BEIRUT (AP) — Attacks intensified Friday between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah ahead of direct talks between the Lebanese government and Israel set to begin next week.

The talks are set to begin Tuesday in Washington and will be mediated by U.S. diplomats, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s office said in a statement, citing the outcome of a call Friday among Israeli, Lebanese and U.S. ambassadors. The statement reiterated Beirut’s position that the talks be held under a ceasefire or truce.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter later issued a statement describing next Tuesday’s talks as “formal peace negotiations,” but said a ceasefire was not on the agenda, in a stark contradiction to Aoun’s remarks.

“Israel refused to discuss a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which continues to attack Israel and is the main obstacle to peace between the two countries,” the statement read.

At least 13 members of Lebanon’s State Security forces were killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Friday, while Hezbollah claimed an attack targeting a naval base in the Israeli port city of Ashdod some 145 kilometers (90 miles) from the border.

Israel launched strikes across several towns in southern Lebanon, including one on a government building in the southern city of Nabatieh that killed the government security personnel. Hezbollah claimed 31 other attacks on northern Israel and on Israeli ground troops that have invaded southern Lebanon.

Israel launched its latest aerial campaign and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon after Hezbollah fired rockets toward northern Israel in solidarity with Iran, its key ally and patron, on March 2.

At least 1,953 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes, according to the Health Ministry. At least 303 were killed in a rapid series of 100 strikes that hit the country — including multiple areas in dense residential and commercial areas in central Beirut — in 10 minutes on Wednesday, the bloodiest day in the latest war between the two sides. Civil Defense first responders are still searching for bodies trapped under the rubble in the Lebanese capital.

Meanwhile, officials at Beirut’s main government-run hospital on the southern edge of the capital fear it could be in the line of fire after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for the surrounding suburbs, including the busy neighborhood of Jnah where the hospital is located. Israel has launched attacks in Jnah, both with and without warning.

The World Health Organization has since called for the Rafik Hariri University Hospital to be spared from attacks and not to evacuate, and WHO officials said Friday that they received assurances that it would not be struck. The hospital has not evacuated, though staff are fearful, as getting to work now requires them to drive on roads that can be struck at any time says Dr. Mohammad Cheaito, who heads the emergency department.

“The entire zone around the hospital was threatened and deemed dangerous,” he told The Associated Press. “But at the end of the day, we have a humanitarian duty.”

Lebanon’s authorities have not yet commented on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Thursday of the decision to go ahead with talks. Netanyahu said the talks would revolve around disarming Hezbollah and establishing “peaceful relations” between the two countries.

A Lebanese official in government familiar with the developments said that a halt in the fighting is a critical condition for the country to engage in direct talks with Israel, similar to the one between the U.S. and Iran. It has yet to appoint a representative for negotiations. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Aoun had initially proposed the direct talks early on in the war on similar terms, at the time hoping for Israel to stop an escalation in airstrikes and to not invade the country. At the time, with only the backing of France, that failed.

On Wednesday, the U.S. and Iran announced a temporary ceasefire in the war that began on Feb. 28. It included Lebanon and other countries impacted in the wider regional conflict, mediator Pakistan announced. However, Israel — and later the United States — denied this. They want to separate the diplomatic tracks of the two wars.

Hezbollah considers Israel’s attacks on Lebanon to be a violation of the ceasefire, while Beirut, in a bid to disarm Hezbollah and assert its full sovereignty over the country, says it wants to be included in talks related to Lebanon.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Kassem in a statement broadcast Thursday did not directly mention the prospect of Israel-Lebanon talks, but called on the Lebanese government to “stop giving free concessions” to Israel.

Dozens of supporters of the Iran-backed group protested outside of the Lebanese prime minister’s office in central Beirut. They see the scheduled direct talks as a surrender to Israel, which says its troops will stay in the country indefinitely.

“Our blood has been spilled on this land, and our state is conspiring against us,” said protester Hassan Shuaib. “Our state wants to kill us; our state wants to strip us of our weapons.”

———

Associated Press producer Malak Harb and video journalist Fadi Tawil in Beirut, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Preview by Gareth John

Photos by Gareth John and Idris Ahmed

A CAPACITY FortyFive Vinyl Café hosted Derbyshire singer-songwriter Tom Bright last October in support of his latest album, Young Old Bloke.

The show was described as an excellent, authentic and intimate performance from a classic urban folk artist who will appeal to fans of Paolo Nutini and Frank Turner.

The October show was a real treat as Bright shared tales of how he had honed his craft over a decade of personal and professional challenges.

He’s navigated his pub landlord duties, performed several hundred gigs, experienced record label wranglings, global pandemic setbacks and a life-threatening illness.

Tom Bright heading for gig in York this summer. Photos supplied

Despite this, Bright has performed alongside the likes of Tom Grennan, Ed Harcourt and The Libertines and has recently played at Glastonbury, Shepherds Bush Empire and The London Palladium.

He will be returning to York in June for a gig at Rise @ Bluebird Bakery, Acomb. I caught up with him recently in anticipation of the show.

GJ: What brings you back to York so soon?

TB: I love the city of York and, you know, I love the county of Yorkshire. My life entails going up and down the country, so York is always a city that kind of needs calling in on, really, on the gig circuit.

GJ: In terms of people that don’t know your music or not being exposed to it before influences, what are they, where did they come from?

TB: I’ve got very eclectic taste in music. I was first listening to the likes of Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra, but in terms of my own writing there’s elements of Jarvis Cocker, Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost and people like Ray Davies, you know, that kind of quirky wordiness and writing and, you know, I’m very, very much an observational kind of fellow, really, I think.

GJ: What are your early memories of introductions to music, who shared their influences with you and who has really shaped your tastes?

Tom Bright heading for gig in York this summer. Photos supplied

TB: I was late into music myself. I didn’t pick up a guitar until I was 22. But then I just became obsessed. It was like I’d found the tool I hadn’t previously had to share my stories and so after a year in Australia I reinvented myself as Tom Bright, public landlord turned Tom Bright, troubadour. I then moved to London and the first people I was working with really were Mick Jones from The Clash and Glenn Matlock from the Sex Pistols which was pretty wild. I have so many great memories and stories of those days. Getting on the Central Line with Mick after our sessions, and you know, just kind of realise everyone would be looking at him, and I mean, Mick Jones!

GJ: You’ve had a few recent media appearances. Tell me about this.

TB: Yeah, there’s been a few interesting TV appearances. My first introduction to TV stuff was on the One Show. It was a feature on me going back to Great Ormond Street Hospital where I spent a large chunk of my young life. I went back and met Professor Spitz who saved my life following a serious health issue and ended up playing one of my songs. And then I was on Sky News as there was a piqued interest in me as a lad who’d come from what I’d come from and was living this kind of lifestyle now. It built from there and last year I played on Sunday Morning Live on BBC One. It was a live TV feature at 10.30am. It was pretty daunting, but I managed not to swear or mess up.

Tom Bright heading for gig in York this summer. Photos supplied

GJ: There are numerous reports on how tough the music industry is and how hard it is to make a living. What does your world look like in terms of making a living and making music work?

TB: It’s tough. I mean, I literally work flat out. Every hour that I’m not sleeping, I’m working. I’m spinning many plates, the endless admin, booking gigs, constant communications, carving out those opportunities and building those connections. I curate events in London and run a concert series called Bright Nights with several events every month. These are showcase nights for people who are starting out and they’ve built up a really big following over the past six years. I also do some band management and consultancy work for other artists. It’s endless work but it is also a brilliant journey and one that I wouldn’t change anything for.

Tom Bright will play at Rise @ Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, on Saturday, June 14

For tickets – www.bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise and www.seetickets.com/event/tom-bright/rise-bluebird/3573171

Maria has been tirelessly working the streets of Enfield as a sex worker on and off for seven years after escaping Romania to try and make a better life for her family back home. 

‘Many women like me do this work because we have no other way to survive,’ Maria, 27, tells Metro. ‘Some of us have children. Many of us have left bad or violent relationships. We are all just trying to live.’

While she used to work on well-lit, populated streets and car parks, for over a year, Maria has been forced to work alone on desolated streets, parks, and in dark corners – all in a bid, she says, to get away from the watchful eyes of police.

The shift came about due to a Metropolitan Police initiative called ‘Operation Pisces’, which was introduced with Enfield Council in June 2024 to tackle organised crime and antisocial behaviour. 

However, according to Maria and other sex workers in the area, it only put them more at risk.

‘Things got so much worse for us,’ she explains. ‘Police were – and still are – everywhere. They tell us to move all the time. They shout and threaten us with arrest, so we retreat to quiet places, which is very dangerous.’

Lasting until December 2025, Operation Pisces was ‘a clear phase’ within a three-stage Home Office policy called Clear, Hold, Build – an ‘academic, evidence-based approach that seeks to address serious and organised crime, and more broadly improve an area over a long, extended period of time,’  Chief Inspector Rob Gibbs Chief from the Metropolitan Police, tells Metro.

‘This part of London [Enfield] has a lot of challenges in it – the organised element is around drugs and gangs and violence,’ he adds. ‘We are trying to break the cycle around that. The volume of women who have been exploited there is large.’

However, Niki Adams of the English Collective of Prostitutes says that as far as she’s concerned Operation Pisces was effectively a ‘police crackdown against street sex workers in Enfield’s long-established red-light area.’

Although the scheme officially ended in Enfield nearly four months ago, Niki says it’s impact will be ‘long-lasting’.

She tells Metro that she first started receiving phone calls from ‘distressed’ women sex workers asking for her help in January 2025. ‘The policing approach involved heavy patrols and the issuing of ASBOs (Antisocial Behaviour Orders), loitering notices, and cautions,’ says Niki.  (The Met insist no ASBOs, Criminal Behaviour Orders or loitering notices have been issued to sex workers in the area.)

As a result, many of the women were forced to disperse to isolated areas, ‘simply to try and earn enough money to survive.’

Dr Binta Sultan, Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Inclusion Health at UCL, has been doing outreach work with sex workers in Enfield and says that prior to the initiative, police ‘worked well’ with sex workers. 

‘They took a collaborative approach with outreach services, were more trauma-informed, and treated women who were sex-working as victims of crime,’ she tells Metro. ‘They built trust.’

However, that changed with Operation Pisces, says Dr Sultan. ‘Women started telling us about their interactions with police – that they were being quite aggressive and rude, and that sex workers were being arrested. We also noticed women disclosing quite serious assaults from clients, but weren’t wanting to go to the police.’

They also noted a drop in women using outreach services because ‘police were located in those areas’ which made them afraid of being identified, arrested, or interrogated – or having their children taken away by social services. 

The impact on sex workers has been ‘devastating,’ says Niki.

‘Women say they feel hunted, persecuted and fearful. Many are survivors of rape and other violence and domestic abuse; being shouted at and threatened by police is very distressing and retraumatising.

‘Why aren’t the police and council asking what support women, and particularly mothers, need to survive instead of persecuting and criminalising them?’ she asks. ‘The impact of a criminal record is lifelong. We see women barred from other jobs, from housing, and even losing custody of their children just because they have a prostitute’s caution or conviction.’

For migrant women like Maria, their increased vulnerabilities also open them up to even greater violence from clients.

‘‘Now we are also afraid of the police,’ she says. ‘We aren’t dangerous people. We are just women trying to survive and support our families. We need safety, not punishment.’

Sarah is the mother of two young children and has lived and worked in Enfield for three years. Like many sex workers around her, she’s had to find ways to support her family in ‘very difficult times.’

‘I started doing street work after losing my job in a shop,’ the 39-year-old tells Metro. ‘I didn’t choose this job because it was easy. I chose this job to make sure my kids are okay.’

Prior to Operation Pisces, Sarah was ‘okay with local police.’ 

‘They knew who I was, and we all knew them,’ she says. ‘It meant we could work in areas where we could look out for each other. But everything changed and the police are everywhere.’

Fearful of being caught, Sarah says she has to ‘rush things with men and move quickly,’ which ‘increases the risk of violence.’

‘Being treated aggressively by the police just causes more stress and fear to our lives,’ she says. ‘We’re not the problem. We are just trying to get by.’

Dr Sultan claims that when she formally raised her concerns with the police, she was told: ‘that’s not what we do.’

‘They said they are here to protect women, and were focused on exiting sex work as their approach,’ she adds. ‘Every time we have raised it, they say they don’t arrest women. That they don’t criminalise sex work. They say they are taking a trauma-informed approach.’ 

CI Gibbs says that over the course of 18 months, they made 1,027 arrests as part of Clear, Hold, Build, and of those, 21 were arrests of sex workers. 

‘But we’ve not arrested anyone for loitering,’ he insists. ‘The most up to date term for ASBO is Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO), and through this work, we have not used that on any of the women. The women that have been arrested have been for minor or low-level criminal offences.’

Since Operation Pisces was put into place, CI Gibbs says the police has already seen ‘falling crime and antisocial behaviour’ in the area due to Home Office strategy. However, he also admits that it has led to sex workers becoming ‘less visible than they were’ – but that this was an ‘unintended consequence’.

Niki”s response to the success? ‘It has been horrifying to hear the police boast about how they have cleaned up an area when it is women’s safety, health and wellbeing which has suffered as a result.’ 

Dr Sultan adds: ‘Operation Pisces has been used as an example of good practice of policing sex work. We have serious concerns about this model being rolled out in other parts of London and the country, given the devastation it has caused.’

Meanwhile, Niki is calling on the Met to immediately start prioritising women’s safety, health and survival. 

‘After the murders in Ipswich in 2006 (when five sex workers were murdered), agencies came together to provide emergency support that enabled women to come off the street quickly,’Niki explains.

‘They had a dedicated phone line, gave women cash payments so they didn’t have to work to eat, they helped women clear their debts, provided housing and even helped some women get essential dental treatment. There is no reason that this kind of support can’t be available in Enfield.’

CI Gibbs points out that he has a ‘growing amount of intelligence’ that sex-working women are now approaching police officers for help. ‘In the past six months, 20 women have approached my teams asking for support,’ he says. ‘They feel trapped. We’re trying not to criminalise – there’s not a lot of point in criminalising a person who is just trying to survive. It doesn’t break the cycle.’

When criminal justice among sex workers ‘is necessary,’ Gibbs says his team are trying to ‘make the right referrals’ and have all the ‘support and safeguarding’ they need.

As a long-term solution, the English Collective of Prostitutes is campaigning for the loitering and soliciting laws and for prostitute’s cautions to be scrapped as part of legislation that decriminalises sex work. 

‘This would allow women to move off the street if they wanted and work together with others inside in much safer conditions,’ explains Niki. ‘But if this punitive policing devastating women’s lives continues, violent criminals will be given a green light to act violently towards them.

‘That does not equal safer streets.’

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The hotel is famous for its stunning views over a much-loved Welsh beauty spot

A popular hotel that was demolished after being severely damaged in a devastating fire earlier last summer has announced it is ready to reopen. The Worm’s Head Hotel, located in the Gower Peninsula, collapsed after an overnight fire on July 14, 2025.

The hotel, known for its breathtaking views of the iconic Rhossili Bay and the famous Worm’s Head, has long been a beloved destination for locals and visitors alike. The family-owned hotel was left heartbroken after the blaze, which was later determined to be accidental by the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

Following the fire, the hotel’s owner vowed to “raise it from the ashes,” as an outpouring of support from the community and past guests flooded in. The team behind The Worm’s Head have done just that – announcing they are ready to open less than a year after the devastating fire.

The hotel will reopen on Saturday, April 11, after “much blood, sweat, and tears”, the owners said in a Facebook post. Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here

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The alarm about the fire was raised in the early hours when a blaze broke out within the accommodation block of the hotel. While no casualties were reported, the fire quickly spread to the entire roof of the building. Emergency services were on the scene, but the damage was extensive.

With some of the hotel having collapsed, the demolition process began in September. At the time, owners said they had “mixed emotions” as they watched the first wall coming down, adding: “We look forward with renewed ambitions. Watch this space.”

Announcing the reopening, The Worm’s Head Hotel said on Facebook: “After much blood sweat and tears we are more than delighted to announce that we will reopen our doors tomorrow Saturday, April 2026 at 11.30 am.

“HOT & COLD DRINKS, BEERS, WINES, SPIRITS, VIEWS and hopefully the odd SPECTACULAR SUNSET! NO FOOD AVAILABLE YET! Please bare with us.

“Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.”

The owners added that they are not ready to welcome guests to stay just yet, but that is something “in the pipeline”.

The news of the hotel’s reopening was met with love and support from locals and visitors. One person wrote: “Absolutely fab news! Well done to you all. Can’t wait to visit.”

Another shared: “Best news of the week. Well done folks, thanks for making my week. It’s always a joy to witness ‘that’ view with a good beer – so pleased “

A third person simply said: “Our summer is saved!”

Rhossili Sunflowers also sent well wishes to the hotel. They said: “Great news at Rhossili after last year’s fire, and a lot of hard work, The Worm’s Head Hotel is reopening tomorrow. Another one of Rhossili’s great family-run businesses.

“Go and support, not serving food yet but pint and a packet of crisps with a sunset will have to do.”