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Apr 8, 2026 - World

Donald Trump claims to have reached a successful but still evolving ceasefire agreement with Iran, but National Review editor Jim Geraghty has a different assessment: the president has been completely outmaneuvered and is poised to capitulate on nearly every significant demand.According to Geraghty's scathing analysis, Trump and Iran are describing fundamentally different agreements. The Iranian proposal includes concessions that represent a catastrophic setback for American national security interests.The Iranian demands include: "Iran's continued control of the Strait of Hormuz," "Iran's uranium enrichment right should be accepted," and "Payment of compensation for damages inflicted on Iran."Trump celebrated the deal, writing: "We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated."Geraghty was not impressed. "The first things that jumps out about President Trump and the Iranian government's statements is that the two sides seem to have a dramatically different sense of what they just agreed upon."His verdict on Iran's demands was withering: "Your mileage may vary, but my answers to this list of demands would be 'depends upon how you define 'non-aggression'; no; no; heck no; hell no; [bad word] no; [even worse word] no; no [bad word]-ing way; absolutely no [bad word]-ing way; and you can stick this where the sun doesn't shine.'""These are nine-and-a-half unreasonable and unrealistic demands, and a U.S. concession to just about any of them would represent a dreadful setback to American national security interests. This is an ayatollah's wish list," Geraghty wrote.The ceasefire is already unraveling, he noted with reporting that Bahrain claimed Iranian drones damaged homes after the announcement. The United Arab Emirates military said air defenses are "actively engaging" incoming Iranian missiles and drones. Israel declared its agreement to cease attacks on Iran doesn't include stopping strikes on targets in Lebanon. So far, this is a ceasefire in name only — a violent catastrophe dressed up as diplomacy, he suggested.

Apr 8, 2026 - World

US vice-president says on visit to Budapest ‘we had to show’ support for Viktor Orbán, as opposition leads polls Hungary elections: what is at stake and who is likely to win?JD Vance has pushed back against claims that the US is interfering in Hungarian politics, describing the accusations as “darkly ironic”, as a set of polls suggested the opposition Tisza party could win a supermajority in the forthcoming elections.After spending his first day in Budapest excoriating the EU and accusing it of being behind one of the “worst examples” of foreign interference, the US vice-president spent part of Wednesday morning speaking at a thinktank and educational institution linked to Hungary’s leader, Viktor Orbán. Continue reading...

Apr 8, 2026 - World

AI company says purpose of its Claude Mythos model is to bolster defenses against hacking in common applicationsAnthropic on Tuesday said its yet-to-be-released artificial intelligence model called Claude Mythos has proven keenly adept at exposing software weaknesses.Mythos has laid bare thousands of vulnerabilities in commonly used applications for which no patch or fix exists, prompting the San Francisco-based AI startup to form an alliance with cybersecurity specialists to bolster defenses against hacking and withhold wide distribution. Continue reading...

Apr 8, 2026 - World

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had closed the Strait of Hormuz after U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to a ceasefire that required the waterway to remain open.Iran had threatened to close the strait again on Wednesday morning due to Israeli strikes in Lebanon. For his part, Trump insisted that Lebanon had never been part of the ceasefire deal."Chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet says that despite Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announcing a ceasefire on all fronts, attacks in Lebanon have continued - and in some ways intensified," BBC reported.Within hours, the IRGC said that traffic through the strait had been stopped. The Associated Press also confirmed the report."Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated news agency Fars has reported that while two oil tankers were able to pass through the strait with permission from Iran this morning, the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz has been stopped," according to the BBC report. "The Islamic Republic News Agency is also reporting ships have been halted, with both outlets referencing Israel's continued strikes on Lebanon."Ship-broker SSY confirmed that vessels in the Gulf had been notified of the situation."Attention all vessels," an IRGC announcement said. "Attention all vessels. Attention all vessels in Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. This is the IRGC Navy Station. Transiting the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and you need permission from the IRGC before sailing through the strait. Any vessel trying to travel into the sea will be targeted and destroyed."

Apr 8, 2026 - World

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called the U.S.-Iran conflict on Wednesday "a war of choice" and questioned whether President Trump had achieved anything meaningful, even after the two sides agreed to a two-week ceasefire.