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JD Vance continues Hungary visit after accusing EU of election interference – Europe live

in Madrid In one particularly punchy response to the Middle East ceasefire news, Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who has been perhaps the most outspoken western critic of Trump’s war in Iran, has said his administration “will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket”. He said: “Ceasefires are always good news – especially if they lead to a just and lasting peace. But this momentary relief cannot make us forget the chaos, the destruction, and the lives lost. “The Spanish government will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket. What’s needed now are diplomacy, international legality, and PEACE.” For more Middle East news, follow our live blog here:

Middle East crisis live: Iran war ceasefire doesn’t include Lebanon, says Israel; Trump says uranium will be ‘taken care of’

The Israeli military said it “continues fighting and ground operations” in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. In a statement on social media, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it carried out extensive strikes on launch sites across Iran overnight before halting fighting after the ceasefire was announced. “In accordance with political directives, the IDF has contained the fighting in the campaign against Iran and remains on high alert for defence, ready to respond to any violation,” the IDF said. It added that in Lebanon, “the IDF continues its combat and ground operations against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation”.

‘I want to make myself obsolete’: the MP fighting for Greenland’s self-governance

It’s not the standard motto for a newly elected parliamentarian, but Qarsoq Høegh-Dam is adamant: if he does his job properly, there will soon be no need for it. “I want to make myself as obsolete as possible,” he said. Last month, Høegh-Dam, a Greenlandic politician, became the first member of the pro-independence Naleraq to be elected to the Danish parliament. The new MP is clear that if all goes to plan, the largely autonomous Arctic territory will be the sole responsibility of the parliament in Nuuk, the island’s capital. And there will no longer be any need for two seats representing Greenland in Copenhagen, its former colonial ruler. “Greenland and the Greenlandic people are to be the responsibility of the Greenlandic parliament and the Greenlandic government. So the primary objective is: I will have succeeded if I am no longer relevant,” he said with a laugh. The Danish general election – in which Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats won the most votes but not a clear majority – followed one of the most precarious moments of Denmark’s recent history, when Donald Trump threatened to take control of Greenland. Trump’s threats to take over the Arctic island came to a dramatic climax in January when, it has since emerged, tensions were so high that Denmark reportedly readied itself for potential attack from the US by flying bags of blood to Greenland and explosives to blow up runways. While tensions have slightly receded, all sides say the situation is as yet unresolved and talks are ongoing. The geopolitical drama has put a global spotlight on Greenland and Denmark’s relationship and history. Modern colonisation of Greenland, where Inuit people are understood to have lived since as early as 2,500BC, started with the support of what was then Denmark-Norway in 1721. During the second world war it was temporarily occupied by the US when Denmark was occupied by Germany. In 1953, Greenland became part of the kingdom of Denmark and in 1979 home rule was introduced. Since then, more power has been handed over to Greenland but Copenhagen still retains control of its foreign and security policy. Høegh-Dam warned that the race for control of the Arctic by the world’s superpowers – including the US, as well as interest from Russia – meant Denmark needed to show it was meeting its commitments to the Greenlandic people. For example, he said Copenhagen was not fulfilling its responsibilities for maintaining Greenlandic prison facilities. “Especially in these political climates, Denmark trying to penny-pinch in regard to Greenland with their own responsibilities is a hazardous gamble because other foreign nations can use it,” he said. While all of Greenland’s political parties support eventual independence, Naleraq, also seen as the most Trump-friendly, is in favour of doing it as soon as possible. But Høegh-Dam said they also wanted the transition to be as smooth as possible. “Which is why we are trying to follow the law that has been established in the Danish parliament,” he said, referring to a 2009 act that recognised the people of Greenland’s right to self-determination. Naleraq, which was formed in 2014, has soared in popularity in recent years. In Greenland’s last election, last year, it doubled its seats to became the second biggest party in Inatsisartut, the parliament. It declined to join the coalition government and now sits in opposition. Høegh-Dam is from a family of Greenlandic politicians. His sister, 29-year-old Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, until recently represented Greenland in the Danish parliament with the Siumut party, and last year switched parties to Naleraq. His late uncle, Thue Christiansen, was in Greenland’s first ever cabinet and designed the Greenlandic national flag. And his cousin, Aaja Chemnitz, was until the last election also a representative in the Danish parliament. “Of course politics is a topic of discussion at the holiday table and over a cup of coffee,” he said. “I hope I can contribute just a small fraction in the same way.” Last Tuesday, Høegh-Dam and the other Greenlandic MP elected to Danish parliament, Naaja Nathanielsen, visited Frederiksen, now a caretaker prime minister trying to form a coalition government. Nathanielsen, who spent five years in prominent ministerial roles in the Greenlandic government, now represents the territory on behalf of the Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) party. Nathanielsen said she was seeking reform of the 1953 constitution, which was not voted on by Greenlanders and prevents Nuuk from taking responsibility for its own foreign and security policy. “We do have much more self-determination than in the 1950s but still there are some elements where we don’t have access to the information that’s needed and we have limitations on what we can do on our own. So that also is a show of baseline inequality,” Nathanielsen said. “So if that’s your starting point, it makes it difficult to have discussions on anything else if the ground you stand on is not an even surface.” While Greenland’s foreign policy voice had developed considerably, she said, there were still “red lines in terms of what Greenland can achieve on its own” within the constitution’s framework. She added: “We really want to push those limits because we believe that it is the Greenlandic government that should form and convey foreign policy when it regards the Arctic, with regards to us. And today that is oftentimes not the case.” Despite coming from different parties, the two Greenlandic MPs say they plan to put aside any domestic differences and work closely together in Copenhagen. Høegh-Dam insists he is not against a close relationship with Denmark but wants Greenland to be a fully independent nation. “The structure that we have now, a postcolonial structure, is not working. And we want to make the best out of it,” he said. “The world is changing, but we are so used to other factors trying to change us that we have become resilient. I believe in the Greenlandic people, but I really also want to believe in the Danish people in our common future, if we have one.”

Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila intensifies to one of season’s strongest storms ahead of Australian landfall

Severe Tropical Cyclone Maila has intensified to a category five storm over the Solomon Sea, days before an expected landfall in Australia. It is forecast to hit along the far north Queensland coast just weeks after the same area was buffeted by Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle, which made landfall on 20 March as a category four system. Maila was located over the Solomon Sea on Wednesday and was expected to make landfall along the Cape York peninsula early next week, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Another major storm system, Severe Tropical Cyclone Vaianu, was expected to make landfall in New Zealand at a similar time to Maila hitting Australia, BoM senior meteorologist Ilana Cherny said. Cyclone Maila has recorded a lower minimum pressure (924hPa) than Narelle (930hPa) – a measure that suggests greater storm intensity. Cherny said the storm would start to weaken as it moved south-west towards Australia. “There’s still a range of possibilities in terms of how fast … the system will move towards far north Queensland, but at this stage, it’s likely to cross the coast early next week – most likely later on Monday,” she said. Following a path similar to Narelle, Maila would probably hit the coast somewhere between the Lockhart river and Cairns, Cherny said. “That’s certainly one of the significant watch points over the next few days.” Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Queensland communities could start to see the impacts from the weekend onwards, including heavy rain, flood risk in already-saturated catchments, strong winds and hazardous surf, Cherny said. There was still uncertainty about the strength of the cyclone as it approached Australia, she said, as Maila “looks like it’s going to move close to, if not over, some of the southernmost islands of PNG”. The cyclone’s effects were on Wednesday being felt in Solomon Islands. Social media images show destruction of property in remote parts of the islands’ Western and Choiseul provinces. Maila is the seventh storm to reach severe tropical cyclone strength – above category three – this Australian cyclone season, which runs from November to April. According to BoM data since 1980, of the 10 tropical cyclones in the Australian region each season, only three or four typically make landfall, and only about five reach severe intensity. Maila was likely to be “the seventh tropical cyclone to make landfall on the Australian mainland this season, and the third to cross the Queensland coast”, Cherny said. Tropical Cyclone Koji was downgraded to a tropical low just prior to hitting in January, while last month’s Tropical Cyclone Narelle became the first storm system in more than 20 years to make landfall in three of Australia’s states and territories. Looking further east, Cherny said Severe Tropical Cyclone Vaianu was on Wednesday a category three system, located about 400km south-west of Nadi in Fiji. “As we often see, it will start weakening as it moves out of the tropics,” she said. The system is expected to “transition into a extra-tropical cyclone on Friday, and track south-southwest towards New Zealand during the weekend”, according to the New Zealand MetService. Most tracking models have the system crashing into New Zealand’s North Island on the weekend, with the MetService warning of “damaging, potentially life-threatening winds”. Liz Ritchie-Tyo, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Monash University, said Maila and Narelle both formed “relatively close to the equator”, where they were “put under a circulation pattern or a steering flow that steers them toward the west”, towards Australia. Global heating is expected to make cyclones less frequent – but those that form are likely to be more intense. Preliminary observations suggested cyclones seemed to be “moving a bit slower, so when they do make landfall, we feel their effects for longer – and … they weaken more slowly once they do make landfall”, Ritchie-Tyo said. “Adaptation becomes really important because it might not be about what the most intense wind speed is – it might be about how long those winds stay strong and how far inland they stay strong, where we haven’t really prepared or adapted for those kinds of conditions.” – with AAP

Iran war ceasefire announcement – what we know so far

The US and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire, barely an hour before Donald Trump’s Wednesday deadline to obliterate the country and its infrastructure. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it had conditionally accepted the two-week ceasefire if attacks against Iran were halted. Iran’s foreign minister said passage through the strait of Hormuz would be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management. Iranian state media said negotiations with the US would be held in Islamabad to finalise details of an agreement. Talks will begin on Friday 10 April and may be extended, state media reported. It also reported that talks with the US did not amount to the end of the war. Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, announced that Iran, the US and their allies had agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere, including Lebanon, but Israel disputed this, saying fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire. Sharif has been a key figure in attempting to reach a diplomatic solution between the warring parties. Trump said Iran had proposed a “workable” 10-point peace plan. According to Iranian state media, the proposal includes a number of conditions that the US has in the past rejected, among them controlled transit through the strait of Hormuz coordinated with Iranian armed forces and the withdrawal of all US forces from regional bases. The plan would also require the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions, payment of full compensation to Iran and release of all frozen Iranian assets. Even as the ceasefire was proposed, missile alerts continued in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Israel. Countries around the world have welcomed the tentative ceasefire. Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, welcomed the “very positive” developments but issued a rare rebuke of Trump’s “extraordinary” language beforehand. South Korea, Japan and New Zealand were among the other nations to welcome the news. The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, joined a chorus of world leaders welcoming the announcement of a ceasefire between Iran and the US. Starmer is travelling to the Middle East on Wednesday to meet Gulf leaders to “discuss diplomatic efforts to support and uphold the ceasefire”, No 10 said.

US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire as Tehran says it will reopen strait of Hormuz

The US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire on Tuesday evening, which included a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz, after a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan, canceling an ultimatum from Donald Trump for Iran to surrender or face widespread destruction. Trump’s announcement of the ceasefire agreement came less than two hours before the US president’s self-imposed 8pm Eastern time deadline to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges in a move that legal scholars, as well as officials from numerous countries and the pope, had warned could constitute war crimes. Just hours earlier, Trump had written on Truth Social: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” American B-52 bombers were reported to be en route to Iran before the ceasefire agreement was announced. But by Tuesday evening, Trump announced that a ceasefire agreement had been mediated through Pakistan, whose prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, had requested the two-week peace in order to “allow diplomacy to run its course”. Trump wrote in a post that “subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks”. In a separate post later, the US president called Tuesday “a big day for world peace” on a social media post, claiming that Iran had “had enough”. He said the US would be “helping with the traffic buildup” in the strait of Hormuz and that “big money will be made” as Iran begins reconstruction. For several hours afterwards, Israel’s position or agreement with the deal was unclear. But just before midnight ET, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel backed the US ceasefire with Iran but that the deal did not cover fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon. His office said Israel also supported US efforts to ensure Iran no longer posed a nuclear or missile threat. Pakistan’s prime minister had previously said that the agreed ceasefire covered “everywhere including Lebanon”. The ceasefire process was clouded in uncertainty after Iran released two different versions of the 10-point plan intended to be the basis for negotiations, and which Trump said was a “workable basis on which to negotiate”. In the version released in Farsi, Iran included the phrase “acceptance of enrichment” for its nuclear program. But for reasons that remain unclear, that phrase was missing in English versions shared by Iranian diplomats to journalists. Pakistan has invited the US and Iran to talks in Islamabad on Friday. Tehran said it would attend, but Washington has yet to publicly accept the invitation. In a telephone call with Agence France-Presse, Trump said he believed China had persuaded Iran to negotiate, and said Tehran’s enriched uranium would be “perfectly taken care of”, without providing more detail. In the two-week ceasefire, Trump said, he believed the US and Iran could negotiate over the 10-point proposal that would allow an armistice to be “finalized and consummated”. “This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!” he continued. “The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East.” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, issued a statement shortly after Trump’s announcement saying Iran had agreed to the ceasefire. “For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordinating with Iran’s Armed Forces,” he wrote. Oil prices dived, stocks surged and the dollar was knocked back on Wednesday as a two-week Middle East ceasefire sparked a relief rally, fuelled by hopes that oil and gas flows through the strait of Hormuz could resume. Despite the provisional ceasefire, attacks continued across the region in the hours after Trump’s announcement. Before the deadline, airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran, and the US hit military infrastructure on Kharg Island, a key hub for Iranian oil production. The sudden about-face will allow Trump to step back as the US war in Iran has dragged on for five weeks with little sign that Tehran is ready to surrender or release its hold on the strait, a conduit for a fifth of the global energy supply, where traffic has slowed to a trickle. Trump had earlier rejected the 10-point plan as “not good enough” but the president has set deadlines before and allowed them to pass over the five weeks of the conflict. Yet he insisted on Tuesday the ensuing hours would be “one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World” unless “something revolutionarily wonderful” happened, with “less radicalized minds” in Iran’s leadership. News of the provisional ceasefire deal was welcomed but with a note of caution elsewhere. Iraq’s foreign ministry called for “serious and sustainable dialogue” between the US and Iran “to address the root causes of the disputes”, while the German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, said the deal “must be the crucial first step towards lasting peace, for the consequences of the war continuing would be incalculable”. In Australia, the government warned that the latest developments would not necessarily mean the fuel crisis is over. Oil prices fell as traders bet that the reopening of the strait of Hormuz would help fuel supply resume, but the energy minister, Chris Bowen, told reporters Australians should “not get ahead of ourselves”. He said: “People shouldn’t take today’s progress and expect prices to fall. We welcome progress, but I don’t think we can say the [strait of Hormuz is] now open.” A spokesperson for New Zealand’s foreign minister, Winston Peters, welcomed the “encouraging news” but noted “there remains significant important work to be done to secure a lasting ceasefire”. Japan said it expected the move to result in a “final agreement” after Washington and Tehran begin talks on Friday. Describing the ceasefire as a “positive move”, the chief cabinet secretary, Minoru Kihara, said Tokyo wanted to see a de-escalation on the ground in the region, adding that the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, was seeking talks with the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian. A temporary end to hostilities will come as a relief to Japan, which depends on the Middle East for about 90% of its crude oil imports, most of which is transported through the strait of Hormuz. South Korea’s ministry of foreign affairs said it hoped “negotiations between the two sides will be successfully concluded and that peace and stability in the Middle East will be restored at an early date”, as well as wishes for “free and safe navigation of all vessels through the strait of Hormuz”.

Wednesday briefing: Has the sacking of a shop worker highlighted our unease around how crime is tackled?

Good morning. Overnight, the US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire, which included a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz. It followed a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan, but the Israeli government have said the deal does not include Lebanon. You can read our main report here and our live blog will be tracking news throughout the day. My colleague Martin Belam will have more details on what the pause in the fighting means in tomorrow’s First Edition. Today, we are covering the scourge of shoplifting in the UK. It has become a common sight across Britain: someone helping themselves to items in a supermarket without paying, knowing they are operating in a culture of near impunity. Many staff and shoppers are sick of standing by. When a Waitrose shop employee of 17 years, Walker Smith, was alerted to a shoplifter filling a bag with Lindt Gold Bunny Easter eggs, he decided to step in – contrary to his employer’s policy. There was a tussle over the bag before the shoplifter ran for the exit, sending the Easter eggs crashing to the floor. Smith paid for his decision with his job, later telling his story exclusively to the Guardian. His sacking has sparked national outcry. I spoke with reporter Sammy Gecsoyler, who broke the news, to explore why the case has become a rallying point for concerns about shoplifting. But first, the headlines. Five big stories Middle East | Donald Trump said he had agreed to a Pakistani-brokered two-week ceasefire, shortly before a deadline at which he had threatened to end the “whole civilisation” of Iran. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, issued a statement saying: “For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordinating with Iran’s armed forces.” UK news | Millions of graduates will have the interest on their student loans capped at 6% from September as a temporary measure to protect them from the risk of rising inflation driven by war in the Middle East. Entertainment | The Wireless music festival has been cancelled after the artist formerly known as Kanye West was banned from entering the UK amid a deepening political row over his previous antisemitic statements. Politics | Reform UK would stop issuing visas to people from any country that continues to demand compensation from the UK for its role in the transatlantic trade in enslaved people, the party has said. World news | Australia’s most decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, has not applied for bail and will remain in custody after being charged with war crimes. The former SAS soldier and Victoria Cross-recipient is charged with five counts of “war crime – murder” in relation to alleged offences in Afghanistan between April 2009 and October 2012. In depth: ‘It’s an issue that’s been long-running in many shops across the country’ Shoplifting is near record levels. In England and Wales there were 519,381 offences in the year to September 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics, narrowly below the record levels seen in the 12 months to March 2025, when a total of 530,643 offences were recorded. Industry figures say the true numbers are much higher, detecting 5.5m incidents last year costing retailers an estimated £400m. They warn that most crimes go unrecorded and retail staff are facing a wave of violence and abuse. Many want to see more done about the problem, says Sammy, which drove Smith’s decision to intervene. “He was seeing shoplifting repeatedly. When you see people take stuff day in day out, I got the impression from Walker that he had had enough. He wanted to do something. What he did was not that aggressive or confrontational. He took a bag back. There wasn’t a physical altercation, he didn’t tackle the shoplifter to the ground,” says Sammy. “I think he wanted to step in on an issue that’s been long-running in his shop and in many shops across the country.” After the incident, Smith said that he picked a piece of a broken Lindt bunny and “threw it out of frustration” towards some shopping trolleys, not aiming it at the shoplifter. He later apologised to his manager for the incident, but it did not save his job. *** The cost of intervention Waitrose has, so far, resisted public pressure to reinstate Smith. It has strict rules about intervening with shoplifters to protect its own staff, and a company spokesperson said that the reporting of the incident does not cover the full facts of the situation. Staff have been hospitalised when challenging shoplifters, the company added. “As a responsible employer, we never want to be in a position where we are notifying families of a tragedy because someone tried to stop a theft. Nothing we sell is worth risking lives for.” If retailers did allow staff to intervene, companies would probably open themselves up to a significant litigation risk, especially if incidents became physical. Both shoplifters and staff could, in theory, sue the companies if they were harmed or if there were questions about appropriate force. *** An increase in violence The incident has been seized upon by politicians. Nigel Farage said in a post on his X account: “We are now a country that favours criminals over law enforcers”; while the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said Waitrose had acted “disgracefully”, urging the supermarket to reinstate Smith. Even Keir Starmer’s cost of living tsar, Richard Walker, chair of Iceland, has got involved, offering Smith a job. Many in the retail industry are demanding more protection from the government, and say that assaulting a retail worker should become a specific offence. This is now part of the government’s crime and policing bill. In the days before news of the Waitrose incident broke, Marks & Spencer called on the government and London’s mayor to crack down on retail crime, warning it had become “more brazen, more organised and more aggressive.” It came after two days of social media driven disorder in Clapham, south-west London. “In the past week alone we have had gangs forcing open locked cabinets and stripping shelves, two men brazenly emptying the shelves of steak and walking out, a large group of young people ransacking a store before assaulting a security guard, a colleague headbutted trying to defuse a situation and another hospitalised after having ammonia thrown in their face,” the company’s retail director said in an open letter. *** A broken social contract A large portion of the public appear to share the industry’s frustration which has driven the reaction to the story, says Sammy. Much of the reaction has argued that Smith should be celebrated instead of dismissed. The sacking has also left Smith in a complicated personal situation. He had just moved into his own flat for the first time in 25 years and is worried about becoming homeless now he does not have a job. A fundraiser for Smith to help him with his bills surpassed £9,000 on Tuesday. “I think this story shows that there’s a lot of frustration in the public about shoplifting,” says Sammy. “There are obviously legitimate reasons why retailers might want staff to back off, such as risk of injury. But the massive reaction from the public shows it is at the forefront of people’s minds. Fairly or unfairly, it feeds into this perception that things aren’t working properly in the country.” There are big questions that remain unanswered about why there has been such a big surge in shoplifting and related violence. Some point to poverty, others to the lack of consequence for theft. But the incidents point to a growing concern in the public that something has fundamentally shifted in the social contract in Britain. The past felt simpler: stealing was wrong and would be punished when caught. Now, on an industrial scale, that is no longer happening. What else we’ve been reading All I know is that I am much better at pool after two pints, and much worse at pool after four pints. But why does alcohol make us both happy and miserable? Martin Andy Welch has an excellent investigative feature on the surge in tool theft in Britain and how it is impacting tradespeople. Patrick Matt Mills interviews various heavy metal bands to find out why so many in the genre have decided in recent years to adopt wearing masks on stage. Martin Zoe Williams is funny on her dislike for space travel amid all of the excitement around the Artemis II mission. Patrick Labour MP for Milton Keynes North, Chris Curtis, has written a piece arguing in favour of building tram networks in order to unlock economic productivity across British cities. Martin Sport Football | Kai Havertz scored in the 91st minute to give Arsenal a 1-0 victory at Sporting in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. Rugby union | Former England captain Courtney Lawes is returning to the Prem to join Sale at the end of the season, making him eligible again for international duty. Football | Bay FC forward Keira Barry has received her first senior England call-up, being added to Sarina Wiegman’s squad for World Cup qualifiers against Spain and Iceland. The front pages The Guardian print team rushed Iran developments into the late edition: “Trump pulls back from brink as he agrees two-week pause in war”. Following are the lead stories in other papers’ editions that we were able to get our hands on at time of writing. The Telegraph has “Trump: Iran’s whole civilisation will die”. The Daily Mail settles for “Night the world held its breath and prayed” finding itself in company with the Mirror: “World holds its breath”. Like the Mirror, the Metro ties together a picture of Earth from the Artemis mission rounding the moon with the Middle East crisis: “Humanity’s historic new view … of a world in deep trouble”. “UK makes plea for peace after Trump threat to wipe out ‘whole civilisation’” – that’s the i paper. The Times’ headline feels bizarre: “US: We won’t use nuclear bombs”. The Financial Times has this angle all to itself: “Hedge funds ramp up wagers against European stocks as war casts shadow”. While the Express has its mind on something else entirely: “‘UK a laughing stock’ for not stopping the boats”. Today in Focus North Korea’s ‘most beloved daughter’ Journalist Jean H Lee on Kim Ju-ae, daughter of Kim Jong-un, and the future of North Korea Cartoon of the day | Martin Rowson The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad A humble Japanese office machine from the 1980s is quietly uniting a global creative community. The risograph – which prints with soy inks and a handmade feel – has inspired designers like Gabriella Marcella, who says “the process, the immediacy … resonated” with her. Her Riso Club connects artists from cities including Kyiv and Damascus, sharing work as tactile postcards because they have “a weight, texture and intimacy that digital communication doesn’t”. In a world of endless scrolling, it is a reminder that print can still be “generous, accessible and social” – and that creativity that travels slowly can still be beautiful and surprising. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? 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Oil prices plunge and stocks jump after Trump announces conditional ceasefire with Iran

Oil prices plunged by almost 15% after Donald Trump held off on his threat to bomb Iran into the stone ages on Tuesday night, and Iran’s foreign minister said passage through the strait of Hormuz would be allowed for the next two weeks under the management of its military. With just over an hour until his deadline was due to pass, the US president said he was holding off on threatened attacks on Iran, subject to Tehran agreeing to a two-week ceasefire and reopening of the strait of Hormuz. Soon after, Iran’s national security council confirmed it had accepted a two-week ceasefire if attacks against Iran were halted. Tehran said peace negotiations with the US would begin in Islamabad on Friday. Tuesday’s news was immediately embraced by markets but the outcome of the US-Iran talks is far from certain, and how the strait will be reopened and managed beyond the two-week grace period is yet to be determined. Brent crude oil, the international standard, dropped 14.4% to $93.48, and futures for US crude oil sank 14.7% to $96.27 a barrel. The prices remain well above where it was at the start of the war. European stock markets rallied strongly when trading began on Wednesday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index gained 3.6%, on track for its biggest one-day rise in a year. Travel and leisure stocks soared, with Lufthansa’s shares jumping by 11.5%, the British Airways owner, IAG, up 9%, and the holiday group TUI gaining 11.6%. In London, the FTSE 100 index soared by 2.5%, up 255 points to 10,605 points, its highest level since the early days of the Iran war. Oil company shares tumbled, though, with BP plunging 7.5% and Shell falling by 6.8%. That followed strong gains in Asia-Pacific markets, where Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained more than 5%, Australia’s S+P/ASX 200 jumped 2.55% and South Korea’s Kospi soared by 7.5%. Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng soared 3.1%, while China’s CSI300 index gained 3.2%. “Investors will be breathing a big sigh of relief that an off-ramp out of the war is being taken even as there’ll be various elements to watch to see whether this leads to sustained de-escalation,” said Jim Reid, a markets analyst at Deutsche Bank. “Will the ceasefire hold? We saw some strikes by Israel and Iran overnight, though these may have been in the works before the conditional ceasefire. We’ve also seen conflicting commentary on whether the ceasefire will extend to Israel’s action in Lebanon. Can talks lead to a permanent cessation of hostilities?” In the bond market, Treasury yields eased on word of a potential ceasefire. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.24% from 4.30% earlier on Tuesday. Gold prices rose more than 2% to $4,812 an ounce. Cryptocurrencies also rallied, with bitcoin advancing 2.9% to $71,327, and ether climbing 5.6% to $2,234. Saul Kavonic, the head of energy research at MST Financial, said the two-week pause provided “an off-ramp for Trump’s overly bombastic ultimatum, but not yet an off-ramp for oil markets or the war”. He told Reuters it was unlikely the shut in oil and LNG production would resume until there was more confidence in a lasting ceasefire. Kavonic said: “A two-week ceasefire would enable a release of some oil and LNG tankers from the strait of Hormuz to market, providing some market pressure relief in May. This does not result in more production, just a release of storage on water.” Charu Chanana, the chief investment strategist at Saxo, said the pivotal test was whether negotiations kept progressing – and whether insurers and tanker operators regained enough confidence for traffic through Hormuz to run normally again. She said: “That will determine whether this remains just a relief rally or starts to look more like a durable de-escalation.” Prashant Newnaha, a senior strategist at the Singapore-based TD Securities, said a renewed escalation could not be ruled out, “but markets are treating this ceasefire as the real deal and all parties involved will sell the ceasefire as a major win. “Looking further out, oil prices are not returning to pre-war levels. This will leave inflation persistence as a key theme for markets to ponder,” he said. Earlier on Tuesday, US stocks swung sharply during regular trading. The S+P 500 fell as much as 1.2% but stocks rallied at the end of trading after Pakistan’s prime minister urged Trump to extend his deadline for another two weeks and asked Iran to open up the strait for the same amount of time. Oil prices have soared since the US and Israel struck Iran at the end of February, unleashing a conflict that has run for more than five weeks. Tehran has largely closed the strait, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas is transported, causing a global energy crunch. With Associated Press