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Israel delays vote to approve Gaza ceasefire deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed a cabinet vote to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, due on Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute changes to the agreement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a “loose end” was being tied up and that he was confident the ceasefire would still begin on Sunday as planned.
Although Israeli negotiators agreed to the deal after months of talks, it cannot be implemented until it is approved by the security cabinet and government.
Hamas said it was committed to the deal, but the BBC understands it was trying to add some of its members to the list of Palestinian prisoners that would be released under the deal.
The delay came after Israeli strikes in Gaza following Wednesday’s announcement of a deal killed more than 80 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
A few hours before the Thursday morning meeting was due, Netanyahu accused Hamas of trying to “extort last minute concessions”.
The cabinet would not convene until Hamas accepted “all elements of the agreement,” a statement from his office read.
Blinken said such a delay was to be expected in such a “challenging” situation. “It’s not exactly surprising that in a process and negotiation that has been this challenging and this fraught, you may get a loose end,” he told a press conference in Washington. “We’re tying up that loose end as we speak.”
He said the US was “confident” the deal would come into force on Sunday as planned, and that the ceasefire would then persist.
Israeli media reported that the cabinet was expected to meet on Friday to approve the deal and that the alleged issue had been resolved, although this was not officially confirmed.
A majority of Israeli ministers are expected to back the deal, but late on Thursday Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said his right-wing party would quit Netanyahu’s government if it was approved.
“The deal that is taking shape is a reckless deal,” Ben-Gvir told a news conference, adding it would “erase the achievements of the war”.
However, he said his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party would not seek to topple the government should the deal be ratified.
He urged the leader of the other far-right party in government, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionist party, to join him in resigning.
Ohad Tal, the party’s chair in Israel’s parliament, told BBC that it was “debating” whether to leave Netanyahu’s government over the deal.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official told the BBC that the group was committed to the agreement announced by the mediators.
The head of Hamas’s delegation, Khalil al-Hayya, officially informed Qatar and Egypt of its approval of all the terms of the agreement, the official told the BBC.
But BBC Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf understands that Hamas was attempting to add the names of one or two symbolic members to the list of prisoners that would be released under the deal.
The first six-week phase of the deal would see 33 hostages – including women, children and elderly people – exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Israeli troops would also withdraw to the east, away from densely populated areas of Gaza.
Displaced Palestinians would be able to start returning to their homes and hundreds of aid lorries would be allowed entry to the territory each day.
Negotiations for the second phase – which should see the remaining hostages released, a full Israeli troop withdrawal and a return to “sustainable calm” – would start on the 16th day.
The third and final stage would involve the return of any remaining hostages’ bodies and the reconstruction of Gaza – something which could take years.
Israeli air strikes continued after the deal was announced on Wednesday. At least 12 people were killed in Gaza City, where a doctor told the BBC staff “did not rest for one minute” during the “bloody night”.
Strikes were carried out on 50 targets in Gaza since the deal’s announcement, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Security Agency said in a statement.
The prime minister of Qatar – which mediated negotiations – called for “calm” on both sides before the start of the first six-week phase of the ceasefire deal.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and others – in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 46,788 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has also been displaced, there is widespread destruction and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter, while aid agencies struggle to get help to those in need.
Israel says 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, 34 of whom are presumed dead. There are four Israelis who were abducted before the war, two of whom are dead.
[BBC]
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Sun directly overhead Hatthikuchchi, Kalankuttiya, Halmillewa, Ipalogama, Palugaswewa and Habarana at about 12:11 noon. today [10]
On the apparent northward relative motion of the sun, it is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka during 05th to 14th of April in this year.
The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (10th) are Hatthikuchchi, Kalankuttiya, Halmillewa, Ipalogama, Palugaswewa and Habarana at about 12:11 noon.
B Sai Sudarshan and Prasidh Krishna once again stood up for Gujarat Titans (GT) as they beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 58 runs in Ahmedabad. This was GT’s fourth successive win in IPL 2025 and it took them to the top of the points table.
After RR opted to bowl on a red-soil pitch, Sai Sudharsan’s 82 off 53 balls, his third half-century of the season, steered GT to 217 for 6. With no dew in the second innings, it proved way too steep for RR to chase down. Mohammed Siraj and Arshad Khan struck in the powerplay before Prasidh picked up 3 for 24 in the middle overs to keep RR on the back foot. Despite Shimron Hetmyer’s fighting fifty, RR were all out for 159 in 19.2 overs.
Joffra Archer didn’t have a great start to IPL 2025. In his first two games, he conceded 109 from 6.3 wicketless overs. But he boucned back in his next two with a combined 4 for 38 from seven overs. He breathed fire tonight as well. In his first over, he rushed Sai Sudharsan with a 152.3kph bouncer. In his second, he got one to move in at 147.7kph and pegged back Shubman Gill’s off stump. His match-up against Gill in T20 cricket now reads: 15 balls, ten runs, three dismissals.
For his former captain Jos Buttler, Archer had two slips, a short leg and a catching square leg, and welcomed him with a menacing bouncer that Buttler did well to evade. Buttler inside-edged the next ball just wide of short leg, and then pushed Archer through the covers for four.
Sai Sudharsan generally takes time to get going. Here, he attacked right from the start. He ramped, scooped, drove and cut, and took his side to 50 in 5.1 overs. By the end of the powerplay, he had 39 against his name, off 22 balls. Only Wriddhiman Saha (54 vs Lucknow Super Giants in 2023) has scored more runs in an innings for GT in that phase.
Buttler was on 12 off 13 at one point but hit four fours in his next six balls to move to 31 off 19. He and Sai Sudharsan added 80 off 46 balls before Maheesh Theekshana trapped Buttler lbw. After a brief dip in the scoring rate, M Shahrukh Khan opened up and smashed 36 off 20 to re-inject momentum.
Sudharsan was dropped on 81 by Shubham Dubey off Archer in the 18th over, but he only added one more to his tally. Then Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan ransacked 30 in the last two overs to take GT past 200.
RR did not have a great start. Yashasvi Jaiswal slashed Arshad to deep third in the second over of the chase and Nitish Rana did the same against Siraj in the next. Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag counterattacked and added 48 off 26 balls for the third wicket. The stand was broken when Impact Sub Kulwant Khejroliya had Parag caught behind in the seventh over. Parag immediately reviewed the decision, confident that his bat had only hit the ground, but the third umpire thought otherwise, with Ultra Edge also bringing up a second spike when the ball passed the bat.
Coming into this game, Rashid had picked up just one wicket in four outings. Tonight, he struck in his first over. It was a shortish ball that didn’t bounce as much as Dhruv Jurel expected, and Sai Sudharsan at deep midwicket gobbled up the mistimed pull.
Rashid enjoys a favourable match-up against Hetmyer, having dismissed him six times in 63 balls for 79 runs before this game. He almost had Hetmyer lbw for a first-ball duck but the ball had pitched fractionally outside leg stump. From there on, Hetmyer dominated Rashid and hit him for 26 runs off 12 balls with the help of two fours and two sixes. However, Rashid was too good for RR’s Impact Sub Shubham Dubey and had him lbw for 1.
In his final over, the 16th over of the innings, Prasidh had Archer caught at mid-off and Hetmyer at deep-backward square leg, both off short balls. With RR 145 for 8 after 16 overs, the result was sealed. They dragged their innings into the final over but that did little to reduce the margin of their defeat.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 217 for 6 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 82, Jos Buttler 36, M Shahrukh Khan 36, Rahul Tewatia 24*, Rashid Khan 12; Joffra Archer 1-30, Tushar Deshpande 2-53, Sandeep Sharma 1-41, Maheesh Theekshana 2-54) beat Rajasthan Royals 159 (Shimron Hetmyer 52, Sanju Samson 41, Riyan Parag 26; Mohammed Siraj 1-30, Arshad Khan 1-19, Prasidh Krishna 3-24, Kulwant Khejroliya 1-29, Sai Kishore 2-20, Rashid Khan 2-37) by 58 runs
[Cricinfo]
President Donald Trump has announced a 90-day pause for countries hit by higher US tariffs, but a trade war with China escalated.
In a dramatic change of policy, just hours after levies against roughly 60 of America’s trading partners kicked in, Trump said he was authorising a universal “lowered reciprocal tariff of 10%” as negotiations continue.
At the same time he increased tariffs on goods from China to 125%, accusing Beijing of a “lack of respect” after it had retaliated by saying it would impose tariffs of 84% on US imports.
This comes a week after Trump announced import taxes on all goods entering the US, in the biggest upheaval of international trade in decades.
His plan set a baseline tariff of 10% on all imports – which remains in place – but also higher rates on partners the White House described as the “worst offenders” for what the president considers to be unfair trade practices.
This included the European Union, Vietnam, South Africa and many more – all of which were due to be on the receiving end of US tariffs ranging from 11% to more than 100%.
Major market turmoil followed Trump’s announcement last week, with sell-offs sparking trillions in losses across the world, many Americans fearing price rises, and some analysts predicting increased odds of recession.
On Wednesday, before Trump said he would suspend the higher tariffs on goods from countries other than China, the US government saw interest rates on its debt spike to 4.5% – the highest level since February.
Hours later, when the change was announced, US shares rocketed with the S&P 500 soaring 7% in afternoon trading. It later closed the day’s trading up 9.5%, while the Dow Jones surged by 7.8%.
Announcing the latest iteration of his plan on Truth Social, Trump said he was authorising a 90-day pause on tariffs for the countries that had not retaliated against his levies.
The additional tariff on Beijing, he said, would be effective immediately. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” he wrote.
(BBC)
Sun directly overhead Hatthikuchchi, Kalankuttiya, Halmillewa, Ipalogama, Palugaswewa and Habarana at about 12:11 noon. today [10]
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