First Thing: Ceasefire in peril as Israel assaults Lebanon and Iran blocks oil tankers

Iran and mediator Pakistan say ceasefire includes Lebanon but Israel and US disagree. Plus, how Korean fried chicken took over the world

Good morning.

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, Israel intensified its bombing campaign in Lebanon and Iran halted the passage of oil tankers because of an alleged Israeli ceasefire breach.

What has Iran said? In a sharply worded statement, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Israel and the US had violated several clauses of the provisional ceasefire, and he decried Israel’s aggressive bombing of Lebanon and a US demand that Iran should have no right to enrich its own uranium.

This is a developing story. Follow our liveblog here.

What was said in the video about Mamdani? The videos feature the organization’s founder, Yisrael Yaacob Ben Avraham, describing Mamdani as a “Muslim terrorist” and a “cancer”, and his election as a “harbinger” of “a creeping Islamic takeover of America”.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/09/first-thing-middle-east-ceasefire-israel-lebanon-iran-oil

What to Know About Israel’s Strikes on Lebanon #wanitaxigo

Man charged with US firebomb plot is linked to group whose leaders back violence against Palestinians

Revealed: JDL 613 Brotherhood has platformed a convicted terrorist and its video recordings display an obsessive antipathy to New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani

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A man who has been charged with plotting to firebomb a pro-Palestine activist’s home is tied to a group whose leaders support violence against Palestinians and have platformed a convicted terrorist who fundraises for a violent settler movement in the occupied West Bank.

Video recordings by the group, called JDL 613 Brotherhood, also reveal its leaders possess an obsessive antipathy to New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani. They feature the organization’s founder, Yisrael Yaacob Ben Avraham, describing Mamdani as a “Muslim terrorist”, a “cancer”, and his election a “harbinger” of “a creeping Islamic takeover of America”.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/09/jdl-613-jewish-extremist-organization

What we know about the two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran

The provisional truce comes more than a month after the US and Israel launched coordinated attacks on Iran.

White House Secures Foreign Steel for Ballroom Project #wanitaxigo

Victims and bereaved families to get more time to challenge ‘unduly lenient’ sentences

David Lammy says those affected by a heinous crime cannot be expected to engage with the justice system within the existing 28-day limit

Victims and bereaved families will be given six months to challenge “unduly lenient” sentences handed to criminals, under changes announced by David Lammy.

Relatives of murder victims campaigned for the government to scrap the 28-day time limit to submit a formal request after an offender is sentenced.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/apr/08/victims-and-bereaved-families-to-get-more-time-to-challenge-unduly-lenient-sentences

Russia and China Veto Proposed U.N. Resolution to Open the Strait of Hormuz #wanitaxigo