US-Iran peace talks could resume in next two days, Trump says | First Thing

Good morning.

Donald Trump has said that US-Iranian peace talks could resume in Islamabad over the next two days.

The US president was speaking on Tuesday to a New York Post reporter who had gone to Islamabad for the first round of ceasefire talks over the weekend. She said Trump called her back, saying: “You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there.” He also said Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was doing a “great job” in arranging the talks.

Islamabad is racing to arrange negotiations before the two-week ceasefire expires on 22 April. A Pakistani official said on Tuesday that he expected talks to restart soon, but that it may take a day or two longer than Trump suggested.

Men collecting scrap near scores of burned cars at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Photograph: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

• Have Israel and Lebanon had talks yet? Yes. The two held negotiations about their conflict in Washington – their first direct talks in over three decades. The US state department praised the two sides for having “productive discussions” but Hezbollah has said it will not abide by any agreements made by Israeli and Lebanese government negotiators in Washington.
• For the latest updates, follow our liveblog.

House Democrats call for commission led by JD Vance to oust Trump

Jamie Raskin said the vice-president could make the determination in conjunction with a body authorized by Congress. Composite: Getty Images

House Democrats on Tuesday proposed creating a commission, led by JD Vance, to assess whether Donald Trump is fit for office and remove the president under the 25th amendment if it finds he is not.

The measure, introduced by Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, follows a series of statements from Trump, including his recent warning that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” if it did not capitulate to his demands, and a social media post that depicted him as Jesus Christ. Trump has also recently attacked Pope Leo, calling him “weak” and “terrible”.

• What are its chances of success? Pretty low, given the Republican-controlled chamber: Republicans have not yet expressed serious concerns about Trump’s fitness for office. Fifty other Democratic House lawmakers have co-sponsored the bill to create the commission.
• How has Vance responded to Trump’s feud with the pope? The vice-president, who is a Catholic convert, took Trump’s side, saying the pontiff should “stick to matters of morality” after Pope Leo criticized the White House over the Iran war. Vance also said of the pope: “If you’re going to opine on matters of theology, you’ve got to be careful.”

DoJ files for overturning January 6 convictions for members of far-right groups

Supporters of Trump riot at the US Capitol Building in Washington on 6 January 2021. Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters

The Department of Justice has requested that a federal appeals judge vacate convictions for members of two far-right groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, who were found guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the violent January 6 Capitol attack.

Jeanine Pirro, the Donald Trump-appointed US attorney for the District of Columbia, signed separate motions on Tuesday to vacate convictions for a number of leading individuals connected to the groups. It is the Trump administration’s latest move to absolve the January 6 rioters, who stormed the Capitol in 2021 in an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Joe Biden’s election victory.

• How has Trump previously assisted the rioters? Heissued sweeping pardons and commutations to about 1,600 people with charges related to the Capitol mob attack on the first day of his second term. Tuesday’s filing would wipe the convictions from their records.

In other news …

Kim Jong-un (centre) inspects a test launch of hypersonic missiles in Pyongyang in January. Photograph: 朝鮮通信社/AP

• North Korea has made “very serious” progress in its ability to produce more nuclear weapons, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has warned.
• An 86-year-old French woman who moved to the US to marry her 1950s sweetheart has been detained by ICE in Louisiana, with her family fearing for her survival.
• Another woman has accused Eric Swalwell of sexual assault, claiming the California Democrat drugged and raped her in 2018. Swalwell resigned from Congress on Tuesday.
• Federal officials have arrested a California man who was shot by ICE agents and charged him with “assault” against a federal officer.

Stat of the day: Cuba could beat US energy blockade with $8bn investment in renewables, says thinktank

Solar panels on the roof of a house in Regla, Havana province. Photograph: Ramón Espinosa/AP

Cuba could be free from the US’s energy blockade with just an $8bn investment in renewable energy, according to a report, which argues the rest of the world should pay for it. This is the amount needed to build enough renewable energy to cover 93.4% of Cuba’s electricity generation needs.

Well Actually: Always in crisis mode? You might be catastrophizing – here’s how to stop

If you go down this mental pathway habitually, it can leave you feeling like you are always in crisis mode. Illustration: Alvaro Dominguez / Guardian Design / Getty Images

Your boss asks you for a meeting later in the week; you have never received negative feedback, but you automatically assume you’re about to get fired, will soon be unemployed and unable to pay your rent. Or, perhaps, when your partner is a little late coming home, you visualize a terrible accident on the motorway. If these patterns sound familiar, here’s what the experts say you need to know about catastrophizing.

Don’t miss this: My month in the tradwife world

‘I was reminded how relaxing I find it to make bread.’ Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

In recent months, there have been a spate of novels about tradwives – and the accounts of influencers embodying this lifestyle continue to grow in popularity. Lucy Knight spent a month consuming tradwife content and flexing her baking skills. “While I’ve had fun slowing down, by spending time making something like jam, cough drops or, more controversially, sunscreen, tradwife influencers are signalling that they have time to do things most people are too busy to even consider – and free time, or at least the illusion of it, is a highly enviable resource.”

Climate check: Record-breaking wildfires devastate US cattle country

An aerial view of the Morrill fire terrain on 14 March. Photograph: InciWeb/United States Forest Service

The grasslands that stretch across the Great Plains should be starting to green. Instead, more than a million acres in Nebraska lie black and barren, with records for the annual acreage burned obliterated in a single month. While grasslands are more primed to burn in the spring, rising temperatures and extreme drought are leading to more intense fires in the center of the US.

Last Thing: Paris art enthusiast wins €1m Picasso painting in €100 charity raffle

Péri Cochin, a founder of the charity raffle, talks via video call with the winner of the Picasso painting at Christie’s in Paris. Photograph: Tom Nicholson/Reuters

A Parisian art enthusiast was dumbfounded to learn he had won a Pablo Picasso painting worth more than €1m with a €100 raffle ticket, asking: “How do I check that it’s not a hoax?” He said he bought his ticket after hearing about the charity raffle by chance during a meal in a restaurant.

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