Elon Musk is being sued for failing to disclose his purchase of more than 5% of Twitter stock in a timely fashion.

The world’s richest man bought the stock in March 2022 and the complaint by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the delay allowed him to continue buying Twitter stock at artificially low prices.

In papers filed in Washington DC federal court, the SEC said the move allowed Mr Musk to underpay by at least $150m (£123m).

The commission wants Mr Musk to pay a civil fine and give up profits he was not entitled to.

In response to the lawsuit a lawyer for the multi-billionaire said: “Mr Musk has done nothing wrong and everyone sees this sham for what it is.”

An SEC rule requires investors to disclose within 10 calendar days when they cross a 5% ownership threshold.

The SEC said Mr Musk did not disclose his state until 4 April 2022, 11 days after the deadline – by which point he owned more than 9% of Twitter’s shares.

Twitter’s share price rose by more than 27% following Mr Musk’s disclosure, the SEC added.

Mr Musk later purchased Twitter for $44bn (£36bn) in October 2022 and renamed the social media site X.

Read more: Majority of public says Musk having a negative impact on British politics

Since the election of Donald Trump, Mr Musk has been put in charge of leading a newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

The president-elect said the department would work to reduce government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.

A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.

President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.

The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.

It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.

Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Hostages to be returned

In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.

These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.

Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.

In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.

An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.

Read more:
A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
The hostages who still haven’t returned home

Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza

The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.

Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.

The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.

Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.

“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.

What will happen to Gaza in the future?

There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.

“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.

“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”

The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.

In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.

Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.

Two of Ireland’s biggest political parties are close to finalising a deal to form a coalition with independent politicians to return to power for another five-year term.

Two politicians have indicated an agreement is close to allow Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to govern – the centre-right parties are the largest members of the outgoing coalition.

They collectively fell just short of the 88 seats needed to form a majority in the general election held on 29 November.

Irish media are reporting both parties have now secured support from seven independent candidates, who make up the Regional Independent Group.

Analysis: The groundbreaking coalition returns in Ireland – but challenges loom from the US

The election result left Fianna Fail the largest party in Ireland – led by deputy prime minister Micheal Martin – on 48 seats out of 174 in parliament.

Sinn Fein secured 39 and Fine Gael – led by prime minister Simon Harris – won 38.

Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have refused to work with Sinn Fein because of its historical ties with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

Peter Burke, senior Fine Gael TD (TDs are members of the lower house of parliament or Dail), told RTE radio that talks had not yet concluded, but a programme for government “should be published within the next 24 hours”.

Meanwhile, one of the seven independent TDs, Barry Heneghan, told Reuters they had each finished talks with the two larger parties and would meet on Wednesday to decide whether to back a draft policy programme the sides have worked on.

“We have to meet as a regional group to go through everything with a fine tooth comb and see if we’re happy to put our names behind that,” said Mr Heneghan.

The parties are hoping to sign off on the deal before next week’s US inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump. A new Irish parliament is also due to meet on 22 January.

Mr Trump’s pledge to slash corporate tax and impose tariffs poses a potentially major threat to Ireland’s foreign multinational-focused economy.

The main opposition performed badly during the November poll compared to the previous election in 2020.

Sinn Fein topped the poll in 2020 for the first time with 24.5% of first-preference votes.

But four years on, despite being in opposition to a relatively unpopular government, the party’s vote share fell to 19% – the largest fall for any party at this election.

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The Green Party, which had been part of the coalition, did particularly badly, losing 11 out of 12 seats.

After the 2020 election, it took almost five months for Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens to form a government.

At that time, it was agreed the leaders of the two larger parties would rotate the Irish prime minister or “taoiseach”.

It is not clear if that arrangement will continue, given Fianna Fail has increased the number of seats it has over Fine Gael.