sexta-feira, 10 de abril de 2026

Everything Andrew Lownie Warned Us About

EXPOSED: Netanyahu and Jared Kushner Colluding

‘HORRIFIC MISTAKE!’: Russia FUMES Over Israel’s Deadly Attack On Lebanon, Issues Chilling Warning

REVEALED: Trump Scolds Netanyahu for Periling Truce After Iran's Fiery Warning? 'Calm Down' | Watch

 

Israel Strikes Hezbollah as Lebanon Impasse Threatens Cease-Fire Israel said it would continue striking the Iran-backed militia. Iran said it would not attend peace talks with the United States in Pakistan if the truce was not extended to Lebanon.

 



Iran War Live Updates: Israel Strikes Hezbollah as Lebanon Impasse Threatens Cease-Fire

Israel said it would continue striking the Iran-backed militia. Iran said it would not attend peace talks with the United States in Pakistan if the truce was not extended to Lebanon.

 

Updated

April 10, 2026, 3:55 a.m. ET29 minutes ago

Francesca Regalado Michael Crowley Anton Troianovski and Pranav Baskar

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/10/world/iran-war-trump-israel-lebanon

 

Here’s the latest.

The Israeli military said early Friday that it was striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the latest attacks in a campaign that is straining diplomacy three days into a shaky cease-fire between the United States and Iran.

 

The Israeli strikes against the Iran-backed militia have exposed divergences between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump, who appears eager to strike a deal with Iran to end the war. The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said delegates from the country would not attend peace talks in Pakistan scheduled to begin on Saturday if the cease-fire was not extended to Lebanon.

 

On Thursday, Mr. Trump said he had asked Mr. Netanyahu to scale back Israel’s operations in Lebanon. The Israeli leader later said his country would start talks with the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. But, hours later, he vowed to continue strikes on the group.

 

“There is no cease-fire in Lebanon,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

 

Israeli airstrikes have killed hundreds of people in Lebanon since the cease-fire took effect, according to the Lebanese authorities. European leaders have urged Israel to stop the attacks, warning that they threaten to derail efforts to end the war. They have also demanded that Lebanon be included in the cease-fire.

 

But any talks between Israel and Lebanon would face enormous hurdles, in part because the Lebanese government has no direct control over Hezbollah, which has resisted disarming. Mr. Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israeli operations will not stop until Hezbollah is disarmed. A senior Hezbollah official dismissed the possibility of talks between Israel and Lebanon, saying that the Lebanese government did not speak for the group.

 

The uncertainty over Lebanon cast a shadow over preparations for U.S.-Iran talks that are scheduled to begin in Islamabad on Saturday. Vice President JD Vance is expected to arrive in the Pakistani capital on Friday to lead the U.S. delegation.

 

A key priority for Mr. Vance will be ensuring the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping passage for oil and gas that Iran has in effect blockaded since the war started. While the cease-fire announcement led to a drop in global oil prices, tankers have not restarted journeys through the strait over fears of attacks.

 

Saeed Khatibzadeh, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said on Thursday that the strait was open to everyone but that ships must coordinate with the Iranian military because of “technical restrictions,” including mines.

 

Mr. Trump expressed displeasure with the situation in the strait in a social media post late Thursday.

 

“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” he wrote. “That is not the agreement we have!”

 

Here’s what else we’re covering:

 

Global economic outlook: The International Monetary Fund will downgrade its global growth outlook because of the war, its managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said on Thursday. Even under the most optimistic outcome, she said, where the temporary truce holds, there will be economic fallout because of “infrastructure damage, supply disruptions, losses of confidence, and other scarring effects.”

 

Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,701 civilians, including 254 children, had been killed in Iran as of Wednesday. Lebanon’s health ministry on Monday said that more than 1,500 people had been killed in the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. In attacks blamed on Iran, at least 32 people have been killed in Gulf nations. In Israel, at least 20 people had been killed as of Monday. The American death toll stands at 13 service members.

Melania says her piece about Epstein – doth the lady protest too much?

 


Melania says her piece about Epstein – doth the lady protest too much?

 

The first lady unleashed a barrage of denials – and put one of her husband’s biggest political liabilities back on the agenda

 

David Smith

David Smith in Washington

Thu 9 Apr 2026 23.17 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/09/melania-trump-epstein-lies

 

When Donald Trump launched a seemingly random war against Iran, there was a whiff of suspicion of a Wag the Dog ploy to divert attention from how badly the Jeffrey Epstein scandal was going.

 

So when Trump’s wife Melania made a mysterious appearance at the White House on Thursday to put Epstein front and centre again, was it an elaborate ruse to divert attention from how badly the Iran war is going?

 

Wearing a grey pantsuit, the first lady emerged from the Blue Room and walked to a lectern flanked by US flags in the grand foyer, surrounded by chandeliers, marble pillars and shiny chequered floor.

 

As cameras clicked away, Melania, full of cold fury, said in her now familiar Slovenian accent: “The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today.”

 

To which America responded: “What lies? Maybe we read something somewhere a few months ago but we have more pressing concerns right now.”

 

But Melania had come to say her piece. “The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.”

 

There was then a small, nervy linguistic slip: “I never been friends with Epstein.”

 

Staring down at her prepared remarks, the first lady acknowledged that she and Trump went to the same parties as Epstein and moved in the same social circles but she “never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, [Ghislaine] Maxwell”.

 

In an apparent reference to a 2002 email to Maxwell, in which a woman called “Melania” praised a profile of Epstein in New York magazine and signed off “Love”, Melania insisted there had only been casual correspondence and that her response was trivial.

 

“I am not Epstein’s victim,” she went on. “Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband by chance at a New York City party in 1998.”

 

But the longer Melania went on, the more this sounded like a “the lady doth protest too much” prebuttal of allegations that may be about to break in the media.

 

“Be cautious about what you believe,” she urged, providing a long list of all things she was not and all the things she had never done, from witnessing Epstein’s crimes to being named in court documents to flying on his plane.

 

It was a barrage of denials that one might have expected from former first lady Hillary Clinton facing an ambush by Republican conspiracy theorists. But no one has been storming the White House demanding that Melania own up to her secret role in the Epstein class.

 

However, somebody, somewhere, is stirring up trouble, she claimed. “The false smears about me from mean-spirited and politically motivated individuals and entities looking to cause damage to my good name to gain financially and climb politically, must stop.”

 

Then came a final twist as Melania urged Congress to give Epstein survivors a public hearing to help uncover the truth. “Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress with the power of sworn testimony.”

 

Her plea was immediately endorsed by Democrat Ro Khanna and Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace. A high-profile Capitol Hill hearing with Epstein survivors reminding everyone how the Trump administration botched the release of the files is the last thing that Trump or Republicans need.

 

Melania turned on her heel and walked back to the Blue Room, ignoring shouted questions, and the doors closed after her. What did it all mean? Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, speculated on X: “Ok so who’s about to break the Melania/Epstein story she just tried to get ahead of?”

 

But the plot may be even thicker. Jacqueline Alemany, a reporter for the MS Now network, tweeted that she called Trump who said he did not “know anything about” Melania’s statement prior to her appearance. He may be less than pleased that his wife just put one of his biggest political liabilities back on the agenda a week after he fired Pam Bondi as attorney general.

 

What is Melania’s game? Is she a secret member of the resistance after all, driven to act now by Trump’s threat to wipe out Iranian civilisation and growing fears that he is descending into madness? Is there a smoking gun in the Epstein files that could yet bring him down? It would all make a great Amazon documentary.

Melania Trump talks about her connection to Jeffrey Epstein