuscule. But their opportunity to expand financial horizons – as well as their freedom to explore possibilities – is vast.