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Robert Bush pleads guilty to charges relating to Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull.
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Middle East crisis live: Trump says Lebanon is ‘separate skirmish’ to Iran as Israel launches massive strikes on country | Iran
Lebanon not included in ceasefire deal, says Trump
Lebanon is not part of the two-week ceasefire deal, US president Donald Trump has told the media.
Speaking on the phone with PBS News Hour’s Liz Landers, Trump is reported to have said the Israel-Lebanon conflict is a “separate skirmish”, adding:
Yeah, they [Lebanon] were not included in the deal.
He added:
Because of Hezbollah. They were not included in the deal. That’ll get taken care of too. It’s alright.
Key events
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Erdogan warns of ‘sabotage’ threat to ceasefire
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Lebanon not included in ceasefire deal, says Trump
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Iranian navy threatens ships in strait of Hormuz without permission
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Analysis: US haste could offer opportunity to Iran
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Israel is killing unarmed civilians in Lebanon, says Lebanese PM
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Iran to hand over enriched uranium or US will ‘take it out’ – Hegseth
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US military objectives achieved, says Caine
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Hegseth: Iran ‘begged’ for this ceasefire
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Summary of developments so far
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Ten ships sail through strait of Hormuz, says AXSMarine
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Iran will cease uranium enrichment, Trump claims
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Ship movements resume in strait of Hormuz after ceasefire announcement, says MarineTraffic
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Lebanon president calls for inclusion of his country in ‘regional peace’
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Vance: Iran ceasefire a ‘fragile truce’
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Pakistan PM says Iran has confirmed it will take part in talks in Islamabad
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Iran president says ceasefire in line with ‘general principles desired by Tehran’
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IDF tells residents of southern suburbs of Beirut to flee after announcing continued combat and ground operations
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Oman foreign minister urges both sides to return to negotating table
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Will the ceasefire see a resumption of pre-war shipping on the strait of Hormuz?
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Israeli military ‘continues fighting and ground operations’ against Hezbollah in Lebanon, IDF says
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‘Now it’s time for diplomacy, legality and peace’, says Spanish PM
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Analysis: US learns a hard lesson about the folly of war
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‘Unthinkable escalation has been avoided, but the ceasefire is not yet definitive’, says Spanish foreign minister
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Jet fuel supplies ‘will take months’ to recover, says IATA chief
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Keir Starmer says ceasefire ‘will bring a moment of relief to the region and the world’ as he heads to the Middle East
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Interim summary
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Ceasefire a ‘political disaster’ says Israel’s opposition leader
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Analysis: Trump’s ‘deal’ is a huge strategic failure for the US
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Donald Trump claims ‘a big day for world peace’
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Israel says ceasefire does not include Lebanon
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Summary
The US embassy in Baghdad warned citizens on Wednesday of further attacks after it said Iran-backed armed groups hit a diplomatic support centre at the airport.
“Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran conducted multiple drone attacks in the vicinity of the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center and Baghdad International Airport on April 8,” the embassy said in a statement on X.
“They may intend to conduct additional terrorist attacks against US citizens and targets associated with the United States throughout Iraq,” it added, advising citizens against travelling in Iraq by plane.
A US official said Wednesday that a 10-point ceasefire plan published by Iran is not the same set of conditions that were agreed to by the White House for pausing the war.
“The document being reported by media outlets is not the working framework,” the senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Erdogan warns of ‘sabotage’ threat to ceasefire
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Wednesday of the threat from “possible provocations and sabotage” to the ceasefire accord agreed by Iran and the United States.
In a message on X welcoming the last-minute accord, Erdogan said:
We hope that the ceasefire will be fully implemented on the ground without giving any opportunity for possible provocations and sabotage.
During a telephone conversation with US counterpart Donald Trump, Erdogan urged “a lasting peace agreement” with Iran, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.
“This two-week window of opportunity, which has opened after 40 days of considerable tension and suffering for the whole world, must be used to reach a lasting peace deal,” Erdogan told Trump, the statement added.
He also called for “this process not to be compromised under any circumstances” and said Turkey would offer its full support to ensure as much.
British prime minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday there was still a lot of work to do to reopen the strait of Hormuz, speaking during a visit to Saudi Arabia.
“We now … have a ceasefire, but there’s a lot of work to do, as you will appreciate, a lot of work to make sure that that ceasefire becomes permanent and brings about the peace that we all want to see,” he told UK and Saudi personnel during the visit.
“But also a lot of work to do in relation to the Strait of Hormuz, which has an impact everywhere across the world.”
Lebanon not included in ceasefire deal, says Trump
Lebanon is not part of the two-week ceasefire deal, US president Donald Trump has told the media.
Speaking on the phone with PBS News Hour’s Liz Landers, Trump is reported to have said the Israel-Lebanon conflict is a “separate skirmish”, adding:
Yeah, they [Lebanon] were not included in the deal.
He added:
Because of Hezbollah. They were not included in the deal. That’ll get taken care of too. It’s alright.
Justin McCurry
Dozens of demonstrations have been held across Japan calling for an immediate end to the war in Iran, with protesters waving light sticks and holding banners lining packed into an area in front of the Diet building in Tokyo on Wednesday evening.
Against a musical backdrop, they chanted antiwar slogans and called on the country’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, to abide by the postwar constitution, which forbids Japan from using force as a means of settling international disputes. Many also demanded her resignation.
Fears that Takaichi, a conservative, could use her party’s huge majority in the lower house of parliament to push for constitutional reform have strengthened since the start of the war.
Last month, she turned down a request by Donald Trump to send Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Forces to the strait of Hormuz, telling him that any military involvement could violate the war-renouncing article 9 of Japan’s postwar constitution.
Trump has since criticised Japan – which is dependent on Middle East oil – and Washington’s other north-east Asian ally South Korea for not joining the conflict.
It was not immediately clear how many people had joined the protest in Tokyo, but organisers said they were hoping to exceed the 24,000 who turned out for a similar demonstration in March.
“It is always ordinary civilians who suffer in wars, so I decided to come here to make my voice heard,” said Setsuko Sasaki, who was attending her first demonstration. “I knew I would regret it if I did nothing.”
Her colleague Haruka Komori said she opposed any Japanese involvement in the US-Israeli war on Iran and voiced skepticism that the ceasefire announced on Wednesday would hold.
“The war has stirred something among Japanese people who oppose war and want to protect the constitution,” she said. “We should never get involved.”
US president Donald Trump said in-person talks with Iran will happen “very soon”, the New York Post reported today.
In an interview with the Post, Trump said vice-president JD Vance might not attend the talks due to security concerns.
Iranian navy threatens ships in strait of Hormuz without permission
The Iranian navy threatened ships attempting to pass through the strait of Hormuz without Tehran’s permission with destruction, adding that transit through the waterway remained shut, according to several shipping sources.
“Any vessel trying to travel into the sea … will be targeted and destroyed…” the message said.
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said the military had carried out a surprise attack on Wednesday targeting hundreds of Hezbollah members across Lebanon.
“The IDF carried out a surprise strike on hundreds of Hezbollah terrorists at command centres across Lebanon. This is the largest concentrated blow Hezbollah has suffered since Operation Beepers,” Katz said in a video statement, referring to a major 2024 operation against Hezbollah involving pager bombs.
Analysis: US haste could offer opportunity to Iran
Dan Sabbagh
Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of war, and Gen Dan Caine, the head of the US armed forces, were eager to declare victory in their press conference, arguing that Iran’s navy, air force and air defences were wiped out and its ballistic missile programme “functionally destroyed”.
To that Hegseth added that the US and Israel had “finished completely destroying Iran’s industrial base” with a final package of 800 airstrikes overnight, though Tehran retains the ability to scare oil tankers from using the strait of Hormuz.
Caine offered some statistics. The general said 450 ballistic missile storage sites were targeted, 800 drone warehouses and 90% of the country’s weapons factories, including every facility that produces Shahed one-way attack drones.
Nevertheless, Hegseth had to acknowledge that Iran retains its 440kg of highly enriched uranium, buried deep underground, though he claimed it was possible to “take it out,” in what would be a high risk operation should the peace talks break down.
Though the phrase was not used, the tone was clearly ‘mission accomplished’, though in reality it was difficult to see how the US-Israeli bombing could have gone much further without deliberately hitting civilian targets and prompting accusations of war crimes.
Nor will it have been as surgical as Hegseth and Caine implied, though Iran’s internet blackout has prevented a full picture emerging.
The haste by the US to declare an end may now give Iran’s regime an opportunity – to finally obtain sanctions relief in return for abandoning nuclear enrichment on terms similar to those nearly agreed in Geneva before the war broke out.
However, it has taken five weeks of bombing to get to this point.
The troubled ferry has returned to the Troon-Arran route though almost a third of CalMac’s fleet remains out of service.
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Starmer arrives in Saudi Arabia for talks with Gulf leaders on resolution to Iran war – UK politics live | Politics
Starmer arrives in Saudi Arabia for talks with Gulf leaders on resolution to Iran war
Keir Starmer has arrived in Saudi Arabia as he visits Gulf allies to push for a long-term resolution to the Iran conflict, the Press Association reports. PA says:
The prime minister is set to hold talks with Gulf leaders on how best to support the pause in fighting and ensure passage is permanently restored through the key oil and gas shipping route.
He is also expected to thank armed forces from the UK and allied countries who are posted in the region.
Key events
Libby Brooks on Reform UK’s Scottish press conference – and Ipsos poll giving SNP 24-point lead
Libby Brooks
Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent.
It’s a beautiful spring day in the north east, and the Reform UK press conference was of similarly sunny tone. Scottish leader Malcolm Offord employs a cheerful eyeroll strategy with media. Asked if he was a part-time leader because he took time off over the Easter weekend to take part in a yachting event, he guffawed: “Heaven forbid a man has a holiday”.
And he dismissed questions about historic offensive or Islamophobic tweets by Holyrood candidates saying it was a “slipperly slope” delving into Twitter accounts from 10 years ago and that he took the decision not too.
Interestingly, Nigel Farage told the Guardian in January that vetting had been “piss poor in the past and it won’t be in the future”, insisting the party was “doing everything we can to make sure these candidates for the Scottish parliament are vetted, and are fit and proper people to put before the electorate.” It remains moot whether historic offence falls into the “fit and proper” category or not – Offord himself likely hopes it doesn’t after that disgusting George Michael joke he made at a Burns Supper in 2018.
Many of the media questions related to the latest Ipsos polling for STV, which is really interesting to delve into. It’s pretty terrible news for Scottish Labour: they are down 5 points to 15% on constituency voting intention, neck and neck with Reform. The SNP lead on constituency VI on 39%, up 3 points from March, while SNP leader John Swinney’s approval rating has improved by 4 points.
Meanwhile Offord’s ratings have worsened, down 4.5 points since March, and not a great sign since the obvious conclusion is that this is the result of his increased visibility on the campaign trail over recent weeks.
Given the potential for tactical voting and broader voter volatility, it’s worth noting that in both constituency and regional list votes, 42% of voters say they may still change their mind before polling day. And also keep in mind that those who say they’ll vote Reform or SNP are surer of their vote than supporters of any other party.
With the prospect still very live of some sort of minority or coalition government arrangement after 7 May, I’d also draw attention to the fact the least divisive option for the public appears to be the Scottish Liberal Democrats – 32% say they would be happy to see the Liberal Democrats having influence over the Scottish government. With the Scottish Lib Dems working away to secure a few more seats beyond their heartlands this campaign, I’ve been thinking for a while that their role could be pivotal next month.
Starmer arrives in Saudi Arabia for talks with Gulf leaders on resolution to Iran war
Keir Starmer has arrived in Saudi Arabia as he visits Gulf allies to push for a long-term resolution to the Iran conflict, the Press Association reports. PA says:
The prime minister is set to hold talks with Gulf leaders on how best to support the pause in fighting and ensure passage is permanently restored through the key oil and gas shipping route.
He is also expected to thank armed forces from the UK and allied countries who are posted in the region.
Offord defends Reform UK’s stance on Scottish independence, after Tories claim they’re not pro-union enough
At the Reform UK press conference in Aberdeen my colleague Libby Brooks asked about Reform’s position on Scottish independence, and whether it would be sustainable if the May elections lead to parties in favour of breaking up the UK in power in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
Malcolm Offord, the Reform UK leader in Scotland, replied:
In Scotland we are saying that we’re the party of enough talk of referendum. We don’t want to talk about it, people have get no interest in it, there’s no appetite for it, and therefore can we just not talk about it and get on with making Scotland the most successful part of the UK.
Offord is vulnerable on this because in the past he has implied he is not 100% opposed to a second independence referendum. At their campaign launch yesterday, the Scottish Conseratives used this as an attack line, claiming they were the only party that would fully protect the union.
Asked how many Reform candidates have in the past backed independence, Offord said there were three, out of 73, “who have had that tendency in the past”.
This is from Paul Hutcheon from the Daily Record referring to what Malcolm Offord said about the Record’s story about his yachting trip. (See 1.14pm.)
Malcolm Offord responds to our story on him missing campaigning to compete in a yachting race:
“Heaven forbid a man has a hobby, right, and takes a day off at Easter.”
Records state he was skipper on all three days of the competition.
Starmer joins other European leaders and Japan in calling for ‘substantive negotiated settlement’
Keir Starmer has released a joint statement on the Middle East also backed by the leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, and the EU.
They say:
The goal must now be to negotiate a swift and lasting end to the war within the coming days. This can only be achieved through diplomatic means.
We strongly encourage quick progress towards a substantive negotiated settlement.
This will be crucial to protect the civilian population of Iran and ensure security in the region. It can avert a severe global energy crisis.
We support these diplomatic efforts. To this end, we are in close contact with the United States and other partners.
We call upon all sides to implement the ceasefire, including in Lebanon.
Our governments will contribute to ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
Offord rejects claims Reform UK did not vet Scottish candidates properly, suggesting tweets from 10 years ago don’t matter
Q: Do you think you should have vetted your candidates more carefully, given how many have had to stand down? And was it a mistake to choose some candidates who in the past have backed independence.
Offord says he believes in free speech.
He says some of his candidates have said things he would not have said personally. But he says the candidate are “real people who are on their journey to public life”.
He says, as long as people support the Reform project, he is not here judge people by their previous opinions. He goes on:
It’s a slippery slope going down into everybody’s Twitter account over the last ten years. And I took a decision – we’re not going to do that.
(This rather contradicts what Nigel Farage has said in the past about the party conducting a very thorough vetting exercise ahead of these elections.)
Tice says there are people who may have backed Scottish independence in the past, just as they are people who opposed Brexit who now think it is a good idea “as long as you do the job properly”.
(There are some people who opposed Brexit but are now in favour. But there are far more people who have changed their mind on Brexit in the opposite direction.)
Q: Did Nigel Farage throw you under the bus by blaming you for the appointment of Simon Dudley, the housing spokesperson who had to be sacked for his comment about the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Tice claims the reporter got it wrong. He claims that he was the person who decided to sack Dudley, and he then told Farage about it. They are incredibly close, he says.
(This is what Farage said too. But it was Farage who actually announced the sacking. And earlier in the day Tice had reposted a tweet from Dudley saying he was sorry about how he expressed himself. But Dudley did not say in that tweet he had been sacked, and Tice did not announce that either on social media.)
Tice defends Offord’s leadership of Reform UK in Scotland, while admitting there have been ‘bumps’ in campaign
Q: [To Offord] It has been reported that you missed campaigning to take part in a yachting race in the English channel over the weekend. Are you a part-time leader?
Offord says a man is allowed a hobby.
Q: [To Tice] Given the chaos with Reform’s campaign in Scotland, do you regret making Offord leader?
Tice says Offord is doing an “incredible”.
But he seems to acknowledge there have been problems. He says:
The job of the press is to scrutinise us. And, of course, there are potholes in the road. Some call them bumps; potholes in council campaigns [are] a key thing. And we just, we know we drive through the polls and we will fill them in.
Tice says oil and gas has worked for the UK. There is a saying, “If if ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
He says claims that renewables are cheaper are contradicted by the price being paid for renewables contract.
Q: There is a poll out today suggesting you won’t win any constituency seats. Are you worried by that?
Offord says polls have shown Reform UK in second place.
He says he is not making predictions. But he is aiming to win constituencies (as well as just getting seats through the regional list part of the electoral system).
Tice and Offord are now taking questions.
Q: [From the BBC’s Ben Philip] How quickly would these policies bring down prices?
Tice says the owners of the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields say they could be increasing supply within 12 months.
But he says he would like to get supply (of oil and gas) back to where it was 15 years ago.
As a condition of granting a licence, the government could insist on oil or gas being sold domestically.
Tice says in the US the domestic gas price has not been affected by the Iran war. The UK should learn from that, he says.
Tice claims other parties are starting to copy Reform UK on energy policy. He claims that is a form of flattery.
Tice says his final proposal would be regulatory reform.
We all want smart and safe regulations across all of our industries, and oil and gas is absolutely critical. We understand that.
What businesses tell me is they don’t want the daft, the dither and the delay at every level – unproductive regulation that just adds costs and achieves the square root of zero.
Tice says Reform UK would also get rid of the windfall tax on energy companies. That is the second of the four points in his plan.
Third, he says the party would get rid of what he calls “net stupid zero”, which he says would include the emissions trading scheme introduced by the Tories.
And if Labour takes the UK into the EU version, Reform UK would come out of it, he says.
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