Michael Carrick was keen to stress the magnitude of Man United’s rivalry with Leeds ahead of kick-off yesterday – it’s just a shame his players didn’t seem to grasp it.

“It’s something we spoke about in the changing room with the players because I think it’s important that as players and as a group we all understand what it means and the history behind it. We’re looking for a big night tonight,” Michael Carrick said when asked about the magnitude of Manchester United’s rivalry with Leeds in the Old Trafford tunnel before kick-off last night.

“The supporters will be ready for it, both teams have got a lot to play for and we want to make it a good night.”

Indeed, nobody could accuse the United supporters of not being “ready for it”, in Carrick’s words. United have been riding the crest of a wave since Carrick’s appointment in January, catapulting themselves up the table and into the Champions League qualification spots. Football fans can be fickle individuals, and it would have been easy for the Old Trafford crowd to turn on their team having been brought back down to earth against relegation strugglers and fierce rivals Leeds.

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Turn on their team they did not. In fact, they produced an atmosphere that United’s turgid display didn’t warrant, and nearly carried their team to a point that you’d struggle to argue would have been deserved. The truth is, such is the cushion United have afforded themselves in the chase for Champions League football, they are still well clear in the race to secure a place in the top five.

Monday night was as much about getting one over their old foes as it was another three points towards Champions League football. United fans knew it, but their players did not. Carrick’s pre-match words seemingly fell on deaf ears.

United may have been without some of their key men, but so were their opponents, as Daniel Farke was keen to stress in his post-match interview.

Leeds were nearing 400 minutes of Premier League football without a goal when Paul Tierney’s whistle signalled the start of the game on Monday night. They had two in under 30 minutes against United and it should have been more.

Following 24 days without a game, match sharpness was always likely to be in short supply for some in the United camp, but that’s no excuse for the performance that was served up prior to Martinez’s sending off, an incident that strangely seemed to act as a shot in the arm to the home side.

Down to 10 men, United played with tempo and at least looked to make something happen, even if quality in the final third was lacking. Prior to that, United’s play was sloppy and they looked like a team that had just expected to turn up and win comfortably.

United have form for starting games slowly. Ten of their last 11 goals have come in the second half, with Casemiro’s strike in the ninth minute of first-half stoppage time at Newcastle the exception. A slow start against a Leeds side fighting to retain their Premier League status was always likely to be punished, and United ultimately got what they deserved.

The pre-match music at Old Trafford was turned off early on Monday night to help build atmosphere ahead of kick-off. The fans did their part, Carrick did his best to do his part by warning the players what to expect, it’s just a shame the players weren’t on the same page.

Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package

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Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.

Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A former student opened fire at a high school in southeast Turkey on Tuesday, wounding at least 16 people before killing himself, an official said.

The 18-year-old attacker, armed with a shotgun, fired randomly at a vocational high school in Siverek, Sanliurfa province, before hiding inside the building. He later killed himself with the same shotgun, Gov. Hasan Sildak said.

The attack left 10 students, four teachers, a canteen employee and a police officer wounded, Sildak said. While most of them were being treated in Siverek, five of the wounded teachers and students were were transferred to a hospital in the provincial capital because their conditions were more serious, the governor said.

The motive for the attack remains unclear. School shootings are rare in Turkey.

Earlier, media reports said all students were evacuated and police special operations units were deployed after the assailant refused to surrender.

“The individual was cornered inside the building through police intervention and died after shooting himself,” Sildak told reporters, adding that a “comprehensive” investigation into the shooting would be carried out.

Video footage showed dozens of students running out of the school toward the gate and onto the street.

Derry Girls and Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan has a new television gig lined up

Derry Girls’ Nicola Coughlan is preparing to present Saturday Night Live UK, and fans predict she will be “incredible”.

The Irish star – recognised for portraying Clare Devlin in the Channel 4 programme – will serve as a guest host on the Sky comedy sketch show later this month (April 25). White Lotus and Sex Education actress Aimee Lou Wood will take the reins the following week (2 May).

Nicola revealed the announcement on Instagram by posting an image of a corkboard displaying information about her episode of the programme, with her name listed as host and Foo Fighters supplying the musical entertainment. She didn’t comment further, apart from a series of exclamation marks.

Fans were swift to respond, saying they could not wait to tune in, reports the Irish Mirror.

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“OH MY GOD THIS IS GOING TO BE INCREDIBLE,” one person posted. “Was just a matter of time! Can’t wait to see it!” remarked someone else.

“YESSSSS I have been waiting on this one!!!” wrote another fan, while somebody else said: “I’m so so so proud of you.”

“GIRL!!!! I’M SO EXCITED!!!!” remarked one fan, while another predicted: “This is going to be so very epic.”

“So freakin’ excited! You’re gonna slay!” commented another viewer, while somebody else exclaimed: “Shaking!!!!! Cheering!!!!! Screaming!!!!!” “Oh my God!” said somebody else.

Referring to Nicola playing Penelope Bridgerton in the Netflix hit, one pleaded: “Get all the Bridgerton cast in sketches I am begging.”

Saturday Night Live UK made its debut in March as the British adaptation of the iconic US comedy sketch programme, which first aired in 1975.

Broadcasting live from London at 10pm every Saturday evening, each 75-minute show features a different celebrity host performing alongside the show’s ensemble – Hammed Animashaun, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring, George Fouracres, Ania Magliano, Annabel Marlow, Al Nash, Jack Shep, Emma Sidi and Paddy Young.

So far, stars including Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Riz Ahmed and Jack Whitehall have stepped up to present the programme.

Musical performers have included Wet Leg, Wolf Alice, Kasabian and Jorja Smith.

Saturday Night Live UK can be watched on Sky and streaming service NOW.

Grace Dent and Anna Haugh have opened up about taking over as the new hosts of BBC MasterChef.

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BBC audiences will be introduced to fresh faces on MasterChef this year.

Devotees of the cooking programme will see Grace Dent and Anna Haugh present the 22nd series of MasterChef, which is scheduled to begin on 21 April.

This follows the departure of long-standing judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode from their positions on the show last year.

Speaking to RadioTimes ahead of their on-screen debut together, 52-year-old Grace Dent described her response to taking over from the male duo.

When asked if the pair ‘quailed’ at the idea of picking up the BBC show from the previous presenters, Grace responded: “I don’t feel I am ‘picking up’ after anybody.

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“I’ve been going to work every day at the helm of the most important food show, probably in British television history. I think I’m doing well. Am I doing well?”

As she glanced at her co-star, Anna confirmed that Grace is excelling in her new position as she added: “There is no way I’d show up a year ago on that set and begin to work in the manner that I did, while looking backwards.”

Grace is well acquainted with the show, having been a frequent guest judge over the years and also standing in to judge Celebrity MasterChef last year following Gregg Wallace’s departure, reports the Mirror.

Discussing her return to the cooking programme, Grace admitted she was ‘over the moon’ and commended working with her new co-star. She said: “It’s a joy to be working with Anna, who brings all her incredible experience to the table.

“I am in for such a treat with this series, I can’t wait to get started.”

Anna will also be a familiar face to MasterChef fans, having previously made guest appearances on Celebrity MasterChef. She also took on a judging role during the final week of last year’s series.

Sharing her enthusiasm about joining the programme as a permanent judge, she said: “I’m delighted to be back on MasterChef and judging alongside the wonderful Grace Dent, whose writing and wit I’ve admired for years.

“MasterChef has long inspired and resonated with cooks in home kitchens and, of course, in my industry. I can’t wait to get into the studio for what will be a great competition.”

MasterChef returns on Tuesday April 21 at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After the dramatic downfall of Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, the race for California governor is moving on.

Once a leading candidate to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, Swalwell suspended his campaign — then announced he would resign from Congress — following allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman. A lengthy lineup of remaining candidates is scheduled to gather Tuesday in Sacramento, their first public appearance together since Swalwell’s departure reshaped the wide-open contest.

Meanwhile, lawyers said a woman would detail new allegations of misconduct against Swalwell on Tuesday in Beverly Hills.

In a crowded race with no clear leader in the heavily Democratic state, Swalwell’s exit presents an opportunity for his one-time rivals to pick off former supporters just weeks before mail ballots go to voters in early May. The outcome of the June 2 primary election featuring more than 50 candidates is unpredictable.

Democrats have feared for months that the large field of candidates dividing the vote could result in the party being locked out of the November election, with only Republicans appearing on the general election ballot under a quirk in the state’s election rules.

Republicans, meanwhile, have yet to settle on a preferred candidate. President Donald Trump endorsed conservative commentator Steve Hilton, but Republicans at a state convention did not endorse a candidate for governor, with Hilton splitting support with Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff.

No clear beneficiary with Swalwell out

Swalwell’s decision to suspend his campaign Sunday followed allegations published in the San Francisco Chronicle and later by CNN. He remained defiant, saying, “I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.”

On Monday, he said he planned to resign from Congress but did not provide a date for his departure. He wrote on X that it was unfair for his constituents to have him distracted from his duties. He said he would continue to fight the allegations against him and added, “I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.”

It’s difficult to predict where Swalwell’s supporters will go, and it’s possible they could scatter across the field of seven established Democrats remaining in the race, with some voters losing interest in the contest.

Swalwell is perhaps best known nationally as a House manager in Trump’s second impeachment trial in early 2021, and he didn’t have strong ties to Democrats across the state outside his San Francisco Bay Area district.

Democrats have been struggling to find traction with voters.

Billionaire hedge fund manager-turned-liberal activist Tom Steyer has tapped his personal fortune to blanket media with ads. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is trying for a comeback after he flopped in a 2018 run for governor, and Katie Porter is among the leading Democrats after she fell short in a 2024 run for U.S. Senate.

Porter posted a line from a San Francisco Chronicle column on X saying “Democrats can pull victory from the jaws of defeat by coalescing around Porter.” Steyer said he secured the support of a handful of lawmakers, including Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat whose coastal district runs north of San Francisco, not far from Swalwell’s home turf. Villaraigosa pitched a new ad promising to lower gas and grocery costs in a state known for its punishing cost of living.

While Swalwell has suspended his campaign, his name cannot be removed from the ballot.

“Nobody has really caught fire,” said Democratic consultant Andrew Acosta, who is not involved in the campaign. Swalwell’s supporters “will scatter out to other candidates.”

Many Democrats hoped former Vice President Kamala Harris, or U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, would enter the contest, but they declined.

Lawmakers switch support

In Sacramento, a handful of state lawmakers quickly switched their support from Swalwell to Steyer. Democratic Assemblymember Nick Schultz said he believes Steyer will put in the work to form strong relationships with the legislature. Steyer’s business background — he has never held public office — means he’ll challenge the status quo, Schultz added.

Democratic Assemblymember Corey Jackson — who also shifted to Steyer — said he wanted to back a candidate who had a legitimate chance of winning. He said in a statement that he and Steyer shared a “commitment to building an economy rooted in dignity for working people.”

San Jose’s Democratic Mayor Matt Mahan, running for governor in his first statewide election, sought to distinguish his record from Steyer and Hilton, the Republican candidate known for hosting a show on Fox News for six years.

With Swalwell out, “now we have a field that’s got a billionaire who made his fortune investing in private prisons, ICE facilities, oil and gas companies … and a MAGA-backed TV commentator on the other hand,” Mahan said on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.”

“California deserves so much better,” Mahan said.

Swalwell’s swift downfall came amid rising pressure for him to leave Congress. He earlier lost the support of powerful labor unions that had backed his candidacy, along with one-time allies, including California U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Jimmy Gomez.

A stop site was also set up to target e-bikes, e-scooters and mopeds being driven in illegally in the area and being used for crimes, resulting in three arrests and a number of seizures, including a van with connections to drug dealing which contained nitrous oxide cannisters worth more than £3,000.

Pope Leo XIV, a studious and soft-spoken cleric, and Donald Trump, an unapologetically bellicose and pugilistic politician, have long been on a rhetorical collision course. Now their disagreement over the war in Iran has escalated in spectacular fashion, and their comments show how differently each see the conflict and its impact.

On social media, Trump said Leo was “Weak” and captive to the “Radical Left,” even suggesting that Leo somehow owed his position to Trump. The pope has declared Trump’s threats toward Iran “truly unacceptable” and pointed his flock to Biblical text and church doctrine on war and peace, explaining that his purpose is not about Trump at all.

“I’m not afraid of the Trump administration,” Leo said Monday on the way to Africa, “or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for.”

It’s an unusual spectacle involving the world’s two biggest megaphones, both held by Americans for the first time. Here is how they got to this point.

Before the papacy, Robert Prevost did not mince words

WHAT HE SAID: When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the future pope was a bishop in Peru. He did not shy away from assigning clear blame to Moscow. On a Peruvian show “Weekly Expression,” Prevost described an “imperialist invasion in which Russia wants to conquer territory for reasons of power given Ukraine’s strategic location.”

The clip resurfaced in Italian media soon after he was elected pope on May 8, 2025.

In early 2025, then-Cardinal Prevost used social media to share a news analyses that criticized U.S. Vice President JD Vance, a converted Catholic, for justifying harsh immigration policy by arguing that Christianity sets a pecking order of caring for others, putting one’s family, immediate community and fellow citizens above foreigners.

“JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” read the headline that the future pope shared.

CONTEXT AND WHY IT MATTERS: Catholic bishops comment often in their local media, and some achieve considerable influence. But they vary widely in how detailed they are about public policy and politics. Many stick to broad statements about church doctrine and values and avoid taking stands at odds with individual politicians. With his comments in Peru and then his rare retweet as a cardinal in Rome, Prevost showed he kept abreast of world affairs and was willing to be quite direct in his critiques.

Trump celebrated the ‘Great Honor’ of Pope Leo’s election

WHAT HE SAID: “Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope,” Trump posted on Truth Social on May 8, 2025. “It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”

Trump later said at the White House that “we were a little bit surprised and very happy” with Leo’s election.

By Monday, he was using Truth Social to take credit for Leo’s election: “He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Trump sees Leo in terms of nationalistic pride and loyalty. The immediate look toward meeting Leo (something that still hasn’t happened) reflected his typical embrace of power and celebrity, even when it isn’t a natural political fit. Further, Trump’s takes do not reflect any nuance about Leo’s origins or the Vatican’s relationship with the U.S.

The College of Cardinals historically has viewed the U.S. with some skepticism — specifically because of how Washington’s military and economic policy have affected the world, especially poor nations, and with a general reluctance to grant the papacy to someone from the world’s preeminent superpower.

Leo grew up, was educated and then ordained in the States but spent decades as a church leader elsewhere, including in poor areas of South America. “He was the least American of the Americans,” said Steven Millies, a professor at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union, where a young Leo earned his master of divinity.

From the start, Pope Leo reflected church teachings on war and peace

WHAT HE SAID: “Peace with you all … the first greeting of the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the flock of God.”

Those were Leo’s first words from the balcony of St. Peters. When he returned to the loggia for his first Sunday blessing, he addressed the Russian war on Ukraine and violence between Israel and Gaza, decrying a “third world war in pieces.” The following Monday, Leo opened an audience with journalists by quoting Jesus. “In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaimed: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” the pontiff said.

WHY IT MATTERS: Leo’s earliest statements all emphasized “peace” as a central message of Jesus — and previewed a likely theme of his papacy. Adding mentions of Ukraine, Russia, Israel and Palestine affirmed his willingness to go beyond theory and apply doctrine to what’s happening to people around the world.

The pope was careful about any US branding

WHAT HE SAID: Just as important as the words of his opening papal statements on peace were the languages the polyglot Leo used: None of them were English.

At his introduction to the world from St. Peter’s Square, Leo opened in Italian and then used Spanish to address Peruvian Catholics and citizens where he’d served. Leo’s Sunday blessing was in Italian. He briefly greeted the journalist assembly in English, with the obvious inflection of a Chicago native, but then quickly transitioned to Italian for his remarks. Even in recent encounters with reporters, Leo has opened in Italian before then answering in English.

WHY IT MATTERS: Latin and Italian are the official languages of the Vatican so it’s no surprise that Leo speaks the local vernacular. But it’s a conscious choice for the polyglot Leo to use his fluent Italian and Spanish. It underscores that he’s the leader of a global institution with 1.4 billion followers.

“He doesn’t want to be perceived, I think, as coming from the American side or as relying on his authority as American,” said Catholic University professor William Barbieri. “He wants to speak in the name of the church.”

Holy Week and Easter revealed a chasm

WHAT THEY SAID: Trump escalated threats to Iran around Easter, when Christians celebrate the story of Jesus’ resurrection. Leo used his Palm Sunday message to call Jesus the “King of Peace” and say God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’”

Trump welcomed conservative religious leaders to the White House for a Holy Week observance. His spiritual adviser Paula White compared the president to Jesus, saying they’re both persecuted figures who endured.

In Rome, Leo washed the feet of others, as the story of the Last Supper records Jesus doing for his disciples. Speaking to reporters, Leo named Trump directly for the first time and said he hoped the president would seek an “off-ramp” in Iran. On Easter, Trump threatened widespread bombing of Iran’s civilian infrastructure and eradication of a “whole civilization.” Leo called that threat “truly unacceptable.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Their starkly different viewpoints and personalities, combined with the gravity of the Iran war, finally stripped away any pretense or possibility that Trump and Leo could avoid engaging directly.

Trump is still treating Pope Leo as a domestic political rival

WHAT THEY SAID: In Trump’s post Sunday blasting Leo as “weak,” among other things, the president said, “I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.” He added that Leo should “focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”

Leo, meanwhile, said again that he’s not speaking as a politician.

“To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is,” Leo told The Associated Press aboard the papal flight to Algeria. “And I’m sorry to hear that but I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.”

WHY IT MATTERS: It’s all a rare exercise for the papacy, whose occupants often comment on global affairs without specifically naming secular politicians. And while Trump routinely lashes out at anyone he perceives as an enemy, these dynamics are uncommon for the president, too: This time, Trump is picking a fight with someone who does not accept the president’s terms and faces no measurable political pressure to do so.

The U.S. military says it carried out another strike Monday, killing two people on a boat accused of drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific.

The campaign against alleged drug vessels in Latin American waters, which has now persisted for over seven months, continues despite the U.S. military’s six-week focus on the Iran war.

It was the second consecutive day the U.S. Southern Command reported a strike.

A Sunday announcement detailed two boats destroyed Saturday in the eastern Pacific, killing five, with one survivor whose fate remains unclear.

Monday’s incident brings the death toll from the strikes to at least 170 since the effort began in early September.

This predates the January U.S. raid that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who faces drug trafficking charges in New York and has pleaded not guilty.

U.S. Southern Command repeated previous statements by saying it had targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs.

It posted a video on X showing a small boat floating in the water before a huge blast hit it and smoke was seen pouring from the vessel.

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives.

But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”

Trump on Monday appeared to reference the tactic of boat strikes in Latin America while issuing new threats against Tehran as a blockade of Iranian ports took effect.

“Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The standoff between the United States and Iran deepened Tuesday as the U.S. declared it had blockaded Iran’s ports, Tehran threatened to strike targets across the region, and Pakistan said it was racing to bring the sides together for more talks.

Though last week’s ceasefire appeared to hold, the showdown over the Strait of Hormuz risked reigniting hostilities and deepening the region-wide war’s economic fallout.

Talks aimed at permanently ending the conflict — which began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran — failed to produce an agreement last weekend, though Pakistan has proposed hosting a second round in the coming days.

Two Pakistani officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter with the media, said that the first talks were part of an ongoing diplomatic process rather than a one-off effort.

Two U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic negotiations, said on Monday that discussions were still underway about a new round of talks. They said that the venue, timing and composition of the delegations hadn’t been decided, but that talks could happen Thursday.

The war, now in its seventh week, has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as a great deal of shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region.

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,000 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

Blockade takes effect

The U.S. military said on Monday that the blockade applied to vessels going to and from Iranian ports. The blockade could restrict the passage of the few ships that Tehran considers friendly, which have been permitted to traverse the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran has curtailed maritime traffic since the start of the war.

Most commercial vessels have avoided the waterway amid Iranian threats, apart from the few allowed to pass through lanes between Iran’s islands and coastline.

Both the nature of enforcement and the extent to which ships will comply remained unclear during its first full day in effect on Tuesday. But there were early signs of hesitation — at least two tankers approaching the strait on Monday turned around shortly after it took effect, vessel tracker MarineTraffic said in a Monday post on X.

Iran’s effective closure of the strait, through which a fifth of global oil transits in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing, pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other basic goods far beyond the Middle East.

The blockade is intended to pressure Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil, mostly to Asia, since the war began. Much of it has likely been carried by so-called dark transits that evade sanctions and oversight, providing cash flow that’s been vital to keeping Iran running.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said that Iran’s control of the strait amounted to blackmail and extortion as the U.S. blockade took effect. He said in a social media post that Iran’s navy had been “completely obliterated,” but still had “fast attack ships.”

He warned that “if any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED.”

Iran threatened to retaliate against Persian Gulf ports if attacked.

“If you fight, we will fight,” Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a statement addressed to Trump.

Israel and Lebanon scheduled for talks

Meanwhile, direct talks between Israel and Lebanon were set to begin in Washington on Tuesday, the first such negotiations in decades.

Israel has pressed ahead with its air and ground campaign since last week’s ceasefire in Iran, insisting that it doesn’t apply to fighting in Lebanon. It has, however, halted strikes in the country’s capital since April 8, after a deadly bombardment that hit several crowded commercial and residential areas in central Beirut. It sparked an international outcry and threats by Iran that it would end the ceasefire.

After more than a year of near-daily strikes in southern Lebanon, Israel escalated its offensive in the early days of the war following Hezbollah launching rockets into Israel. The fighting has carved a path of destruction from agricultural towns near the border to Beirut, killing more than 2,000 people and displacing in excess of 1 million others, according to Lebanese authorities.

The talks are expected to be preliminary, focused on setting parameters rather than resolving core issues. Lebanese officials have pushed for a ceasefire, while Israel has framed the negotiations around Hezbollah’s disarmament and a potential peace deal, without publicly committing to halting hostilities or withdrawing its forces.

Israel wants Lebanon’s government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, much like was envisaged in a November 2024 ceasefire. But the militant group has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades and said on Monday that it won’t abide by any agreements that may result from the talks.

___

Sam Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee in Washington, and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations, contributed to this report.