25/04/2026

SATURDAY | APR 25, 2026

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Lebanon and Israel extend ceasefire

WASHINGTON: An invitation to the December G20 summit in the United States will be sent to Russia as a member of the organisation, a senior US official said on Thursday. Such an invitation would come as the Trump administration pushes to further ease the international isolation Russia brought on itself by invading Ukraine in 2022. “All G20 members will be invited to attend ministerial meetings and the leaders’ summit,” a senior Trump administration official said in a statement. The Kremlin said earlier in the day that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not yet decided if he would attend. “No such decisions have been made yet,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow. Putin has not participated in a meeting of the world’s top economies since 2019, first because of the coronavirus pandemic and then due to the war in Ukraine. Russia was invited at “the highest level” for the Dec 14 to Dec15 summit in Miami, the state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin as saying. After sending troops into neighboring Ukraine in 2022, Russia was slapped with numerous international sanctions and faced diplomatic isolation from the West. In 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin over the war, limiting the Russian leader’s travel. The United States is not a member of the ICC and Putin travelled to Alaska last August for a summit with US President Donald Trump. – AFP Russia to be invited to G20 ODESA: A Russian drone attack overnight on Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa killed an elderly married couple and wounded more than a dozen others, Ukrainian officials said yesterday. The strike wrecked two two-storey buildings and hit another two-storey one where two individuals died, emergency services said. They added that the attack also wrecked apartments in a three-storey building, triggering a fire. “A married couple, both aged 75, were killed in a night time attack,” military head Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram. He added that 15 others were injured in the attack, while emergency services put the number of injured at 14. He also said eight of those injured in the attack were treated in hospital. – Reuters Drone strike kills elderly couple

the long-awaited approval of the release of a €90 billion (US$105 billion) loan for Ukraine on Thursday, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky quickly pushed the debate back to his country’s EU accession. After months of wrangling with Hungary, the final sign-off for the loan and a new package of EU sanctions on Russia boosted Zelensky as he touched down for talks with the bloc’s leaders in the resort town of Ayia Napa on Cyprus. Zelensky said he was “very grateful” for the funds that would BEIRUT: Lebanon and Israel have extended their ceasefire for three weeks after a high-level meeting at the White House, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday. Trump hosted Israel’s ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese ambassador to the US Nada Moawad in the Oval Office for a second round of US-facilitated talks, a day after Israeli strikes killed at least five individuals, including a journalist. “The meeting went very well! The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned armed group that is fighting Israel, was not present at the talks. It says it has “the right to resist” occupying forces. Trump added that he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the near future. He also spoke to reporters in the Oval Office alongside the participants in the meeting, saying he hoped the leaders would meet during the three week cessation of hostilities. He added that there was “a great chance” the two countries would reach a peace agreement this year. Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa also attended the meeting. The ceasefire, reached after talks between the two nations’ ambassadors to Washington last week, was set to expire on Sunday. It has yielded a significant reduction in violence, but attacks have continued in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops have seized a self-declared buffer zone. Ambassador Moawad, who went into the meeting seeking an extension of the ceasefire, thanked Trump for hosting the talks. “I think with your help, with your support, we can make Lebanon great again,” she said. A Lebanese official earlier said Beirut would push for an Israeli withdrawal, the return of Lebanese detained in Israel and a delineation of the land border in a next phase of negotiations. Israel has sought to make common cause with Lebanon’s government over Hezbollah, which was founded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and which Beirut has been seeking to disarm peacefully for the past year. Israeli ambassador Leiter said during the meeting that the talks must focus on rooting out Hezbollah rather than on Israel withdrawing its forces. “If Hezbollah and IRGC operatives continue to be treated with kid gloves, a real process of achieving our mutual

including a child. Wednesday Lebanon’s deadliest day since the ceasefire took effect on April 16. Those killed by Israeli strikes included Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, according to a senior Lebanese military official and her employer, the Al-Akhbar newspaper. Israel’s military on Wednesday said it was reviewing an incident in which it had received reports that two journalists were wounded by strikes it said were aimed at vehicles departing a military structure used by Hezbollah. It said Israel does not target journalists. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the group wanted the ceasefire to continue but “on the basis of full compliance by the Israeli enemy”. At a press conference, he reiterated Hezbollah’s objections to the face-to face talks and urged the government to cancel all forms of direct contact with Israel. Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire in support of Iran in the regional war. – Reuters was

o Washington to work with Beirut to safeguard against Hezbollah, says Trump

sure of that.” The

goal will remain unachievable,” Leiter said, according to remarks shared by the Israeli embassy in Washington. When asked how the US would help Lebanon to fight Hezbollah, Trump did not provide details but said the US had “a great relationship with Lebanon.” He added that Israel had to be able to defend itself against attacks from Hezbollah. He also called for Lebanon to abolish laws against engagement with Israel. “It’s a crime to talk with Israel?” he responded when asked about the statutes known as anti normalisation laws, which he did not appear to be aware of. “Well, I’m pretty sure that that will be ended very quickly. I’ll make

Israeli said Hezbollah militants fired a missile at an Israeli military aircraft on Thursday, while also targeting Israeli soldiers operating in southern Lebanon with rockets and a drone, in separate incidents. It added that the militant group also fired rockets towards northern Israel. No injuries were reported in any of the incidents. Israel’s military said it carried out a number of strikes in response, killing three Hezbollah militants and targeting the group’s infrastructure that was used to launch the attacks. Lebanon’s Health Ministry had earlier said an Israeli air strike killed three individuals and artillery shelling wounded two others, military

MILITARY MARCH ... Russian honour guards rehearsing for the Victory Day parade at the Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St Petersburg. – AFPPIC

CYPRUS: celebrated EU unblocks €90 billion Ukraine funds help Kyiv keep its army equipped and show Moscow that Europe’s backing for Ukraine remains strong. between Ukraine and the EU. European Council European leaders

Frieden agreed, saying: “You simply cannot become a member of a club without meeting the conditions.” Zelensky has insisted that Kyiv wants full EU membership, not a “symbolic” status. French President Emmanuel Macron would not be drawn on the question of accelerated membership but called on the EU executive to provide “a precise timetable and outline the actions to be taken in the coming weeks”. Zelensky has said the funds would be used to “strengthen” the Ukrainian army, boost production in air defence and protect the energy grid. – AFP

President Antonio Costa, who represents the 27 member states, said the EU must “look forward and to prepare the next step”, which would mean “to open formally the first clusters of negotiations for the European accession of Ukraine”. However, some in the EU are reluctant to fast-track Ukraine’s bid and have instead floated a lesser status without full membership rights. “We must continue to proceed on a merit-based approach. Fast tracks are not possible“ Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said. Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc

However, he then told reporters he wanted EU leaders to move Ukraine to the next step in its bid to join the bloc. “We will push everybody,” Zelensky told reporters, adding that “of course” his dream was to make Kyiv a member by 2027. Ukraine’s path forward appears to have become easier now that Hungary’s nationalist leader Viktor Orban is on his way out of power after losing elections this month. Orban had refused to allow the opening of negotiating “clusters”