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Middle East crisis live: Lebanon and Israel agree 10-day ceasefire to begin within hours, Trump says

Donald Trump says he has invited the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to the White House for the countries’ first high-level talks since 1983. Writing on Truth Social, he said: In addition to the statement just issued, I will be inviting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to the White House for the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983, a very long time ago. Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly!

Millionaires fund last-ditch attempt to save humpback whale stranded in Germany

A last-ditch effort to rescue a wayward whale that has transfixed Germans for weeks has begun in the Baltic Sea despite criticism it has little chance of success and could further harm the 12-tonne creature. The male humpback whale was first spotted last month near Timmendorfer Strand on the northern coast of Germany, giving rise to its nickname Timmy. It has repeatedly become stranded and then freed itself after human assistance but it is now stranded again, with rescuers saying it is fighting a losing battle for its life. But just as regional officials appeared ready to admit defeat and allow the stricken mammal to die, two multimillionaires came forward with funds to mount an 11th-hour rescue mission for which they won state approval. One of the sponsors, Walter Gunz, the founder of a major electronics retailer chain, said that without the mobilisation, the whale would perish. “At least if you try something you have a chance of saving it,” he told the German news agency dpa. Local media outlets have been running live streams about Timmy, who is 10 metres long, as emotions ran high. On Thursday they provided minute-by-minute coverage of what was being called Operation Cushion. The long-shot scheme started when six helpers waded in hip-deep water to reach the animal. The silt beneath the whale’s flippers is to be flushed clear and the plan is then to slide air cushions under the animal to gently lift it on to a tarpaulin tethered to a pontoon on either side. Should the team pull off this delicate task, Timmy would then be towed by tugboat out into the North Sea and possibly as far as the Atlantic Ocean in a final attempt to release it into more hospitable waters. The mammal swam into the Baltic last month, possibly while chasing shoals of herring, which has far too little salt to sustain it. It reportedly also has wounds on its back and a skin infection. The environmental pressure group Greenpeace, which had been involved in previous rescue attempts, criticised the current operation for the “sick and severely weakened” animal. It cited reports from the German Oceanographic Museum and the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research which suggested that the whale’s chances of survival were vanishingly low, while the mission involved a high risk of injury. “We are now focusing our efforts on promoting the protection of the oceans, including as a habitat for whales,” a Greenpeace spokesperson said. Critics said a closely fought race for an election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the state where the animal is stranded, in September appeared to be driving some of the official posturing. The regional environment ministry said the scheme to save the whale, which is being co-financed by the equestrian event organiser Karin Walter-Mommert, bore full responsibility for the operation’s success or failure. State-sponsored rescue efforts had already been suspended on 1 April. But the whale’s fight to cling to life inspired the public and mobilised a popular movement on its behalf. On Wednesday, Till Backhaus, the environment minister for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, announced a U-turn in support of the “unique” rescue mission, saying he was “quite happy” about having a last chance at success. “It’s not active, and it’s certainly not agile, but it still showing there’s life in it,” Backhaus said of the animal. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s president, who was on a previously planned visit to the Baltic coast city of Stralsund on Thursday, organised a meeting with veterinary experts to discuss the animal’s plight.

Wall Street seems to have decided the recession risk is over. Can the Australian market do the same?

One day the IMF warns of a global recession, the next day stocks on Wall Street hit a record high. From looking at the complete U-turn in fortunes in America, you wouldn’t know the world was in the grips of an unprecedented energy shock. The local sharemarket has also been on the rise in recent weeks, if not as enthusiastically as its counterpart across the Pacific. At their worst, Aussie stocks, as measured by the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, were down 9% from where they were before the bombs began falling on Iran at the end of February. That low point, however, was on 23 March. Over recent weeks, despite all the doom and gloom, they have been tracking pretty steadily higher and have now recouped about 70% of their losses. In other words: we are not back to where we were, but we are well on our way. At their worst, American stocks were about 8% down from immediately before the Iran war shut the strait of Hormuz. The International Energy Agency has called the choking off of a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply as the “greatest global energy security threat in history”. Yet on Wednesday night, Wall Street finished recouping all its earlier losses to reach its previous peak. The contrast is jarring, but may not be as crazy as it sounds. Shane Oliver, the chief economist at AMP, said two or three weeks ago investors were “starting to factor in the risk of a recession”. “Since then we’ve seen a ceasefire, which has been shaky, but the market has taken the view that Trump is looking for an off-ramp and that it’s just a matter of time until the strait of Hormuz is reopened.” Which means despite the IMF’s grim warnings, investors have “already decided that the risk of recession is receding”. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Oliver can see the sense in that reasoning, but thinks the market, especially in the US, “may have run ahead of itself”. “When I saw Wall Street was at a record high, I was surprised.” He said the Australian sharemarket generally tends to “fly around a bit less” than America’s, which could explain our more modest recovery. At the same time “we have reason to be a bit more concerned” about the Middle East war. “We rely more on fuel imports, and that leaves us vulnerable. “We are a net exporter of energy, which boosts our national income and buoys the budget. But [higher fuel prices are] a bigger hit to households and businesses, and partly that could be weighing on our market.” Stephen Miller, the markets strategist at fund manager GSFM, said there were two possible explanations for the complete turnaround on Wall Street. The first is that markets are “incredibly complacent”, and investors are underestimating the impact of the global oil shock on inflation and the potential hit to growth. “The macro [economic] environment is pretty challenging. And even if there is an accommodation of sorts between Iranians and the US, oil prices will stay higher,” Miller said. “It’s not like we are going back to where we were in February. Oil prices might not be as bad as they have been, but they won’t be good.” The other explanation, he said, is that there is a lot happening “under the surface”, particularly in the US, that is unrelated to the broader economic outlook. These are the mega trends that investors are happy – desperate even – to chase in an increasingly “winner takes all” world: the artificial intelligence boom; the explosion in defence spending; the opportunities in energy. And as Wall Street climbs what analysts refer to as the “wall of worry”, Miller said “we get dragged along”. “The ASX is basically a bunch of miners and banks. We are a net energy exporter, and that shields us a bit.” All that said, it’s far from clear that the worst is behind us. Oliver said investors are putting their trust in the “Taco” trade – that is, that “Trump always chickens out”. That was fine when the US president was piling on tariffs and then whipping them away again when the damage to the American stock market or economy looked like it might be too great. This time around and Iran may not be prepared to play ball, especially if it believes it can keep the strait closed for longer than Trump can hold out before giving up ground. “There may not be the ingredients for a Taco this time around,” Oliver said. Miller is similarly unconvinced that investors are properly pricing in the risk of lingering damage to the world economy. “My own opinion is that those ‘macro chickens’ may yet come home to roost.” Patrick Commins is Guardian Australia’s economics editor

Russia ‘does not deserve’ lifting of sanctions, Zelenskyy says, after deadly overnight strikes in Ukraine – as it happened

… and that’s all for today. Russia has carried out its deadliest attack against Ukraine this year, killing at least 17 people, and injuring more than 100, in a wave of drone and missile strikes across the country (10:06, 10:53, 11:08, 11:46, 16:34). Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautioned against any relaxation of sanctions on Russia saying it “does not deserve” any such move given its continuing attacks on Ukraine. The European Commission agreed with his comments, saying that “giving any relief in terms of sanctions … vis a vis Russia is not helpful in maintaining the pressure” on Moscow to end its aggression against Ukraine. In other news, The European Commission has confirmed that it will hold first early talks with the incoming Hungarian government of Péter Magyar on Friday as it hopes for a constructive relationship after years of clashes with Viktor Orbán (14:16). The news comes as it emerged that Orbán will skip his final EU summit as he readies to hand over power after losing power in last Sunday’s parliamentary election (13:30). If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

South African politician Julius Malema given five-year jail term for gun offence

The South African leftwing politician Julius Malema has been sentenced to five years in prison for firing a rifle in the air at a political rally in 2018. Lawyers for the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, South Africa’s fourth largest political party, immediately appealed, and Malema will remain free while the appeal proceedings are under way. Malema was convicted last year on five charges, including unlawful possession of a firearm and discharging a weapon in a public place, after an incident at the EFF’s fifth anniversary celebrations in KuGompo City, then known as East London. The magistrate, Twanet Olivier, said: “It wasn’t … an impulsive act … It wasn’t anger. It was the event of the evening.” Malema’s lawyers had argued the shots were intended just to be celebratory and that no one was harmed. Olivier said in her sentencing remarks: “We should also keep in mind the magnitude of the offence that the accused is being convicted of. We have heard daily or weekly of children playing in their front yards or the street, who are caught in crossfire. Random shots fired, killing people. It’s just the first time we hear it’s being called celebratory shots.” She said: “Unfortunately, the accountability on a public office bearer is a lot more, it weighs heavy, than that of a regular South African person.” Any prison sentence longer than 12 months would bar Malema from being a member of parliament, although that would not go into effect until all appeals had been exhausted. Olivier granted Malema, who had pleaded not guilty, leave to appeal against his sentence, but not his conviction. His lawyers said they would petition a higher court for leave to appeal against the conviction as well. Malema, the former leader of the African National Congress’s youth league, was defiant in a speech afterwards to dozens of red-shirted EFF supporters who had watched proceedings outside the magistrates court in KuGompo City. He attacked the magistrate personally, accusing her of being racist and not reading written arguments submitted by both sides. “We were tried by a magistrate who doesn’t read, who uses emotions, who speaks politics,” he said. Later, Malema said: “We are fighting the enemy and the enemy is white supremacy.” State prosecutors had argued for a 15-year jail sentence. “The accused is a political leader with a huge following … young people emulate this kind of behaviour,” the prosecutor Joel Cesar said during the sentencing arguments on Wednesday. “He’s a member of parliament, a lawmaker, but he breaks the law.” The case was brought by AfriForum, a conservative lobby group that claims to represent the interests of the Afrikaner minority. AfriForum had also criticised Malema for chanting “Kill The Boer” at rallies and brought a separate case accusing him of hate speech. “Boer” is another name for Afrikaners and means “farmer” in Afrikaans. The constitutional court ruled in 2025 that the chant, which originated as an anti-apartheid song, was not hate speech and not meant to be taken literally. Last year, the US president, Donald Trump, spliced together clips of Malema saying “we are going to occupy land” and “we must never be scared to kill”, before singing Kill The Boer, in a video he played to South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, in a controversial Oval Office meeting. Malema, 45, the son of a domestic worker, founded the EFF in 2013 after he was expelled from the ruling ANC for “sowing division”. The EFF is known for its disruptive parliamentary protests and describes itself as anti-imperialist and inspired by Marxism, which Malema espouses in fiery speeches. Its policies include land expropriation and nationalisation. While the EFF has attracted the support of some young people disenchanted by the high unemployment and inequality that has persisted since the end of white minority apartheid rule in 1994, its popularity has waned. In national elections in 2024 it secured 9.5% of the vote, down from 10.8% in 2019. Reuters contributed to this report

More than 100 writers quit French publisher in protest against rightwing owner Vincent Bolloré

More than 100 writers have quit the historic French publishing house Grasset in protest at its conservative billionaire owner, Vincent Bolloré, whose media empire has been accused of promoting reactionary and far-right ideas. In an unprecedented walkout, dozens of writers including the acclaimed punk feminist novelist Virginie Despentes and the philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, signed an open letter against Bolloré, 74, who is close to far-right figures. “We refuse to be hostages in an ideological war that seeks to impose authoritarianism everywhere in culture and the media,” they wrote. “We don’t want our ideas, our work, to be his property.” Writers who signed the letter included Vanessa Springora – whose award-winning bestseller Consent, recounting how she was groomed by a French novelist as a teenager, became a major film – as well as the novelist Laurent Binet. The writers said they would also take legal action to recover rights to their earlier work. Grasset has been home to some of the biggest names in French literature. The protest was sparked by the departure of the Grasset editor Olivier Nora, who had run the imprint for 26 years and was seen by writers as the last rampart against reactionary ideas. Nora’s departure was understood to have been forced. Although no explanation was given publicly, it had been widely linked to the acquisition of the next book from the conservative French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal. The journalist and writer David Dufresne tore up his Grasset contract on a TV chatshow, saying: “Bolloré is trading in commerce and ideology, not literature or essays.” The mass walkout comes months after independent booksellers across France warned of the growing influence of Bolloré, whose vast cultural empire includes television, radio and the Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche, which is now seen as a platform for the far right. In 2023, Bolloré’s organisation took over the biggest book publishing and distribution conglomerate in France, Hachette Livre. Bolloré is best known in France for his group’s ownership of CNews, which last year was the most-watched news channel on TV. Figures on the left have attacked CNews for giving a platform to reactionary voices they say have aided the rise of the far right. The Paris prosecutor’s office this month opened a legal investigation into racist comments on the channel against the mayor of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko. The channel denied racism. Bolloré, a Breton industrialist, was once described by the former education minister Pap Ndiaye as “very close to the most radical far right”. In a senate hearing in 2022, Bolloré denied political or ideological interventionism, saying his interest in acquiring media was purely financial and his cultural empire was about promoting French soft power. He said his group was so vast, it contained all views. But since Bolloré’s vast expansion into publishing, writers and independent booksellers have said it is dangerous for democracy for one conglomerate to have such a huge influence on cultural output. Hachette Livre, which was part of the Lagardère group bought by Bolloré’s Vivendi in 2023, is the biggest publisher and book distributor in France. It owns scores of publishing houses, producing the bestselling Asterix comic books, literary fiction, thrillers, political titles, Manga comics and school textbooks. The group also owns the Relay bookstores at French train stations. Hachette has more than 200 publishing imprints worldwide. It is the second biggest publishing conglomerate in the UK, where it owns Hodder & Stoughton, and is the third biggest in the US. Fayard, another historic publishing house now part of the Bolloré empire, has become home to a roster of far-right authors, from the potential presidential candidate Jordan Bardella to the anti-immigration businessman Philippe de Villiers. The writer Colombe Schneck, who was key in organising the open letter, said writers of very different backgrounds on the right and left had joined the protest. She told Agence France-Presse: “We can’t let all the publishing houses of the Hachette group become far-right.” Hachette has not commented.