France returns sacred talking drum looted from Côte d’Ivoire over 100 years ago

• Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt have initiated mediation between the US and Iran to end the ongoing war, relaying messages since its start. • An Islamabad-brokered ceasefire plan was presented to both sides on Monday, proposing a 15-20 day settlement with immediate ceasefire and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz ahead of a US Tuesday deadline threatening escalated strikes. • Earlier on March 25, a 15-point US proposal via Pakistan demanded dismantling Iran's nuclear facilities, missile limits, and a 30-day ceasefire, countered by Iran's five conditions including compensation and maritime control rights.

Ukrainian president says Russia unlikely to accept – ‘for them, nothing is sacred’; Australian police arrest army reservist for joining war. What we know on day 1,504Ukraine’s president has renewed his offer to Russia of a mutual ceasefire on strikes against energy infrastructure. “If Russia is ready to stop strikes on our energy infrastructure, we will respond in kind,” he said. “This proposal has been conveyed to the Russian side through the Americans.” Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered last week to observe a ceasefire for Easter, which Orthodox adherents mark on Sunday (13 April) in Russia and Ukraine.In his remarks on Monday, after an overnight attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa killed three people and injured at least 16, Zelenskyy said Russia appeared unwilling to agree to the ceasefire. “We have repeatedly proposed to Russia a ceasefire at least for Easter,” he said. “But for them, all times are the same. Nothing is sacred.”Ukrainian drones attacked the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s oil shipping terminal in southern Russia early on Monday, damaging a mooring point and setting four oil tanks on fire, the Russian defence ministry claimed. The Ukrainian army said it had attacked a different terminal in the port of Novorossiysk – without mentioning the CPC, which did not immediately comment. The CPC pipeline handles about 1% of the world’s oil supplies, as well as about 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports.A reservist in the Australian army has been charged after allegedly working as a drone operator for Ukraine. The 25-year-old man from Felixstow, in the South Australian city of Adelaide, was charged by the Australian Federal Police with working for a foreign military without authorisation, the AAP news agency reported. It is the first time someone has been charged with the offence, with the man facing up to two decades in jail if found guilty. Australian laws limit the work defence personnel can perform with a foreign military, government or company without authorisation. The man allegedly travelled to Ukraine in May 2025 and returned to Australia in January 2026.A Russian ship carrying wheat believed to have sunk in the Sea of Azov after a drone attack has been found and towed to shore, Russia’s state news agency Tass said on Monday. The death toll has risen to three, it added. Crew abandoned the ship last Friday and made it to shore on Monday, according to Russian reports.Russia jailed on Monday a former governor of the Kursk border region, where Ukraine’s army broke through in 2024, for 14 years over alleged kickbacks for government contracts related to the construction of fortifications. Since August 2024, the Kremlin has gone after top regional and military officials for failing to stop the incursion – a massive embarrassment for Vladimir Putin. Alexei Smirnov, the former Kursk governor, was “sentenced to 14 years in prison and a fine of 400 million rubles [£3.8m/US$5m]”, a court statement said. Another former Kursk governor, Roman Starovoyt, who led the region until just before the Ukrainian breakthrough, died last year by alleged suicide – a fate that regularly befalls officials who run foul of the Russian president. Continue reading...

Dennis, whose car fatally struck Hoskins in 2023, wrote on Instagram ‘I have ALWAYS been against any sort of abuse against women’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Olympic cyclist Rohan Dennis has lashed out at journalists on social media, saying they created a “false narrative” about him after his wife’s 2023 death.“The narrative which the media ran with was clear,” the Olympic cyclist wrote on Instagram late on Monday night. “They wanted me to look like the husband who abused his wife.” Continue reading...

NSW follows Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia in offering free treatments for kids four and under, saving up to $70Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastHundreds of thousands of children will be able to access a painless, needle-free flu vaccination for free as governments attempt to curb falling vaccine rates.New South Wales has become the latest state to offer a nasal spray flu vaccine to children for free, following Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Continue reading...

President’s press conference after White House Easter egg roll did little to dispel fears he has lost touch with realityDonald Trump began his day standing with a person in a giant bunny costume and boasting about the Iran war to an audience of children.The annual Easter egg roll on the White House South Lawn conjured a fitting Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland image for a US president who has disappeared down what many would call a rabbit hole. Continue reading...

Republican Tony Gonzales ended re-election bid in March after admitting to having affair with a different aideSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA second former female staffer for Tony Gonzales, a Republican congressman from Texas, has come forward claiming Gonzales sent her sexually explicit messages.The San Antonio Express-News first reported the text messages on Monday and NBC News later confirmed the report. Continue reading...

At least 432 ebike fires and 147 e-scooter fires recorded in 2025, up 38% and 20% respectively on previous yearEbike and e-scooter fires in the UK reached a record high last year, an investigation has found, renewing concerns over the use of lithium batteries and unregulated marketplaces.Fire brigade figures obtained by the Press Association show there were at least 432 ebike fires recorded across the UK in 2025, up 38% from 313 the previous year and more than five times higher than the 84 recorded in 2021. Continue reading...

Conservationists say move could push species closer to extinction and clearer environmental rules are needed insteadFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastConservationists and scientists have warned a mining lobby proposal to use artificial intelligence to speed up national environmental approvals could generate “Robodebt-style” failures, putting threatened species at further risk.The Minerals Council of Australia has asked the government to spend $13m to trial the use of AI to help companies prepare applications and help the federal government make decisions. Continue reading...

Home Office will use mapping technology and crime data to identify up to 250 schools in areas of greatest riskSchools across England are to receive dedicated support to prevent knife crime incidents in a hyper-targeted Home Office programme that uses mapping technology to identify areas of risk down to the level of specific groups of streets.Under the £1.2m scheme – part of a series of initiatives launched under a government pledge to halve knife crime within a decade – a maximum of 250 schools will receive help. Continue reading...

US president criticises Australia, Japan and South Korea; chance of Cyclone Maila hitting Queensland at the weekend is rising, BoM says. Follow today’s news liveTropical Cyclone Maila could hit the coast of far north Queensland this weekend three weeks after the same area was smashed by Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle, the Bureau of Meteorology said last night.It was tracking halfway between Solomon Islands and Papua New Gunea at 10.45pm last night, according to the latest update from the bureau.Maila is expected to remain well away from the Queensland coast during the next few days, but confidence is increasing in Maila moving towards the far north Queensland coast later in the week, potentially crossing the coast on the weekend. Continue reading...

Two fatalities have been reported so far, with warmer spring resulting in the reptiles being out on trails earlierA sixth person has been bitten by a rattlesnake in southern California’s Ventura county in just under a month, two-thirds of the number of people bit in all of 2025.Andrew Dowd, a Ventura county fire department spokesperson, said paramedics responded to a call on Sunday for a man who had been bitten by a rattlesnake. The victim said he’d been bitten near CSU Channel Islands. Continue reading...

Eaglets emerged from eggs on Easter weekend at San Bernardino national forest watched by thousands onlineOver Easter weekend, thousands of people tuned in to celebrate something spectacular unfolding 145 feet up a pine tree in southern California’s San Bernardino national forest – the hatchings of two bald eagle chicks.Two eaglets were born to Jackie and Shadow, the southern California pair that have become avian celebrities thanks to the webcam that has livestreamed their activities since 2018. Continue reading...