23/04/2026

THURSDAY | APR 23, 2026

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Trump extends ceasefire tonight”, while at other times, he has appeared keen to end the violence and market uncertainty. More than 5,000 civilians have been killed across the region and hundreds of thousands displaced so far, mostly in Iran and Lebanon. o Peace talks in doubt

Deluxe from operating in France, as well as legal costs. According to the association, Cream Deluxe nitrous oxide canisters are made by Zhuzhou Xingye Chemical, while the brand and distribution are managed by Polish firm IVM Firma Handlowa. The Polish company said it “is not, and has never been, the ‘distributor’ of Cream Deluxe”. “We ceased all sales to France and closed our Cream Deluxe webshop ... because of clear signs of non-culinary misuse,” it said. Zhuzhou Xingye Chemical could not immediately be reached for comment. The Cream Deluxe website claims that its products are designed for “creating drinks and cocktails”. But Alleno rejected the idea that the canisters have a culinary use. “I’ve never seen one and I’ll never see one in a kitchen”, he said. France banned retail sales of large nitrous oxide containers to consumers in 2021. A Bill under consideration in France’s Senate would impose up to a year of prison and a maximum fine of €3,750 (RM17,418) for recreational use of nitrous oxide, rising to three years and €9,000 for driving under its influence. – AFP LONDON: Downing Street on Tuesday denied a claim from a former official that it had applied pressure on civil servants to approve the appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK envoy to Washington and seemed to dismiss security concerns. Prime Minister Keir Starmer remained mired in a scandal over his decision to appoint Mandelson as Britain’s envoy to the United States before sacking him last year over links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Olly Robbins, the most senior Foreign Ministry official until he was fired last week over the scandal, told MPs on Tuesday that Starmer’s office had a “dismissive attitude” towards the security vetting for its US envoy pick. There was a “very strong expectation ... coming from Number 10 (Downing Street) that he (Mandelson) needed to be in post and in America as quickly as humanly possible”, Robbins told a parliamentary committee. “My office, the foreign secretary’s office, was under constant pressure, there was an atmosphere of constant chasing.” A Downing Street spokesman denied this, saying there was “clearly a difference between asking for updates on an appointment process”, and being dismissive about vetting. Government Minister Darren Jones told an emergency debate in parliament on Tuesday that “no such pressure was applied beyond asking for the process to be completed as quickly as possible”. – AFP Downing Street denies claims by ex-official

Trump’s extension came as scheduled peace talks in Islamabad seemed on the verge of falling apart. Vice-President J.D. Vance had planned to return to Pakistan on Tuesday but a White House official said he had not yet departed Washington. Before the latest announcement, a senior Iranian official said Iran’s negotiators had been willing to attend another round of talks if the US abandoned a policy of pressure and threats, and rejected negotiations aimed at surrender. – Reuters

With his announcement, Trump again pulled back at the last moment from his threats to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges. International humanitarian law forbids attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. The US and Israel began the war on Feb 28 with aerial bombardments of Iran. The conflict quickly spread to Gulf states that host US military bases and to Lebanon once Hezbollah joined the fighting.

MONGOMO: Pope Leo XIV used the last full day of his four-nation Africa tour yesterday to speak out against wealth inequality, urging believers to work to bridge the gap between rich and poor as he traversed oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. The pope started the day by flying 325km from Malabo, located on Bioko Island in the Gulf of Guinea, to Mongomo, on the eastern border with Gabon on the edge of the Congo Basin rainforest. At a Mass in the largest religious structure in Central Africa, the pontiff urged Equatorial Guineans “to serve the common good rather than private interests, bridging the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged.” The pope, who has debuted a forceful new speaking style during the Africa tour, also decried poor treatment of “prisoners who are often forced to live in troubling hygienic and sanitary conditions”. The Vatican said roughly 100,000 people had gathered inside and outside the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception to see Leo yesterday, pressing in around a colonnade modelled after St Peter’s Square in Rome. They danced and screamed as his white popemobile arrived. Organisers released gold, white, green and red smoke in the air, nodding to the colours of the Vatican and Equatorial Guinean flags. WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said he would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran to allow for further peace talks, although it was not clear yesterday if Iran or Israel, the US ally in the two month war, would agree. Trump said in a statement on social media the US had agreed to a request by Pakistani mediators “to hold our attack on the country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal ... and discussions are concluded, one way or the other”. But even as he announced what appeared to be a unilateral ceasefire extension, Trump also said he would continue the US Navy’s blockade of Iran’s trade by sea, considered an act of war by Iran. There was no response yesterday to Trump’s announcement from senior Iranian officials, although some initial reactions from Tehran suggested Trump’s comments were being treated sceptically. Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said Iran had not asked for a ceasefire extension and repeated threats to break the US blockade by force. An adviser to Iran’s lead negotiator, the speaker of parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said Trump’s announcement may be a ploy. Trump’s wartime rhetoric has veered between extremes. In an expletive-filled threat against Iran only two weeks ago he promised that a “whole civilisation will die

An Israeli drone strike killed one person and wounded two others in Lebanon’s western Bekaa Valley on Tuesday night. In addition to the human toll, the war has led to the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint in global energy markets. Iran has repeatedly exploited its ability to control the passage of oil tankers and other ships in the strait.

A Lebanese boy walks amid the rubble of a building in the village of Kfar Sir on Tuesday. – AFPPIC

French activists sue laughing gas suppliers

Pope decries inequality on last day of tour

PARIS: A French campaign group said yesterday it has sued companies selling nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, for using what the activists alleged was “deceptive” marketing. The Antoine Alleno association – a road safety group headed by Michelin-starred chef Yannick Alleno, whose son was killed in 2022 by a speeding driver – said it had filed the legal action against the companies behind Cream Deluxe, which markets colourful canisters of the gas as the “key to an unforgettable evening”. The suit will allow the group to “go after” those “using deceptive forms of communication aimed at young people”, Alleno said. Nitrous oxide “has significant public-health impacts, young people lose the ability to move, there are burns and accidents”, Alleno said. The substance was implicated in over 450 serious road accidents in France last year, a number that has multiplied by 40 in six years, according to French drivers advocacy group 40 Million Motorists. In the case alleging dishonest trade practices before a Paris court, Alleno’s association is seeking a bar on the companies behind Cream

Leo blesses the faithful as he arrives to lead a holy Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mongomo yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

president, has been widely criticised as one of the most repressive countries in the region. Obiang denies allegations of human rights abuses and corruption. He was present with Leo in Mongomo. – Reuters

Leo’s trip to Mongomo was the first of three flights to three cities on a day of whirlwind travel that will also take him to Bata, on the western coast. Equatorial Guinea, run since 1979 by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the world’s longest-serving