Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Libby Casey.

Israel says it's ready for direct talks with Lebanon's government to try and end its conflict with Hezbollah.

But Lebanon doesn't control the Iranian-backed group, which rejects negotiations with Israel.

That standoff could threaten the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire ahead of talks this weekend in Pakistan.

NPR's Kerry Khan reports from Tel Aviv.

Iran's foreign ministry says it won't be involved in talks unless Lebanon is part of the deal.

Israel insists its fight with Hezbollah is not part of the two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran

and continues hitting Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Wednesday, Israel struck multiple targets, including in Beirut, killing more than 300 people.

President Trump says he told Israel's prime minister to pull back and speaking to NBC,

Trump said Benjamin Netanyahu is, quote, going to low-key it. Many Israelis, especially

northern residents, do not want Netanyahu to stop. And in a video message, Netanyahu told

them he is still hitting Hezbollah with, quote, Great Force. Carrie Khan and PR News, Tel Aviv.

Three NASA astronauts and one from the Canadian Space Agency are about to return home after an historic mission around the moon.

As NPR's Nell Greenfield-Boyce reports, their space capsule will hit Earth's atmosphere going nearly 24,000 miles per hour.

One of the Artemis 2 astronauts, Victor Glover, compared reentry to riding a fireball across the sky.

The outside of the crew capsule will be surrounded by superheated gases.

Temperatures will reach 3 to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

The capsule's heat shield is critical, and while NASA found some unexpected damage to the heat shield in an earlier

uncrewed test flight, officials say they're confident in the solutions that they implemented

before the Artemis II mission. If all goes as planned, parachutes will deploy and the capsule

will splash down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, California.

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