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Davis, who discovered many of the defining musicians of the 20th century and helmed major record labels, said he ‘never’ tired of the music businessThe famed US music industry executive and record producer Clive Davis has died aged 94, his family has confirmed.He had recently been hospitalised with respiratory problems and was recovering at home. Continue reading...

The US president says Iran will not obtain nuclear weapons, ‘which is what it was all about’. Plus, how AI could help botanists combat the extinction risk to rare plantsGood morning. Donald Trump has declared the strait of Hormuz will be “completely open” from Friday. “The deal’s all signed. And the strait ⁠is already partially opened,” the US president said as he arrived at the G7 summit in France.“I think a lot of great things are going to happen in the Middle East. And very importantly, the oil is plummeting down and the stock market is shooting up like a rocket today,” Trump said. “The main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. They fully agreed to that with strong policing powers, and they won’t have a nuclear weapon, which is what it was all about.”What is the reaction in Israel? Analysts have pointed out that none of Benjamin Netanyahu’s promises at the beginning of the war – regime change in Tehran and the destruction of Iran’s nuclear programme – have been fulfilled. The Israeli prime minister did not denounce the deal, but distanced himself from the negotiations and said Israel would not leave the territory it was occupying in Lebanon.What else is on the agenda at the G7 summit? The G7 will seek to shore up waning US support for Ukraine, with the UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, vowing to “choke off” Russian revenue with further sanctions and provide hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of energy support for Ukraine.What do experts say may have caused the crash? Jeff Guzzetti, an aviation safety expert, suspected a flight-control malfunction caused the crash, given how quickly the plane went down after takeoff. He noted that testing new equipment on a 70-year-old aircraft inherently heightened risks. “I think it was definitely a controllability issue,” he said. Continue reading...

• A peace deal is expected to be signed this Friday to end military operations across all fronts, including conflicts in Lebanon. • Donald Trump has announced that the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz will be re-opened as part of the resolution. • Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that both sides have agreed to an immediate and permanent termination of hostilities.

US president says strait of Hormuz will be open from Friday but questions remain over waterway fees and Israeli breaches of ceasefire in LebanonTallying the global cost of the US-Israel war against IranMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump has declared that the strait of Hormuz will be “completely open” from Friday, as western leaders gathering at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains battled to prevent the fragile US deal with Iran from almost immediately unravelling.“The deal’s all signed. And the strait ⁠is already partially opened,” Trump said as he arrived at the summit in France, but Israeli breaches of the ceasefire in Lebanon and Iran’s claims about its right to charge fees in the crucial waterway revealed the agreement’s many loose ends. Continue reading...

Inherent ambiguities could yet derail signing, with Trump so far achieving none of his stated goals of the warTallying the global cost of the US-Israel war against IranMiddle East crisis – live updatesIf we get to a Friday signing ceremony without this uncertain new US-Iran deal being derailed by any of its inherent ambiguities, then nuclear talks can finally restart in the same place – and at almost exactly the same point they were before this conflict started.The world will have irrevocably been changed in other ways. There is no going back for the 120 Iranian children in Minab killed in their primary school in the war’s first hours, nor for their bereaved parents, or any of the thousands in Iran, Lebanon and around the region whose lives were erased or blighted by a feckless war of choice. Continue reading...

Deal could see strait of Hormuz immediately ‘open to all’, but Trump says US retains the ‘ultimate alternative’ if talks failHello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.Peace talks between the US and Iran grind on with Donald Trump on Saturday saying the US is set to sign a new agreement with Iran today, and claiming the deal would prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, while reopening the strait of Hormuz to international shipping.Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said on Saturday Islamabad was preparing for an electronic signing within 24 hours to be followed by technical-level talks next week. “We are closer to a peace deal than ever before,” Sharif wrote on social media.But an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, counselled caution. “We will have to wait and see about the exact date of the signing of the memorandum of understanding, although it will not be tomorrow,” Baghaei was quoted as saying. “The possibility of this happening in the coming days cannot be ruled out.”Pro-government night-time rallies continue across Iran, and have now been held for more than 100 nights, with some people protesting an agreement with the US. A resident in the north-eastern city of Mashhad told Reuters in Dubai that some protesters chanted: “Death to the compromiser,” in an apparent reference to the foreign minister Abbas Araqchi.Meanwhile, Trump discussed the efforts to end the Iran conflict in a call with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, Downing Street said on Saturday. Continue reading...

Pakistani PM claims Islamabad preparing for electronic signing, while Trump and Tehran trade conflicting claimsIran, the US and mediators suggested on Saturday that a preliminary peace deal could be signed within days to end the three-month war in the Middle East, though they gave differing timelines and versions of its text.Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, said on Saturday that Islamabad was preparing for an electronic signing within 24 hours to be followed by technical-level talks next week. Continue reading...

US president says ‘great settlement’ reached but Iranian spokesman says there has been no final conclusionFull report: Trump claims US and Iran on verge of signing peace agreementHello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.Iran’s foreign ministry has contradicted claims from Donald Trump that a peace deal between Washington and Tehran could be signed as soon as this weekend.Trump said he was cancelling a third day of US airstrikes and bombings that he had earlier said would happen because “discussions” with Iran “have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved”. He also said on social media: “Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others.”Israel, however, said it was “not a party to” what prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office described as an emerging memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran. But the office said Netanyahu had spoken with Trump and that the final agreement at the conclusion of negotiations would include the removal of enriched material, the dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, limits on missile production, and the cessation of Iran’s support for its terrorist proxies in the region – measures that have been red lines for Iran in the past.The strait of Hormuz would open “as soon as we sign” the documents of the “great settlement” reached with Iran, Trump said. “The whole Middle East is happy.”Iranian media said the country’s forces had stopped a “violating tanker” from entering the strait of Hormuz. The report from the Fars news agency – closely linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards – came shortly after the sound of explosions were reportedly heard near the port city of Bandar Abbas.Trump had earlier posted on social media that the US would seize Iran’s Kharg Island “in the not too distant future”, but later said the seizure would be off the table “if we sign this agreement”.The price of oil rose after Trump threatened a “very hard” attack on Iran, but plunged hours later after he said he was cancelling the strikes. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 1.9% to $86.08 a barrel, on top of a 2.6% drop overnight, and Brent dropped 1.5% to $89.08 a barrel, having fallen nearly 3% overnight. Asian stocks joined a global rally, with South Korea’s Kospi surging 7.4% and Japan’s Nikkei up 2.7%.A strike wounded 10 staff members of a hospital in the Lebanese city of Tyre on Thursday, the facility’s director told the AFP news agency, as Israeli raids continued in the country’s south. All three of the historic city’s hospitals have been hit since the start of the latest war between Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah and Israel in early March.India’s government voiced a “strong protest” after three Indian seafarers were killed in US military strikes against oil tankers travelling through the strait of Hormuz. Continue reading...

The moderate Republican, an advocate of abortion rights, resigned in 1995 amid accusations of sexual harassmentFormer US senator Bob Packwood, a moderate Oregon Republican whose reputation as a champion of abortion and women’s rights was spoiled at the end of his career by allegations of sexual harassment, has died. He was 93.Packwood’s death on Saturday was announced in an obituary sent to media outlets by his family. Continue reading...

• UK scientists from the University of Oxford and biotechnology firm Basecamp Research have launched human trials for the world's first AI-designed vaccine. • The vaccine targets Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), a potentially fatal viral disease primarily transmitted to humans via tick bites. • This milestone represents a significant shift in medical research, demonstrating how artificial intelligence can accelerate the design and development of complex drugs.