{"id":208490,"date":"2026-04-22T01:48:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/first-thing-vance-to-lead-us-delegation-in-pakistan-if-iran-agrees-to-talks-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T01:48:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:48:29","slug":"first-thing-vance-to-lead-us-delegation-in-pakistan-if-iran-agrees-to-talks-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/first-thing-vance-to-lead-us-delegation-in-pakistan-if-iran-agrees-to-talks-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"First Thing: Vance to lead US delegation in Pakistan if Iran agrees to talks – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vice-president would travel with Witkoff and Kushner as ceasefire deadline looms. Plus, how to avoid an AI job scam
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Good morning.
JD Vance is expected to fly to Islamabad to lead the US delegation<\/a> on Tuesday if Iran agrees to further talks, as the deadline for the current ceasefire looms.
The US vice-president will travel with Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump\u2019s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president\u2019s son-in-law. Iran\u2019s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said there remained a \u201cdeep historical mistrust\u201d of the US and that Tehran was concerned about \u201cunconstructive and contradictory signals from American officials\u201d, saying: \u201cIranians do not submit to force.\u201d
The parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Iran would not accept negotiations with the US while under threat, adding in the post on X early on Tuesday: \u201cWe have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield.\u201d
The head of the UN\u2019s humanitarian agency, Tom Fletcher, said on Monday that the normalization of violent language, such as Trump\u2019s threat to bomb Iran back to the stone age<\/a>, was very dangerous since it encouraged every \u201cwannabe autocrat\u201d. He also said that the $2bn a day that the president was spending on the Iran war could have funded saving more than 87 million lives amid the humanitarian aid funding crisis.
What effect is the war having on developing countries?<\/strong> With food and fuel inflation reaching close to 20%, Fletcher warned: \u201cWe will feel the impact for years in sub-Saharan Africa and east Africa pushing way more people into poverty.\u201d
Israeli soldiers and settlers are using gendered violence<\/a> and sexual assault and harassment to force Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank, human rights and legal experts have said.
Palestinian women, men and children have reported attacks, forced nudity, invasive and painful body cavity searches, Israelis exposing their genitals, including to minors, and threats of sexual violence. Researchers have recorded accounts of escalating sexualized attacks and humiliation of Palestinians in their communities and homes since 2023.
What are the impacts on displacement? <\/strong>Sexualized attacks are hastening the displacement of Palestinians, according to the report, with more than two-thirds of households surveyed identifying rising violence against women and children as a tipping point in their decision to leave. Researchers also found it was causing girls to quit school, women to stop working, and had contributed to a rise in early marriage.
Donald Trump\u2019s labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, is resigning<\/a>, the administration announced on Monday, after a string of misconduct allegations, including of drinking on the job and having an affair with a subordinate.
Chavez-DeRemer and her close aides are being investigated by the department\u2019s inspector general over allegations of professional misconduct. These include, but are not limited to, claims that Chavez-DeRemer had an affair with a member of her security detail, kept a \u201cstash\u201d of alcohol in her office and used government resources for personal travel, while her aides allegedly sought to channel grants towards politically connected figures, the New York Times reported in March.
How many cabinet members have stepped down during Trump\u2019s second term?<\/strong> Chavez-DeRemer is the third, after the homeland security secretary Kristi Noem and the attorney general Pam Bondi.
The US spy tech company Palantir has published a manifesto extolling the benefits of American power and implying some cultures are inferior to others,<\/strong> provoking shock and condemnation<\/a>.
A five-year-old Minnesota boy reportedly rescued his younger brother by jumping into frigid water on Easter Sunday,<\/strong> and has since been fighting for his life in hospital<\/a>.
Big tech platforms are aggressively lobbying to expand gig work in the healthcare sector,<\/strong> according to a new report that warns the growing use of AI tech comes at the expense of workers\u2019 rights and pay<\/a>.
If you want to swap out a two-hour flight for train travel, how easily could you do it? In vast swathes of the US, you\u2019re likely to run into trouble \u2013 but it\u2019s not great in Europe either. An analysis by a thinktank found that booking equivalent<\/a> train tickets was \u201cdifficult or impossible\u201d on almost half of the EU\u2019s busiest international air routes.
From TV and movies to the rise of romantasy books, the female gaze is everywhere right now<\/a>, argues Deborah Linton. Heated Rivalry and Wuthering Heights are both examples of this repositioning, that build on shows such as Girls, Killing Eve and I May Destroy You. \u201cThe portrayal of internalised female perspectives \u2013 and, crucially, desires \u2013 has gone from guilty pleasure to middle of the zeitgeist,\u201d she writes.
When the headhunter contacted Victoria Turk, the offer seemed perfectly tailored to her experience. Perhaps, too perfect: hybrid working in her city and with a high salary. She felt something was wrong, but couldn\u2019t figure out what the scam was, until they advised her to pay for a CV specialist. Turk peels back the curtain on AI-assisted job scams<\/a> \u2013 where even if no money is exchanged, fraudsters can still mine victims\u2019 data.
As the Iran war triggers price shocks in oil and gas, Democrats should loudly champion clean energy\u2019s<\/a> affordability and the stability it offers, according to some of the party\u2019s leading voices on the climate. Meanwhile, as rising energy costs hit ordinary Americans, Donald Trump is doubling down<\/a> on his support of increased domestic fossil fuel production for purported \u201cdefense readiness\u201d.
Another day, another TikTok self-improvement trend with an annoying name. \u201cBedtime stacking\u201d is apparently a way to unwind<\/a> while also getting through an interminable to-do list. You go to bed extremely early (like 8.30pm) with, for example, a laptop, an iPad, an e-reader, moisturiser, some kind of snack, the TV remote, a planner and a gratitude journal. Dire times.
First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you\u2019re not already signed up, subscribe now<\/a>.
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vice-president would travel with Witkoff and Kushner as ceasefire deadline looms. Plus, how to avoid an AI job scamDon\u2019t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.JD Vance is expected to fly to Islamabad to lead the US delegation on Tuesday if Iran agrees to further talks, as the deadline for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":208491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-208490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}