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Apr 9, 2026 - World

Foreign secretary to address City leaders in London as Israel intensifies bombing and Vance says Lebanon is not part of dealMiddle East crisis – live updatesLebanon must be included in the ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran, the British foreign secretary is to say, as a two-week pause in the conflict hangs in the balance.Addressing an event at the Mansion House in London, Yvette Cooper is expected to say there “must be no return to conflict” after the ceasefire announced by the US president, Donald Trump, late on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Apr 9, 2026 - World

The high court has dismissed his bid to clear his name of findings that, on the balance of probabilities, he raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBruce Lehrmann has lost his last legal avenue to challenge his failed defamation case against Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson after Australia’s top court dismissed his case.The high court dismissed his attempt to challenge the outcome in a short judgment published to its website on Thursday. Continue reading...

Apr 9, 2026 - World

In today’s newsletter: The truce offers a reprieve after weeks of turmoil, ​b​ut unresolved disputes and competing interpretations ​of what was agreed, threaten to pull the region back toward crisis​ at a moment’s noticeGood morning. On Tuesday, just an hour before the deadline imposed by Donald Trump for Iran to reopen navigation in the strait of Hormuz or face a wave of “civilisation-ending” strikes, a two-week pause in hostilities was announced. After weeks of US and Israeli attacks on Tehran, and Iranian retaliation across the region, the news prompted relief among world leaders.But unanswered questions are piling up. Israel’s assault on Lebanon continues, with Trump describing that conflict as a separate skirmish not included in the deal, despite Iran seeming to think otherwise. Overnight the US president has used social media to warn that “the ‘shootin’ starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before” unless Tehran complies with “the real agreement”.Middle East | The fate of the two-week ceasefire in the Iran conflict looked in peril as both sides gave divergent versions of what had been agreed. Iran halted the passage of oil tankers because of an alleged Israeli ceasefire breach.Middle East | Israel carried out its largest attack on Lebanon since its war with Hezbollah began, killing at least 254 people and wounding 837.Middle East | The UK has a “job” to help reopen the strait of Hormuz, Keir Starmer said on arriving in the Middle East, as Iranian reports said the key shipping route was closed again just hours after the supposed US-Iran ceasefire.Ukraine | The US has ignored compelling evidence that Russia has been helping Iran to target US bases in the Middle East because it misguidedly “trusts” Vladimir Putin, according to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Education | Many English universities are taking excessive financial risks with borrowing and expansion of student numbers, threatening not only their own survival but that of others in the sector, the thinktank Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) has warned. Continue reading...

Apr 9, 2026 - World

Council backs £700,000 plan to save historic landmark at former RAF base in the New ForestA unique RAF watch office that has been crumbling for decades is to be turned into a smart hideaway home to be shared by holidaymakers – and the bats that already use it.The Landmark Trust, which rescues at-risk buildings, has been given permission to convert the ruined property in Hampshire into a holiday retreat with four bedrooms and a roof terrace. Continue reading...

Apr 9, 2026 - World

Peru's next president will be chosen from a pool of 35 candidates that includes a former minister, a comedian and a political dynasty heiress