24 April 2026

A court in Panevėžys on Friday remanded Justina Gaigalaitė, the former wife of murdered ambulance paramedic Mantas Sadauskas, in custody for two months and released Vilius Solkanas on 5,000 euros bail. Prosecutors in the same case are investigating murder, unlawful detention and illegal firearm possession, while new reporting has added details about how Sadauskas was killed and the involvement of minors. In Utena, police found a woman dead in a house on Thursday with signs of violence and detained an intoxicated male relative born in the 1980s. Prosecutors are now deciding on pre-trial detention as a homicide investigation proceeds.

Lithuania’s parliament on Friday stripped Saulius Skvernelis of immunity, clearing the way for prosecutors to bring bribery charges in the Agricultural Service case. Prosecutors say the investigation links him to at least 51,000 euros in suspected kickbacks channelled through his former aide Agnė Silickienė over decisions affecting the service and its then director Jurijus Kornijenko. Prosecutors are also seeking to press charges against Gintautas Paluckas, and President Gitanas Nausėda said he trusted law enforcement on that process.

Lithuania said on Thursday it will buy additional AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder missiles after the U.S. State Department approved the deal. The package could be worth up to $214 million, or about 183 million euros, and will reinforce NASAMS-based air defence and NATO’s ability to counter aerial threats. Police are also continuing a probe into expired food with falsified use-by dates reaching treatment and care facilities, in a scheme linked to goods worth more than 1 million euros. In Vilnius, the Kapitel site has passed to new owners who plan to build a bank headquarters there, parliament’s Culture Committee is continuing work on amendments to the LRT governance law, part of Lithuania’s solar and wind parks face possible grid disconnection after May 31, and Pigu chief Dainius Liulys said the company has moved from losses of about 2 million euros a month to near break-even.

Late in the evening, the biggest political development was a request to strip Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas of legal immunity and news that charges were brought against Saulius Skvernelis. Another significant late event was a storm warning, with forecasters saying a powerful system could disrupt transport and power supply across parts of Lithuania.

Odesa was hit again by Russian drone strikes today, killing at least two people, damaging residential buildings and starting fires in several districts. Rescue crews were searching for people under the debris, while the wider Odesa region has faced repeated attacks this week on civilian infrastructure and energy facilities. Ukraine and Russia exchanged 193 prisoners of war over the past day. In the Kherson region, Russian drones again targeted civilians today, and at least five people were killed in other strikes across Ukraine.

EU leaders used an informal summit in Cyprus yesterday to discuss new ways to curb energy prices and reduce reliance on external suppliers. After Hungary dropped its veto, Brussels was able to move forward talks on a €90 billion loan for Ukraine and a 20th sanctions package against Russia. A separate fuel-price comparison shows the cheapest fuel in the EU is currently in Poland and Malta. A leaked Pentagon email says the Trump administration is weighing punishment for NATO allies that do not back the war with Iran, including a possible suspension of Spain’s membership.

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Crete today, and Greek authorities are checking coastal areas and tsunami risk. In Moscow yesterday, Vladimir Putin acknowledged that Russia’s economy shrank 1.8% in the first two months of the year, while several regions have already started cutting budgets. Activists say seven torture chambers were set up for workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. In Marseille, scientists identified previously unseen structures resembling animal hides.

Polish fighters intercepted two Russian Su-30 aircraft over the Baltic Sea. The EU and the US signed a critical minerals agreement aimed at reducing dependence on China.

The United Nations said on April 24 that Israel’s military operations in Lebanon may amount to war crimes. The UN rights office cited civilian deaths and widespread destruction in the south, including damage to homes, water and sanitation networks, farmland, heritage sites and places of worship.

Iranian state television on Wednesday aired the first public message from new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, but he did not appear on camera. U.S. and Israeli strikes wounded him, and Tehran has still not disclosed his whereabouts. The U.S. military is drawing up a concentrated bombing plan if the fragile truce with Iran collapses. The option focuses on a limited set of military and nuclear targets, while the Pentagon is separately preparing possible strikes on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz. Donald Trump said on April 23 he was not considering nuclear weapons against Iran, and the White House is waiting for Tehran’s response to a new offer of talks on its nuclear programme.

The State Department on April 24 offered up to $10 million for information on Abu Ala al-Wala’i, the leader of Iraq’s Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada. Washington says the Iran-aligned group attacked U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq, U.S. military bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria, and killed Iraqi civilians.

The White House on April 23 accused China-linked actors of industrial-scale efforts to extract capabilities from U.S. frontier AI systems and copy them into rival models. Michael Kratsios said the campaigns use intermediaries and other tactics to avoid detection, and China’s foreign ministry rejected the allegations on April 24.

The White House said U.S. envoys are heading to Pakistan for talks with Iran. Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed defence cooperation in Saudi Arabia and later arrived in Azerbaijan for security and energy talks, according to a Kyiv official.