April 8, 2026 - Daily News Digest

On this day: in 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START Treaty..

QOTD: ""The deep and brutal shift in the balance of international geopolitics forces us to go harder and faster," Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin wrote in ⁠a summary of the bill issued on Wednesday. "France has acknowledged the global shift toward enduring and multidimensional conflict."

US/IRAN/ISRAEL/MIL - US and Iran agree to truce; huge strikes on Lebanon as Israel escalates
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trump-agrees-two-week-ceasefire-iran-says-safe-passage-through-hormuz-possible-2026-04-08/

The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan, suspending a six-week-old war that has killed thousands, spread across the Middle East and caused unprecedented disruption to the ​world's energy supplies.

There was relief on many of the region's streets and in world financial markets after President Donald Trump announced the agreement late on Tuesday, two hours before a deadline he had set ‌for Iran to open the blockaded Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its "whole civilisation".

But even as Israel paused its attacks on Iran, it escalated its parallel war in Lebanon, launching what it described as its biggest strikes yet, which Lebanon's health minister said had caused hundreds of casualties.

Though the United States and Iran both declared victory, their main disputes remained unresolved, each sticking to competing demands for a potential peace deal that could shape the Middle East for generations.

A senior Iranian official involved in the discussions told Reuters Tehran could open the Strait of Hormuz on ​Thursday or Friday ahead of planned peace talks in Pakistan, if a framework for the ceasefire is agreed.

MORE: US Discussing Iran Sanctions Relief, Threatens Tariffs
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-08/us-discussing-iran-sanctions-relief-to-remove-nuclear-material?srnd=phx-politics

The US is discussing sanctions relief for Iran, President Donald Trump wrote Wednesday, acknowledging a key ceasefire demand from Tehran one day after he threatened to destroy the country.

“We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran,” Trump said in a series of social media posts.

Iran has been under crippling economic sanctions since Trump backed out of a deal limiting its nuclear program in 2018. Waiving those restrictions has been a top priority for the regime.

Trump also threatened tariffs on countries providing Tehran with weapons, although he lacks the power to impose such levies immediately following a Supreme Court’s decision that said his use of an emergency law to put in another tariff regime violated the US Constitution.

“A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately. There will be no exclusions or exemptions!,” he posted.

After weeks of bombing Trump had said was focused on preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, the president also said the US would work together with Tehran to remove nuclear material. It’s unclear if the Iranian government has agreed to such terms.

CHINA/US/IRAN/MIL - China Pressed Iran Toward Cease-fire, Iranian Officials Say
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/08/world/asia/china-iran-cease-fire.html

For years, China has been one of Iran’s most important lifelines. China has bought almost all of its oil exports, shielded it diplomatically and helped it weather international isolation. Now, according to three Iranian officials, Beijing has used that influence for a different purpose: to press Iran to accept the cease-fire with the United States.

Iran’s decision to accept the two-week cease-fire proposal brokered by Pakistan came after diplomatic efforts by Pakistan and a last-minute push by China, according to the Iranian officials. China asked Iran to show flexibility and defuse tensions, they said.

The intervention reflects not only Beijing’s influence over Tehran but also its own stake in preventing a protracted war that could disrupt energy supplies or set off a global recession, as well as hurt Persian Gulf countries, with which China also has close relations. The deal also calls for the immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Chinese officials have not publicly described Beijing’s involvement in the lead-up to the deal announced by President Trump on Tuesday night. Asked on Wednesday if China had helped persuade Iran to agree to the deal, a foreign ministry spokeswoman in Beijing, Mao Ning, neither confirmed nor denied its involvement, saying only generally that “We have always been advocating for peace talks and the cease-fire.”

FRANCE/MIL/ECON - France plans 36 billion euro boost to rearmament, nuclear deterrent expansion
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/france-plans-36-billion-euro-boost-rearmament-nuclear-deterrent-expansion-2026-04-08/

France plans to add a further 36 billion euros ($39 billion) to its defence spending between now and 2030 under an updated military planning law that expands its nuclear arsenal and boosts missile and drone stocks.

The ​increase, proposed despite one of the euro zone's biggest budget deficits, reflects mounting security pressures from ‌wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and growing uncertainty over U.S. commitments to NATO under President Donald Trump.

The revised 2024–2030 law would lift defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade from about 2% now, with the annual budget reaching 76.3 ​billion euros in 2030, almost double its 2017 level.

GREECE/TECH/POL - Greece to Ban Social Media for Under 15s
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/greece-to-ban-social-media-for-under-15s-c73b1a0b?mod=world_feat5_europe_pos1

Greece plans to ban social media for children under the age of 15 from next year, joining a growing list of countries that are weighing or enforcing restrictions to shield younger users from what they see as potentially harmful content.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the plan in a TikTok video on Wednesday, saying the decision was difficult but necessary as children spent long hours glued to their screens and faced growing pressure to compare themselves to others.

“Greece will be ​among the ⁠first countries to take such an initiative, but I am sure that it won’t be the last,” Mitsotakis said. “Our goal ​is to ⁠push the European Union in this direction.”

The move—part of a broad crackdown to restrict social media access for younger users—comes months after Australia became the first country in the world to enact a ban on social media for under 16s, triggering a lawsuit from Reddit.

Meta Platforms-owned Facebook and Instagram as well as Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube were included in the Australian ban, which garnered mixed reactions from parents, teenagers and influencers.

Since then, several governments around the world have considered banning or have introduced legislation to ban social media for certain age groups of minors. Earlier this year, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Madrid planned to regulate social media access for children under the age of 16 by rolling out age-verification checks.

PERU/POL - Peru election: Who are the leading presidential contenders?
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/peru-election-who-are-leading-presidential-contenders-2026-04-08/

Peruvians will go to the polls on April 12 to elect a new president and members of Congress, following years of political upheaval, impeachments and corruption scandals that have seen eight presidents since 2018.

A record number of candidates will compete in the first round. If no candidate clears the 50% threshold needed to win outright, the two most-voted candidates would advance to a second round, scheduled for June 7. Opinion ​polls indicate a runoff is likely, with at least five of the 35 presidential hopefuls in with a chance of claiming one of the two spots.

ISRAEL/IRAN/MIL/POL - Israelis Criticize Netanyahu for Truce Seen Empowering Iran
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-08/israelis-criticize-netanyahu-for-truce-seen-empowering-iran?srnd=phx-politics

Israelis appear worried that the Iran ceasefire won’t end the threat posed by Tehran, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his support and said the truce won’t affect Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, where the military is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Public discourse and official comment were muted because it was a religious holiday on Wednesday, but what emerged was alarm — even betrayal — across the political spectrum in a country where the war commands wide public support. The fact that the negotiations between the US and Iran are expected to be based on Iranian demands has raised intense concern in Israel, as has concern that President Donald Trump might be eager to end the war.

There has never been such a political disaster in our history,” Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, who vigorously backed the war, wrote on X.

Yair Golan, of the left-leaning Democrats, wrote, “The nuclear program was not destroyed. The ballistic threat remains. The regime remains intact and is even emerging from this war stronger.”