Latest news bulletin | April 30th, 2026 – Morning

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]US President warned Iran to quote get smart soon and agree to a peace deal as efforts to end hostilities appear to still be at an impasse.

[00:00:10]Kyiv asks [music] Israel to arrest a cargo ship that is suspected to be carrying stolen Ukrainian grain from territories [music] occupied by Russia.

[00:00:20]The European Parliament approved a resolution calling for an EU-wide definition of rape based on the absence of freely given and informed consent.

[00:00:31]A man was arrested in North London after the stabbing of two Jewish men who were hospitalized with knife wounds.

[00:00:41]US President Donald Trump warned Iran on Wednesday to quote get smart soon and agree to a peace deal as efforts by Washington and Tehran to end hostilities appear to still be at an impasse.

[00:00:55]In a post on social media, Trump wrote, "Iran can't get their act together. They don't know how to sign a non-nuclear deal. They better get smart soon."

[00:01:03]alongside an illustration of Trump holding an assault rifle with a caption, "No more Mr. Nice Guy."

[00:01:10]A second round of peace talks was due to take place in Islamabad last weekend, but Trump abruptly ordered his envoys not to attend.

[00:01:18]Trump has told US national security officials to prepare for a long blockade of Iran's ports in order to compel Tehran to give up its nuclear program, according to US media reports.

[00:01:30]Citing unnamed officials, the Wall Street Journal said Trump had decided during a Monday meeting in the White House Situation Room that both resuming bombing and walking away from the conflict were too risky.

[00:01:43]Instead, he reportedly told officials that the US Navy would continue to squeeze Iran's key oil exports until Tehran agrees to all of Washington's demands.

[00:01:57]Ukraine has formally asked Israel to arrest a cargo ship carrying what Kyiv suspects is stolen Ukrainian grain from territories occupied by Russia. Israeli authorities previously allowed a vessel with similar cargo to unload unchallenged at the port of Haifa. The Panama-flagged bulk carrier Panomitis is allegedly carrying over 6,000 tons of wheat and 19,000 tons of barley. It has been waiting to dock as the Ukraine-Israel diplomatic scandal escalated over the past few days.

[00:02:31]Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar criticized Ukraine raising the issue on social media site X earlier this week, accusing Kyiv of Twitter diplomacy.

[00:02:42]However, a senior Ukrainian diplomatic source told Ynet News that Israel had ignored other requests via diplomatic channels for the past 1 and 1/2 months.

[00:02:53]Israel now says that the request is being examined. Kyiv estimates that at least 15 million tons of Ukrainian grain have been stolen by Russia since its full-scale invasion began in 2022.

[00:03:11]The European Parliament on Tuesday approved a resolution calling for an EU-wide definition of rape based on the absence of freely given and informed consent.

[00:03:22]The resolution urges that only a clear, affirmative, freely given, and unambiguous indication of consent is valid in sexual relations. It adds that silence, lack of verbal or physical resistance, or the absence of a no cannot be interpreted as consent. Any sexual act outside this framework should be considered rape.

[00:03:45]Lack of consent is already a defining element of rape or sexual assault in 17 EU member states, according to the European Parliament Research Service.

[00:03:55]However, legislation in several member states still relies on a force-based definition of rape, requiring victims to prove violence or threats. Supporters of the resolution argue that recent cases have exposed the limits of force-based definitions. Speaking to Ynet News, Abir Al-Sahlani pointed to cases in France involving drugging and online abuse as evidence of evolving forms of sexual violence.

[00:04:22]Because of all these scandals that have been surrounding this topic, from the case of Madame Pili Coen in France to the rape, so-called rape academy, where you drug women, where the partners drug women, they rape them, and they streamed it online. So, the violence has evolved against women. Sexual violence in Europe has evolved. It is now up to the European Commission to propose legislation, which would then need to be approved by EU member states.

[00:04:56]The world should end new fossil fuel drilling, EU Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has said at the first international conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels.

[00:05:07]Hoekstra added that global energy security depends on reducing oil and gas dependency. The conference takes place in Santa Marta, Colombia, and gathers 60 countries, including some major oil producers. Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom are among the European countries attending. The event comes at a timely moment as global demand for oil and natural gas has surged in the wake of the US-led war against Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Hoekstra also called for a doubling of energy efficiency, a tripling of renewables by 2030, and more electrification.

[00:05:47]He also said that the annual United Nations COP climate meetings were not moving fast and far enough.

[00:05:58]Regional authorities have banned waste processing at a site in the Vertes Mountain Range in Western Hungary. Oil had spilled into its surrounding environment after one of its tanks overflowed.

[00:06:10]While waste processing has been suspended, environmentalists worry that hazardous waste may have entered groundwater.

[00:06:18]The company has not yet given a comment to Ynet News, but has earlier claimed government did not find environmental pollutants at the site.

[00:06:27]A few kilometers away from the site, the same company also carries out mine reclamation work. One environmental group disputes this and claims what's happening isn't genuine landscape restoration, but instead a disguised form of dumping waste.

[00:06:43]The mine reclamation activities were suspended in November of 2025 following large demonstrations and petitions from local residents and civil society groups.

[00:07:29]Following the suspension, the government called for the installation of monitoring wells at the mine site to check for the quality of groundwater.

[00:07:40]The stabbing of two Jewish men in North London is being investigated as an act of terrorism, police have said. A man was arrested after he was seen running along Golders Green Road armed with a knife and attempting to stab Jewish members of the public, according to Jewish security group Shomrim.

[00:07:56]The two men were hospitalized with knife wounds.

[00:08:00]I'd like to praise the bravery of the police officers and members of public who were at the scene and responded.

[00:08:07]At 11:16 this morning, two men, aged 76 and 34, were attacked on Highfield Avenue in Barnet.

[00:08:16]They suffered stab wounds in the attack and are now being looked after in hospital.

[00:08:23]To speak of the whole >> Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the reported incident was deeply concerning.

[00:08:29]The race now police investigation, and I think we all need to do everything we can to support that investigation and be absolutely clear in our determination to deal with any of these offenses, the like of which we've seen too much recently. Counter-terrorism policing are now investigating whether the stabbings are connected to recent attacks on synagogues.

[00:08:53]A humpback whale that has been stranded in shallow Baltic Sea waters in Germany for nearly two months has finally begun its journey towards the North Sea. The whale, affectionately known as Timmy, is being carried along by a tugboat. It is hoped that he will find his way home in the Atlantic Ocean after roughly 3 days.

[00:09:15]The German environment minister for the region said the humpback was doing well.

[00:09:30]Repeated attempts to rescue the whale ended in failure as his health deteriorated.

[00:09:36]Some activists called for him to be left to die in peace. Officials gave up at the start of April until authorities were persuaded by entrepreneurs who came up with a rescue plan and funds. Some scientists have, however, expressed skepticism over whether the whale will survive the journey. But the veterinarians of the private initiative evaluated that the animal was fit for transport. The location of the tugboat carrying Timmy can be tracked online on vesselfinder.com.

[00:10:12]Snow cover in Greece's mountains, a vital source of water for communities, agriculture, and natural ecosystems during the dry summer months, has declined by more than half over the past four decades. This is revealed by a new study by Constantinos Alexopoulos and Ian Willis of the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge. An international team of university researchers used a combination of satellite imagery, climate data, terrain maps, and artificial intelligence to analyze how rising temperatures in the Mediterranean have affected snow cover in Greek mountains. Using a tool called Snow Mapper, the researchers found that snow cover was decreased by 58% over the last 40 years, with the rate of decline accelerating since the beginning of the 21st century.

[00:10:55]Researchers used satellite images from NASA and ESA missions, but because clouds and shadows often obstruct clear observation, the team employed an artificial intelligence technique, machine learning, to fill in the main gaps. This led to the creation of a tool that provides daily snow cover maps at a 100-m resolution for 10 of Greece's highest mountain ranges covering the period from 1984 to 2025. Results showed that Greece is losing its winter snow cover faster than most other mountain ranges, which could have serious consequences for communities, agriculture, and the natural environment. The loss of snow cover from the world's mountains is another important indicator of how climate change continues to put pressure on the natural environment, particularly in countries like Greece. The research team also included scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, the National Observatory of Athens, and the Hellenic Mountain Observatory.