Middle East crisis live: Trump insists Iran wants a deal despite initial rejection; US military says 10,000 targets struck

• The Pentagon has deployed approximately 2,000 soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, providing President Trump with additional military options while he pursues diplomatic efforts with Iran. • The troop movement occurs as the Trump administration has sent Iran a 15-point ceasefire plan through Pakistani intermediaries, according to officials briefed on the diplomacy. • The dual strategy reflects efforts to find an economic off-ramp from the Middle East conflict while maintaining military readiness, though Iran has given a negative response to the ceasefire proposal.

Watchdog issues formal guidance to trustees at top AI research institute after staff expressed concernsThe board of the UK’s leading AI research institute has been reminded of its legal duties in areas such as financial oversight and managing organisational change by the charity watchdog after a whistleblower complaint.The Charity Commission has issued formal regulatory advice and guidance to trustees at the Alan Turing Institute (ATI) – the organisation’s board – after it was contacted by a group of staff with a list of concerns. Continue reading...

Exclusive: health secretary says he does not think PM will face challenge after May elections, as public doesn’t want ‘chaos’Wes Streeting has said he does not want Keir Starmer to be challenged as Labour leader after the May elections as it would undermine the party’s election promise to voters to avoid more chaos.The health secretary, who is widely regarded as a prospective candidate in any contest, urged voters to “give the guy a chance” as he said that none of his colleagues would attempt to oust the prime minister. Continue reading...

Courts in Australia may be willing to hold social media companies accountable for real-world harm, lawyers sayFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralian law firms are investigating the scope for future legal cases after a landmark US court ruling that found Meta and YouTube liable for deliberately designing addictive products.A jury in Los Angeles ruled against the two tech giants on Wednesday, finding both to be negligent and having failed to provide adequate warnings about the potential dangers of their products. Continue reading...

Hostilities should halt and healthcare facilities must be treated as ‘safe havens’, WHO’s regional chief has saidMiddle East crisis – live updatesA total stop to hostilities in the Middle East is needed to halt a “health crisis unfolding in real time”, the World Health Organization’s chief in the region has said.Hospitals and other healthcare facilities must be treated as “safe havens”, urged Dr Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean. Continue reading...

Only 38% of parents without care plans felt teachers in mainstream schools had the tools to deal with special needsParents of children with special needs in England feel alienated from their schools if they don’t have legal protection, according to the biggest representative survey of its kind.In a finding that will cause consternation among government ministers, the survey of parents found that those of children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) but no education, health and care plan (EHCP) were the least satisfied group in the education system. Continue reading...

Professionals from across Europe urge MEPs to reject plans, saying ‘climate of fear’ could stop people seeking careMore than 1,100 healthcare professionals from across Europe have urged MEPs to reject proposed measures aimed at increasing the deportation of undocumented people, warning they could threaten public health by transforming essential public services, including hospitals, into sites of immigration enforcement.The draft plans, which are due to go to a vote on Thursday, have been in the works since last March, when the European Commission laid out its proposal to target people with no legal right to stay in the EU, including potentially sending them to offshore centres in non-EU countries. Continue reading...

Reluctance to cheerlead alleged US ceasefire efforts reflects suspicion talk of peace could be another foil for escalationMiddle East crisis – live updatesNot long after Donald Trump said the US was engaged in “strong talks” to bring the war with Iran to an end this week, Qatar took the unusual step of distancing itself from the alleged diplomatic negotiations.Qatar was not involved in any mediation efforts, said Majed al-Ansari at a briefing on Tuesday night, before adding as a telling aside: “If they exist.” Continue reading...

Ukrainian president says peace deal proposed by US included ceding land to Russia. What we know on day 1,492The US is making its offer of security guarantees for a peace deal in Ukraine conditional on Kyiv ceding all of the country’s eastern region of Donbas to Russia, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Reuters in an interview. With the US focused on its own conflict with Iran, Donald Trump is applying pressure to Ukraine in an effort to bring a quick end to the four-year war triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion, Zelenskyy said. “The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump, and I think on his next steps. President Trump, unfortunately, still chooses a strategy of putting more pressure on the Ukrainian side,” he told Reuters. “I would very much like the American side to understand that the eastern part of our country is part of our security guarantees,” he said.Russia sought to blackmail the US by offering to stop sharing military intelligence with Iran if, in return, Washington would cut off Ukraine from its intelligence data, Zelenskyy said on Wednesday. Zelenskyy, who said on Monday that Ukraine’s military intelligence had “irrefutable” evidence that Russia was continuing to provide intelligence to Iran, told Reuters he had seen the data but provided no further details. “I have reports from our intelligence services showing that Russia is doing this and saying: ‘I will not pass on intelligence to Iran if America stops passing intelligence to Ukraine.’ Isn’t that blackmail? Absolutely,” Zelenskyy said.Russian attacks killed two people in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv and the region around it and a strike on the Danube port of Izamil damaged port facilities and energy infrastructure, officials said. Prosecutors in Kharkiv region, in a statement on Telegram early on Thursday, said a woman injured in an attack on the city of Kharkiv had died of her injuries in hospital. They said nine people were injured in strikes on two districts of the city, a frequent target of Russian forces, 30km (18 miles) from the border. Prosecutors also said a Russian drone had killed a man in his car in a district closer to the border.Ukrainian drone strikes killed two people on Wednesday in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, the regional governor said. Vyacheslav Gladkov, writing on Telegram, said drones had killed an 18-year-old man aboard a motorcycle in a village near the border and a woman in her car in the town of Graivoron, also near the border. Belgorod has been a frequent target of Ukrainian forces during the four-year war pitting Kyiv against Moscow. Ukrainian shelling of a public building in the city of Belgorod killed four people last week.Zimbabwe said on Wednesday that 15 of its citizens had been killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine, the latest African country to report recruits dying on the frontlines. The information minister, Zhemu Soda, told a press conference that the 15 had been deceived into enlisting, referring to it as human trafficking. He said one recruitment method used by traffickers targeting Zimbabweans was social media. An official at Russia’s embassy in Harare declined to comment.The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said on Wednesday he had given the military permission to board and detain Russian ships his government alleges are part of a network of vessels that enables Moscow to export oil despite western sanctions. Other European nations have stepped up efforts to disrupt Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of tankers used by Moscow to fund its four-year war against Ukraine. Starmer said he approved more aggressive action against the vessels because the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was likely “rubbing his hands” at the sharp rise in oil prices driven by the US-Israel war against Iran.The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally, was greeted by North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, as he arrived on his first visit to the reclusive nation, the Korean Central news agency reported on Thursday. A ceremony welcoming Lukashenko took place on Kim Il Sung Square on 25 March, with Kim “gladly” meeting and “warmly” welcoming the Belarus leader, the report said. Lukashenko visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun – where the embalmed bodies of Kim’s father and grandfather lie in state – to pay his respects, flanked by top North Korean officials, the report said. Lukashenko laid a bouquet on behalf of Putin, it added. Continue reading...

Sewell pleaded not guilty to five charges over alleged group assault on Camp Sovereignty last yearFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastNeo-Nazi figure Thomas Sewell has been committed to stand trial after allegedly leading an attack on an Indigenous protest site in Melbourne last year.Sewell, 33, appeared into Melbourne magistrates court via video link on Thursday morning after being charged over the Camp Sovereignty incident. Continue reading...

Staff urge managing director to retract comments after he describes industrial action as ‘playing games’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastABC staff and union representatives have urged the managing director, Hugh Marks, to retract “utterly offensive” comments after he said staff had treated taking industrial action as “a bit of a game”.Marks made the comments just hours before the end of the 24-hour strike that saw more than 2,000 staff members walk off the job on Wednesday. Continue reading...