While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, April 9, 2026
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First responders standing amid rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's Corniche al-Mazraa neighbourhood on April 8.
PHOTO: AFP
Shaky US-Iran ceasefire in doubt; Israel pounds Lebanon
Israel pounded Lebanon with its heaviest strikes yet on April 8, killing hundreds of people and drawing a threat of retaliation from Iran, which said the attacks violated a ceasefire deal agreed with the United States a day earlier.
Iran and the US, meanwhile, laid out sharply contrasting agendas for talks that aim to forge a more durable peace in the region.
Those talks, due to take place in Pakistan on April 11, will be led by US Vice-President J.D. Vance and Iran’s Parliament speaker, Mr Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.
Both Iranian officials questioned whether the ceasefire could hold, saying the ceasefire agreement had been undermined by Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon, where Israel has been pursuing a parallel war with the Iran-aligned militia Hezbollah.
50% tariffs on nations supplying Iran with weapons
PHOTO: REUTERS
US President Donald Trump said on April 8 that imports from countries supplying Iran with military weapons will face immediate 50 per cent tariffs with no exemptions, threatening the new duties just hours after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire with Tehran.
After more than five weeks of air strikes against Iran’s missile launchers, military installations and weapons industry, Mr Trump returned to a favourite foreign policy pressure tool - tariffs - effectively warning China and Russia in a social media post against restocking Tehran’s military inventories.
But the US Supreme Court stripped the US president of his fastest and broadest tariff authority, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, in February when it ruled that his broadest global tariffs imposed under the 1977 law were illegal.
Nearly 5,000 Afrikaners take up Trump refugee offer
PHOTO: REUTERS
Nearly 5,000 white Afrikaners have entered the United States under a programme launched by President Donald Trump nearly a year ago based on unfounded claims that the South African minority faces persecution, a document seen by AFP on April 8 showed.
The Trump administration has essentially ended refugee admissions as part of a crackdown on immigration but made an exception for South Africa’s white Afrikaans community, descendants of the first European settlers.
All of 4,499 people listed as resettled across 48 US states between Oct 1, 2025, and March 31 this year were South Africans except for three Afghans, according to the document from the US Department of State’s Bureau of Population.
Lufthansa cabin crew to strike on April 10
PHOTO: REUTERS
Cabin crew at German airline Lufthansa will go on strike on April 10 over an ongoing labour dispute, their union said.
The walkout will run from 00:01 to 22:00 and will affect “Lufthansa group departures from Frankfurt and Munich airports”, the cabin crew union UFO said in a statement on April 8.
The German airline giant has been hit by a series of strikes this year, with both pilots and cabin crew walking out.
Warning after moon jellyfish found on Phuket beach
PHOTO: THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
The authorities have warned beachgoers and tourists to avoid touching moon jellyfish after around 20 to 30 were found floating near the surface and washed ashore along the beach at Siam Bay on Racha Yai in Phuket.
The alert was issued after the Upper Andaman Marine and Coastal Resources Research Centre was notified by officials from the Racha Islands protected area management unit.
The jellyfish were identified as moon jellyfish, or Aurelia sp, a common species whose venom is considered mild and not life-threatening. However, officials stressed that contact can trigger red rashes and skin irritation, particularly in people who are more sensitive to the sting.
