International news from Wednesday, May 6th, 2026

Israel struck Beirut on Wednesday for the first time since agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last month, saying it targeted a commander of the group's elite Radwan force in the city's southern suburbs.

US President Donald Trump defended the rising cost estimates for his planned ballroom on Wednesday, saying the cost of the massive building on the White House complex would still be less than $400 million.

The United States and Iran are closing in on an agreement on a one-page memorandum to end the war in the Gulf, a source from mediator Pakistan and another source briefed on the mediation said.

Ukraine accused Russia of violating a ceasefire initiated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at midnight on Wednesday, with officials reporting one person killed and three wounded in frontline areas in the north and east of the country.

At least eight people died and 36 were hurt after a fire broke out in a shopping centre west of Tehran on Tuesday, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported.

Russian attacks throughout eastern Ukraine have killed at least 27 people on Tuesday, including 12 in one of the worst strikes so far this year, hours before a midnight deadline ushering in an open-ended ceasefire proposed by Kyiv.

A luxury cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak and marooned since Sunday off the coast of Cape Verde left for Spain on Wednesday, a Reuters witness said, after three people, two of them seriously ill, were evacuated.

US President Donald Trump has announced on Tuesday that he would briefly pause the operation to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, dubbed "Project Freedom", citing "great progress" towards an agreement with Iran, while the blockade remains in force.