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"First Thing:  Vance to lead US delegation in Pakistan if Iran agrees to talk."

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Support independent journalism Support us   First Thing: Vance to lead US delegation in Pakistan if Iran agrees to talks

Clea Skopeliti   Good morning. JD Vance is expected to fly to Islamabad to lead the US delegation on Tuesday if Iran agrees to further talks, as the deadline for the current ceasefire looms. The US vice-president will travel with Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said there remained a “deep historical mistrust” of the US and that Tehran was concerned about “unconstructive and contradictory signals from American officials”, saying: “Iranians do not submit to force.” The parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Iran would not accept negotiations with the US while under threat, adding in the post on X early on Tuesday: “We have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield.” The head of the UN’s humanitarian agency, Tom Fletcher, said on Monday that the normalization of violent language, such as Trump’s threat to bomb Iran back to the stone age, was very dangerous since it encouraged every “wannabe autocrat”. He also said that the $2bn a day that the president was spending on the Iran war could have funded saving more than 87 million lives amid the humanitarian aid funding crisis. What effect is the war having on developing countries? With food and fuel inflation reaching close to 20%, Fletcher warned: “We will feel the impact for years in sub-Saharan Africa and east Africa pushing way more people into poverty.”

Israeli soldiers using sexual assault to force Palestinians out of West Bank, report says  Israeli soldiers standing guard in an alleyway in Hebron, West Bank. Photograph: Mohammad Nazal/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images Israeli soldiers and settlers are using gendered violence and sexual assault and harassment to force Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank, human rights and legal experts have said. Palestinian women, men and children have reported attacks, forced nudity, invasive and painful body cavity searches, Israelis exposing their genitals, including to minors, and threats of sexual violence. Researchers have recorded accounts of escalating sexualized attacks and humiliation of Palestinians in their communities and homes since 2023. What are the impacts on displacement? Sexualized attacks are hastening the displacement of Palestinians, according to the report, with more than two-thirds of households surveyed identifying rising violence against women and children as a tipping point in their decision to leave. Researchers also found it was causing girls to quit school, women to stop working, and had contributed to a rise in early marriage.

Trump labor secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigns amid misconduct investigation  Labor secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer has resigned amidst allegations of widespread misconduct. Photograph: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images Donald Trump’s labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, is resigning, the administration announced on Monday, after a string of misconduct allegations, including of drinking on the job and having an affair with a subordinate. Chavez-DeRemer and her close aides are being investigated by the department’s inspector general over allegations of professional misconduct. These include, but are not limited to, claims that Chavez-DeRemer had an affair with a member of her security detail, kept a “stash” of alcohol in her office and used government resources for personal travel, while her aides allegedly sought to channel grants towards politically connected figures, the New York Times reported in March. How many cabinet members have stepped down during Trump’s second term? Chavez-DeRemer is the third, after the homeland security secretary Kristi Noem and the attorney general Pam Bondi.

In other news …  MPs have criticised Alex Karp over his recent pronouncements which embrace AI state surveillance and reinstating the military draft in the US. Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images The US spy tech company Palantir has published a manifesto extolling the benefits of American power and implying some cultures are inferior to others, provoking shock and condemnation. A five-year-old Minnesota boy reportedly rescued his younger brother by jumping into frigid water on Easter Sunday, and has since been fighting for his life in hospital. Big tech platforms are aggressively lobbying to expand gig work in the healthcare sector, according to a new report that warns the growing use of AI tech comes at the expense of workers’ rights and pay.

Stat of the day: Almost half of EU’s busiest flight routes are ‘hard or impossible’ to book on trains  A Frecciarossa train in Milan. The study found popular flight paths such as Barcelona-Milan could not be booked from any rail operator’s website. Photograph: Piero Cruciatti/AFP/Getty Images If you want to swap out a two-hour flight for train travel, how easily could you do it? In vast swathes of the US, you’re likely to run into trouble – but it’s not great in Europe either. An analysis by a thinktank found that booking equivalent train tickets was “difficult or impossible” on almost half of the EU’s busiest international air routes.

Culture pick: How the female gaze caught the attention of film, TV and fiction  Object of desire: Luke Thompson as Benedict, Yerin Ha as Sophie in Bridgerton. Photograph: Liam Daniel/Netflix From TV and movies to the rise of romantasy books, the female gaze is everywhere right now, argues Deborah Linton. Heated Rivalry and Wuthering Heights are both examples of this repositioning, that build on shows such as Girls, Killing Eve and I May Destroy You. “The portrayal of internalised female perspectives – and, crucially, desires – has gone from guilty pleasure to middle of the zeitgeist,” she writes.

Don’t miss this: AI job scams are booming – and I was fooled by one. Here is how to avoid them  Is the offer too good to be true? Illustration: Ave Felix When the headhunter contacted Victoria Turk, the offer seemed perfectly tailored to her experience. Perhaps, too perfect: hybrid working in her city and with a high salary. She felt something was wrong, but couldn’t figure out what the scam was, until they advised her to pay for a CV specialist. Turk peels back the curtain on AI-assisted job scams – where even if no money is exchanged, fraudsters can still mine victims’ data.

Climate check: Democrats urged to link clean energy to affordability as Iran war hikes up prices  As the Iran war roils economies by raising the cost of oil and gas, countries are aiming to accelerate their shift to cleaner energy – except in the US. Composite: Getty Images, Reuters As the Iran war triggers price shocks in oil and gas, Democrats should loudly champion clean energy’s affordability and the stability it offers, according to some of the party’s leading voices on the climate. Meanwhile, as rising energy costs hit ordinary Americans, Donald Trump is doubling down on his support of increased domestic fossil fuel production for purported “defense readiness”.

Last Thing: ‘Bedtime stacking’ – like bed rotting, but productive!  Working her way through a pile … Photograph: Posed by model; golubovy/Getty Images Another day, another TikTok self-improvement trend with an annoying name. “Bedtime stacking” is apparently a way to unwind while also getting through an interminable to-do list. You go to bed extremely early (like 8.30pm) with, for example, a laptop, an iPad, an e-reader, moisturiser, some kind of snack, the TV remote, a planner and a gratitude journal. Dire times.

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