The US and Iran have agreed a two-week ceasefire in a deal brokered by Pakistan, which will see Iran open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping while negotiations continue for a more permanent settlement.

The US president, Donald Trump, announced the agreement on his TruthSocial platform less than two hours before the deadline of 8pm EST on April 7. Hours earlier he had posted: “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

Talks are due to begin in Islamabad on April 10, where the two sides will discuss a ten-point plan presented by Iran on April 6. The plan offers to open the Strait of Hormuz in return for a permanent end to attacks by the US and Israel. Other conditions include lifting all primary and secondary sanctions, US withdrawal from the Middle East and Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz, with plans for a US$2 million fee for ships transiting the strait in future to be shared between Iran and Oman. Fees collected by Iran would be used for reconstruction.

The office of Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that it supports the ceasefire but that the deal does not include Lebanon. But both Iran and Pakistan have said that Lebanon is part of the deal. This point of contention is likely to affect negotiations from the start.

An important issue to consider as all parties to the conflict continue to react to each other’s attempts at diplomacy is the level of trust involved. On March 31, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told Al Jezeera that Iran had “zero trust” in the US. He added that: “Twice – last year and now this year – we negotiated and the result was an attack by them. And so we don’t have any faith that negotiations with the US will yield any results.”

With Mark Saunders at the University of Birmingham and Chiara Cervasio at the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), I’ve been looking into the relationship between trust and distrust in international relations. The first thing to note is the importance of distinguishing between the absence of trust and the presence of distrust. In a situation where the parties involved neither trust nor distrust each other, they remain open to the possibility that negotiations could reach a state where trust develops. Where there is distrust, by contrast, at least one of the parties is sure that the other has hostile intentions.

Araghchi’s language of “zero trust”, then, is best understood as an expression of active distrust. This reflects a clear belief on the part of Iranian decision-makers that diplomatic engagement with Washington will be exploited and not reciprocated.

From Tehran’s perspective, the US has repeatedly acted in bad faith. It carried out its Operation Midnight Hammer on Iran’s nuclear facilities while engaged in active negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme. Again, on February 28, when the US commenced Operation Epic Fury in concert with Israel, mediators had reported that negotiations were proceeding well and reliable sources suggested that a deal was in the making.

Vital role of trust

In his interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi mentioned that the US and Iran had been able to reach a deal “one time, years ago”. This was the Joint Comprehensive Programme of Action (JCPOA) negotiated with Iran in 2015 by the Obama administration with the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany as co-signatories. The agreement significantly rolled back Iran’s enrichment programme and set up a regime of inspections which – until the Trump administration pulled the US out of the agreement in 2018 – Iran was reportedly complying with.

The JCPOA agreement only became possible because of trust at the highest levels of US-Iran diplomacy. But this has clearly now hardened into active distrust on Iran’s part.

Trust requires a willingness to be vulnerable based on positive expectations about the intentions of others. So when states enter into negotiations they have to believe in the other side’s good faith and a commitment to using diplomacy to find a deal that will satisfy the interests of all sides. This requires a “presumption of trust”: a willingness to treat the other side as potentially trustworthy.

There’s an interesting historical parallel in the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The episode, which brought the world to the brink of a nuclear confrontation, occurred during a period where the US and the Soviet Union deeply distrusted each other. But both the US president, John F. Kennedy, and the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, came to recognise their shared vulnerability in the face of the destructive power of each side’s nuclear arsenal. This recognition enabled them to develop a bond that allowed a path to de-escalation. But in this instance both leaders believed that the other understood the stakes and the importance of trustworthiness in reducing tensions.

Araghchi’s recent statement suggests that Iran has no such presumption of trust in the US. By communicating that Iran believes negotiations will be exploited by Washington rather than reciprocated, Araghchi is indicating that the basic condition for diplomacy, and with it the promise of trust, no longer exists.

If Trump is serious about negotiations, he will have to convince Iranian leaders that US diplomacy is not a cover for further military action. The lesson is not that trust is necessary for diplomacy to begin but that it cannot operate when one or both sides think they are going to be betrayed.

We’ll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.

Two men and two women have died after attempting to cross the English Channel in a small boat, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais Francois-Xavier Lauch said.

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Lambiase, currently Red Bull’s head of race engineering, will become the third senior Red Bull figure to join McLaren in recent years.

Rob Marshall joined as chief designer at the start of 2024, and former Red Bull head of race strategy Will Courtenay became McLaren’s sporting director in January this year.

Red Bull have also lost chief technical officer Adrian Newey and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley since the start of 2024. They both left before former team principal Christian Horner was fired in July 2025.

Lambiase will join a McLaren race-operations support structure that already includes Courtenay and his boss, racing director Randy Singh.

The plan is for Lambiase’s new position to allow Stella more freedom to focus on the leadership aspects of his role.

Stella is already doing two jobs – alongside being team principal, he is effectively also technical director.

The team’s engineering structure sees the three technical directors Peter Prodromou, Mark Temple and Neil Houldey – who are responsible in turn for aerodynamics, performance and engineering – as well as Marshall report into Stella when it comes to car design.

Lambiase will fit in by taking strain off Stella on the racing and trackside part of the business.

Reports that the recruitment of Lambiase is a precursor to Stella leaving to join Ferrari are said by McLaren insiders to be incorrect.

Lambiase is known for his close relationship to four-time world champion Verstappen, with whom he has worked since the Dutchman joined Red Bull for the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen said at the last race in Japan that he was considering his future in F1 as a result of not enjoying driving the new cars.

Four people have died after a small boat carrying migrants attempting to cross the Channel capsized off the coast of France, French local authorities have said.

Officials in Calais said in a statement: “A taxi-boat sinking occurred today.

“The situation is still being assessed and remains subject to change.”

Traffickers have increasingly used motorised dinghies, known as ‘taxi-boats’, along the northern French and Belgian coastlines to pick up migrants over the past year.

About 2,200 migrants crossed the Channel, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, to Britain in the first two months of 2026.

Around 41,500 people made the crossing in 2025, according to the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory.

More follows…

A nine-year-old boy from Cardiff is stuck in Romania after UK border control denied him boarding at Milan airport despite being born in Wales

A nine-year-old boy from Cardiff is stuck abroad after his distraught family were told he was not able to return home to the UK after a routine family trip.

David Toropu and his mum are now stranded in Romania waiting to find out when they might be able to return home following a recent UK government rule change.

David, his mum Christina, and her husband and stepson had been on a rugby tour to Venice in the first week of the Easter holidays. After a four-night stay the family then arrived to check in at Milan airport on Thursday (April 2) for their return flight to London Gatwick.

They expected to travel smoothly through all the airport checks, as they had done on the way out, but were met with an unexpected problem – they were told David could not board a flight to the UK as the UK border control held no record of his UK residency.

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Despite being born in Cardiff and spending his entire life in Wales, David holds a Romanian passport, with his parents having relocated to the UK a year before his birth. His mum explained that both she and David’s father are Romanian nationals – his father holds settled status while his mother has pre-settled status.

Christina said: “I wasn’t aware that I needed to apply for his own status because since he was born in 2016 after seven years of continuous residency he was supposed to get automatic British citizenship.

“Because I thought that was given automatically to him he wouldn’t need to have his own settled or pre-settled status since he would have dual citizenship. However, the rules have changed since Brexit and I wasn’t aware of that.”, reports Wales Online.

With her son unable to return home, Christina had to stay in Italy with him while her stepson and husband returned to the UK to allow him to go to school and her husband to return to work. The mum and son spent two further nights in Italy before travelling to Romania, where they are staying with family until David is able to travel home.

Christina said: “The UK border said they didn’t hold any record of David ever being in the UK but he goes to school, he’s enrolled in many public things like football, his GP is in the UK, his whole life is over there. He’s only left the UK once when he was two years old for two weeks.

“Since he was denied I’ve had multiple panic attacks, I’m losing my head and I can’t stop crying. He’s used to his routines, his comfort in his house and everything that is his normal life. He heard the whole conversation of him being refused at the border and he was asking what was going to happen to him. In his mind he was thinking they were going to take me back to the UK and leave him in Italy.”

At the airport, Christina tried to rectify the situation by applying for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) but because the visa is intended for travel to the UK rather than residency and his registered address is in the UK, immigration officials insisted he was unable to return.

Christina is now worried that resolving the situation could result in David missing substantial amounts of school and her missing vital health appointments in the UK. She is also concerned about the substantial costs she has faced as a result of the mix-up, having spent around £2,000 on hotel rooms, flights and applications in less than a week.

She said: “We have made a really big dent into our savings and the rugby team my stepson plays for has created a gofundme to try and help us with the costs. In the Italian hotel we had the cheapest and smallest room and it cost £157 a night by itself.”

David’s constituency MP, Alex Davies-Jones, told Wales Online: “I’m really concerned to hear about David’s situation, and I’ve been in contact with his family to offer support. This is clearly a very distressing experience for both David and his mum.

“My office is doing everything we can to assist the family in resolving this as quickly as possible, and I will continue to support them in any way I can to help bring David home safely.”

In February, the UK government rolled out a new travel system changing the rules for many visitors and dual nationals entering the UK. The system means dual nationals are required to either show a British passport or a new digital version of the certificate of entitlement to the right of abode or they risk being denied entry.

Dual nationals used to be able to travel to the UK without such a certificate using their non-British passport. Certificates of entitlement are not automatically issued meaning some people have spent decades living in the UK and have never needed to apply for them before.

The government is therefore urging dual nationals to apply for either a British passport, which costs around £100 for an adult, or a certificate of entitlement, which carries a fee of £589.

A spokesperson from the Home Office said the necessary documentation has now been granted.

Una Crown was found dead in her bungalow after a ‘ferocious’ knife attack, but her death was not initially treated as a murder

A popular Channel 4 show is set to feature a Cambridgeshire cold case involving a ‘ferocious’ knife attack on an elderly woman. Two episodes of 24 Hours in Police Custody follow Detective Superintendent Iain Moor and his colleagues at the Major Crime Unit after they re-opened the case of the 2013 murder of Una Crown.

The body of the retired postmistress was discovered by family members and a neighbour in her bungalow in Magazine Lane, Wisbech. Una, 86, had died from stab wounds to her neck and chest.

Her clothing had been set alight by the killer to hide her injuries and destroy the evidence. The two-parter called “The Last Roll of The Dice” follows the detectives as they try to piece together more than a decade’s worth of evidence and uncover new information to catch her killer.

They show how new forensic techniques revealed male DNA under Una’s fingernails, protected under her body, and in her clenched fist when she fell to the floor. The DNA matched a man, David Newton, who was now in his 70s and still lived close to her bungalow.

Detectives had to rule out other male relatives in Newton’s paternal line by travelling over the country and piecing together the DNA breakthrough with new evidence to form a strong prosecution case. Newton was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 21 years in February last year.

Judge Justice Neil Garnham said Newton had launched “a ferocious and sustained knife attack on a defenceless old lady in her own home”. The two episodes of 24 Hours in Police Custody: “The Last Roll of The Dice” will be shown on Channel 4 on Monday and Tuesday (April 13 and 14).

Det Supt Moor said: “For more than a decade David Newton thought he had gotten away with this most horrendous crime. He was hiding in plain sight, but jurors saw through his lies and as this programme highlights, you cannot hide forever.

“Also demonstrated in the two episodes is the police commitment to continually reviewing unsolved cases and seeking new lines of enquiry. No unsolved murder case is ever closed.

“When I joined the Major Crime Unit, the first thing my wife said to me was, ‘you’ve got to solve this murder’. I’m immensely proud of bringing Newton to justice after more than a decade, and finally getting justice and closure for Una’s family. Una, by the actions she took on that night, solved her own case as she fought her attacker.”

EVERY day Jim Moir goes for a walk – and he observes the other world that most of us take for granted and barely even notice.

The otherworldly world of birds has fascinated him since childhood. Ask him why and he shrugs: “You’d probably have to speak to a psychiatrist about that.”

“They’re just weird, birds, in a good way,” adds Jim, standing in the David Hockney Gallery at Bradford’s Cartwright Hall, surrounded by birds he has immortalised in a variety of art styles. “Lots of people are drawn to birds because they’re strange, and they have superpowers. They can do things we wish we could do, like fly, and so much more.”

Jim is a prolific artist. He started painting long before he became comedy legend Vic Reeves, and he has always worked between painting and performance.

Now his artwork has gone on display in Bradford in a striking exhibition. Neo Fauna. It’s a vibrant, intriguing showcase featuring a bewildering range of styles, from brightly coloured, funky portraits to poignant pencil drawings and atmospheric watercolours. At the heart of the exhibition are British birds, including magpies, ravens and robins, captured on canvas using experimental techniques. Jim uses a variety of mediums – paints, pencil, charcoal and other materials to add layers and texture to his works.

“I’m easily bored so I’m always seeking different mediums. I use mud sometimes, bits of the landscape,” he says. Bringing nature literally into the painting? “You could say that,” he smiles.

Jim became interested in birds as a boy when his dad gave him an old pair of binoculars. He started bird-watching. “Kids don’t do it so much now.” Because of the internet? “Yes – although apparently there’s a resurgence.”

Jim paints every day; it’s a discipline, not just when the muse takes him: “I paint from 5.30am until about 12, then Nancy and I go out and walk. We look at what’s out there. For me it’s just as important as time in the studio because you’re looking at things and you’ve got to experience things, you’ve got to feel it.”

A colourful robin in Jim’s Jazz Birds collection

Jim’s daily walks are integral to his creative process. Just as the way to identify a bird when birdwatching is to see how it moves, the painting process for Jim comes from observing birds in their natural habitat and learning about their behaviour. He gets to know their character, their ‘personality’, and that leaps from his paintings – inviting us to see birds in new ways.

His passion for ornithology and art converges in Sky Arts series Painting Birds with Jim and Nancy Moir, in which Jim and his wife travel across the UK painting native birds. Jim hopes Neo Fauna will encourage people to head into Lister Park to check out the birdlife. “I don’t think you get much in Bradford that you don’t get in other cities in the North. You’d have to go a long way to find a gannet. But if you take the time to look, sometimes you’re surprised what you see,” he says.

The highlight of his exhibition is a series of large, colourful bird paintings of garden birds – long-tailed tit, tree creeper, firecrest, magpie – which he painted while listening to jazz. Materials such as masking tape are layered on the paint, adding new textures.

Often Jim will start a sketch then apply watercolour, then charcoal, then rub it out until he finds the picture he’s happy with. “I do the same with the big paintings – allowing the paint to dry, then repeating up to seven layers until I get the effect I’m looking for,” he says.

There are so many different art styles in this exhibition, it’s incredible that it all came from one artist. The anarchy and eccentricity synonymous with Jim and his comedy is evident in his bold, often surreal paintings of animals and humans.

A series of paintings of American couples, inspired by photographic portraits, are accompanied by back stories he created. ‘Rhett Bugler and Cindy Clout: Rhett is an ex male exotic dancer and suggestive contortionist. Now Governor of USP Hazleton. Cindy is a rattlesnake wrangler for movies.’ ‘Wilson Hodd 4th and Spin Windle. Wilson is chief harmonica with the Knoxville Philharmonic. Spin was Wet Hair Look Queen 1983’.

“It’s not a deliberate thing, to do lots of different styles. I just paint what I know and what I like,” he says.

Jim works with a variety of different art styles and mediums

Born in Leeds in 1959, Jim moved with his family to Darlington at the age of five. As a school-leaver with a passion for drawing, he was keen to go to art school but his dad had other ideas. ‘Who ever made any money out of a career in art?’ he asked. ‘Andy Warhol’ came young Jim’s reply. He ended up doing an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering.

Despite coming from an ‘arty family’ and visiting art galleries with his mum, Jim wasn’t encouraged to pursue art as a career and says it’s still not widely pushed as a serious subject at school: “People tend to think it’s a bit of fluff, something to do when you’ve been at work all day, not a career option. When I was 15, if I’d known that one day I’d be doing this I’d have been so excited,” he says, gesturing around the gallery. “I’d be going: ‘I can’t wait to get old!’”

Mechanical engineering wasn’t for Jim and he finally got to study art, at the Sir John Cass Art School in London. In the 1980s he was a cult comedy hero, as Vic Reeves, later becoming a household name in British comedy, with TV shows including Vic Reeves Big Night Out, Shooting Stars and The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer.

But art remains his first love, and his work has been exhibited widely, including the Saatchi Gallery and Royal Academy and a major series of bird paintings at Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight last year.

* Jim Moir: Neo Fauna runs until August 31 at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Lister Park, Bradford.

All his artworks are available to buy, with a portion of the proceeds supporting Bradford and District Museums and Galleries.

The UK’s sixth-largest supermarket chain said it was investing £600 million

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Lidl has announced plans to open more than 50 new stores over the next 12 months as part of a £600 million investment drive. The UK’s sixth-largest supermarket chain confirmed the expansion is set to generate nearly 2,000 jobs across the country.

Among the new locations due to open this summer are Abbots Langley near Watford, Warrington in Cheshire, and Thornbury in Gloucestershire. Lidl also revealed it will be hosting more than 150 property partners and agents later this month to outline its future growth ambitions, as it seeks new freehold, leasehold or long leasehold sites across Great Britain.

The discount retailer currently operates more than 1,000 stores throughout Britain, with a workforce exceeding 35,000 employees.

Ryan McDonnell, chief executive of Lidl GB, said: “As we grow, we want to positively impact our British communities. We’re not just opening doors, we’re unlocking regional growth.”

He added: “Our expansion translates directly into high-quality jobs and gives British suppliers the certainty they need to invest in the future. Above all, it advances our social purpose of making affordable, healthy food accessible to everyone.”

Employment minister Kate Dearden said: “This kind of investment is exactly what we want to see from big employers – creating thousands of good jobs that pay fair wages and boost the standard of living in communities across the country.”

This follows Lidl announcing a 10% jump in sales during a “record-breaking” Christmas period, which attracted almost 51 million shoppers through its doors in the run-up to the festive season.

A former Apprentice contestant has shared strict rules, suits budget secrets and what really happens in the infamous “losers cafe”

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The Apprentice has graced our television screens for more than 20 years.

The beloved BBC programme first aired in 2005 and the 20th series is presently broadcasting.

Estate agent Kieran McCartney was eliminated from the competition last week following the failure of his “win or walk” agreement with business magnate Lord Alan Sugar.

Having narrowly missed securing a place in the Final Five, Kieran has revealed what audiences don’t witness on screen.

Viewers may be unaware that candidates are required to provide their own clothing and there are stringent behind-the-scenes regulations and “unspoken” customs that guarantee everyone appears suitable for television, reports the Mirror.

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Producers firmly recommend candidates wear striking, solid colours as they photograph better. Audiences frequently notice female candidates in eye-catching primary-coloured bodycon dresses and men in smart suits.

The “uniform” generally comprises pencil skirts, fitted trousers and high heels for women, while men maintain sharp suits, although some venture into colourful socks.

Kieran confirmed: “You have to bring your own suits. They give you £500 towards suits but you got to bring everything else yourself.”

Weekly, the losing team make their way to the notorious Bridge Street café where the unsuccessful candidates reflect on their shortcomings over tea while the victorious team return home.

The café is an operational business situated in Acton, London and a well-known destination for enthusiasts of the programme. Reflecting on his time in the iconic “losers cafe”, Kieran revealed: “You’re in there for about an hour.

“It’s not the best coffee I’ve ever had. It’s instant coffee.”

While viewers follow the process unfold over a 12-week broadcast, the actual production schedule is considerably more compressed.

Lord Sugar’s adviser Karren Brady previously confirmed that the entire series is squeezed into five weeks, and Kieran has disclosed that candidates are given days off between filming.

He explained: “The task is two days, the Boardroom is one day and then you have a day off so it’s three days filming then one day off and then start again.

“On the days off we could go for a little wander but we were accompanied by a member of the team so you got no freedom really. We’d get haircuts or sit in a café somewhere and have a coffee but never alone.”

Kieran McCartney was speaking to BestBettingSites.co.uk – the leading comparison site for casino sites and The Apprentice is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

Dunelm’s Peacock and Gold Carousel Parasol is a bohemian dream, with a vivid blue canopy and white and gold embroidered detailing, as well as beaded fringing for added movement

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One of the greatest advantages of working remotely is being able to take your laptop into the garden when the sun’s shining. That said, dealing with intense screen glare can be challenging, making a parasol an essential addition to your outdoor setup this spring and summer.

Dunelm has just launched an impressive collection of garden umbrellas, featuring this 2.85m Peacock and Gold Carousel Parasol that’s ideal for those warm days spent in the fresh air. While numerous parasols can appear rather plain or lacklustre, this Dunelm piece certainly stands out, bringing a lively bohemian aesthetic to your garden.

Living up to its description, the £100 Peacock and Gold Carousel Parasol features a striking vivid blue canopy and features white and gold embroidered accents around its edges. Decorative beads hang around the entire circumference, providing not only a sense of luxury, but also creating sparkle and movement.

Its substantial size measures 2.85 metres in height with a 2.74-metre diameter, offering plenty of coverage whether you’re working outside or enjoying a meal in the open air. The Carousel Parasol includes a crank mechanism for easy opening and an aluminium-alloy tilt system that enables you to modify the umbrella’s position in various directions for continuous shade. The parasol can be positioned freely among your outdoor furniture, or inserted through a parasol opening in a table. It’s worth noting the base needs to be purchased separately, although Dunelm offers an extensive selection of base options to suit different garden styles and budgets.

For an all-in-one solution with base and weights included, take a look at this 1.8m Fringed Parasol from JD Williams, which comes with a weighted base and is currently on offer at £32, reduced from £49, with the code HOPPY providing an additional 25% discount. It features fringed detailing in cream, offering that same bohemian feel as the Dunelm option but with a softer more subtle colour scheme, reports OK!.

As another option, this Christow Portable Garden Parasol With Tilt can be purchased for just £39.99 at Amazon, available in six different colours to coordinate with any outdoor area. With its 2m diameter, it’s perfect for sheltering a small bistro set, and while it accepts a parasol base, it also includes a screw-in base for securing into softer surfaces such as sand.

Having said that, Dunelm shoppers are absolutely delighted with the Peacock and Gold Carousel Parasol, with one customer stating: “Stunning parasol it’s really boho style, I love it.”

Another shared: “Gorgeous parasol, lots of compliments of the colour and beading,” while a third enthused: “Great size and looks good. Easy to open and close via the handle.” However, one shopper observed: “It’s huge and top heavy so difficult to handle. Some of the beads are coming undone. That said it provides good shade and looks beautiful. I love it!”

One disappointed buyer complained: “Looked absolutely beautiful, and we had THREE days use out of it, until it collapsed on our heads, as the cord from the crank handle snapped.”