Happy Thursday and welcome to your morning wrap of the latest overseas headlines.
Once again we begin in the Middle East, where there are conflicting messages about whether Iran has rejected the United States’ ceasefire plan.
The BBC and Associated Press both report that Iran has dismissed the proposal and has launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf countries, including an assault that sparked a huge fire at Kuwait International Airport.
Their reports cite Iran’s state television’s English broadcaster, which quoted an anonymous official as saying that Iran had not accepted the ceasefire proposal and has its own demands for an end to the fighting. “Iran will end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met,” the hardliner-controlled Press TV quoted the official as saying.
At the same time, Reuters reported that Iran is still reviewing the proposal, despite an initial response that was negative. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the proposal was still under review, which appeared to contradict the report by Press TV.
A senior Pakistani security official said that Islamabad had followed up with Iran’s foreign minister and was still awaiting a formal reply.
The 15-point plan, according to Pakistani officials who are functioning as intermediaries, broadly covers sanctions relief, civilian nuclear co-operation, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear programme, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, missile limits, and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the BBC reported.
According to Press TV, Iran’s five conditions include a complete halt on aggression and assassinations, payment of war damages, and international recognition and guarantees regarding Iran’s right to exercise authority over the Strait of Hormuz.
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow channel through which about 20% of global oil flows.
Meanwhile, a trio of European energy chief executives have sounded a warning over energy supplies amid the ongoing conflict, CNBC reported.
Shell chief executive Wael Sawan, at an event in Texas, said that supply concerns were now starting to spread. “South Asia was first to get that brunt. That’s moved to Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and then more so into Europe as we get into April,” he said.
The Philippines has announced an energy emergency, while South Korea says it is preparing for “worst-case scenarios”.
Slovenia became the first country in Europe to introduce fuel rationing, while Spain has approved a US$5.8b aid package, which includes tax reductions on electricity and gas, as well as subsidies for transport operators, farmers and for the purchase of fertilisers.
TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanné told CNBC the current oil products market was “dislocated” and raised concerns about Europe’s attempts to refill its gas storage over the summer months, warning that this would come at the same time as strong demand from Asia.
At the same time, the head of North Sea oil producer EnQuest, Amjad Bseisu, also warned of a “significant” impact in the medium to longer term, with two to three million barrels a day removed from the market amid lost production. That excess capacity was gone “for years”, he said.
On Wall Street, the key indices are all up between 0.8% and 1%, while the price of oil has edged back closer towards US$100 per barrel. It comes as markets reacted favourably to earlier reports that the US sent a peace plan to Iran, and Iran’s mission to the United States yesterday that said “non-hostile vessels” would be able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Strait of Hormuz oil tankers.
In other news, a Los Angeles jury found that Google and Facebook’s owner, Meta, intentionally built addictive social media platforms that harmed the mental health of a 20-year-old woman, known as Kaley, the BBC reported.
The young woman sued the two tech giants over her childhood addiction to social media.
The jurors found Meta to be 70% responsible for the plaintiff’s harm, while YouTube was 30% to blame.
The result is likely to influence hundreds of similar cases now winding their way through US courts.
In a statement, Meta said: "We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options."
To the United Kingdom, where two men have been arrested in connection with an arson attack on Jewish community ambulances.
The men, aged 45 and 47, are both UK nationals and were taken to a London police station for questioning, The Guardian reported.
Officers were called to Golders Green earlier this week after reports that two ambulances were set on fire near the synagogue.
The vehicles were run by Hatzola Northwest, a Jewish charity established in 1979, that provides free medical transport and emergency services to Jewish and non-Jewish people in north London.
Finally, the United Nations General Assembly has voted to recognise the slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity”, the BBC reported.
The resolution, which was proposed by Ghana, called for the designation while also urging UN member states to consider apologising for the slave trade and contributing to a reparations fund.
The proposal was adopted with 123 votes in favour and three against – the United States, Israel and Argentina. Fifty-two countries abstained, including the United Kingdom and European member states.
Ghana Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told the BBC before the vote that African leaders were not asking for money for themselves. "We want justice for the victims and causes to be supported, educational and endowment funds, skills training funds."
