18 April 2026

Lithuanian army bomb disposal teams have collected 252 explosives across the country so far in April. Most of the finds were Second World War-era shells and other ordnance exposed by spring digging and construction work.

In Vilnius on Thursday, prosecutors charged Vilhelmas Germanas, Mindaugas Navickas and two others with large-scale fraud, document forgery and money laundering. Investigators link the case to crypto-mining equipment and financial transactions routed through a licensed Lithuanian financial institution, and the court will now test whether the alleged assets and transactions stand up. Police this week also detailed a scam that drained more than 35,000 euros from bank accounts. The Customs Criminal Service said separately that it made record drug seizures last year.

Lithuania’s employers’ confederation on Thursday urged parliament and the government to delay transposing the EU pay transparency directive. Business groups want a longer transition because the legal framework is still incomplete, while rules due from June 7, 2026 would widen pay disclosure and reporting to Sodra.

Kaunas’ Zalgiris has 20 wins after 37 EuroLeague rounds and has already secured a top-10 finish. If it holds a top-six place it would go straight to the quarter-finals, and this season’s EuroLeague prize money is already the biggest in the club’s history. Talk of a Final Four run rests on one of the league’s strongest defences, with Arnas Butkevicius and Sylvain Francisco also standing out in individual statistics.

LRT this week revived the 1995 murder case of journalist Vitas Lingys with archive footage of prosecutor Arturas Paulauskas. Paulauskas repeated that he had sought the death penalty for Boris Dekanidze and said the verdict followed a long covert investigation.

In Vilnius, a patient’s complaint after a doctor’s call put fresh attention on the use of artificial intelligence in primary care. The row broke out after he said he was not paying compulsory health insurance to be treated by a chatbot.

One person died in an apartment fire in Vilnius. The Lithuanian military said its explosive ordnance disposal teams neutralised 252 devices across the country in April.

Russia struck infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa and Chernihiv regions overnight, with Ukrainian officials saying energy facilities were among the targets. Odesa has faced repeated attacks in recent weeks on ports, power lines and transport links, and Kyiv is seeking more air-defence cover and repair support.

Drone strikes again hit Russian oil infrastructure over the past day, with major fires reported at sites in occupied Crimea and the Samara region. Ukrainian attacks on Russian industrial areas also killed at least one person. The ATESH partisan movement said it had disrupted power supply to a Russian rail hub. The Pentagon said today that support for Ukraine cannot rely on the United States alone. Volodymyr Zelensky said today that Moscow is again trying to draw Belarus into the war and use its territory to pressure Ukraine and Europe.

The Black Sea environmental disaster also remains in focus after mazut from the tanker spill reached Crimea’s coast near Feodosia, Alushta and Sudak. Dozens of dead marine animals were found after the spill, and some beaches remain under restrictions while a new damage assessment is carried out.

In Kyiv, a man opened fire on people in broad daylight and the shooting caused fatalities.

Iran said it is considering new U.S. proposals on the next steps in the region. Hungary announced its final election results, while international media increasingly assess a possible political shift in Budapest after Viktor Orban’s setback.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Iran’s navy was ready to defeat U.S. forces as Washington tightened its blockade on Iranian ports. Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy would keep blocking Iranian ports until Tehran accepts a nuclear deal and ceasefire terms. Iran’s joint military command said over the past day that the Strait of Hormuz was back under strict military control, while the Pentagon widened interdictions beyond the Persian Gulf.

Axios reported today that Trump’s public remarks on Iran unsettled parts of the Israeli government. Israeli officials were most concerned by hints of broader U.S. involvement after weeks of Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets. In Washington and Muscat, debate over the past 48 hours has shifted back to whether talks with Iran stay focused on the nuclear file or expand to Tehran’s regional proxies. Lebanese officials and Israel are already discussing Hezbollah’s disarmament, while the group remains Iran’s main source of leverage in Lebanon and on Israel’s border.

In China, property magnate Hui Ka Yan pleaded guilty to fraud today, with about $250 billion in debt still tied to his business empire. China’s economy posted a strong start to the year, but rising risks kept attention on vulnerabilities in the property sector. In Brazil, basketball great Oscar Schmidt died on Friday at 68. He spent 19 years with Brazil’s national team, played 326 games, averaged 23.6 points and had battled a brain tumour for 15 years.