The PM, in office for almost two years, told his senior ministerial team during their weekly meeting that he wanted an "orderly" handover and whoever replaces him "to succeed". "The prime minister said he would seek to make the transition as easy as possible, giving his full support to whoever followed in his footsteps," a government readout of the meeting said.

Labour veteran Burnham, 56, is the overwhelming favourite to replace Starmer, despite only becoming eligible for the top job after winning a parliamentary by-election last Thursday. The ex-Manchester mayor was clapped and cheered as some 200 Labour MPs welcomed him back to parliament after a nine-year absence for his swearing in on Monday, hours after Starmer tendered his resignation. Starmer's official spokesman told reporters that meetings between Burnham's team and senior civil servants could begin before nominations to become Labour leader open on July 9.

Nominations close on July 16 and Burnham could be in 10 Downing Street by the following day if he is unchallenged. Former armed forces minister Al Carns told an event Tuesday that he wanted to hear Burnham's "vision" for the country before deciding whether or not to stand. "We'll see where we go from there," he added.

UK media reported that government minister Darren Jones was being encouraged to run by some MPs. A person close to Jones told AFP that he was keeping his options open until Burnham lays out more detailed plans for government, particularly on the economy, but that he considered a run "very unlikely". Burnham is due to begin setting out his policy platform next week with a speech on his economic plans.

Government minister Nick Thomas-Symonds echoed the views of many Labour lawmakers on Tuesday when he told Sky News that a "swift transition" was in "the best interests of the country". A contest would last for several weeks and could be bitterly divisive, but some MPs insist forcing Burnham to win a contest would add legitimacy to his premiership since he would have become prime minister without winning a general election.

The Labour party won a landslide victory at the July 2024 general election and is the biggest party in parliament, meaning its leader automatically has the right to be prime minister. Labour MP John Slinger told BBC radio that the public would think "we'd slightly lost our minds if we didn't go through a process where we subject people who aspire to the highest office in the land to completely normal scrutiny".

Fellow backbencher Nadia Whittome also called for a contest, telling the BBC that "candidates setting out their stall transparently" would make Labour and the government "stronger". Burnham's path to Number 10 looks clear after his nearest rival for the top job, Wes Streeting, announced on Monday he would not compete for the top job.

Any challenger would likely find it difficult to secure the support of the 81 of Labour's 403 MPs needed to join a race. "Andy has such a head of steam it would be quixotic," one Labour MP, who asked not to be named, told AFP, adding that a contest would be "hugely expensive and time-consuming". "We need unity now," he said.

Public health inspectors said on Tuesday they had started to implement guidelines issued by the education ministry this week prohibiting schools from providing food containing high levels of sugar, salt and fat. The ban means hot dogs, burgers, pizzas, doughnuts, ice cream, biscuits, flavoured milk, energy drinks, pastries, deep-fried snacks and even condiments such as tomato sauce are off the menu for the country's four million students.

"Poor eating habits among children directly contribute to the increase in nutritional problems and, later, to the rising incidence of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer," the ministry said in a statement dated Monday. There is no reliable data on juvenile diabetes, cancer or heart problems in Sri Lanka, but authorities say they know anecdotally that the numbers are rising. Twelve percent of schoolchildren between the ages of 13 and 17 were overweight, and another 3 percent were obese, as of 2024, according to government figures.

The ministry asked school managers to encourage students to eat rice, fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, eggs, natural fruit juice, fresh milk and tea or coffee with only small quantities of sugar. It provided recipes for "healthy and highly nutritious" menus prepared with locally available ingredients. Schools also may not permit advertisers of "unhealthy food" to sponsor events, according to a 122-page ministry guide seen by AFP. According to UNICEF, around 17 percent of Sri Lankan children under the age of five experience stunting due to malnutrition. About a quarter of the country's 22 million people lived below the poverty line in 2024, but the proportion will likely fall to about one-fifth this year, according to the World Bank.

They "agreed to maintain their dialogue on this issue through a joint working group between the two foreign ministries", the statement said. The working group was aimed at reaching "agreement on the future administration of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the services that will be provided in this regard and the costs associated with them in accordance with international standards", they said. The statement followed meetings in Muscat between top officials from the two nations.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf met Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq and Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi. Last week, Iran's foreign ministry said the country would impose what it called maritime service fees for crossing the strait. Ghalibaf has said the fees will come into effect after a 60-day period without charges that is stipulated in a memorandum of understanding signed with the United States.

The MOU states that Iran and Oman, which border the strait, will discuss its "future administration and maritime services" alongside other Gulf countries. The strait, through which roughly 20 percent of the world's crude oil and liquified natural gas normally transits, was closed by Iran after it came under fire from the United States and Israel. But Iran has since lifted its blockade as part of the deal signed with the US last week.

Prior to the memorandum of understanding, Oman had come under fire from US officials over reports it planned to charge joint tolls with Iran. US President Donald Trump has threatened that if Oman tries to control the waterway alongside Iran he will "blow them up". US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has also said he will sanction Muscat if it helps impose a tolling system. On Tuesday, Omani Foreign Minister Albusaidi said on X following his meeting with Araghchi and Ghalibaf that "we affirmed commitment to international law and toll-free safe passage".

Of those arrested so far, 185 are suspected of belonging to several far-left organisations, including the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), which has staged attacks in the past and has been branded a terror group by Ankara. The detainees also included Yildiz Tar, editor-in-chief of LGBTQ journal Kaos GL, the MLSA rights group said on X, while the Progressive Lawyers Association (CHD) said two of its lawyers were detained in Ankara and a third in Istanbul.

Newspaper Gazete Oksijen said an academic from Ankara University's economics department and a union official were also arrested. Erol Onderoglu of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced Tar's arrest as "unacceptable" and demanded his release, saying the summit was no justification for his "arbitrary" detention on security grounds. Authorities said the operations targeted multiple groups as part of broader security measures. In a post late on Monday, the Ankara governor's office announced a ban on all demonstrations from June 28 until the end of the summit in order "to ensure summit security and maintain public order". The summit is expected to bring together leaders from the military alliance's 32 member states.

The operator of the Eiffel Tower, a monument made of latticed steel girders, said the site would "exceptionally close" early on Tuesday at 4 pm (1400 GMT). During the high season, starting in mid-June, the tower is open from 9 am to 12:45 am. "Due to the high temperatures forecast, the Eiffel Tower will be adjusting its operations," said the operator.

It is "very likely" that the monument will close again early on Wednesday, the operator said, adding that visitors would be refunded for their tickets. Seven million tourists pay to visit the 324-metre (1,063-foot) tower each year. Unveiled in 1889 for the World Fair in Paris by engineer Gustave Eiffel, the "Iron Lady" has since become the French capital's symbol. Shortly after the Eiffel Tower announcement, the Louvre management said the world's most visited museum would from Wednesday to Saturday close two hours early at 4 pm due to the heatwave.

Soaring temperatures in Paris have made "visiting and working conditions difficult during the hottest hours of the day", the management said, noting that "it is at the end of the day that heat builds up most, exacerbated by high visitor numbers". Home to iconic pieces of art including Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa", the Louvre receives around nine million visitors a year.

It is housed in a vast palace in central Paris on the banks of the Seine River, built over centuries by various French monarchs and presidents. The management said on Tuesday the historic building is "vulnerable and is not sufficiently adapted to climate change". Its director Christophe Leribault warned last week the museum was "running out of steam" as it struggles to find funding to upgrade its ageing facilities.

The museum has faced a litany of problems that recently included a brazen $100-million jewellery heist, a water leak and other maintenance issues. Other tourist sites have also announced early closures or warnings as more than half of mainland France remains under the weather services' highest alert level. The most visited tourist attraction outside of the capital region, Mont Saint Michel island in Normandy, on Tuesday warned visitors to "put off your visit during the red alert".

At the G7 summit in France earlier this month, leaders -- including Trump -- agreed to increase pressure on the Russian "war economy" by strengthening sanctions, including on energy. Since returning to the White House in 2025, Trump -- who had pledged he would end the Ukraine war within a day of taking office -- has been pushing both sides to engage in negotiations. There has been little progress in the US-brokered shuttle diplomacy, with Kyiv refusing to give in to Moscow's demands to cede territory, limit the size of its army and renounce Western support. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions in Ukraine forced from their homes since Russia launched its full-scale offensive in February 2022.

In recent months Moscow has grown increasingly critical of Europe's role in supporting Ukraine and trying to stop Trump pushing Kyiv to accept a Russia- friendly peace. Speaking separately on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Europe was "openly" preparing for war through its massive rearmament programme -- which is being urged on by Trump. "Now in the West they openly say that they are preparing for war with us, and are increasing their military, offensive budgets," the Kremlin chief told a ceremony of newly-qualified military and law enforcement officials. In hawkish remarks he repeated Russia's call for Ukraine to fully withdraw from the eastern Donbas region and said his troops were on the brink of capturing the key fortified town of Kostiantynivka.

Putin also said an escalating wave of Ukrainian retaliatory hits on Russian infrastructure was designed to "shake-up society" and was being done with Western support -- his first such comments since a massive attack on Moscow set an oil refinery ablaze last week, pouring black smoke over the Russian capital.

"Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!). This will insure 'Nuclear Honesty,'" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, adding that bilateral negotiations are "going well."

"Based on this and other major concessions being made by Iran, I have agreed to allow the Hormuz Strait to remain OPEN, with no further Naval Blockade," he added.

He said, “We are moving toward economic liberalization through the signing of free trade agreements and pursuing deregulation policies. The main objective is to attract investment from different parts of the world. From our perspective, Malaysia is one of the key targets.” Mahdi, also prime minister's expatriates' welfare and overseas employment adviser, said, senior executives of five major Malaysian companies in the meeting with the Prime Minister and they discussed investment opportunities in Bangladesh.” 

He said, “Bangladesh has a large market base, and naturally there is significant consumer demand that the companies can help to meet.” Mahdi further stated that there are tremendous opportunities for employment generation in Bangladesh.  “On the one hand, our market demand is very high, and on the other, we have the capacity to provide a strong workforce. By combining the two strengths, we have assured potential investors that if they invest in Bangladesh, our government will provide policy support as much as possible and create a pro-business, pro-investment framework through deregulation.”

Before departing Malaysia for China, the Prime Minister met with top executives of the Malaysian business groups- Petronas Group, Axiata, AirAsia, Perodua, and MMC Group. Mahadi Amin highlighted the significance of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister’s visit to Malaysia. He said this visit has opened a new chapter in bilateral friendship.  In the meeting the Malaysian prime minister highlighted the unique historical, fraternal, and friendly relationship between Bangladesh and Malaysia. 

The leaders of the two countries held extensive discussions on how to further strengthen and deepen economic cooperation by expanding trade and investment based on mutual interests. Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Humaiun Kobir, Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Ruman, Deputy Press Secretary Jahidul Islam Rony and Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner in Malaysia Mosammat Shahanara Monica were present during the press conference. 

They were supposed to stay only briefly before returning to an independent country, as part of negotiations at the time between the Dutch government and Indonesia. However, the Dutch reneged on their promise to repatriate them and they were housed in dire conditions, with little attempt to find them jobs or integrate them into broader Dutch society. Unveiling a monument to commemorate that dark period of Dutch history, a visibly moved Jetten told hundreds of Moluccans gathered in Rotterdam that it was "high time" to apologise. "For the inadequate reception and housing. For being unseen and abandoned. For the unfulfilled longing for home. And for the grief and pain in so many families.

For this, I offer my apologies today on behalf of the Dutch government," said Jetten. The Ulu Kora monument was unveiled on the Lloydkade in Rotterdam, where the first ships transporting Moluccans arrived in the Dutch port. Those who were in the army were immediately discharged and many were sent to former concentration camps used to gather Jews in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. The 1970s saw a number of violent actions by second-generation Moluccans, who felt betrayed by the Dutch for failing to secure their independent homeland. "I realise the injustice cannot be suddenly removed with apologies. We cannot change the course of history and the reality of today with a few sentences," said Jetten. "But I do hope that the words I just spoke are perceived as a form of recognition and an act of historical justice for you," he told members of the community, many of them clutching family photos of first-generation Moluccans now dead.

The Swiss talks are the first since the United States and Iran signed a preliminary agreement last week to end their war and are expected to open a 60-day negotiation period to address long-running disputes, including Iran's nuclear programme and sanctions.

In a joint statement, the ministers called for a "swift and successful conclusion" to negotiations aimed at reaching a solution to outstanding issues that is "lasting, verifiable and mutually acceptable", while taking into account regional concerns, particularly the security and stability of Gulf states.

Saudi Arabia, which was hit by Iranian attacks during the conflict, joined mediator Pakistan alongside Turkey and Egypt in facilitating negotiations weeks into the Middle East war.

Washington announced a renewed ceasefire there later Friday -- a condition of its agreement with Iran -- but Israeli troops clashed again with Hezbollah fighters on Saturday, with each side accusing the other of breaking the truce. Citing a US "breach of contract" and "the Zionist regime's continuous and relentless violation of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon", Iran's central military command said "the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic."

The Revolutionary Guards' naval force warned vessels not to approach the waterway, saying "their security will be jeopardised". Hormuz, a key conduit for oil and gas shipments, was blockaded by Iran for much of the war, sending shockwaves through global energy markets. Tehran had agreed to reopen it under the preliminary accord signed this week by President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian, and shipping traffic had begun to recover.

US Central Command said after Iran's announcement that safe passage through the international waterway had "remained intact" and that US forces were "present and vigilant." Trump later warned that Washington could impose its own tolls on Hormuz if negotiators failed to complete the deal. There would be no tolls "unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America", Trump wrote on Truth Social.

An Iranian delegation left for Switzerland on Saturday afternoon, state media reported, with the official broadcaster saying it included parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the delegation would "demand implementation of the other party's commitments" under the deal. "Otherwise, the entire understanding will be in trouble," he said, according to official news agency IRNA.

US Vice President JD Vance departed Washington on an afternoon flight for Switzerland to join the talks. "I can only be there for a day or two. I think we're going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue. Those are the two big things that I think we're to be focused on. I'm sure the Iranians are going to have issues they'd like to discuss as well," he told reporters before boarding.

US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were already there handling "some of the technical elements" and had reported that "things are going well," Vance said in an interview with Fox News earlier Saturday. Mediator Pakistan -- whose interior minister was reportedly in Iran on Saturday for meetings with officials -- said "technical-level talks" were scheduled for Sunday in Burgenstock, Switzerland, with Pakistani and Qatari mediators joining US and Iranian representatives.

The talks are meant to open a two-month negotiation period on issues left unresolved by the initial accord, notably Iran's nuclear programme. Switzerland's foreign ministry confirmed unnamed foreign envoys there were "continuing their efforts to maintain the dialogue", but declined to give details. Israel and Hezbollah continued trading accusations Saturday as fighting persisted in the south. The Israeli military said one soldier was killed in combat, the fifth such fatality since the US-Iran deal was reached.

An Israeli army official later said the military had received orders from the country's political leadership to cease fire, adding that troops were "not conducting proactive strikes" but operating defensively inside a security zone. Earlier, an Israeli military official said fresh attacks were under way after Hezbollah "launched more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon" overnight. Hezbollah accused Israel of carrying out "under the cover of the ceasefire...an infiltration attempt towards the Ali Taher hills", a strategic feature overlooking Nabatieh, and said its fighters had responded "with appropriate weapons".

Lebanese state media reported Israeli air raids on around 20 location, with the country's civil defence agency saying 16 people were killed in the Nabatieh area. Lebanon's health ministry said seven more people were killed and 13 wounded in a strike near Sidon, and reported that the overall death toll from the fighting had surpassed 4,000. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said his group retained "the full right to confront this enemy when it attacks us". Israel's US ambassador Yechiel Leiter maintained it was Hezbollah that broke the truce, saying Israel was "defending itself against terrorist attacks".

Negotiations had been planned in Switzerland on Friday, but were postponed at the last minute as Israel carried out a wave of deadly strikes in Lebanon after four of its soldiers were killed in combat. Following more clashes, both Israel and Hezbollah have accused the other of violating the new truce that was part of the preliminary accord signed by the US and Iran this week. Vance said the situation in Lebanon was "actually getting better."

"It's going to be something we're just going to have to continuously manage to ensure that... Israel and Lebanon are both safe and secure," he said. "The big problem is that you have somebody will shoot and then somebody will respond, and you kind of have a chicken and egg problem where you've just got to stop the shooting for long enough to get the ceasefire to keep hold." US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were already in Switzerland handling technical elements of the talks, Vance said earlier.

Security issues have dominated a campaign marred by bomb attacks and the murder of a leading conservative presidential candidate in broad daylight in Bogota. De la Espriella, a dual US-Colombian national who calls himself "The Tiger," won May's first-round vote by promising to wage war on drug-running guerrilla groups who refused to sign a 2016 peace accord.

De la Espriella has won President Donald Trump's "complete and total endorsement" and hopes to ride a right-wing wave that has swept rightist candidates to power in Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Honduras. Cepeda is a 63-year-old philosopher-turned-senator and human rights defender and has been a key figure behind the current government's policy of negotiating "total peace" with armed groups. Cepeda is the son of a communist senator killed by right-wing paramilitaries and is the political heir to outgoing President Gustavo Petro -- who is constitutionally barred from running.

"Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir will participate in the High-Level Talks on the implementation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding," the Prime Minister's Office wrote on X, referring to the US-Iran deal to end the war.

Follow-up talks had been planned in Switzerland on Friday but were postponed at the last minute after Israel launched deadly strikes in Lebanon following the deaths of four of its soldiers in combat. Washington announced a renewed ceasefire there later Friday -- a condition of its preliminary agreement with Iran -- but Israeli troops clashed again with Hezbollah fighters on Saturday, with each side accusing the other of breaking the truce.

Citing a US "breach of contract" and "the Zionist regime's continuous and relentless violation of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon", Iran's central military command said "the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic". Hormuz, a key conduit for oil and gas shipments, was blockaded by Iran for much of the war, sending shockwaves through global energy markets. Tehran had agreed to reopen it under the preliminary accord signed by US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian, and shipping traffic had begun to recover.

US Central Command said after Iran's announcement that safe passage through the international waterway had "remained intact" and that US forces were "present and vigilant". Trump later warned that Washington could impose its own tolls on Hormuz if negotiators failed to complete the deal. There would be no tolls "unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America", Trump wrote on Truth Social.

An Iranian delegation arrived in Switzerland late Saturday, state media and the Swiss foreign ministry said. Iran's official broadcaster said it included parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the delegation would "demand implementation of the other party's commitments" under the deal.

"Otherwise, the entire understanding will be in trouble," he said, according to official news agency IRNA. Vance arrived at the Emmen Air Base in Switzerland on Sunday morning, having earlier said he could only stay "a day or two". US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were already there handling "some of the technical elements" and had reported that "things are going well", Vance said in an interview with Fox News earlier Saturday.

Pakistan, which has been helping to mediate, said Sunday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir had left for Switzerland to take part in high-level talks involving US and Iranian representatives and other mediators from Qatar. The talks are meant to open a two-month negotiation period on issues left unresolved by the initial accord, notably Iran's nuclear programme. Israel and Hezbollah continued trading accusations Saturday as fighting persisted in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military said one soldier was killed in combat, the fifth such fatality since the US-Iran deal was reached. An Israeli army official later said the military had received orders from the country's political leadership to cease fire, adding that troops were "not conducting proactive strikes" but operating defensively inside a security zone. Earlier, an Israeli military official said fresh attacks were under way after Hezbollah "launched more than 50 projectiles at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon" overnight.

Hezbollah accused Israel of carrying out "under the cover of the ceasefire... an infiltration attempt towards the Ali Taher hills", a strategic feature overlooking Nabatieh, and said its fighters had responded "with appropriate weapons". Lebanese state media reported Israeli air raids on around 20 locations, with authorities counting more than 30 dead. The overall death toll from the fighting in Lebanon had surpassed 4,000, the health ministry said. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said his group retained "the full right to confront this enemy when it attacks us".

Israel's US ambassador Yechiel Leiter maintained it was Hezbollah that broke the truce, saying Israel was "defending itself against terrorist attacks". But Hezbollah said Israel bore "full responsibility". Fadi Zayat, who fled the southern Lebanon town of Tayr Debba, told AFP that "fear dominates" the south. "We returned to the village a few days ago, but our bags are ready to flee again," the 53-year-old said. Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the wider Middle East conflict in early March when it fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. A previous ceasefire meant to take effect in Lebanon in April was never honoured, with each side justifying its attacks by citing alleged violations by the other.

Mediators in the conflict -- including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey -- were due to gather for talks in the Egyptian city of Alamein on Sunday to discuss the deal, Cairo and Islamabad said. Preparations had been made to host Iranian and US delegations at the Swiss resort of Burgenstock, overlooking Lake Lucerne, to begin negotiations on implementing the deal signed this week by President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that Tehran would deliver a "decisive response" in the event of "breach of contract" or "excessive demands". "They were once slapped during the war; if they wish to head on that path again, they will get an even harder slap," he wrote on X. The signing of the accord was intended to end the US-Israeli campaign against Iran -- which saw five weeks of all-out war until a ceasefire was struck in April -- and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping bottleneck whose closure caused global energy prices to rise.

The agreement also kicks off a 60-day period for talks on wider issues, including Tehran's nuclear programme. Ghalibaf and US Vice President JD Vance had been expected in Burgenstock along with Pakistani and Qatari mediators on Friday to commence the process. "The planned talks between the US, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan have been postponed," the Swiss foreign ministry said in a message to AFP.

"Switzerland remains ready to facilitate these talks. The relevant preparatory work at Burgenstock is continuing," it added, without providing a new date for the talks. It followed the announcement late Thursday from the White House that Vance's trip was cancelled, with a spokesperson saying the "logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable".

"We look forward to beginning technical talks as soon as possible." The deal was also meant to halt the fighting in Lebanon, but Israel's military announced on Friday new strikes against Hezbollah targets, with 18 people killed, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Israel also said that four of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, the first since the deal was signed.

The soldiers' deaths prompted a furious reaction from far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who demanded that "all of Lebanon must burn". Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that he had approved the accord, despite holding a "different view". "But I issued my permission due to the commitment" made by officials including Pezheshkian to "protect the rights of the Iranian nation".

Khamenei -- who has yet to be seen in public since succeeding his father, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes -- said Trump had "used all kinds of levers" to secure the deal "out of desperation". American forces on Thursday lifted their naval blockade of Iranian ports that had prevented ships from sailing to or from the Islamic republic, the US military said, noting that American warships "will remain in the general area".

But activity was still muted in the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic bottleneck for energy shipments that Iran blockaded during the conflict. Iranian state TV, citing a statement from the country's Supreme National Security Council, said that ships "seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz must submit their request" to a new government body tasked with overseeing the waterway. Under the text of the deal, Washington commits to immediately waive oil sanctions crippling Iran's economy.

And once a final agreement is reached on Iran's nuclear programme, the United States will facilitate the release of a $300 billion reconstruction fund supported by regional nations, the deal says. Trump's decision to end the war, in which 13 US service members were killed and a vast proportion of US ammunition stockpiles was used, has unsettled some of his allies at home. But Trump argued that using military force to wring more concessions out of Tehran would have been counterproductive.

"The only way I can get tougher is if I go in there for another two or three weeks and continue to bomb the hell out of 'em. Right? But what does that get us? The Strait of Hormuz will not be open," he told Axios.

"If the enemy seeks to be excessive, we have proven that our fingers are on the trigger and we have no hesitation in giving a crushing response to the enemy." Tehran and Washington signed a memorandum of understanding this week ending a regional war that erupted on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Ghalibaf's remarks came after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said he had approved the US-Iran deal despite having a "different view" on the matter, without elaborating.

In a message read out on state television, Khamenei said that direct talks with the United States "will not mean accepting the enemy's point of view". In response to Khamenei's message, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the country's foreign policy apparatus "will be used to secure the sublime interests of Iran" and "protect the rights of the noble Iranian nation". President Masoud Pezeshkian, who signed the deal on behalf of his country, issued a similar statement promising to adhere to Iran's red lines and defend its "dignity, honour and authority".

The US-Iran deal, which US President Donald Trump also signed, lays the groundwork for detailed 60-day negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme and sanctions relief. It remains unclear when talks for a final settlement would start after a first meeting in Switzerland slated for Friday was postponed. The agreement provides for an end to the Middle East war on all fronts, including Lebanon, the lifting of the two-month US naval blockade on Iranian ports, and Tehran's reopening of the Strait of Hormuz "with no charge for 60 days only".

It also includes an Iranian commitment not to procure or develop nuclear weapons -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied pursuing. Conservatives in Iran appeared deeply sceptical of the deal and US intentions, with some expressing concern that Tehran could be giving up key sources of leverage before securing compensation and sanctions relief. "The Americans do not honour to any commitments, they have not been loyal to any agreements, and they will not be," said Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of the ultraconservative Kayhan newspaper, in an interview with state television on Thursday.

He added: "the Strait of Hormuz is the way to get compensation." Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for parliament's national security commission, took issue with reports of possible inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities by a UN watchdog. "I hope the government denies this, but if this claim is true... the parliament will stand up to lawlessness and disobedience," he said in a post on X.

When the Sun burns through all of the hydrogen in its core, it will go through two immense expansion phases: first becoming a red giant, then, when its helium is spent, an "AGB" star. This fiery death will bring about some significant changes back here on Earth. As the Sun grows, increasing gravitational forces will pull the Earth towards it. For the Earth and the Moon, this force creates the push and pull of the tides in our oceans. The energy from these tides, which dissipates at the bottom of the ocean, slows Earth's rotation and gradually pushes the Moon away from us. As the Sun expands and its blistering surface approaches Earth, intense tidal waves will stir within the star. When they dissipate, it will pull Earth into its doomed embrace.

However, the growing Sun will also lose a lot of its mass due to stellar wind, which pushes our planet further away. "Earth's fate depends on a delicate balance between these two effects," explained Mats Esseldeurs, the lead author of a study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on Friday. "If tidal interactions predominate, Earth is engulfed by the Sun. If the Sun's mass loss predominates, Earth escapes into an orbit larger than the radius of its star," the astrophysicist at Belgium's University of Leuven said in a statement.

Until now, scientists had favoured the first hypothesis. However their calculations relied on relatively simple descriptions of tidal dissipation within giant stars. Advances made in modelling these tides over the last 15 years have enabled the study's authors to show that "the dissipation is lower than previously expected", Stephane Mathis, an astrophysicist at the CEA Paris-Saclay centre in France, told AFP.

To estimate how much mass the Sun could lose, the team focused in particular on a nearby star called L2 Puppis that is like the Sun's "old cousin", the study's co-author said. "A better understanding of tidal physics and the most advanced constraints we have on mass loss allow us to say that -- in the current state of knowledge -- Earth could move away from the Sun, contrary to what was predicted before," Mathis said.

According to the new modelling, Mars also escapes a death spiral into the Sun. But the two planets closest to the Sun, Mercury and Venus, are not so lucky. They will be inexorably swallowed by the expanding fireball. After all this, the Sun will eventually become an extremely dense star called a white dwarf. No longer capable of fusion reactions, it will slowly become dimmer and cooler over time.

He sought to make a virtue of his more measured approach, contrasting what he saw as his pragmatic managerialism with the ideological bombast of previous Tory prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. "There's no such thing as Starmerism and there never will be," the man himself is said to have told colleagues, according to "Get In", a book about his leadership of the Labour party written by journalists Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund.

But soon after entering Downing Street, he struggled to be the safe pair of hands he had portrayed, while his lack of ideology and charisma has left him struggling to sell a story of where he is taking the country. He insisted on Friday that "there's more to do and that's what I'm focusing on" as he faced further calls from some of Labour's approximately 400 MPs to step down to avoid a bitter leadership challenge from Burnham and possibly other contenders. - Successful career - Starmer, born on September 2, 1962, was raised in a small semi-detached house on the outskirts of London by a seriously ill mother and an emotionally distant father who loved animals and rescued donkeys. After university, he enjoyed a successful career as a human rights lawyer and chief state prosecutor which led to him being knighted by then Queen Elizabeth II. A keen flautist and Arsenal fan, Starmer became an MP in 2015, succeeding left-winger Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader five years later, following the party's worst general election defeat since 1935. He showed his ruthless side by purging Corbyn, targeting antisemitism and moving the party back to the more electable centre ground, delivering Labour's biggest election victory in over two decades. On becoming UK leader, Starmer pledged to "fix" Britain after years of sluggish growth, a cost-of-living crisis and public services hollowed out by Tory austerity measures.But he cautioned the road to recovery would be "long and difficult". - Troubles - His premiership got off to a bad start when his government announced a hugely unpopular policy to remove winter fuel payments from millions of elderly people, which had not been in Labour's election manifesto. He later backtracked.

Starmer was also forced into a humiliating climbdown on reforming welfare benefits, backed down in a row with farmers over inheritance tax and angered businesses for increasing a payroll tax and the minimum wage. The early months were also dominated by anger over a free gifts row, while in September 2025, Angela Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister for underpaying a property tax. That same month, Starmer sacked Peter Mandelson as his ambassador to Washington over the depth of the envoy's friendship with late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The appointment, for which Starmer has apologised, led to the departure of two of his closest aides and the most senior civil servant in the foreign ministry. Starmer himself has refused to quit but the scandal haunts him, contributing to a series of humiliating local election results for Labour in May that renewed calls for his departure. - Burnham challenge - While Starmer has been praised for standing up to US President Donald Trump over the Iran war and maintaining European support for Ukraine, he has struggled to fend off support at home for both the left-wing Greens and the populist, hard-right Reform UK party, led by firebrand Nigel Farage.

A key by-election victory on Friday paved the way for an expected leadership challenge from popular Labour veteran Burnham, who decisively beat a Reform candidate on his home soil in the north of England. Starmer has one of the lowest popularity ratings ever among prime ministers at just 19 percent, according to a YouGov poll. On Friday, Starmer vowed not to "walk away" as leader, saying he would run in any leadership contest but warning that this would plunge the country "into chaos".

There were no further deaths during the outbreak -- and all 12 confirmed hantavirus cases were passengers on the ship. With the last remaining passengers soon to leave quarantine, AFP answers key questions about an episode that again highlighted the risk viruses in animals pose to humans. Almost all the passengers of the Dutch-flagged ship quarantined in the Netherlands have been allowed to return home, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. In France, four people quarantined in hospital are set to be released on Sunday. A fifth passenger who became seriously ill will stay in intensive care, however her condition has improved, according to French health authorities.

In other countries, people are also set to leave quarantine -- in Australia, six passengers are scheduled to be set free on Tuesday. There have been no new cases reported in the outbreak for more than three weeks. Given the incubation period for the virus has passed, "the episode can likely be considered over," Nicole Tischler, president of the International Society of Hantaviruses, told AFP. The 12 confirmed cases -- and another considered likely -- pale in comparison to the tens of thousands of hantavirus infections recorded worldwide every year.

However, most of those cases involve humans getting infected while in close contact with a rodent. The concerning factor about the cruise ship outbreak was that the virus was transmitted between humans. The Andes strain that spread on the ship is the only form of hantavirus known to do this, however documented outbreaks have been very rare.

This raised the spectre that the nearly 150 people on the ship could spread the disease in their home countries. This did not happen. The only instances of human-to-human transmission were in the tight confines of the ship -- and even then appear to have been limited. "The conditions were really an accelerator for virus particles," French infectious disease specialist Xavier Lescure told a press briefing on Thursday.

This was evidence that the risk of transmitting hantavirus between humans remains "low," he added. The cases also did not show any "particular novelty" compared to the infections regularly recorded in parts of the Americas, Lescure said. The sudden global spotlight on hantavirus has however spurred some progress in understanding the virus, for which there is no treatment.

"The event highlighted how little is known about the precise timing of infectiousness; specifically whether transmission occurs only after symptom onset or may begin in the days beforehand," Tischler said. She hoped more would be revealed about how the infected people came in contact on the ship. Perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle still missing is how the first person became infected.

It had been thought that a passenger on the ship caught the virus while travelling in regions of Argentina where it is endemic. However the country's health ministry announced last week that an investigation in a second Argentine province had failed to find any virus-carrying rodents. With memories lingering of the Covid-19 pandemic, some countries swiftly enforced a strict six-week quarantine for the ship's passengers and contact cases.

Other nations, such as the UK, allowed passengers to isolate at home. Some of those placed in mandatory quarantine have spoken out. In the United States, passenger Angela Perryman told CNN this week she felt like a "hostage" after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy overruled an expert's recommendation to release her. Experts have observed that this episode has again illustrated the risks of zoonotic diseases, which are transmitted from animals to humans. Some other examples include Covid and mpox, as well as mosquito-borne scourges such as malaria, chikungunya and dengue.

He also suggested that Meloni might be "happy that I talked to her, I didn't have to talk to her". Meloni called what Trump said "made up", adding: "Neither I nor Italy ever beg." "I don't know why the president of the United States behaves this way with his own allies," the far-right leader wrote on X. "I can only say that it's a pity he doesn't show the same determination with enemies of the West, with enemies of the United States, with leaders with whom, instead, he is far more accommodating," she said.

At the end of the G7 summit in Evian on Wednesday, Meloni had spoken of a "very positive climate" and "no friction" between Trump and other world leaders present. Meloni has positioned herself as a bridge between Europe and the Trump administration, but the relationship came under strain during the Middle East war. Trump turned on Meloni in April after she defended Pope Leo XIV from the US president's harsh criticism of the pontiff's anti-war views.

Meloni condemned Trump's remarks as "unacceptable" -- prompting the president to turn his fire on her. "I'm shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong," the US president said in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera at the time. He accused Meloni of failing to help the United States with NATO. Trump has threatened to pull US troops from Italy, saying Rome "has not been of any help to us" in the Iran war.  

The heatwave prompted 784 primary and secondary schools out of the country's 60,000 teaching establishments to adjust their hours, including 150 that closed completely, said Education Minister Edouard Geffray. France's national weather agency has warned the heatwave would be "widespread, prolonged, and intense". Temperatures were expected to peak at around 40C in some regions between Sunday and Tuesday.

Although astronomical summer does not begin until Sunday, this is already France's second heatwave this year, following an unusually hot spell in May that shattered records across half the country. France experienced its hottest spring this year since records began in 1900, with the average nationwide temperature over March to May around 1.7C above the norm. Scientists warn that heatwaves in Europe are becoming more frequent as a result of climate change.

"However, I have seen a response that is growing stronger every day," she told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Bunia, the capital of the DRC's Ituri province. The outbreak was declared on May 15, though transmission had been going undetected for some time. It is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is no vaccine.

There have been 896 confirmed cases so far in the DRC, including 232 confirmed deaths, with 21 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to the latest WHO update. More than 90 percent of known cases in the DRC have been in Ituri, a province racked by conflict. The outbreak has also spread to North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. Belizaire said the epidemic was evolving so quickly that the response was racing to keep pace with the virus, which spreads by close contact and infected bodily fluids.

The number of treatment beds available for Ebola patients had gone from zero to more than 500, she said. And surveillance teams were now investigating nearly 400 alerts, and were capable of administering more than 2,000 tests a day, she added. Belizaire also highlighted that efforts to trace contacts of known Ebola cases had ramped up, with 75 percent of all contacts now being reached.

The WHO has said 95 percent of contacts must be traced to get on top of the outbreak. In neighbouring Uganda, the only other country hit, there have been 19 confirmed cases including two deaths, and 10 recovered patients. Uganda has reported no new cases for 12 days.

"Intensive" strikes across Lebanon's south killed 18 people and wounded 33, the country's health ministry said, while in the eastern Baalbek area another three people were killed, with six wounded. Video from AFPTV showed hundreds of cars packing roads in the city of Saida as people attempted to flee southern areas. Israel's military said it hit scores of targets overnight and into the morning.

"The IDF (military) struck more than 80 command centres, terrorists, launch positions, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites in the area of Nabatieh and additional areas in southern Lebanon," an army statement said. "During the strikes, dozens of Hezbollah terrorists operating in the command centres were eliminated." Iran-backed Hezbollah, meanwhile, said it was attacking Israeli forces around the southern town of Nabatieh.

It vowed to defend Lebanon's territory and people, accusing Israel of violating a ceasefire and denying it had itself broken the truce. The group said "the enemy has never complied with any ceasefire agreement". A truce meant to have taken effect in April did little to stop attacks from either side. Israeli strikes also targeted the Baalbek region in the east of Lebanon, which had been largely spared since the start of the conflict on March 2. Israel said its strikes in Baalbek and the Bekaa Valley were in response to "repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah". Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned Israel's latest attacks, saying they "constitute a dangerous escalation" and undermined "ongoing efforts to consolidate the ceasefire and end the war".

Earlier the Israeli military had announced that Lieutenant Colonel Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon had "fallen in combat" along with three other soldiers whom it did not immediately identify. Israeli military correspondents reported the four were killed when a tank was hit by "a suspected drone or anti-tank missile". In a separate statement the military also reported that a reserve officer was severely wounded by a drone attack, with four other soldiers lightly injured. The soldiers' deaths prompted a strong response from Israeli politicians.

"With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not up for bargaining. All of Lebanon must burn," Ben Gvir said in a statement. "For every tear shed by an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep," he added. In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel of wanting "permanent war".

"This is not a rant by a random genocidal lunatic. It's a public post by the national security minister of the Israeli regime," he said in a post on X. US officials including President Donald Trump have expressed frustration at Israel's campaign in Lebanon, which it has pursued in spite of Washington's negotiations with Tehran. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Israeli troops will stay in Lebanon "as long as necessary", vowing to make Hezbollah pay a "heavy price" for its attacks.

Hassan Tarhini, 57, forced to flee his home in the Nabatieh area with his wife and children after the latest fighting, told AFP that "we have no problem being displaced once, twice, or even 10 times, so long as we return with our heads held high". "Even if Israel were to keep bombing from now until Judgement Day, we would remain committed to the same conviction and would not back down, even if thousands of martyrs fall."

Hezbollah said early Friday that it had targeted Israeli troops "with a barrage of rockets and mortar shells" near the Ali al-Taher hills, a strategic feature overlooking Nabatieh. It also reported attacking Israeli tanks, saying forces "consisting of an armoured platoon and an infantry platoon (tried) to infiltrate towards the northern side of the Ali al-Taher hills". "The clashes are still ongoing," it said.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in early March by attacking Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader at the start of the US-Israeli military campaign. Israel retaliated with broad strikes across Lebanon and a ground invasion in the south, which borders Israel and has long been under Hezbollah's sway.

- Permanent end to hostilities -

The United States, Iran and their respective allies "declare an immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon".

They undertake "not to initiate any war or any military operation against each other and to refrain from the threat or use of force against each other, and ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon".

- Final agreement within 60 days -

Iran and the United States commit to "negotiating and achieving the final deal in maximum 60 days, extendable with mutual consent".

- Lifting US blockade -

The United States will "immediately" begin the removal of its blockade of Iranian ports, which it imposed on April 13, and will bring it to an end within 30 days.

The United States also undertakes to "remove its forces from the proximity of the Islamic Republic of Iran within 30 days after the final deal".

- Reopening the Strait of Hormuz -

Iran will make best efforts to ensure the "safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge, for 60 days only, from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman, and vice versa. The traffic of commercial vessels will immediately start" and be fully restored within 30 days, once the Hormuz Strait has been cleared of mines.

- $300 billion plan -

The United States and its regional partners will draw up a plan with "at least" $300 billion "for the reconstruction and economic development" of Iran.

- Lifting sanctions -

The United States undertakes to "terminate all types of sanctions against" Iran, and to "make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran upon the implementation of this MOU".

The US Treasury will "issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products and derivatives, and all associated services, including banking transactions, insurances, (and) transportation" with immediate effect, until the sanctions are lifted.

- Nuclear -

Iran reaffirms that "it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons".

The disposition of Tehran's enriched uranium will be resolved by "a mechanism that will be mutually agreed upon... with the minimum methodology to be down-blending on site under the supervision of the IAEA".

Pending the final deal, Iran will "maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program", and the United States "will not impose any new sanctions, and will not deploy additional forces in the region".

- Signing -

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who was involved in the mediation, said the memorandum was electronically signed on Thursday, Islamabad time, by US President Donald Trump and Iran's leader Masoud Pezeshkian.

A ceremony will be held in Switzerland on Friday to "commemorate this landmark event and commence with the technical level talks", according to Sharif.

- UN resolution -

The final agreement will be endorsed by a binding resolution of the United Nations Security Council.

The United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday meant to end the Middle East war, with fighting halted on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Lebanon was drawn into the conflict when Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in support of Iran.

Lebanon earlier said Israel's massive campaign of airstrikes and ground invasion has so far killed more than 3,800 people. Israel's side saw 31 soldiers and one civilian contractor killed since March 2.

Pollsters expect Burnham to win the historic contest to represent the Makerfield constituency in northwest England, but he faces a tough fight from the hard-right Reform UK party. "Almost undoubtedly it's in the hands of the voters of Makerfield as to whether or not Burnham becomes prime minister," political scientist John Curtice.

"If Burnham does win, his path to 10 Downing Street looks to be relatively assured. If they deny him the opportunity, it may be that Starmer will survive, at least for the time being," he told AFP. Starmer, in power since July 2024, has been clinging to power by his fingernails since Labour suffered a drubbing in local and regional elections last month. He has been rocked by several policy U-turns and a scandal over his appointment of ex-Jeffrey Epstein associate Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to Washington.

The 63-year-old prime minister has endured several ministerial resignations and rock-bottom personal poll ratings, with Reform leading national surveys for over a year. But Starmer, an ex-lawyer who has refused to quit, insists his landslide election victory over the Conservatives 21 months ago gives him a five-year mandate to govern. Impatience within the centre-left Labour party ramped up in May when Labour MP Josh Simons announced he would stand down so Burnham could try to return to parliament and run for leader.

While Makerfield's 76,000 electorate typically votes Labour, Simons won a majority of only around 5,300 at the 2024 general election. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, also won every council ward in the predominantly white, working-class area during last month's council polls. But the personal popularity of Burnham -- a three-term mayor of Greater Manchester nicknamed the "King of the North" -- is likely to see him triumph over Reform candidate Robert Kenyon, polls predict.

Local plumber Kenyon has also been dogged by offensive remarks he previously made about women, while the fringe Restore Britain party is expected to split the hard-right vote. The polls open at 7:00 am (0600GMT) and close at 10:00 pm, with counting to begin straight away. In Ashton-in-Makerfield, 61-year-old Hazel Ellis told AFP she planned to vote for Reform.

"I'm willing to give them a go because this is the last hope for Britain now," she said. In nearby Bryn, twenty-three-year-old Finn Knowles told AFP Burnham was "a better option" than Starmer. "He doesn't really know what he wants to do," the pub worker said of the prime minister. Burnham, who polls show is Labour's most popular politician, hails from the party's so-called soft-left wing and has been an outspoken critic of Starmer's more-centrist rule.

Under Labour party rules, leadership candidates must be an MP, which Burnham was between 2001 and 2017. He would easily muster the support of 81 of Labour's 400-plus MPs needed to launch a contest, which Starmer has vowed to fight. Burnham allies are hopeful Starmer's top ministerial team could persuade him to lay out a timetable for his departure instead, avoiding a bitter contest.

On Wednesday, the prime minister tried to ward off the expected challenge by insisting he wants Burnham to play "a big role" in his government. If Burnham wins in Makerfield, it is unclear when he would make his move against Starmer, particularly when a tricky defence of his vacated mayoral seat would loom for Labour. Ex-health minister Wes Streeting, also manoeuvring for the top job, said Tuesday the prime minister should be given "space over the weekend" to consider his future.

Streeting, from Labour's right wing, has vowed to challenge Starmer if Burnham loses. That could see a left-wing figure like Angela Rayner or Ed Miliband joining any race, Labour's former policy director Andrew Fisher told a think-tank event this week. The outcome of a "three-way contest is far less predictable," he said.

Kyiv has stepped up its drone strikes on Russia in recent months, hitting oil refineries that fund Moscow's war chest, as diplomatic talks on ending the more than four-year conflict remain stalled. "Air defence forces are continuing to repel a large-scale attack. Several drones managed to reach the MNPZ (Moscow Oil Refinery)," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram, with authorities closing traffic on streets near the refinery.

He did not specify damage to the facility, but several Russian media outlets reported that it was on fire. Russia's busiest airport -- Moscow's Sheremetyevo -- announced it had evacuated passengers to "safe locations" during the barrage and was restricting flights. Another drone crashed into an apartment building in the Moscow region district of Zhukovsky, while drone debris sparked a fire at a shopping centre near the capital's suburbs, Moscow region governor Andrey Vorobyov said.

Russian air defences shot down 180 drones on approach to Moscow, Sobyanin said, while the Russian defence ministry reported it had intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones overnight. The attack was the largest on Moscow in at least two years, Russia's state TASS news agency reported. Since the war began in 2022, Russia has pummelled Ukraine with near-daily aerial barrages of drones and missiles.

The attack came just hours before Putin was set to host Southeast Asian leaders at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the central city of Kazan. Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore sent their prime ministers, while the Philippines sent President Ferdinand Marcos. Putin has long sought to project stability in Russia, despite the economic and social effects of his four-year offensive on Ukraine.

Russia's economy -- on a war footing throughout the conflict -- is struggling with high inflation, a labour shortage and high borrowing costs. The advance of forces on the Ukrainian battlefield has slowed this year, while Kyiv has multiplied attacks on Russian soil. At a summit of the G7 in France earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said Moscow should "make a deal" to end the Ukraine war.

Putin has repeatedly refused offers for face-to-face talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying that Moscow intends to capture Ukraine's eastern Donbas region by force. Russia's 2022 offensive on Ukraine has become Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, with hundreds of thousands killed and large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine ravaged by fighting.

But Trump's return to the United States on Thursday is set to bring him back to reality, with a barrage of criticism expected from both opponents and supporters of the conflict. Even Fox News, the usually Trump-friendly news channel, cited critics who said the agreement gave Iran "huge financial benefits" without requiring the dismantlement of its nuclear program.

The deal is only a temporary arrangement meant to give time for starting detailed negotiations on the far more complex issue of long-term control over the nuclear power ambitions of Iran, which Washington has long suspected of harboring a secret bomb-making program. Once a final agreement is reached on the Islamic republic's nuclear program, the United States will facilitate the release of a $300 billion reconstruction fund supported by regional nations, according to the deal.

Messaging from Trump's inner circle looks unlikely to sway Fox News in giving significant airtime to criticism of the deal. "Despite the administration portraying the agreement as a breakthrough, critics have argued that the concessions offered to Iran far outweigh the commitments secured in return," Fox said. Left-leaning US TV network MS NOW put it this way: "The White House agreed to this ceasefire extension that met none of its prewar objectives while providing enormous financial concessions to Tehran."

"Now, the administration is desperately trying to argue otherwise. Quite simply, Trump got played by the Iranians, and no one is buying his spin job." The agreement is "widely seen as the biggest foreign-policy bet of the president's second term," according to the Wall Street Journal, which noted Trump "will face resistance from Iran policy hawks who say the president is giving up far more than he is getting."

Even the signing of the deal appeared to fall into disarray, with the business daily reporting that Trump inked the agreement for a second time on Wednesday night, surprising some of his aides and derailing plans for a signing ceremony later this week. The New York Times, meanwhile, said Iran could emerge from the conflict with "much to celebrate," noting that the agreement "read nothing like a surrender document."

The Islamic republic "proved they can use economic chaos as a weapon," the Times said. At the start of the conflict, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Tehran on February 28, Trump spoke of the possibility that the Iranian regime could collapse. "If anything, Mr. Trump has propped up the new leadership," the newspaper said. Worse still, Tehran could be closer than ever before to pushing for a nuclear weapon, it added.

"For more than two decades Iran walked right up to the edge of building a nuclear bomb, but never stepped over the line," the Times said. "When Iran's leaders begin to clear the rubble left by 40 days of bombing, and think about how to spend the billions in oil revenue that will soon resume, they may well question whether they had the right nuclear strategy." National Public Radio (NPR) -- whose funding Trump tried to cut before a judge blocked his order -- stressed the human toll of the war, which "pitted the world's most powerful military against a far weaker, yet strategically adept, adversary."

"The resolution sets the minimum age for social media use at 15 years," the official WAM news agency said, citing the cabinet resolution. "Children below this age are prohibited from creating, using, or operating personal accounts on social media platforms." They are also barred from "accessing the full features of such platforms, including social interaction, publishing, commenting, sharing, joining public groups, open channels, or any large-scale interactive spaces", it said.

After Australia began a world-first social media bar for under-16s in December, a number of countries have followed suit including Britain, which announced a ban this week. The UAE's bodies controlling media and telecommunications have "authority to take all necessary measures (against social media platforms in the event of non-compliance", WAM said. These include "warning or partial or full blocking of platforms or the imposition of applicable administrative penalties".

The announcement lifted a veil of uncertainty that had hung over the meeting at the Burgenstock luxury hotel complex near Lucerne in central Switzerland, initially announced on Tuesday. At the time, it had been billed as a signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding agreed by the United States and Iran to end the regional war that erupted on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes.

But the signing was unexpectedly moved forward, with US President Donald Trump laying down his signature on Wednesday at a candlelit dinner outside Paris, as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed remotely. Iran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and US Vice President JD Vance were expected to take part in the discussions to flesh out the details of the deal, but the Swiss said they could provide no further information on the agenda.

In a sudden development after uncertainty over when the deal agreed earlier this week would be formally signed, Trump put his name to it in thick black ink at a candlelit dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris on Wednesday. Macron -- for whom the signing at the palace, which hosted the signing of the treaty that ended World War I, was an immense coup following his hosting of the G7 summit -- shouted "bravo" as Trump signed.

"These fools, who think I haven't been tough enough on Iran, when the Stock Market Just Hit A RECORD HIGH, and Oil prices are 'tumbling' down, are either jealous, bad people, or stupid," Trump posted on social media hours after signing the deal. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also signed the agreement, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, adding that "now it is time to test the implementation of the agreement".

Crude fell more than three percent Thursday, extending the losses sustained since news of the deal broke at the weekend. The deal should bring an end to the current US-Israeli conflict with the Islamic republic, which saw five weeks of all-out war until a ceasefire early April and led to shipping being greatly restricted in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a spike in energy prices.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, which helped mediate the agreement, said it "shall enter into force with immediate effect" and Iran "will instantly reopen the Strait of Hormuz". He also signed the accord. A two-month negotiating period now begins with all eyes on the reopening of Hormuz and if progress can be made in talks over Iran's nuclear programme, which Washington has long suspected of concealing secret bomb-making ambitions.

Macron hailed the deal "which allows for peace, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz without tolls, and 60 days to conclude an agreement on nuclear, ballistic, and regional activities". There remained confusion over the next steps, with the accord originally supposed to have been signed at an exclusive mountain-top resort in Switzerland on Friday by Iran's chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and US Vice President JD Vance.

Baqaei said an in-person ceremony was no longer needed. But Sharif said an official ceremony will take place on Friday in Switzerland and technical talks will commence. Under the text, Washington commits to immediately waive oil sanctions crippling Iran's economy. And, once a final agreement is reached on Iran's nuclear programme, the United States will also facilitate the release of a $300 billion reconstruction fund supported by regional nations, the deal says.

UN atomic agency chief Rafael Grossi told reporters in Geneva it was ready to begin defining the "concrete steps" that will need to be taken to implement a US-Iran deal. US officials also said Iran will dilute its enriched uranium stocks, possibly by "down-blending on site" under the supervision of the UN watchdog.

Iran's ballistic missile programme was not mentioned in the agreement, despite Israel's longstanding push for its dismantling. "Iranian missiles are only for firing, not for negotiations. Iran's defence capability will not be discussed in any way, in any process or with any party," Baqaei said. There has been some criticism from hardliners within Iran, where the conflict was described as an "imposed war" and compared to the 1980-1988 conflict with Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

But Ghalibaf insisted the deal represented a US "failure", while Pezeshkian called it "historic". And Trump's decision to end the war, in which 13 US service members were killed and a vast proportion of US ammunition stockpiles was used, has unsettled some of his allies at home. Apparently anticipating such criticism, Trump said at the G7 that he was prepared to "bomb the hell" out of Iran if they violated the agreement.

But US Senator Bill Cassidy from Trump's Republican Party described it as the "worst foreign policy blunder in decades". "Iran's nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works," he said. Even Fox News, the usually Trump-friendly news channel, cited critics who said the agreement gave Iran "huge financial benefits" without requiring the dismantlement of its nuclear programme.

And while the deal specifies that Lebanon should be part of the equation, it is unclear whether the war on that front will be discussed in the next 60 days. Lebanon was drawn into the conflict when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in support of Iran. Israel responded by launching a massive campaign of strikes and a ground invasion. While violence has declined in Lebanon following the announcement of the deal, an Israeli drone strike in south Lebanon killed one person on Thursday, according to Lebanese state media.

The Gulf state's foreign ministry said in a statement that the deal "represents a solid foundation for advancing to the next stage of negotiations between the American and Iranian parties", ahead of technical talks expected in Switzerland on Friday.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, quoted by the state news agency IRNA, said the document "was finalized with the signatures of the presidents." Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, which mediated the agreement, said on X that it "shall enter into force with immediate effect." The deal aims to draw a line under the war launched February 28 by the United States and Israel, prompting Iran to counterattack with missile and drone salvos across the region -- and effectively shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for the world economy. The US responded by blocking shipping to and from Iranian ports.

"As a first step, Islamic Republic of Iran will instantly reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the United States of America will immediately lift the naval blockade," Sharif wrote. Under the text, Washington also commits to immediately waive oil sanctions crippling Iran's economy. And once a final agreement is reached on the Islamic republic's nuclear program, the United States will also facilitate the release of a $300 billion reconstruction fund supported by regional nations, the deal says.

The agreement had earlier been slated for signatures by Iran's chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and US Vice President JD Vance. Iran said an in-person ceremony was no longer needed. But Sharif said an official ceremony will take place Friday in Switzerland and technical talks will commence. Iran insisted the deal represented a US "failure."

"People will see it and judge," Ghalibaf said on state television late Wednesday, after the text was released by both sides. Highlighting the global impact of any deal, China said Wednesday that its top diplomat had impressed on Tehran that it was "key" for all sides to "genuinely implement" their commitments. But Trump's decision to pull the plug on the war, in which 13 US service members were killed and vast amounts of US ammunition stockpiles were used up, has unsettled some of his own allies at home.

The agreement is only a temporary arrangement meant to give time for starting detailed negotiations on the far more complex issue of long-term control over Iran's nuclear power ambitions, which Washington has long suspected of harboring a secret bomb-making program. Trump said earlier Wednesday that he was prepared to "bomb the hell" out of Iran if they violated the agreement.

But US Senator Bill Cassidy from Trump's own Republican Party was scathing. "Iran's nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works," he said. "Sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades."

The head of the pro-Tehran Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, on Wednesday described the deal as a "great victory" for Iran. He thanked Tehran for insisting that the truce cover Lebanon, which was drawn into the conflict when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in support of Iran. A two-month negotiating period now begins, with the much-anticipated reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as the first step.

Under the terms of the deal released by US officials, Iran will dilute its enriched uranium stocks, possibly by "down-blending on site under the supervision of the IAEA" -- the UN's nuclear watchdog. This would lead to more far-reaching economic assistance for Iran. But a US official said Washington would not be required to contribute financially. Oil prices have tumbled in recent days as optimism grew of a lasting Middle East peace agreement, but reversed course on Wednesday.

Prices briefly jumped five percent as uncertainty spread about the signing, before stabilizing later in the day. While violence declined in Lebanon following the announcement of the deal, Israeli strikes on the south have killed at least five people since then, according to state media, which also reported Israeli raids on south Lebanon on Wednesday. Israel's army said five soldiers were wounded on Wednesday, one of them severely, "as a result of an explosive drone impact in southern Lebanon", the first such announcement since the US-Iran deal.

The Israeli military also said its air force intercepted "several rockets" launched toward soldiers operating in south Lebanon, without reporting casualties.

The Canadian premier said he noted a US "change in tone with respect to Ukraine" as Kyiv seeks to end more than four years of conflict following Russia's invasion. This included "a more realistic -- in our view -- expectation of where this war was going to go, and the position against Russia, the tightening of sanctions against Russia, the ability to provide additional defensive support for Ukraine". The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States also held a "very detailed discussion about Lebanon", he added.

The talks on a final US-Iran settlement to end the conflict, triggered by the February 28 US-Israeli strikes on Tehran, are set to begin Friday immediately after the signing of the accord in Switzerland and continue over a 60-day window to flesh out its details. But fresh Israeli strikes on alleged Iran-backed Hezbollah sites in south Lebanon have dented the optimism surrounding the deal. "Yes, there are risks. Yes, the accord has to be put into place," said Carney.

"But the very fact of it -- and the fact that so many countries were involved in its development and are vested in its development -- does create knock-on effects, positive knock-on effects," he said. In a joint statement late on Tuesday, the G7 hailed "the breakthrough and the opportunity that currently exist in the Middle East". They said the memorandum of understanding "provides an historic opportunity to prevent Iran from acquiring any nuclear weapon and tackling the threats related to its regional and ballistic activities".

Ukraine has in recent months stepped up drone strikes on Russia in retaliation for Moscow's almost daily air raids since the beginning of the four-year war. "The Armed Forces of Ukraine, using airplane-type drones, attacked the bus of the Gomel children's football team, which was going on holiday to Gelendzhik (on Russia's Black Sea coast)," Kovalchuk said on social media.

He added that all wounded were taken to a local hospital and the rest of the passengers would return home soon. Gomel lies in the south-east corner of Moscow-allied Belarus, near the Russian and Ukrainian borders. Russia's Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes, opened a terrorism probe and said the total number of wounded was to be confirmed. The bus carried 44 passengers, 28 of them children, it added.

Both Kyiv and Moscow deny targeting civilians in the conflict that spiralled into Europe's deadliest since World War II. On Monday, a massive Russian drone and missile barrage killed 11 people across Ukraine and damaged a UNESCO-listed monastery in Kyiv. Talks on ending the war remain deadlocked, while fighting at the front was effectively at a standstill.

The operation's success comes after a tough time in the spotlight for the wife of Norway's heir to the throne, and just days after her son from a previous relationship was sentenced to prison for rape in a case that has rocked the country's monarchy. "In accordance with standard practice... the Crown Princess will remain admitted to Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet for several weeks to come," Are Holm, lung specialist at the hospital, said in a palace statement.

Her condition had deteriorated significantly over the past six months and her doctors announced on June 5 that she had been placed on the waiting list for a lung transplant. Doctors said the procedure was a last resort when a patient is believed to have less than two years to live without new lungs. Wednesday's palace statement did not specify when the procedure was done. Scarring of the lungs occurs when the tiny air sacs called alveoli and the tissue between them become damaged and thickened, stiffening the lung and thereby hindering the passage of oxygen into the blood.

Her doctors had previously said that to be placed on the list for a transplant, one must be sick enough to qualify but still in sufficiently good condition to handle such a major procedure and recovery. The crown princess had recently appeared in public with a breathing tube connected to an oxygen device carried by a palace employee. Crown Prince Haakon, who is set to one day succeed his 89-year-old father as king, will cut back his public engagements going forward in order to spend time with his wife, the palace said.

The couple's 22-year-old daughter, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, has also interrupted her social sciences studies at the University of Sydney to be with her mother and plans to continue her studies in Oslo throughout the autumn. The crown prince couple's silver wedding anniversary celebration, which was to take place in August 2026, has been postponed. A single mother when she married Haakon in 2001, Mette-Marit's health woes have coincided with the high-profile trial of her 29-year-old son from a previous relationship, Marius Borg Hoiby, which has damaged the monarchy's standing in the public eye.

On Monday, an Oslo court sentenced Hoiby to four years in prison for two counts of rape and 32 other offences, after a six-week trial in February and March. Hoiby has denied the most serious charges, and his lawyers have said they will appeal. He has been held in custody since February and has repeatedly asked to be released to be at his mother's bedside, requests denied by the courts.

Mette-Marit has also been plagued by revelations about her friendship with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In January, documents were released revealing her frequent contacts with Epstein between 2011 and 2014 -- after he was convicted of soliciting a minor -- which shocked Norwegians. Shortly afterwards, several opinion polls showed that a majority of Norwegians felt Mette-Marit was no longer suitable to be queen one day.

"I think time will do its work, that Norwegians will forgive (her), and that the sympathy generated by the crown princess's health problems will help turn the tide," Caroline Vagle, royal reporter for celebrity magazine Se og Hor, told AFP. "But even if she has new lungs, her condition is serious and she won't be at 100 percent. It remains to be seen what level of official activity she'll be able to maintain," she said.

The scandals have shaken the monarchy and contributed to declining support, though it remains broadly popular. An opinion poll published in May by public broadcaster NRK showed 64 percent of Norwegians are in favour of maintaining the monarchy. "This has of course been a turbulent period," royal expert Ole-Jorgen Schulsrud-Hansen said, "but overall, the royal family has retained the public's sympathy given the crown princess's condition."

"We are seeing a growing US footprint in Australia, that is important in terms of building our own military capability, but also it's very important for Australia's national security," Marles told reporters in Western Australia. "An American logistics footprint is part of its overall force posture on the continent," he said. "Bandiana is a place which supports logistics, support for the Australian Defence Force, and it makes sense that as America seeks to do that, it would do it at the same place," Marles added.

Australia does not permit foreign military bases on its soil, but hosts US Marines for exercises for six months of the year in the northern city of Darwin. A rotating force of US-commanded submarines will arrive in Western Australia next year. Marles said the "hugely significant American presence" in the Asia Pacific was a balance to China's "very significant military build up".

The US Army left trucks at Bandiana in 2023 after war games with Australia, held every two years, as a trial of prepositioning US military equipment. AFP reported a separate US Marines store in Australia is expected to reach full capacity by 2028, with a global defence contractor employing around 110 engineers and specialists.

A US Marine Corps Forces Pacific spokesperson said the Australian facility will support equipment and supplies for marines operations and exercises across the Indo Pacific. The US Navy has allocated $30 million to build warehouses and offices in Victoria state next year.

Clashes with US President Donald Trump and virulent criticism of Israel have made Sanchez a global progressive star, but the scandals have eroded the domestic standing of one of Europe's few remaining Socialist leaders. Zapatero, who governed Spain from 2004 to 2011, was placed under formal investigation last month for alleged influence peddling in connection with the bailout of small airline Plus Ultra in 2021.

Plus Ultra received 53 million euros ($61.5 million) of public money after the Covid-19 pandemic paralysed global travel. Investigating judge Jose Luis Calama has said Zapatero allegedly headed a "stable and hierarchical" structure that used "opaque financial channels" to conceal the movement of money and obtain bribes for his illicit manoeuvring. Zapatero has denied the allegations, while Sanchez has expressed "full support" for his mentor.

A police search of Zapatero's office found jewellery and luxury watches valued at 1.3 million euros, leading Calama to probe additional alleged offences of tax fraud and smuggling. Zapatero's entourage attributes the hoard to a family inheritance. Zapatero began his hearing at the Audiencia Nacional court in Madrid -- becoming the first former or serving Spanish prime minister to be declared as a suspect in a corruption probe. "What is at stake is the reputation of someone who has become... the moral beacon of Pedro Sanchez and the current Socialist party," Astrid Barrio, a political science professor at the University of Valencia, told AFP. 

Sanchez vowed to clean up Spanish politics when he took power in 2018 after the main conservative Popular Party (PP) was convicted in its own graft affair. But a two-year-long investigation into his wife Begona Gomez for alleged influence peddling had already shaken the government, with a decision to send her to trial potentially coming in days. Verdicts are also due in separate corruption trials of Sanchez's former right-hand man Jose Luis Abalos and his brother David Sanchez.

Recent revelations about an ongoing police probe into a former Socialist activist suspected of leading a plot to sabotage investigations into Sanchez's entourage have piled further pressure on the government. Amid the relentless stream of negative headlines, the Socialists have suffered four regional election drubbings since late 2025, in a possible precursor to next year's national vote. The conservative and far-right opposition have demanded Sanchez's resignation and early elections, saying the scandals have exposed systemic Socialist corruption.

Sanchez insists he will see out his term until 2027, highlighting his government's achievements and declining to directly answer a question about corruption from the PP in parliament on Wednesday. But researcher Barrio said "two very serious issues" could yet bring him down: being placed under investigation himself or a charge of illegal financing against the Socialists.

"Good, thank you," replied Trump, a tycoon before becoming president who famously hosted the TV show "The Apprentice" with its catchphrase "You're fired!", as he finally took his seat. Fresh from clinching an accord to end the war with Iran and celebrating his 80th birthday, Trump's presence has dominated the summit in the spa town of Evian on Lake Geneva. French officials will be satisfied that the mercurial US president has stayed for the entire event and signed on to the G7 communique -- in contrast to the previous gathering in Canada, where he left early.

In an unusual gesture, Macron has invited Trump to dinner at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris after the summit winds down on Wednesday afternoon. Macron, under pressure to show he is not fawning over Trump, has already said the evening at Versailles will not be a "gala" dinner.

In April alone, the gap stood at 31.9 billion euros ($37 billion), according to Eurostat, the EU's statistical office. "Our trading relationship with China has reached a point that requires a reset. Not confrontation, but rebalancing," said European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic on Monday. China's ambassador to the EU, Cai Run, said last month that Beijing was "fully aware" of the bloc's concerns, adding that it had "never deliberately pursued a trade surplus" and was "willing to... address this issue".

He pointed to measures China had already taken, such as increased market access for European agricultural products, the removal of tax rebates for Chinese solar products exporters, and export restrictions for Chinese electric vehicles (EVs). Beijing rejects the claim that the overseas success of Chinese firms is built on massive state subsidies, arguing it is due to innovation, economies of scale and its industrial base.

EU-China ties have worsened this year as Brussels seeks to strengthen its legislative arsenal to counter Beijing. The EU fears that the dominance of Chinese companies in certain sectors, particularly EVs, chemicals and green technologies, could crush its own industries. The bloc is also demanding more access to the Chinese market, arguing that Beijing does not give reciprocal freedoms to European firms. China, meanwhile, has promised "countermeasures" if the EU pushes through a draft "industrial acceleration" bill that would exclude certain products manufactured outside the bloc from public procurement, and restrict the takeover of European companies.

The European Commission has reviewed its cybersecurity rules, aiming to exclude suppliers deemed high-risk -- such as Chinese firm Huawei -- from telecom networks. And since 2024, Chinese EVs exported to Europe have faced extra customs duties. "Emotions are high and unstable. The risk of a trade war between EU and China is real," said Xu Dingbo, a professor at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. Elvire Fabry, a trade geopolitics specialist at the Jacques Delors Institute, an EU-focused think tank, said it was "essential today for Europeans to show their determination and establish a balance of power".

However, both sides have an interest in reconciling, according to Zhu Tian, an economist at CEIBS. "Neither side benefits from escalation: Europe would face higher costs and slower green transition, while China would lose access to a key market," he said. Beijing has a wide range of tools at its disposal if the EU further ratchets up measures to protect its firms. "China could respond with anti-dumping investigations, regulatory scrutiny, restrictions in selected sectors, or pressure on politically sensitive European products," Zhu said.

Beijing has previously imposed anti-dumping duties on European cognac and conducted anti-dumping investigations into pork and dairy products from the bloc. This time, the EU is particularly concerned that China might restrict exports of rare earths essential for high-tech industries. Whatever form it takes, "China is likely to respond in a calibrated way," Zhu said. "Enough to signal that EU measures have costs, but not so much that the whole relationship breaks down." The European Union is China's second-largest trading partner.

China "needs access to the European market as the US market closes", said Fabry, of the Jacques Delors Institute. Zhu noted more Chinese investment into Europe as a way to create jobs and reassure European decision-makers that "China takes European concerns seriously". "China can help by further opening its market and encouraging more imports and investment, but Europe also needs to strengthen its own competitiveness," he added.

Beijing can still avoid a trade war, said Joerg Wuttke, an expert at the DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group and former president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. But would require China "being really open and not just pretending", he said, because "China has been talking about opening up (for) about 20 or 30 years".

The name change "honors the command's deep historical roots, fostering a sense of pride and collective spirit among all who serve in the Pacific," the department said, without giving additional details. The US Pacific Command was established by former President Harry Truman after World War II.

It operated under that name for over 70 years before being renamed as the US Indo-Pacific Command in 2018, in a nod to the growing importance of the Indian Ocean in US strategic thinking. The 2018 name change also came as part of broader efforts by Washington to counter China's growing influence across the Asia-Pacific domain.

"If they (the Iranian side) don't behave, we'll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head," Trump said at the G7 summit alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

This envisages a strengthening of "operational capacity" at the border, including the reinforcing of a new Europol-run centre to fight criminal networks illegally smuggling migrants. A "UK-French joint intelligence cell" in the French city of Calais, on the Channel, would be also beefed up, while EU border agency Frontex would deploy staff and equipment, such as "surveillance assets", the European Commission said. The 27-nation bloc said it will also step up "its migration diplomacy", strengthening cooperation with countries of origin and transit to curb flows -- and promote "EU and UK information campaigns" aimed at dissuading would-be migrants from coming.

More than 41,000 migrants landed on England's southern coast last year -- the second-highest annual number since records were started in 2018. France has long been a launchpad for migrants hoping to cross the Channel and start a better life in Britain. Paying smugglers thousands of dollars, people often board overloaded rubber dinghies to make the dangerous and sometimes deadly journey across one of the world's busiest shipping routes. Across the border from France, Belgian authorities are also concerned about a new, still limited phenomenon of migrant departures towards England, with more than 400 people intercepted attempting to cross the Channel so far this year.

The European Commission said the measures set out in the plan would now be put in place together with member states, cautioning it might take some time for all to be implemented. The EU, which is pressing a broader crackdown on irregular migration, says illegal crossings out of the bloc via the Channel are down 44 percent so far this year.

Both William, formally known as the Prince of Wales, and his younger brother Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, attended the exclusive school in Berkshire, west of London. It has also famously educated 20 past prime ministers, including Boris Johnson and David Cameron, as well as a roll call of other well known people, from actor Tom Hiddleston to James Bond creator Ian Fleming. George's grandfather, King Charles III, went to Gordonstoun, a school in the Scottish Highlands attended by the king's father, the late Duke of Edinburgh.

It is not known if George will board at Eton, with the college only a few kilometres (miles) from his family's Forest Lodge home in Windsor. However, the young prince -- who is second in line to the throne, after his father -- has been boarding at the Lambrook School, the private preparatory school in Berkshire where he has studied since 2022. He has attended there alongside his siblings Princess Charlotte, 11, and eight-year-old Prince Louis. Eton, long a byword for elitism and the class divide in Britain, was founded by King Henry VI in 1440. It educates boys aged 13 to 18, and has preserved many of its traditions, including a distinct uniform comprising a black tailcoat, black waist coat, white shirt and bow tie, and striped trousers. It welcomes nearly 1,350 pupils each year, according to its website.

Earlier this year, however, he was arrested by US immigration authorities, though it was over "the status of his current stay", his lawyers said at the time, rather than his legal woes back home. The former minister was declared a fugitive by Ghana's Office of the Special Prosecutor in February 2025. Interpol issued a "red notice" for him in June that year, and Ghanaian authorities formally charged him with corruption in November.

He was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in January 2026 while applying to extend his stay in the country. "Ken Ofori-Atta's Green card I-485 petition has been granted by US Immigration Court," his attorney Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo said in a statement. "The Court finds the criminal charges in Ghana not credible," he said, though he added the decision "was focused on whether Mr Ofori-Atta met the legal requirements for adjustment of status".

Ghana's Office of the Special Prosecutor said it was not involved in immigration hearings and that its extradition request was being handled separately. "The credibility or otherwise of the criminal charges against Mr. Ofori-Atta would be determined by the courts in Ghana, who have jurisdiction to determine his guilt or innocence," it said in a statement. Ofori-Atta served as finance minister from 2017 to 2024 under former president Nana Akufo-Addo and oversaw contentious tax reforms and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

He faces a sprawling, 78-charge corruption case back home. Current President John Mahama has pursued a crackdown on corruption, though critics say he has unfairly targeted political enemies.

The summit of the G7 group of world powers notably brought Zelensky face-to-face with Trump, who has sought to reach out to Russian President Vladimir Putin but also showed signs of losing patience with Moscow. "Leaders decided today to increase the pressure on Russia through sanctions on gas and oil," a French diplomatic source said after the talks.

The leaders also agreed there "is a dynamic on the ground that benefits Ukraine", added the source, who asked not to be named. Host President Emmanuel Macron has invited Zelensky to stay until the end of the three-day summit on Wednesday so that he can meet Trump and the other G7 leaders. European leaders will be keen to remind Trump of the importance of pushing Russia to accept peace on Ukraine's terms, and not pressure Kyiv into making concessions to Moscow.

"Russia should make a deal" to end the war against Ukraine, Trump said after meeting Zelensky. He pointed to the high casualties on both sides in the conflict, the deadliest on European soil since World War II. "The whole thing is ridiculous. So, yeah, I'm going to do whatever I can," Trump added. Zelensky said in a post on X after meeting G7 leaders that Ukraine's priorities were "clear", including increasing the number of air defence missiles, a winter support package and strengthening pressure on Russia.

"It's great that everybody understands that Russia is not winning, and we have to push Putin to end this war," the Ukrainian leader said at a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Zelensky had Monday urged a "decisive and substantive" response from the G7 leaders after the latest wave of Russian strikes, which killed at least 11 people and sparked a fire at a landmark Kyiv cathedral. He revealed Putin had rejected an offer of a meeting at the G7 but said he had also suggested to Trump that he could meet Putin in the United States.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom is imposing a raft of new sanctions against Russia, including on tankers that transport LNG, in a bid to pressure Moscow into halting the war against Ukraine. "Working with our G7 allies, we will continue to increase the pressure on Putin and his circle of collaborators until Russia's war machine is brought to a halt and peace returns to our continent," said Starmer.

Carney meanwhile said Canada was announcing new sanctions against 160 entities linked to Russia's so-called shadow fleet, used to dodge Western sanctions on Russian fossil fuels and other goods. Iran remains a key topic at the summit, with allies eager to question Trump over his deal with the Islamic republic to end the Middle East war.

Trump said the United States was under "no obligation" to invest in Iran after the deal, adding that its main focus was that Iran would not acquire a nuclear weapon and that "all hell" would "rain down" on the country if it did. After former supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of the war on February 28, Trump described the new leadership in Tehran as "very rational people" who were "nice to deal with" and "not radicalised".

Trump also said he had suggested to Israel that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa should deal with Lebanon's Tehran-backed Hezbollah militia as the Israeli campaign was causing too many casualties. Sharaa "is very good with Hezbollah, does not like them", Trump said, adding that the Syrian leader -- an ex-jihadist -- is "no boy scout".

"Likely on Friday, at a location to be determined... a new round of negotiations between Iran and the United States to reach a final agreement will begin," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said. "In the final agreement, decisions will be made on the nuclear issues and the lifting of sanctions." According to Iran's deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, the Islamic republic's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf will attend the signing in Switzerland, which Bern said would take place at the luxury Burgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne.

The mountainside venue "was proposed by Pakistani and Qatari mediators, as well as by the US and Iran," the Swiss foreign ministry told AFP. The US side will be represented by Vice President JD Vance, who said Trump might also attend. The developments came after Trump said an Iranian blockade on the crucial Hormuz strait oil and gas route would be fully lifted by Friday, which would be a major boost to the global economy. "Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz," Trump said Monday. Optimism over the reopening of Hormuz has sent the price of the international benchmark Brent North Sea crude tumbling below $80 a barrel, a three-month low.

The US had, in retaliation, imposed its own blockade on Iranian ports. Iranian state television said Iranian oil tankers and other vessels had resumed shipping following the deal, with Takht-Ravanchi saying ths US blockade "has been lifted prior to the formal signing". Sporadic episodes of violence since an April ceasefire had threatened a deal, but weeks of indirect negotiations mediated by Pakistan and Qatar built momentum for an interim agreement. Yet a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear ambitions and Western sanctions remains elusive. Washington and close ally Israel are pressing to strip Iran of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, said to have been buried by US strikes last year, while Iran has insisted on its right to enrichment.

The agreed framework has however paved the way for talks on those key disputes. Asked at the G7 in France when the text would be released, Trump said: "It's a very powerful document, and I want it to be released. So probably pretty soon." Iran's ultraconservative newspaper Vatan-e Emrooz praised the agreement as a "Trump surrender document".

But Araghchi struck a more cautious note. "We have a history of broken commitments... we have a history of agreements being torn up. All of this is present in our minds," he said. A senior US administration official, however, said Trump, Vance and negotiator Ghalibaf had already signed the text electronically. In a flurry of interviews to talk up the deal, Vance said no US taxpayer money would go to Iran under the deal, as Iranian media reported $12 billion of frozen assets would be released.

Vance told NBC that nuclear inspectors would also be allowed to enter Iran. Analysts have warned that the parallel conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah presents the biggest threat to the diplomatic thaw. Lebanon was pulled into the war in March when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel after the killing of Iran's supreme leader, prompting Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.

That theatre of the conflict could be "the biggest ultimate spoiler" of the coming negotiations, said Ross Harrison, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. Lebanon's president and prime minister on Tuesday discussed preparations for a new round of direct talks with Israel scheduled to begin next week, seeking a permanent truce and withdrawal of Israeli troops from the country's south, according to a presidency statement.

But Israeli figures quickly condemned the US-Iran deal that included Lebanon, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that the country's forces would remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria "for as long as necessary". Araghchi however said ending the war on all fronts including Lebanon was "the most important" issue in the peace deal. "Ending the war in Lebanon is an inseparable part of the complete end of the war".

"Both measures have been taken in the interest of public order, in response to the organised use of the platform by cheating rackets to defraud candidates," India's National Testing Agency (NTA) said in a statement. The National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) is one of the country's most competitive exams, attracting more than two million aspiring doctors.

The NEET exam was scrapped in May following allegations that the question paper was leaked in advance, including reports that it had been circulated through Telegram channels. Responding to the electronics ministry's decision, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov said the week-long ban "hasn't stopped anything" but "punishes" 150 million ordinary users of the messaging app in India and "not the insiders who leaked the exam materials". "The leaks just moved to other apps," Durov said in a post on X.

The Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights group, said the ban "is a disproportionate answer to exam fraud". The intense pressure to succeed in the national exams has fuelled a lucrative industry, with tens of thousands of coaching centres across the country. Fierce competition means that success often comes at a significant personal and financial cost -- creating opportunities for criminal networks seeking to sell leaked examination papers to the highest bidder.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested the "kingpin" alleged to be behind the leak, naming him as a chemistry lecturer involved in the examination process for the NTA. The education ministry launched on Monday a website where the public can report "suspicious claims, unauthorised content, or fraudulent activities" related to the NEET exam. Indian air force helicopters on Tuesday were seen readying for the delivery of the test papers, to "prevent any possibility of leak", the Press Trust of India news agency reported, broadcasting images of preparations in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Despite rapid economic growth, millions of people in the world's most populous nation still struggle to find stable and well-paying jobs, fuelling discontent. Students spend years preparing for exams in the hope of securing a professional career, with the pressure intensified by limited opportunities and intense competition. Indian media reported suicides of teenagers following the fiasco over the NEET exam. The NEET scandal came on top of another controversy, related to the online marking system used for tests taken by nearly two million high school students.

Many students said the system had assigned incorrect grades or issued results to the wrong candidates. Anger at the exam mishandling has been channelled by the satirical "Cockroach People's Party", which has won millions of followers on social media since its launch in May. The movement emerged after India's Chief Justice Surya Kant reportedly likened young people who criticised the government to "cockroaches" and "parasites" during a court hearing, sparking outrage among the youth. Kant later said his comments were taken out of context.

In a phone conversation ahead of the planned signing on Friday of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding to end their war, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Pakistan's Ishaq Dar that "it is foreseeable that, compared with the first stage, the second stage of negotiations will be more difficult".

Wang added that the United Nations Security Council "should also play a greater role" in supporting these talks, according to a statement from Beijing's foreign ministry.

"The current consensus is far from the final destination, rather it is a new starting point," Wang said.

"Achieving lasting peace in the Middle East and Gulf region still requires unremitting efforts from all parties," Wang said, adding that China was willing to work with Pakistan to promote peace.

"You have transformed the only effective glimmer of hope in ending the Israeli-American aggression on Lebanon into a reality that has proved to the world that Iran is the champion of truth and the resistance," he said, according to the message published by Hezbollah. "We have always said that Iran has given Hezbollah, the resistance and the Lebanese people everything, and has taken nothing in return. It has supported us in our choices and strengthened us to liberate our land," he added.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. Israel responded with a massive campaign of airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say has killed more than 3,800 people. Qassem is due to make a televised address on Wednesday.

The US and Iran said they reached a deal to end the war on all fronts including Lebanon, and to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz, though they offered little indication on the thorny question of Tehran's nuclear programme.

"Egypt welcomes the agreement reached between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran, considering it a highly significant development that will restore security and stability at both the regional and international levels," Cairo's foreign ministry said.

Egypt, it said, "hopes that this agreement will constitute a major turning point toward strengthening mutual trust, laying new foundations for cooperation, creating a supportive environment for peace and advancing diplomatic efforts aimed at addressing remaining regional issues".

"Today, the world has seen a historic step towards peace. After the darkness of war, the sun of peace has risen," Sharif told Pakistani lawmakers after earlier announcing the deal would be signed in Geneva on June 19.

"China welcomes the agreement... and expresses appreciation for the mediation efforts made by Pakistan," foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a news briefing, adding that Beijing hopes the deal would be signed as scheduled. China "hopes that safe and free passage through the strait will be restored as soon as possible", Lin added.

The air force said Moscow had launched 70 missiles and 611 drones, mainly targeting the capital, adding that Ukrainian air defence units had downed 50 missiles and 582 drones.

Trump then took his place on the South Lawn, beside the mesh-fenced cage called the Octagon where 14 fighters will beat each other bloody in the first professional sporting event ever held at the White House. He was cageside as the first fighter, Brazil's Diego Lopes, won by a knockout. The icing on the cake for the birthday festivities of the oldest US president ever to take office had come earlier as he said a peace deal with Iran was now "complete." But there could still be rain on Trump's parade, with thunderstorms over Washington causing at least a one delay to the $60 million mixed martial arts tournament.

The "UFC Freedom 250" event is linked to this year's festivities for the 250th anniversary of US independence -- but it also happens to fall not only on the US public holiday of Flag Day, but on the same day that Trump enters his ninth decade. Critics have derided the cage fight, saying it is a tacky debasement of the White House by a president who has repeatedly shattered norms during his time in power.

Billionaire Trump has also faced criticism for staging the event amid a war with Iran that has sent global energy prices soaring and caused a major knock-on effect for US consumers. But fans gathered to watch the violent extravaganza on a giant screen on the Ellipse outside the White House defended the event. "I do think maybe it's like a little bit of selfishness, but he is the leader, so he has a say," Nyles Rife, a 35-year-old sports performance coach from Virginia, told AFP. "If I was a president, if I were to have a UFC event on my birthday, and it fell on the 250th anniversary/Flag day, I'd do the same. Why not?"

Mark Toone, a 50-year-old US Marine Corps veteran, said the fight was "totally emblematic and representative of American culture." "I think that it's unfortunate that the opposition is spreading lots of lies and untruths about this event," he said. The billionaire president -- who has deep ties with a sport whose young male fans reflect his own political base -- has defended the UFC event as a unique spectacle.

"This is going to be an event you're really gonna like," Trump said as he hosted some of the muscle-bound fighters in the Oval Office in May. The White House says the UFC is bearing the entire cost. But there has also been criticism of the commercialization of the event in the home of American democracy, with sponsors including Bud Light beer and betting market Polymarket having their logos emblazoned on the Octagon.

The fight is also being broadcast exclusively by Paramount, the US broadcaster run by Trump ally David Ellison. The macho spectacle has meanwhile distracted from questions about Trump's health as he ages. Trump loves to compare his virility to Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, who also turned 80 in office, but was forced to drop his bid for a second term after a disastrous debate with the Republican. But from bruised hands to a vein condition in his legs and apparent sleepiness in meetings, Trump has also had a number of issues, even though his doctor says he's in excellent health.

Trump admitted that he was "not happy about that birthday that I'm having," in a video posted by one of his officials this week. "It's not a number I like, but I'm here nevertheless." For his last birthday, Trump oversaw an unprecedented military parade in Washington, marking the 250th anniversary of the US army.

"In the ensuing chaos, the officer involved mistakenly assessed that the suspects were attempting to flee in the victims' vehicle and discharged his weapon," said the Punjab Police's Crime Control Department in a statement on Sunday. "This erroneous decision resulted in the tragic death of 10-year-old Hania and injuries to her father and brother," it added.

Punjab police said they had registered a criminal complaint from the victim's father and had arrested the officer involved, who appeared before a court and was remanded in custody. Australian media reported the family, from the western city of Perth, were visiting relatives in Pakistan when the incident took place.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese -- who said the child killed was nine years old -- told journalists that his government "expects there to be transparency and a proper investigation of these circumstances." "My understanding is that not only has a young girl lost her life but there have been other members of the family injured as well in circumstances which are dire indeed," he said.

Australia's foreign affairs ministry said it was providing assistance to the family of an Australian citizen who been killed and two others injured. Punjab Police said it was conducting "a thorough, impartial investigation to ensure that justice is served." "We are deeply saddened by this tragedy. While our personnel operate in high-risk environments, there is no justification for a departure from our protocols," it added.

The kingdom welcomed "the agreement reached between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran to end military operations and initiate detailed negotiations within 60 days to reach a permanent agreement," the ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement on social media.

It also insisted that a lasting peace deal would be one "that takes into consideration the security interests of regional states, sticking to the principle of non-interference in the interior affairs of other countries".

France is keen to expand the reach of the G7 beyond its membership of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. President Volodymyr Zelensky will arrive Tuesday for a session on Ukraine, while Arab leaders including Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be there to discuss Iran. The leaders of Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya and South Korea are also attending.

After the announcement on the eve of the summit of the US-Iran agreement to end the war, Macron said G7 leaders would on Monday discuss its hoped-for "consequences", including the long-term reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Beyond politics, Sam Altman, the head of artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, Anthropic chief Dario Amodei and Arthur Mensch of their European rival Mistral AI, will attend a lunch on Wednesday on protecting minors in the digital sphere.

A vast security lockdown is in place, mobilising thousands of police and troops, an operation that extends to neighbouring Switzerland on the other side of the lake. On Sunday, police and people protesting the G7 summit clashed in the Swiss city of Geneva. Protesters threw bottles, stones, pieces of cement and firecrackers near the United Nations headquarters at the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons.

Trump arrives Monday fresh from his 80th birthday the day before, which included mixed martial arts fights on the White House lawn -- an event that forced France to shift the dates of the entire summit. Against the backdrop of the placid sheen of Lake Geneva in the hometown of the Evian water brand, the other G7 leaders will seek to find common ground with Trump after a sometimes stormy year for Transatlantic ties. The G7 leaders are impatient to see the Strait of Hormuz reopened and an easing in the global pricing pressure.

"The aim will be to see the consequences of this agreement, support for Lebanon, the lasting reopening of Hormuz and of course the concluding of an accord on nuclear and ballistic activities in Iran," Macron said. "We will also look at the ways and means of diversifying energy routes from the region, to get away from our dependence," he added. The European leaders and Canada will also be keen to remind Trump of the importance of pushing Russia to accept a peace on Ukraine's terms, more than four years after the invasion of its neighbour.

Zelensky said on Sunday he would be meeting with Trump to discuss "good ideas that could help advance peace and protect lives". Trump's G7 stay will begin with talks with Macron on Monday from 1500 GMT, followed by a working dinner with all the participants. Unusually, he is to extend his stay in France by dining with Macron at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris on Wednesday after the G7 finishes. For Macron, the summit will be one of his last chances to burnish his international standing and promote his cherished idea of European strategic autonomy before he leaves office next year.

In contrast, Britain's beleaguered leader Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be attending days after his hitherto loyal defence minister resigned over military spending. He also faces the possible return to parliament of a rival who may seek to oust him. China, as so often at G7 meetings, will be conspicuous by its absence. But leaders will discuss issues including Beijing's dominance and control in the market for rare earth minerals used in everyday electronic appliances.

Few of the details were made public, but US President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz -- a key conduit for global oil supplies -- would reopen after the planned signing of the deal on Friday. "The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete," US President Donald Trump posted Sunday on social media as he marked his 80th birthday. "Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!"

Soon after, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in televised comments that the deal put an "immediate end" to the countries' war and that they would hold talks within two months to seek a "final agreement." Just hours earlier, Tehran had vowed to retaliate against a strike by Israel against Iranian ally Hezbollah in the suburbs of Beirut which threatened to push back an agreement. But later in the day, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made the announcement: "Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon."

He added thanks to leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey for their support in the mediation effort. The content of the agreement, which follows weeks of fraught negotiations and periodic threats from Trump of fresh hostilities unless Iran reached a deal, remained unclear. Iran's Mehr news agency reported that the US would release $12 billion in frozen assets to Iran before the start of negotiations.

It quoted a 14-point "memorandum of understanding" between the two nations, which it said stipulated "the release of 24 billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets during the 60?day negotiation period" that begins after the MoU is signed. The Trump administration didn't immediately comment on the details of the agreement, which may prove contentious as the US presses its effort to end Tehran's nuclear ambitions and deal with its stockpile of highly enriched uranium -- believed to have been buried by US strikes last year.

In an interview with the New York Times on Sunday, Trump said Washington was still negotiating whether Iran would suspend its enrichment for 20 years. The US leader hinted that he might settle for a 15-year suspension, but said he did not want to negotiate via the press. The announcement of the deal was greeted with international relief and hope for an enduring end to the conflict. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was a "critical step" toward resolving the war in the Middle East. The United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy said they were prepared to lift sanctions imposed on Iran and will work "with the US, Iran and regional partners to seize this moment, maintain momentum and achieve a long-term diplomatic settlement."

The announcement also brought relief at market opening on Monday. Oil prices plunged more than four percent in Tokyo, and Japan's Nikkei stock index jumped three percent. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has had a worldwide economic impact, from inflated gas prices that have fueled inflation in the US and many other countries and congested supply chains for goods like fertiliser key to food production in areas far beyond the Middle East.

"What we're going to be able to do is drive down the cost of energy, not just now but for the long term, and create a real engine of prosperity in the Middle East," US Vice President JD Vance told Fox News. He said that he planned to attend the signing of the peace deal, which was slated to take place in Geneva, and that it was possible Trump could also go. It was a rollercoaster Sunday, with Trump in the morning angrily blaming Israel for delaying its signing with the airstrike on Beirut, which he said had delayed the agreement.

In an expletive-laden phone interview with US news outlet Axios, Trump had fumed about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying: "I was so pissed off. I let him know." The last time Israel hit the Beirut suburbs, it sparked one of the strongest jolts yet to a ceasefire that has largely held since April, with Iran firing off a retaliatory missile barrage and Israel responding with strikes. Tehran has long demanded that any agreement to halt the war must include the parallel conflict in Lebanon, where Israel has been pursuing a campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The North's statement came after a trilateral meeting between South Korea, Japan and the United States in Tokyo on Friday, at which the allies reaffirmed their commitment to the "complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula", according to Seoul's foreign ministry. "The US and its vassal forces' meaningless rhetoric against the DPRK... can never affect the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state," the unnamed spokesperson said in a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency on Sunday, using the acronym for the North's official name. "The 'denuclearisation' is an irreversibly finalised matter," the official added.

The spokesperson also cited Washington's sales of weapons systems to Seoul and Tokyo as justification for Pyongyang's pursuit of its nuclear programme, describing it as " a strong security guarantee for regional stability and peace". "No matter how hard the US, Japan and the ROK may quibble, they will never change the present position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state," the official said, referring to the South by the acronym of its official name.

North Korea has accelerated its nuclear weapons programme since talks with Washington broke down in 2019, when a summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Hanoi ended without agreement. In a possible reference to the failed negotiations, the spokesperson said "no one can recover the 'denuclearisation' permanently missed in the trend of the times".

Kim recently hosted China's President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang, after the Chinese leader held back-to-back summits in Beijing with Trump and Putin. Neither side made any mention of denuclearisation, according to their official media reports.

Geneva -- about 40 kilometres (25 miles) southwest of the French spa town of Evian -- is on edge. The authorities there are anxious to avoid any repeat of the mayhem of 2003, when anti-G7 rioters caused millions of dollars worth of damage in the Swiss city. The violence, looting and clashes live long in the memory and shops, supermarkets, theatres and university buildings, some of them far from the protest route, are taking no chances and have boarded up their facades.

Several other events in the city have been scrapped, and the main hospital has set up tents in case there is an influx of casualties. The Swiss authorities have permitted a march around a lengthy loop on the north side of the city -- well away from the city centre and its luxury boutiques. They are deploying a significant number of police and security equipment. Due to conditions imposed by the French authorities, the No-G7 coalition abandoned plans for a counter-summit and demonstration Sunday in the French border town of Annemasse.

"What we fundamentally regret is that France did not create the conditions conducive to a kind of summit, counter-summit, village, forum or discussion" on its side of the border, Geneva's Security Minister Carole-Anne Kast told reporters during the week. "We hope to have a wonderful weekend with some lovely moments," Alice Lefrancois, spokesperson for the coalition, told reporters.

"There will be security personnel, particularly to protect demonstrators from any form of external aggression, and there will also be a family area. "We think it's going to be a rather pleasant experience," she added. Geneva is almost entirely surrounded by France: nowhere in the Geneva canton is more than 5.5 kilometres (3.5 miles) from the French border.

Around 115,000 people work in Geneva but live in France, where the cost of living is cheaper. Nonetheless, the Swiss authorities began closing 25 of the 35 road crossings on Thursday ahead of the protest and the summit, causing traffic jams in both directions. The G7 summit will be one of the first major international gatherings since the United States and its ally Israel began a war against Iran in late February, upending the Middle East and widening transatlantic tensions.

The Group of Seven brings together the heads of government of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, along with invited leaders from several other countries. Nearly 16,000 French police, gendarmes, troops, firefighters and border guards will be deployed, using boats, motorcycles and drones, alongside mounted police and dog-handling units, France's Haute-Savoie regional prefecture said.

Most of the leaders will be arriving at Geneva Airport, before making the journey to Evian. Switzerland has approved the deployment of 2,000-5,000 military personnel to "support" the cantonal police. Around 4,000 Swiss troops will be on duty on land, on Lake Geneva and in the air, coordinating with the French military.

The protest comes as the peace deal touted by US President Donald Trump and mediator Pakistan faces opposition from hardline Iranian figures. They argue that it does not serve Iran's interests and would deprive Tehran of leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. They also accuse Iranian negotiators of having made too many concessions to secure the deal. In an interview with state television Friday, Araghchi had said the deal on the table called for the lifting of the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, imposed in response to Iran's own blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

"The administration of Strait of Hormuz will no longer be the same as before," he added, calling the waterway one of Iran's "main instruments of deterrence". Other videos on social media that AFP could not independently verify showed people in front of the foreign ministry building in Tehran chanting "Araghchi, resign" and "Ghalibaf, resign", in reference to parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Trump and Pakistan on Saturday said the deal to end the war could be signed as early as Sunday, though Tehran was more circumspect regarding the timing.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israeli airstrikes had hit several areas, particularly around the southern city of Nabatieh. An AFP photojournalist in the Nabatieh area heard blasts around Kfar Remman, which has been repeatedly targeted, and saw a plume of smoke rising from Kfar Tebnit, which was not included in the evacuation warnings.

The Lebanese army later said one of its soldiers had been severely wounded after being hit by an Israeli drone on the road between Kfar Remman and Nabatieh. That had followed an initial attempt to target him as he was moving near a hospital close to the city. NNA also said an Israeli strike killed a local official in Rihan, the southern region of Jezzine. An AFP correspondent in Nabatieh said the city was almost deserted, reporting artillery shelling there and in nearby areas overnight and on Saturday.

The Israeli military had issued two warnings to residents of 24 locations -- both in and around Nabatieh, and nearer to the coast -- to "evacuate your homes immediately and move to the north of the Zahrani River", around 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the southern border with Israel. Last month Israel declared all areas south of the river "combat zones", and has since been heavily striking the area.

Hezbollah, which has kept up attacks on invading Israeli troops, said its fighters launched drone attacks on Israeli military vehicles in the south. It said it had thwarted an overnight "infiltration" attempt by Israeli forces in the Kfar Tebrnit area near Nabaiteh after ambushing them and engaging in a "firefight with medium weapons".

The group also reported clashes with Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of Majdal Zoun, closer to the border with Israel. Israel's military also said it "intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory". It later announced that "over the past 24 hours, more than 70 Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites were struck".

Fresh strikes hit two areas in Lebanon's eastern Baalbek area later Saturday, NNA reported. Iran insists that Lebanon must be part of any agreement to end the wider Middle East war, and a senior US official said Friday that a draft peace deal "includes Lebanon". Neither Israel nor Hezbollah have respected a ceasefire meant to take effect in April, and a conditional truce deal announced this month after Lebanese-Israeli negotiations in Washington also failed to halt the fighting.

Hezbollah rejected both the direct talks and the conditional agreement, which requires it to cease attacks but makes no mention of Israel doing so or withdrawing troops from Lebanon. Lebanon says Israel's massive campaign of airstrikes and ground invasion have so far killed 3,756 people. Lebanon's leaders, meanwhile, have accused Tehran of treating their country as a "bargaining chip". Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said on Saturday Lebanon should make do with any US-Iran deal that included the country.

"We want the Lebanese state to negotiate for itself, and nobody is suggesting forfeiting this role," Fayyad said. "However, the state must abandon the policy of being crushed in the face of the Israelis and submission to the Americans." The prime minister of Pakistan, which has mediated between Tehran and Washington, insisted Saturday that a deal was closer "than ever before".

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement that Lebanon faced "a fateful test. "Either its people unite around a sovereign state that monopolises weapons, upholds the law and protects citizens irrespective of their affiliation or position, or it remains hostage to the logic of militias," he said. Further Israel-Lebanon talks are scheduled for later this month.

"In Oaxaca, we will not allow violence to prevail over the law or over the will of our communities," state Governor Salomon Jara said in a post on X, condemning the killing. Prosecutors said the police presence in the area had been stepped up and a tactical team deployed, in cooperation with federal forces, in order to track down the assailants. The Jalisco Nueva Generacion and Sinaloa cartels are both active in Oaxaca, which borders the Pacific Ocean. Nearly 100 mayors have been assassinated in Mexico since 2006, when drug violence exploded in the country.

At the time of the accident, there were 118 passengers and seven crew members on the passenger vessel, while eight people were on the sailboat, three of whom were killed, the statement added. One person was still missing while the remaining four were rescued from the sea. The nationality of the victims and circumstances that led to the collision were not yet known. The regional Slobodna Dalmacija daily reported, quoting unofficial sources, that the victims were Czech nationals. Local media published pictures of the the several dozen metre (feet) long catamaran and the sinking sailboat.

After weeks of stalled negotiations on the terms for an initial memorandum of understanding, both Washington and Tehran have signalled in recent days they were nearing an agreement. Tensions, however, persisted as the United States said it downed multiple Iranian drones targeting commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz early Saturday. Iran's state broadcaster IRIB also quoted Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying that until a complete agreement was reached on all issues, "it cannot be said with certainty that an understanding has been achieved with the United States".

Pakistan has been pushing both nations to come to an agreement after a fragile ceasefire was struck in April and Islamabad hosted talks between the warring sides which ended with no deal to resolve the conflict that erupted in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Sharif said in his post on Saturday that he was "confident that this historic peace deal will form a strong foundation for lasting peace", thanking both Washington and Tehran "for their ongoing commitment".

"In the first UK-led operation of its kind, the vessel SMYRTOS was boarded by Royal Marine Commandos and specially trained law enforcement officers from the National Crime Agency, despite Russia's best efforts to evade sanctions and continue fuelling its barbaric war with Ukraine," the ministry statement said.

The vessel will now be moved to an anchorage off the south coast of England and monitored, it added.

In the wake of the strikes, two far-right Israeli ministers called for retaliatory strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh. "The shooting at northern communities is a test of the Dahiyeh Doctrine that the prime minister declared. I call on him to implement it decisively and firmly, and to bring down buildings in Dahiyeh," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X.

"For every drone -- a missile; for every violation -- fire; for every UAV -- Dahiyeh must tremble," wrote National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on X. Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have previously warned that Israel would strike Dahiyeh should the Iran-backed Hezbollah group target northern Israeli communities, a position they say has the backing of Washington.

"Mr. Eugen Tomac withdrew his candidacy this morning, and under these circumstances, I am appointing Mr. Adrian Vestea as prime minister," Dan said in a statement. Vestea, 52, a leader of the Liberal party, has been tasked with forming a new pro-Western parliamentary majority after a technocratic solution proposed by EU deputy Tomac did not find the necessary support. "Neither Mr. Tomac nor I have been playing at governing," Dan said. "At this point, however, it is clear that a political solution is the appropriate one."

Dan praised Vestea's experience as a mayor, county council president and development minister in a previous government. "I want a political government that will undertake real reforms and keep Romania on a pro-Western course," Vestea said. "I am taking on this responsibility at a time of political crisis," he added, saying he will negotiate with "the pro-Western democratic political parties in the Romanian Parliament".

Liberal party leader Bolojan said on Sunday that he had not been informed in advance of the move and accused the president of "a hostile act and a clear attempt to split" the party.

Iran's ISNA news agency reported that an adviser to Qatar's foreign minister had been dispatched to the Islamic republic, while another Iranian news agency Tasnim said the purpose of the visit was to "go over the latest developments regarding the diplomatic process".

"Our position has always been that the only way to deal with the stockpile of enriched material is to dilute it inside Iran," said Araghchi in an interview with state television.

He added that at least three people were wounded, according to first reports, and that 96 people had been drafted to fight the blaze. The Russian army said it had shot down a total of 177 Ukrainian drones overnight. Ukraine has stepped up its campaign of attacks within Russia in recent months, claiming fair retaliation for Moscow's own massive bombardments across the more than four-year-long conflict. Kyiv insists that the Ukrainian army first and foremost targets military installations and energy infrastructure, in a bid to deprive the Kremlin's war chest of vital fossil fuel revenues.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees operations in the region, posted on X that Iran had "launched multiple one-way attack drones in an attempt to strike commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz". "US forces have downed all of them in recent hours as traffic flow through the strait continues unimpeded," it said.

CENTCOM added that the Strait of Hormuz -- a key maritime trade route for oil and gas from the Gulf -- "remains open for transit", despite an Iranian-enforced blockade since the start of the war. Disagreements between the two sides have persisted, with Iranian state media publishing a breakdown of what was purportedly on the table that was at odds with Washington's account. "The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has never been closer," Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, wrote in a social media post, referring to the Pakistani capital that hosted previous US-Iran talks.

Trump -- who on Friday morning accused the Iranians of negotiating in bad faith and misrepresenting the terms that had been agreed -- posted a screenshot of Araghchi's message on his own feed just hours later. But state broadcaster IRIB reported Araghchi as saying that until a complete agreement was reached on all issues, "it cannot be said with certainty that an understanding has been achieved with the United States". Araghchi provided some details on the agreement in an interview with state television, saying it calls for the lifting of the US naval blockade of Iran's ports and unspecified changes to the administration of the Strait of Hormuz.

He also said the only way to deal with the country's enriched uranium -- which Washington alleges is part of a nuclear weapons programme -- "is to dilute it inside Iran". Disputing Trump's "bad faith" accusation, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said an agreement had now been reached with Washington "on most points". Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has been a key mediator since the initial talks, confirmed that "a final, agreed-upon text of the peace deal has been reached".

"Peace has never been as close as it is now," Sharif said, while acknowledging "incessant misinformation" surrounding the deal. A senior US official also voiced optimism that the parties would be "signing this agreement over the next few days". "If I were to give you a confidence that we were going to be signing this agreement, I maybe would have said 75 percent this morning, it's probably more like 80-85 percent now, but it's not 100 percent," the official told reporters in a call.

The Swiss foreign ministry on Friday said it had been in contact with both the United States and Iran, and had "proposed Switzerland as the venue for a possible signing, should the parties agree to it". But Araghchi said that upon finalisation, a draft deal with the United States would be signed "remotely", adding that this could happen "in the coming days". US ally Israel has said that Trump had promised it that any agreement would see Iran stripped of its enriched nuclear material, but Tehran's official IRNA news agency said this was not even on the table. 

According to IRNA's account, after an initial agreement is signed, Iran and the United States would hold 60 more days of talks and "Iran's right to enrich uranium and the retention of enriched material... will be emphasised with a view to their inclusion in the final agreement". Beyond this, according to IRNA, Iran would insist on managing traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has blockaded since the outbreak of the war, causing major disruptions to the global economy. On Friday, Iran's Mehr news agency, quoting a source close to the country's negotiating team, said the deal would also see the release of $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets.

But those details clashed with a summary offered by a senior White House official, who told AFP Iran had agreed to dismantle its nuclear programme, destroy its enriched uranium stockpile and reopen the strait -- and that Tehran would not see any of its frozen funds returned until it had honoured these commitments. US Vice President JD Vance likewise said Iran was "not receiving any cash, and no funds are being released for simply signing a deal or attending a meeting". But, he added, if "Iran meets its obligations, then economic benefits will flow to them and to the entire region".

"An IAF An-32 aircraft met with an accident today while landing at Jorhat. A court of inquiry is being constituted, to ascertain the cause of the accident," the statement said, without giving any details about causalities.

News channel NDTV broadcast images of the crash site, showing a thick black plume of smoke and the aircraft apparently broken into pieces.

Almost all of them were Congolese nationals who had crossed the border from their home country, where more than 676 cases have been confirmed and 136 people have died since May 15. "Today, the Ugandan Health Ministry, together with the Civil Aviation Authority, Ambassadors, and airline operators serving Uganda, discussed the unfair travel restrictions imposed on Uganda due to the current Ebola situation," Diana Atwine, permanent secretary for the health ministry, said on X on Friday.

"While we appreciate the need for vigilance, blanket restrictions undermine confidence in countries that report outbreaks openly, and are not commensurate with the actual risk." Besides the United States, Canada and the United Arab Emirates are among the countries to have imposed entry bans on travellers from Uganda, the DRC and neighbouring South Sudan as a result of the outbreak.

While the World Health Organization's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised Kampala's strategy on a visit to Uganda on Monday, the United Nations health agency warned on Friday that the outbreak was spreading to new areas in the neighbouring DRC. No vaccine nor specific treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola responsible for the latest outbreak, the 17th to hit the vast central African country. Spread by close contact and infected bodily fluids, the disease has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.

The US State Department advisory for the impoverished, violence-wracked CAR reads: "Do not travel to Central African Republic for any reason." Trump has described Iran, with whom Washington is currently at war, as a "terrorist regime" but is nonetheless deporting nationals who have fled the country, including at least two Iranian women slated for the flight, their lawyer said. The Iranians had been granted "withholding of removal" -- a status that carries weaker rights than asylum but has been considered a "win" in immigration court under previous administrations.

"We fear they will ultimately be forced to return to the countries they originally fled," as has repeatedly happened with other deportees sent across Africa, their attorney, Emily Trostle, told AFP. The flight took off from Alexandria, Louisiana, on Thursday evening, according to the ICE Flight Monitor, affiliated with non-profit Human Rights First. It then made a scheduled stopover in Ghana -- which is itself a hub for third-country deportations -- Friday afternoon and landed in Central African capital Bangui around 2100 GMT.

It was unclear if some people were to be taken off the plane in Ghana or if they were all sent to the Central African Republic, said Alma David, a US immigration lawyer familiar with the case. Ghanaian immigration authorities did not respond to a request for comment. She said those headed to the Central African Republic "are mainly withholding grantees from a variety of countries, including Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Georgia".

In recent years, a United Nations peacekeeping mission, Rwandan troops and Russian mercenaries from the notorious Wagner group have helped to improve the Central African Republic's security situation. But anti-government fighters and armed groups are still present throughout the unstable, mineral-rich country. - Previous allegations of abuse - As part of its crackdown, the Trump administration has expanded who is targeted for deportation and where they can be sent.

Washington has argued it is only barred from sending people with "withholding of removal" to their country of origin -- and thus can send them anywhere else, even if those countries then send them home. Deportees and lawyers have described unsanitary holding conditions in Ghana and indefinite detention in Eswatini, among other alleged abuses. From Ghana and Equatorial Guinea, another African hub, some people have been sent back home to countries in which US judges ruled they faced danger.

It was not clear what would happen to the deportees upon arrival in the Central African Republic. It appears to be Bangui's first accord with Washington, which has made a slew of opaque deportation deals in Africa and elsewhere. "We don't know if these migrants who are coming to and will be received on Central African soil are in transit or if they are entitled to apply for asylum," Paul Crescent Beninga, a political scientist and civil society leader, told AFP.

"The government doesn't want to provide any answers, the government isn't communicating." A State Department spokesman said "we remain unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration" but did not answer questions about the terms of the deal. Central African authorities did not respond to a request for comment.

"These individuals are being removed from the United States and abandoned in a country where they have no status, no connection and no support network," Trostle said. Last week, a lawsuit was filed with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights -- the continent's top human rights body -- to halt US deportations to Equatorial Guinea, a small, authoritarian petro-state that has served as a waystation for African deportees. The lawsuit also seeks to stop Equatorial Guinea's onward expulsion of the deportees to their home countries.

Celebrations for the golden jubilee were held on June 13 to avoid coinciding with Sweden's Midsummer's Eve holiday, which falls this year on June 19. The king and queen, aged 80 and 82 respectively, kicked off the day with a morning thanksgiving service, called a Te Deum, in the palace chapel. After a palace lunch, they boarded the royal barge Vasaorden, with the queen dressed in a coral-red suit and a pillbox hat.

Under sunny skies, they were rowed across the water before transferring to a horse-drawn carriage for a procession through the capital. Thousands of Swedes gathered along the route, waving and cheering as the couple made their way to a love-themed concert in central Kungstradgarden park. A special jubilee concert was also scheduled at the Royal Opera, before a private dinner at the palace for friends and family.

In an interview with newspaper Dagens Nyheter at their royal residence ahead of the jubilee, the couple spoke candidly about their relationship. The queen praised the king's "humour", "sense of duty" and "honesty", while he described her as "unbelievably considerate". Asked what irritates them about each other, the queen joked: "There are so many things!" The king, in turn, teased her habit of shutting herself away in rooms "all the time".

"Yes, so no one can find you. We have quite a few rooms out here so there are lots of possibilities," he said. Reflecting more seriously, the king said successful relationships for couples just starting out take work. "You have to be prepared that it may not be as rosy as you imagined. You have to be humble and accept that there may be uphill struggles." Sweden has marked several royal milestones recently, including an 80th birthday bash for the king in April and his 50th anniversary on the throne in September 2023.

A keen hunter and sportsman, the king is the longest-reigning Swedish monarch and also the European monarch with the longest reign, 52 years. The royal couple have three children: Crown Princess Victoria, 48, Prince Carl Philip, 47, and Princess Madeleine, 44. Despite occasional scandals -- notably claims in a 2010 book alleging he frequented sex clubs and had numerous affairs -- the king remains broadly popular. A recent poll by the Novus institute found that 69 percent of Swedes believe he represents the country well.

July 4, the start date of the national funeral, will coincide with the United States' Independence Day, which this year celebrates its 250th anniversary. Ali Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, succeeded him as supreme leader in early March, the third since the establishment of the Islamic republic in 1979. Mojtaba Khamenei, wounded in the strikes that killed his father and numerous other officials, has not appeared in public since his appointment and communicates only through statements attributed to him.

"We have to wait and see about the exact time of signing; although it will not be tomorrow," ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, according to the IRNA news agency.

"The possibility of this happening in the coming days cannot be ruled out," he added, after mediator Pakistan said Iran and the United States could finalise the deal within 24 hours.

The reduction to KFOR comes at a time when Washington is pushing to cut its military presence in Europe. European diplomats said prior to the announcement that the United States had signalled it wanted to reduce its forces in KFOR. NATO did not give any further details on which troops will be withdrawn.

The United States has just under 600 troops in the mission, according to figures from April. NATO deployed an additional 1,000 troops to KFOR in 2023 following a rise in violence. The US-led defence alliance said that deployment was already halted earlier this year after the situation stabilised. While tensions persist in the majority-Serb north, the last major incident was in September 2023 when a Kosovo police officer was killed during a gun battle with Serb separatists.

The Southeast Asian nation has been diplomatically isolated since a 2021 military coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar's armed forces have been battling an array of opposition factions since the coup. Fearing political collapse in Myanmar -- with which it shares a porous, 2,100-kilometre (1,300-mile) border -- China has sought to rein in rebel groups fighting the military.

Beijing also enthusiastically backed elections that delivered a walkover win this year for the military's allies in civilian politics. After five years ruling as armed forces chief, Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as civilian president in April, in a transition democracy monitors dismissed as a rebranding of military rule. His government has revived discussions with China of long-stalled energy and transport infrastructure projects.

Surging energy prices triggered by the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, have reignited inflationary pressures and threatened to derail growth. "Before the conflict in the Middle East, growth was higher than expected and inflation was falling," finance minister Rachel Reeves said in response to the figures. "This is not a war we wanted or joined, but one that will have an impact at home," she said. The weak economic showing dealt a fresh blow to Starmer, who is facing calls to step down.

Britain's defence and armed forces ministers quit Thursday in a row over military spending, further weakening Starmer's authority just a week before a by-election that could prompt a bid to replace him. Defence Secretary John Healey resigned warning that Starmer's long-awaited Defence Investment Plan for funding over the next decade -- which the leader has yet to publish -- risked making Britain "less safe". "The effects of the conflict in the Middle East are now well and truly showing up in the economic data, and it isn't pretty reading for the UK," said Stuart Clark, portfolio manager at Quilter. "We expect the economy to continue to fade as the year goes on, and particularly for as long as there is no lasting peace deal in the Middle East," he added.

Suresh Patni, a driver, came to the site where the plane exploded in a ball of flame, engulfing his teenage son Akash at his family's tea stall. "We are here today only to remember him on his first death anniversary," Patni told AFP. "He was a good student and could have done really well for himself." Patni commemorated Akash with a framed photograph and a life-size cutout, decorated with flowers and surrounded by scattered rose petals and lit lamps.

The crash killed 241 people on board the plane and 19 people on the ground. Fragments of bags, clothes, and a melted shoe lie half-buried in the charred earth at the site, alongside dead trees with burned trunks. "It pains us when we hear an aeroplane flying overhead," Patni said, adding that their home was near the flight path of the airport in Ahmedabad, the main city in the state of Gujarat. "Our house is still at the same location," he said. "But we don't feel like staying here... we are reminded of the same faces and memories." Nearby, a woman wept as she embraced a framed picture of her deceased relatives, while another family scattered rose petals at the ruins of the hostel in honour of their son.

Relatives of the victims had expected a final report by Friday to explain why the disaster happened. But with investigations continuing, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to issue only an interim report. As required by international law, the AAIB published a preliminary report a month after the disaster.

That 15-page document said the fuel supply to the jet's engines was cut off moments before impact, raising questions about possible pilot error. It also published a conversation between the captain and his co-pilot about the fuel supply being cut off -- two brief sentences that sparked theories of pilot suicide.

The report was met with strong criticism. It did not say why the fuel switches were turned off -- whether it was the fault of a pilot, or a result of a malfunction. Relatives of the victims are meeting at a conference organised by lawyers, along with aviation and air safety experts in Ahmedabad. They are due to hold a candlelight vigil after sunset. "Why are authorities taking so much time to assess the crash?" asked Nilesh Joshi, whose wife Kaminiben Nilesh Joshi was killed, while returning home to Britain after attending a wedding in India.

"The release of the report is important for closure, for people like me who have lost their loved ones," Joshi, who had come from London to attend the conference, told AFP. Only one passenger survived, Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who has said he has "significant psychological scars" following the crash -- in which his brother died -- and "constant unanswered questions" about why it took place. Vijay Sengal still remembers the deafening sound when the plane came down. Sengal, a sanitation inspector at a nearby hospital, was one of the first to try to rescue the injured.

"When we tried to pick up bodies, the body wouldn't come... instead, it was someone's hand, someone's leg," he said. He said that he, like many others, avoids the area after dark, fearing it is haunted. "We believe in gods and also in souls," he said. "Those passengers sitting in the plane, maybe they still have some work stuck, their last wish still unfulfilled."

The Falcon 9 has now completed more than 600 flights, making it the workhorse of the commercial and military satellite launch industry. The rocket and tech company is set for an initial public offering raising $75 billion on a total valuation of $1.77 trillion. The company will put more than 555 million shares up for sale at a price of $135 each, according to US Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Iran, which has only allowed a trickle of ships to pass through the strait, has insisted that vessels obtain permission from its armed forces before transiting. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said he had called off planned strikes on Iran and claimed a deal to end the war could be signed in the coming days.

But Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the country has "not reached a final conclusion" on an agreement. On Friday, Iran's Mehr news agency, quoting a source close to Iran's negotiating team, published what it said was the text of a draft deal being finalised. The draft, it said, would end the war on all fronts including Lebanon, see the release of $24 billion in Iran's frozen assets, and set a 60-day period for negotiations on Tehran's nuclear programme.

It also includes the "suspension of sanctions on the sale" of Iran's oil and petrochemical products, and "the complete lifting of the US naval blockade" on Iranian ports, which has been in place since April 13. Mehr said the draft underscores the necessity for the US and its allies to pay Iran reparations for damage caused by the war and "to present reconstruction plans for Iran amounting to at least $300 billion". "Final negotiations will not begin before the release of half of Iran's blocked funds, suspension of Iran's oil sanctions, and lifting of the naval blockade," it added.

Iran's nuclear programme has been a contentious issue for Washington, which has long insisted Tehran should give up its enrichment capabilities and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium abroad. The official IRNA news agency in a separate report said Iran would "negotiate only the nuclear programme solely within the framework of the Islamic republic's fundamental principles". "Issues such as Iran's right to enrich uranium and the retention of enriched material by the Islamic Republic of Iran will be emphasised with a view to their inclusion in the final agreement," it said.

"As long as I am prime minister of Israel, Iran will not have nuclear weapons. There is full agreement between me and President Trump on this issue," Netanyahu said in a statement.

Iran and the United States have engaged in weeks of indirect negotiations seeking to bring to an end the war sparked by US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic on February 28. A ceasefire took effect in April, but sporadic episodes of violence have occurred, each time sparking new fears of a return to all-out war, despite Trump repeatedly stating a deal was within reach.

After inking an initial memorandum of understanding, IRNA said, Iran the US would hold 60 days of talks and that "Iran's right to enrich uranium and the retention of enriched material... will be emphasised with a view to their inclusion in the final agreement". Beyond this, according to IRNA, Iran would insist on managing traffic though the Strait of Hormuz, the key maritime trade route carrying oil and gas from the Gulf. Tehran has blockaded the international waterway since the outbreak of war with the US and Israel.

Iran, which has only allowed a trickle of ships to pass through the strait, has insisted that vessels obtain permission from its armed forces before transiting. In Tehran, some ordinary Iranians feared a deal with the United States would entrench the authorities' rule. "I am not sure how I feel," a 29-year-old who works at a cafe in the Iranian capital told AFP on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

"I don't know if it will be good or bad for us. The main purpose of this war was for the US to remove the system and this did not happen. So what does a deal do?" "Iran makes no commitment in this text to cede the management of the strait or the restoration of conditions that existed prior to the American and Israeli military aggression," IRNA said, confirming that "the broad outlines of the current text" was being finalised.

Iran's demands could further delay the signing of an accord, despite Trump's optimism spurring a stock market rally and a sharp drop in oil prices. Claiming that a draft deal had been "brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved," Trump cancelled on Thursday a threatened wave of bombings against targets in Iran, adding: "Time and place of the signing to be announced shortly."

Trump said the finer points of the arrangement had been approved by the US and its allies in the region, including Israel. On Friday, Iran's Mehr news agency, quoting a source close to Iran's negotiating team, published what it said was the text of a draft deal being finalised. The draft, it said, would end the war on all fronts including Lebanon, see the release of $24 billion in Iran's frozen assets, and set a 60-day period for negotiations on Tehran's nuclear programme.

It also includes the suspension of sanctions on the sale of Iran's oil and petrochemical products, and the complete lifting of the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, in place since April 13. Mehr said the draft says the US and its allies should pay Iran reparations for damage caused by the war and would "present reconstruction plans for Iran amounting to at least $300 billion". "Final negotiations will not begin before the release of half of Iran's blocked funds, suspension of Iran's oil sanctions, and lifting of the naval blockade," the report added.

Asked about Iran's apparent reluctance to sign up to the deal, Trump doubled down. When asked if Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the deal, he replied: "I understand the answer is yes." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the Israeli leader had spoken to Trump, who vowed any agreement would include the removal of Tehran's enriched nuclear material as well as the dismantling of its missile infrastructure. "As long as I am the Prime Minister of Israel, Iran will not have nuclear weapons," Netanyahu reiterated on Friday.

In Ukraine, a 44-year-old woman working as a rail station operator died on her way to a shelter during a drone attack in the border region of Sumy, the head of Ukrainian Railways said. Another woman, a station attendant, was wounded in the attack, Oleksandr Pertsovkyi said.

Three people were wounded in separate strikes on Ukraine's southern Mykolaiv region. In recent months, Kyiv has carried out an increasing number of attacks on Russian territory, in response to nearly daily bombardments by Moscow since it sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

"Soaring costs affect many individuals and families, as more and more people cannot afford their homes and risk becoming homeless," said FRA director Sirpa Rautio in the report. "Young people and vulnerable groups face hardships that undermine their access to the basic right to adequate housing and many remain unprotected against eviction."

There are indications that homelessness is on the rise, the report said, with the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (Feantsa) estimating nearly 1.3 million people were homeless in the EU in 2025. The EU is also "increasingly tested in upholding rules-based governance and fundamental rights" given "intense geopolitical instability and security threats", Rautio noted.

"The unpredictable international environment and ongoing wars are having an impact here at home -- not least on people's sense of safety and wellbeing," she said. Online hate is spreading, FRA said, finding more than one in three people in the EU had come across content online that they found to be harmful. Enforcing EU laws to regulate the internet "has faced challenges including holding tech platforms to account", according to Rautio.

The report also identified "serious employment-related challenges affecting third-country workers in the EU", including "overqualification, discrimination and labour exploitation". Yet the EU is facing major labour shortages, FRA noted. The report covers all 27 EU member states, as well as Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia.

An exchange of fire that took place overnight into Wednesday morning -- despite a ceasefire that went into effect on April 8 -- saw US strikes hit two water reservoirs in the town of Sirik, cutting off nearly 20,000 people from access to drinking water. "The water distribution network of the affected areas has been restored," said Abdolhamid Hamzehpour, general manager of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, according to state television on Thursday.

He said the repair process took "less than 12 hours" and "the intermittent supply problems for subscribers in the city of Kouhestak and the villages of the Bemani district were fully resolved". Washington had said the strikes were carried out in response to Iran's downing of a US Army Apache helicopter over Gulf waters. Tehran dismissed the justification as a "false pretext" and responded with missile and drone attacks targeting US bases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait.

The strikes on the reservoirs prompted Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei on Wednesday to describe the attack as "a calculated war crime and flagrant violation of human rights". "The US must be held accountable for committing such systematic brutal attacks on civilian life-sustaining infrastructure," he said in a post on X. The head of Hormozgan province's judiciary, Mojtaba Ghahremani, was also quoted by state television as saying the attack "constituted a war crime".

On March 7, at the height of the war, Iran said US strikes hit a desalination plant on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz. The following day, Bahrain reported an Iranian strike on a water facility, in what appeared to be retaliation for the US attack on Qeshm.

"I don't have much trust," said Charanvir Randhawa, president of the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), which has more than 5,000 members. "I will be very honest; they are not transparent at all," Randhawa told AFP. His organisation has criticised the composition of the initial investigation team, and its decision to question the family of one of the deceased pilots.

On Friday, relatives of the victims will meet in Ahmedabad at a conference organised by lawyers, along with aviation and air safety experts, to "discuss the path toward answers and safer skies". It also plans to hold a candlelight vigil in memory of those who died -- 241 of the 242 people on board, and 19 on the ground. Among the dead were 200 Indians, 52 British citizens, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. Only one passenger survived, Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who told the Press Association news agency that he continued to "live with the significant psychological scars" following the crash, in which his brother died, and "the constant unanswered questions" about why it took place.

"Those questions are not just on my mind -- they are on the minds of every affected family," he said. "Nothing will ever change what happened, but families deserve clarity." As required by international law, the AAIB published a preliminary report on July 12, 2025, a month after the disaster. That 15-page document said the fuel supply to the jet's engines was cut off moments before impact, raising questions about possible pilot error.

- 'Flawed' report

It also published a conversation between the captain and his co-pilot about the fuel supply being cut off -- two brief sentences that sparked theories of pilot suicide. The report was met with strong criticism. It did not say why the fuel switches were turned off -- whether that was the fault of a pilot or a result of a malfunction. Pushkaraj Sabharwal, 91, father of pilot Sumeet Sabharwal, called that report "profoundly flawed" and filed a petition at India's Supreme Court. He argued it focused on the dead pilots "while failing to examine or eliminate other more plausible technical and procedural causes of the crash".

Randhawa worries another inconclusive finding could result in "far more speculations" rather than understanding the disaster. "You have to give an indication. Why did the crash occur?" In May, the FIP pilot group submitted a letter to the aviation ministry calling for further investigation to rule out electrical failure. "Even if they are going to take more than one year, they should say: 'We are still investigating'," he said. "They should publish the full investigation report."

"We call on all parties in this conflict to exercise restraint and return to the negotiating table," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked by AFP about fresh attacks. He added that the escalation risks more "negative consequences for the situation in the region and the global economy."

An exchange of fire that took place overnight into Wednesday morning -- despite a ceasefire that went into effect on April 8 -- saw US strikes hit two water reservoirs in the town of Sirik, cutting off nearly 20,000 people from access to drinking water. "The water distribution network of the affected areas has been restored," said Abdolhamid Hamzehpour, general manager of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company, according to state television on Thursday.

He said the repair process took "less than 12 hours" and "the intermittent supply problems for subscribers in the city of Kouhestak and the villages of the Bemani district were fully resolved". Washington had said the strikes were carried out in response to Iran's downing of a US Army Apache helicopter over Gulf waters.

Tehran dismissed the justification as a "false pretext" and responded with missile and drone attacks targeting US bases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait. The strikes on the reservoirs prompted Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei on Wednesday to describe the attack as "a calculated war crime and flagrant violation of human rights".

"The US must be held accountable for committing such systematic brutal attacks on civilian life-sustaining infrastructure," he said in a post on X. The head of Hormozgan province's judiciary, Mojtaba Ghahremani, was also quoted by state television as saying the attack "constituted a war crime". On March 7, at the height of the war, Iran said US strikes hit a desalination plant on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz. The following day, Bahrain reported an Iranian strike on a water facility, in what appeared to be retaliation for the US attack on Qeshm.

"Pakistan remains deeply concerned at the situation in the region marked by recent escalation... we are of the view that diplomacy and dialogue should be the guiding principles for achieving a negotiated settlement of all contentious issues," foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi told journalists.

"You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats," he wrote in a resignation letter to Starmer.

The government has delayed a long-awaited Defence Investment Plan that sets out funding over the next decade, amid reports that funding would fall far short of what had been requested.

"A few minutes ago, an explosion was heard in the Sirik area at sea," a state television reporter said from the area, without providing further information.

"The pilots are fine, yeah. Nobody injured," said Trump, speaking to reporters before departing New York after attending an NBA finals game. "We are going to issue a report on that tomorrow," he added, without commenting on what may have caused the incident. Trump also said Tuesday that negotiators were in the "final throes" of talks for a peace deal in the Middle East, after Iran and Israel halted fresh hostilities that threatened to reignite the months-long war.

Dozens gathered near the air base, some wearing protective equipment and carrying a coffin with "Ebola" written on it. AFP journalists saw several people arrested by police, who also fired tear gas to disperse the small crowds. "We don't have that disease in this country... they are bringing a virus into our country," said Zipporah Wachira, 30.

The centre is due to have 50 isolation beds and be managed by US staff, and was nearing completion late last week. It had already sparked protests on June 1. Rights groups said two people died, though the circumstances of their deaths remain unclear.

Construction of the facility was under a temporary pause order from Kenya's High Court and has been opposed by local politicians in Laikipia. But the government of President William Ruto has vowed to press ahead, saying it owes Washington for years of aid support. "The American people and government have been partners with us on matters of health for close to 25-30 years," Ruto said last week.

"It would be most unfortunate if on one request by the Americans to set up a facility at their cost, we would refuse. We would look very inhuman." Kenya's health minister has insisted the facility will be for Kenyans as well as Americans. Washington has pledged $13.5 million to Kenya's Ebola preparedness efforts.

It follows a controversial health deal between the two countries last year, in which Kenya agreed to hand over vast amounts of health data to the US in exchange for billions of dollars in aid. The World Health Organization has declared an international health emergency over the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has seen 515 confirmed infections, including 91 deaths. Despite fears of spread to neighbouring countries, only Uganda has recorded cases. It has confirmed 19 so far, almost all Congolese nationals who crossed the border.

"Urgent warning to the residents of the city of Tyre, including the Christian quarter, and the camps and surrounding neighbourhoods," read a message posted on X by the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee.

"For your safety, we ask you to immediately evacuate your homes... and move north of the Zahrani River."

GSK said it could complete the deal this year, which may allow it to launch the two late-stage drugs, zidesamtinib and neladalkib, before the end of 2026 subject to approvals. "GSK's proven track record, infrastructure, and expertise will support the successful commercialisation of zidesamtinib and neladalkib, as well as accelerate advancement of our broader discovery pipeline," Nuvalent CEO James Porter said in the statement.

The pharmaceutical industry has faced turbulence from US President Donald Trump's tariff threats last year, aimed at encouraging investment in the United States and reducing drug prices. GSK, along with other non-US pharmaceutical giants, agreed in December to lower the cost of its prescription medicines for American patients, in exchange for tariff exemptions for three years. Miels took the helm at GSK in January, replacing Emma Walmley after almost nine years as CEO. Miels was previously the group's chief commercial officer.

The two military commanders discussed "matters of mutual interest, (the) evolving regional security environment, defence cooperation and prospects for enhancing bilateral military relations", a statement from the media wing of the Pakistani military said on Tuesday. Munir "underscored (the) Pakistan Army's commitment to expanding defence collaboration with the Lebanese Armed Forces," it said, after Haykal received a guard of honour ahead of the meeting in the city of Rawalpindi.

Conflict in Lebanon has become a centrepiece of weeks of stop-start efforts to bring a formal end to the war. Armed hostilities flared further during Haykal's visit, though both Iran and Israel indicated on Monday that they had halted the fighting. US President Donald Trump, who has expressed frustration at the slow progress of peace talks, said on Tuesday that negotiators were in the "final throes" of reaching a deal.

Lebanon was drawn into the war when Hezbollah militants fired rockets at Israel on March 2 to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iran's supreme leader. Israel responded with an extensive campaign of airstrikes and a ground invasion that have killed nearly 3,600 people. Exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have not stopped despite an ongoing truce. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said a US-Iranian agreement to end the war was "about to be achieved" when fresh fighting between Iran and Israel erupted on Sunday.

Even after an April 17 ceasefire agreement began, the Israeli military announced a so-called Yellow Line inside Lebanese territory about a dozen kilometres from its northern border where its ground troops are fighting with Hezbollah, who have fired rockets at Israel.

Multiple US media outlets, including CNN and NBC News, projected Raman had secured enough votes to advance to the runoff despite the primary ballot count remaining ongoing. The second-place candidate will go head-to-head in November with incumbent Bass, a Democratic former congresswoman first elected to lead the second-largest US city in 2022, who has come under fire during her time in office.

"I'm incredibly honored that voters have given us the opportunity to advance to the general election for Mayor of Los Angeles," Raman said in a statement posted on X. "Now our fight for a healthier, safer, more affordable, and more joyful Los Angeles continues," she added. Bass announced her win in a post on X, saying that "LA rejected Spencer Pratt and the MAGA agenda."

Pratt, a onetime reality TV villain whose house burned down in the devastating 2025 fires that hit the Los Angeles area, centered his campaign on widespread anger over the city's slow rebuild process, LA's potholed roads, its drug-addled homeless and a city hall seen as inefficient and in thrall to special interests. His candidacy sat in second place after polls closed last Tuesday, but it has since slipped in the standings as mail-in votes have been counted. Ballots in California are mailed out to all registered voters and are valid if they are postmarked by Election Day, meaning some do not even arrive at the counting center until several days after polls close.

The process -- and the sheer size of the state of 40 million residents -- means California is always slow to finalize results, a fact that frustrates voters of all stripes. A US federal prosecutor appointed by Trump, Bill Essayli, said he was investigating alleged fraud in the state's primary election, announcing his office would "follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent." The LA mayoral runoff vote will take place with the rest of the US midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3.

In the Gaza Strip, "ordinary Palestinians find themselves trapped between the structural violence and mass atrocities of Israeli forces and the predatory, fear-based rule of Hamas", the report said. And in the West Bank, which has seen soaring violence since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war, it described how Palestinian civilians were increasingly targeted by Israeli settler attacks. "Violence by settlers is the direct outcome of Israeli policies that support, enable and protect their actions," commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said in a statement. Hamas-affiliated forces, he added, had meanwhile "exploited the vacuum created by relentless Israeli attacks and widespread destruction of Gaza".

"What is alarmingly similar is the deliberate infliction of suffering on Palestinian civilians. While their origins and motivations differ, both operate within environments engineered by Israel," said Muralidhar, an Indian judge. The three-person commission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Tuesday's report focused heavily on the situation in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967. In the territory, Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,080 Palestinians since October 2023, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry data. Official Israeli figures show that at least 46 Israelis, both civilians and soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period.

The inquiry found that at least 26 Palestinians were killed and at least 1,570 were injured by settlers between January 2023 and December 2025. "This trend continues in 2026 with attacks carried out on a daily basis," the investigators said. The report, which will be presented to the rights council on Monday, concluded that Israel was responsible for enabling the settlers' action.

Settler violence "functions as a means of implementing Israeli state policy", it charged, with both focused on "entrenchment of Israeli settlements, annexation of Palestinian territory and displacement of Palestinians from their land". The report called on Israel, which has long accused the commission of "systematic anti-Israel discrimination", to stop the violence.

Israel, it said, must "immediately end the unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory", stop all new settlement activities and remove all settlers and settlements. The commission also determined that Hamas-affiliated forces were responsible for serious rights abuses, including the "war crimes of murder and torture" in Gaza.

It identified 249 cases of executions and severe physical violence in 2024-2025, resulting in at least 108 deaths and 384 people injured. The commission found that Hamas-affiliated forces were involved in at least 60 such incidents. The investigators found among other things that Hamas members had "tortured Palestinian civilians in the Nasser Medical Complex" in Gaza.

It stressed though that such conduct "does not result in the loss of special protection of the hospital against attacks under international humanitarian law". The commission recommended "that the de facto authorities in Gaza immediately stop all extrajudicial punishments of civilians, including executions, torture, and mental, physical and sexual violence". They should also "refrain from using civilian objects, including hospitals, for any purpose incompatible with their humanitarian and civilian functions", it added.

Sri Lanka is waging an anti-graft campaign targeting political figures, particularly allies of the Rajapaksa family that dominated the South Asian island country's politics for years. Mass protests in 2022 toppled then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was accused of mismanagement and corruption. Sarana Gunawardena was charged with financial misconduct for pocketing kickbacks from vendors after overpaying them 11.5 million rupees ($115,000 at the time) for renting vehicles and buildings nearly two decades ago. The High Court rejected appeals by Gunawardena's lawyers for leniency and said that a jail sentence was necessary to deter public sector corruption.

It also fined him 1.8 million rupees. Gunawardena is the latest member of the Rajapaksa administration to be jailed in the past year, following the imprisonment of former ministers Mahindananda Aluthgamage and Nalin Fernando, who received lengthy prison terms ranging from 20 to 25 years. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's leftist government, which came to power after Sri Lanka's crippling financial meltdown, has strengthened the powers of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.

Anti-Rajapaksa protesters blamed entrenched corruption within state institutions for contributing to the 2022 economic crisis. The International Monetary Fund's $2.9 billion bailout programme requires governance reforms and stronger action against financial misconduct. Authorities have also stepped up investigations into several high-profile criminal cases allegedly involving former political leaders.

A court imposed a foreign travel ban last week on toppled president Gotabaya Rajapaksa over allegations linked to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which killed 279 people. Gotabaya's intelligence chief Suresh Sallay is already in custody, accused of masterminding the attacks to create chaos and pave the way for Gotabaya's return to power, an allegation Sallay has denied.

"Six personnel of the Federal Constabulary (FC) were martyred and four others wounded in an attack carried out by armed militants," said a second security official, referring to Pakistan's paramilitary force which contributes to much of the frontline security in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan. "The militants abducted eight FC personnel and took them to an undisclosed location," the second source said.

Pakistan's military did not immediately respond to request for comment. The TTP posted an image of the men it had abducted on its social media channel and claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan has been fighting growing insurgencies in its western regions that border Afghanistan, which Islamabad accuses of harbouring militants -- an assertion the Afghan Taliban government in Kabul has repeatedly denied. Last month, militants killed 26 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in several attacks.

Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have deteriorated sharply in recent months over the militancy allegations, with diplomatic tensions escalating into deadly cross-border clashes including Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan.

That triggered another round of Iranian missiles, before Tehran announced it would cease fire. Iran has sought to tie its truce with the United States -- in place since April 8 despite repeated attacks by both sides -- to Israel's war against Hezbollah, warning that attacks on Lebanon would force it to act.

Tehran said on Monday it would attack again if Israel persisted with its strikes in Lebanon, while Netanyahu warned in turn that should Iran "make the mistake of resuming attacks against us, we will respond with full force". Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz insisted that the campaign in Lebanon would carry on regardless and said Israel would strike the Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs of Beirut in retaliation for each attack on northern Israel by the militant group.

Trump, who has reportedly grown increasingly exasperated with Netanyahu, had earlier urged both sides to stop "shooting" and said that "final negotiations" towards peace would proceed "subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way". The Israeli premier, though, said in a televised statement he had told Trump that "Israel has a full right to self-defence, and we are exercising it as required". Iran fired nearly 30 missiles at Israel overnight, according to the Israeli military, and Israel targeted military sites in the Islamic republic.

No casualties have been reported in either Israel or Iran after the exchange of fire. But violence continued in southern Lebanon on Monday, with an Israeli strike killing five people in the city of Tyre while another in the Nabatieh district left seven dead and a third in Marwanieh killed two, the Lebanese health ministry said. The Israeli military said it had identified projectiles launched towards its soldiers operating in southern Lebanon, some of which were intercepted while one landed near troops without causing casualties.

It later said that a "suspicious aerial target" from Yemen had been intercepted without any reported injuries. On Monday in Tehran, there was little sign of any return to war, with cafe terraces packed. Traffic seemed lighter than usual for a weekday, suggesting that some people had stayed home and there were also many more people queueing at petrol stations.

Maryam, 41, an accountant in Tehran, described "a sense of uncertainty and confusion." "You don't know if there's going to be a war, nor do you know if the peace agreement will last. Nothing is clear. People are frustrated," she said. Residents of Tel Aviv meanwhile went to shelters as sirens went off. "I hope it will be short, but you can never know. Last time we thought it will be short and then it was a month, so I don't know," said Jonathan Ariel, 30.

Iranian news agencies reported early Tuesday that the capital's international airport -- shut down over the renewed missile launches -- had reopened, allowing flights carrying hajj pilgrims from Saudi Arabia to land. The world's main crude contracts, Brent North Sea and West Texas Intermediate, surged by more than five percent in Asian trading hours on worries that the war would resume but eased later in the day, logging gains of 1.3 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.

The conflict has seen Tehran all but halt shipments of the Gulf's oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz while Washington has imposed a blockade on Iran's ports. The US military said it struck and disabled an unladen oil tanker Monday that violated the ports blockade. The exchange of fire between Iran and Israel came at a critical moment for diplomatic efforts to end the conflict involving mediator Pakistan.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei warned at a press conference in Tehran on Monday that diplomacy was continuing but could be affected by the fighting. As he was speaking at the foreign ministry, a huge explosion shook the building, followed by repeated explosions believed to be from air defence systems, an AFP reporter said. Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Tehran to deliver what he said was a "special letter" to Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to Iranian state television.

He has since returned to Pakistan, an official Pakistani source said on Monday. Iranian President Masoud Pezehskian posted on X that Tehran was still "at the negotiating table". 

An AFP journalist in Jerusalem witnessed at least one interception as residents hurried to shelters in the city. Israel's emergency service provider Magen David Adom said there were no reports of any casualties. Iran has launched multiple waves of missiles towards Israel since Sunday evening, rattling a fragile truce between the two countries engulfed in the Middle East war.

"No passengers were reported" on board, its statement said. "The aircraft declared an emergency while approximately 16 nautical miles (30 kilometers) southwest of La Romana" and crashed as it was attempting to land there, it added. The authority said an investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the crash of the Gulfstream G200 jet, which can seat up to 18 passengers.

Molina -- a former catcher for Major League Baseball's St. Louis Cardinals -- said the plane had been bound for Texas to pick up him and his family and fly them to his native Puerto Rico. "My condolences to the pilots and their families," he wrote in a post on Instagram, accompanied by a video of a plane crash-landing at the airport and bursting into flames. Molina is considered one of the best defensive catchers in MLB history. He won two World Series titles with the Cardinals over his 2004-2022 career.

The airport serves the tourist city of La Romana. Tourism is key to the economy of the Dominican Republic, a country of 11.6 million people located in the Caribbean. In 2021, nine people died in a private plane crash after departing from Las Americas International Airport in the capital, Santo Domingo.

"We declare a complete and total ban on Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea," said a statement from the Houthis' armed forces. "We consider all enemy movements to be legitimate military targets for our armed forces from the moment this statement is issued." The Houthis, who joined the Middle East war in support of Iran in March, had not announced a missile attack on Israel since a fragile ceasefire began on April 8.

They said they "launched a missile barrage targeting sensitive Israeli enemy targets", claiming the strikes "achieved their objectives with precision". The Israeli military earlier wrote on Telegram that it "has identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward Israeli territory, aerial defense systems are operating to intercept the threat". The Houthis' attack came as Israel and Iran traded fire on Monday, putting the ceasefire under renewed strain and threatening hopes for a peace deal.

The Houthis and Lebanon-based Hezbollah form part of the "Axis of Resistance" grouping of pro-Iran forces opposed to Israel and the United States. The rebels from Yemen's rugged north have controlled much of the country for more than a decade after they seized the capital and forced out the government in September 2014. A Saudi-led international military intervention from March 2015 triggered a brutal civil war that left hundreds of thousands dead from direct and indirect causes.

"We have vehicles out to areas where a bear was seen to make people aware and to urge people to stay indoors or in vehicles," a city official told AFP, adding that dozens of hunters, police and local officials have been looking for the animal. It was not clear whether there is one bear or more, he said, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity.

In recent years, Japan has seen an increasing number of bear sightings and attacks, especially in urban areas. A record 13 people were killed by bears in Japan last year, and there has been a jump in encounters as the animals emerge hungry from hibernation. In the last year to March, bear sightings nationwide topped 50,000 -- more than double the previous record set two years earlier, according to official data.

In Utsunomiya, a regional capital and home to 510,000 residents, there were just two unconfirmed bear sightings in the previous year. The bear now being hunted was first spotted Saturday morning, north of the city centre, and was described as being around one metre (three feet) long. A series of sightings followed, including in a residential neighbourhood that day, at a shopping arcade on Sunday, and at a park, a high school and a junior school. Early Monday, residents spotted a bear close to a wholesale market, the city official said.

"Resuming hostilities is not in any party's interest," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news briefing, adding: "It is hoped all relevant parties will fulfil their commitment to a ceasefire."

No casualties have been reported so far in either Israel or Iran. The attacks included a strike on an Iranian petrochemical complex and a missile attack on Israel by Yemen's Houthi rebels. The Israeli military said it struck and dismantled Iranian defence systems deployed across several areas in the country. AFP journalists in Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah heard a series of explosions and the Israeli army said it worked to intercept a new wave of Iranian missiles.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had struck Israel's Nevatim and Tel Nof air bases "in response to a missile attack launched by the Zionist regime". Tehran blamed Washington for the resumption of fighting and said the flare-up would affect peace talks. "No one believes that the Zionist regime would carry out any action without prior coordination and cooperation with the United States," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a press conference in Tehran attended by AFP.

"It is perfectly natural that the diplomatic process initiated to put an end to this imposed war would be affected." Nonetheless, "diplomatic consultations are naturally continuing in all circumstances", Baqaei added. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels meanwhile announced a missile attack on Israel on Monday, the first since early April, and declared a ban on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea, raising the spectre of a return to major disruption on the key route.

"We declare a complete and total ban on Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea," said a statement from the Houthis' armed forces. Trump called for calm from both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Iranians, but Israel accused Tehran of making a "grave mistake". "I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn't call the shots," Trump said in an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, referring to Netanyahu.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said: "What I would suggest to Iran: You've shot your missiles, that's enough, get back to the table and make a deal." "The European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas urged calm Monday and called on both sides to "sit down to a negotiation table and agree". China also called on the two sides to refrain from fighting, with foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian saying that "resuming hostilities is not in any party's interest".

Tehran has insisted any deal to permanently end the war must also halt the parallel conflict in Lebanon, where Israel was pursuing a campaign against Hezbollah. Iran's Revolutionary Guards called the attack a "warning" after Israel struck Beirut's southern suburbs earlier in the day, threatening wider strikes in the event of repeated aggression. On Sunday, Netanyahu's office announced the army had "struck a militant command centre in Beirut's Dahiyeh district, in response to Hezbollah's fire towards Israeli territory".

The raid killed two people and wounded 20 more, Lebanon's health ministry said. Israel had warned it would hit the area should Hezbollah attack northern Israel, with the Iran-backed group later confirming having launched missiles and drones at a pair of Israeli army barracks early Sunday. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker and its chief negotiator in talks with Washington, accused the United States of having given a "green light" for the Beirut attack, saying US and Israeli assets were now "legitimate targets".

The head of Iran's military central command said Israel had "crossed all red lines" with the Beirut strike. The attacks sent crude prices surging more than five percent as hopes dimmed on any imminent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway for oil and gas transit which Iran has blockaded.

Iranians were also already feeling the strain of weeks of uncertainty. "I really have gone numb," fitness trainer Elaheh from Ahvaz told AFP. "Daily life? It's a joke. Everything is horrible. We only try to survive," the 32-year-old added, pointing to rising prices. There were some weekend signs of ongoing diplomatic efforts, with Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visiting Tehran to deliver what he said was a "special letter" to Iran's supreme leader, according to Iranian state television.

He has since travelled back to Pakistan, an official Pakistani source said on Monday. Iran said that "diplomatic consultations are naturally continuing" with Pakistan to end the war with the US, even after fighting resumed with Israel. 

According to the source, mediators were due to meet a Hamas delegation before midday on Monday, followed by a wider meeting including all participating factions. Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera News channel said Sunday's talks focused on "the proposed roadmap for completing the implementation of the agreement". "It was held in a positive atmosphere," the channel reported, adding that there was agreement on the need to continue implementing US President Donald Trump's plan.

The talks come amid rising regional tensions, after Israel and Iran traded fire on Monday, in a serious test of another fragile truce and a potential threat to hopes for a deal to end the wider Middle East war. Despite the Gaza truce technically in effect since October, daily violence has rocked the territory, over half of which is under Israeli military control in defiance of the ceasefire's terms. Israel has killed at least 936 people since the ceasefire began, according to Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

Both Hamas and Israel accuse each other of violating the truce. The first phase of the ceasefire involved the release of the last Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel. A transition to the second phase, which was supposed to involve Hamas's disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli military, has been stalled for months. The question of Gaza's post-war governance also remains one of the main sticking points in negotiations on implementing the provisions of phase two.

Israel rejects any return of Hamas to power, but also rejects a direct takeover by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority at this stage. Hamas, meanwhile, demands the establishment of a Palestinian administration before considering handing over part of its arsenal -- a key stipulation for the second phase, along with Israel's withdrawal.

Israel's military said earlier Monday it had struck several targets at a petrochemical complex in Mahshahr in southwestern Iran in retaliation. "In this complex, chemical materials are produced and used for ballistic missiles that are fired towards here, towards the state of Israel," the official said. "The strikes and the damage to the complex disrupts their ability to manufacture various types of weapons."

The Israeli military said it also struck Iranian air defence systems. The official said the Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir had spoken twice to the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) over the past day. "Over the past day, the IDF chief of the general staff has spoken twice to the commander of CENTCOM and they are discussing the situation," the official said, without elaborating.

Air raid sirens sounded across large areas of northern and central Israel, with explosions heard over Jerusalem earlier on Monday, AFP journalists reported. The exchange of fire between the two countries is the first such since a truce was announced on April 8 in the Middle East War.

A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake, according to the United States Geological Survey, with the largest measuring 6.5 magnitude. In General Santos, an AFP journalist watched Monday afternoon as rescue workers dug through the rubble of a popular grocery store chain in a desperate bid to reach the bodies of two employees buried beneath.

Rene Punzalan, disaster chief for hard-hit Sarangani province, told AFP 14 people had died in Glan municipality alone when a landslide buried their homes at the foot of a mountain. "The landslide happened immediately after the earthquake, so many lives were lost," he said, adding that some areas had yet to report if they had sustained casualties. "The greatest challenge is communication. The power was cut, so it's hard to get updates," Punzalan said.

"We're worried about aftershocks," he added. "We can feel the fear of the residents." Videos posted to social media and verified by AFP showed a shopping centre with a Jollibee fast food restaurant reduced to rubble in General Santos City, while a school building that officials said was unoccupied crumpled in another. "Lord, it has really collapsed! ... The building has really collapsed!" someone can be heard shouting as the abandoned school structure topples.

In another video verified by AFP, young schoolchildren could be seen screaming in the arms of their teachers as the quake violently swayed them back and forth on the ground. A flimsy metal structure in the background collapsed as the video uploaded to the school's official Facebook page came to an end. An accompanying caption said no one was under the structure when it fell. Punzalan, the Sarangani disaster chief, told AFP that more than 2,000 people evacuated due to a morning tsunami warning were now awaiting a green light to return to their homes.

"(Authorities) are still assessing the situation now if it will be OK to send them home," he said. A notice from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had said tsunami waves were possible along the coasts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea. But by mid-afternoon, the Philippines and other countries had cancelled their warnings.

Waves that did reach the Pacific coast of Japan, where authorities had issued a tsunami advisory, were reported to be no higher than 20 centimetres (about eight inches). Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, who suspended classes across Mindanao island on what was to have been the first day of school, had called on residents in coastal areas to evacuate immediately. "Move to higher ground now. Do not wait," he said. "Your life is more important than anything left behind."

The airport in General Santos, meanwhile, has been closed until further notice, officials said. A video verified by AFP showed what appeared to be chunks of ceiling that had collapsed onto the baggage claim area. Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Eastern Mindanao was rocked by a pair of earthquakes of 7.4 and 6.7 magnitude in October that killed at least eight people. These followed a magnitude 6.9 quake days earlier that killed 76 people and destroyed or damaged 72,000 buildings in Cebu province in central Philippines, according to government figures.

The 27-nation bloc said it was blacklisting Mohammad Akbarzadeh, spokesperson for the Guards' naval wing, and the organisation's Hormozgan Provincial Command. It also said it was placing Hamid Hosseini, a representative of Iran's oil exporters union, under an asset freeze and visa ban.

European nations, spearheaded by France and Britain, are working on plans to send a naval mission to Hormuz once the fighting stops. EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas has said the bloc's naval mission, currently in the Red Sea, could take part in the operation.

With Israel's response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently defied calls by his ally Trump for restraint, against the background of reports of an increasingly testy relationship between the two men. "Israel and Iran must immediately stop 'shooting.' President DONALD J. TRUMP," the US leader wrote on his Truth Social network. Minutes later, he added in a new post that "final negotiations" towards peace were proceeding "subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way."

Tehran's strikes followed attacks by Israel against targets of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Iran had repeatedly warned it would strike Israel if the Lebanese capital was targeted. Oil prices surged more than five percent on worries that war could break out again, with hopes now punctured of a rapid end to the standoff that has seen shipping limited through the key Strait of Hormuz trade bottleneck amid fears of global energy and goods shortages.

The strikes also came at a critical moment with diplomatic efforts to end the conflict involving mediator Pakistan on a knife-edge. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei warned at a press conference in Tehran attended by AFP that is was "perfectly natural that the diplomatic process initiated to put an end to this imposed war would be affected." But he added: "Diplomatic consultations are naturally continuing in all circumstances."

As he was speaking at the foreign ministry, a huge explosion shook the building, followed by repeated explosions believed to be from air defence systems, the AFP reporter said. Local media in Iran that a "hostile drone" was shot down over Tehran by air defences. Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Tehran to deliver what he said was a "special letter" to Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to Iranian state television. He has since travelled back to Pakistan, an official Pakistani source said on Monday.

Tehran has insisted any deal to permanently end the war must also halt the parallel conflict in Lebanon, where Israel was pursuing a campaign against Hezbollah. No casualties have been reported in either Israel or Iran. The Israeli military said it struck and dismantled Iranian defence systems deployed across several areas in the country. Iran fired nearly 30 missiles towards Israel since Sunday night, an Israeli military official said.

AFP journalists in Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah heard a series of explosions and the Israeli army said it worked to intercept a new wave of Iranian missiles. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had struck Israel's Nevatim and Tel Nof air bases and had also targeted a petrochemical facility in Israel in retaliation for an attack on a similar site in southwestern Iran. The Guards warned that Israel "has initiated a dangerous game, the scope of which will encompass all energy-related targets in the region".

A military source told the Tasnim news agency that "Iran is prepared for a long-term war with the Zionist regime and for strikes against US interests" in the region. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels meanwhile announced a missile attack on Israel on Monday, the first since early April, and declared a ban on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea. The European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas called on both sides to "sit down to a negotiation table and agree", adding that "the region does not need an escalation."

It also remains unclear who is leading decision-making in Tehran with Mojtaba Khamenei, said to have been wounded in a US-Israeli strike, yet to appear in public after taking over from his father Ali Khamenei who was killed on the first day of the war on February 28. On Monday in Tehran, there was little sign of any return to war. Under sunny skies, cafe terraces were packed, while motorcycles weaved at high speed through the lunchtime traffic, an AFP correspondent in the capital said. But the traffic seemed lighter than usual for a weekday, suggesting that some people had stayed home and there were also many more people queueing at gas stations.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, referring to Netanyahu, Trump insisted he held sway in their relationship. "I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn't call the shots," he said.

Iran had delivered a "painful response" to Israel and "accordingly, the cessation of armed forces operations is hereby announced", the Khatam al-Anbiya command said in a statement carried by state television.

"However, it is emphasised that should acts of aggression and hostility continue, including in southern Lebanon, much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow," it added.

National Election Commission (NEC) chairperson Rho Tae-ak resigned on Friday after public outrage over ballot paper shortages that the commission said affected 50 polling stations nationwide, including more than 30 in the capital. On Saturday evening in Seoul, about 10,000 people gathered at the SK Olympic Handball Stadium, where ballots from the elections had been counted, Yonhap reported, citing an unofficial police estimate. By 2:00 am Sunday, at least 1,000 protesters, many in their 20s and 30s, still remained at the site, waving large national flags and chanting, "Re-election, re-election," an AFP journalist saw.

Young volunteers handed out water, coffee and chocolates. Some demonstrators were accompanied by their pets; others sat on picnic mats, holding national flags and keeping watch through the night. "Regardless of political affiliation, not being able to vote is an infringement on our rights in a free democracy," Seo Jin-hee, 31, told AFP, looking visibly emotional. The NEC said ballot papers were printed for only 50 percent of eligible voters because there were large numbers of unused ballots in recent elections due to increased early voting.

Some voters are believed to have left without casting their ballots. The commission's explanation "simply defies common sense to any ordinary citizen", said another demonstrator, Park Soun-wok, 29. "It does not matter whether my preferred candidate wins or not. Regardless of all that, I believe this election must be rerun," he told AFP. Wednesday's election problems had triggered a 35-hour blockade of a polling station in Seoul, with protesters preventing authorities from removing two ballot boxes for counting.

Riot police dispersed the protesters on Friday morning, with videos on social media showing officers dragging an elderly man across the floor and clashing with demonstrators. Despite NEC chairperson Rho's resignation later that day, protesters regrouped at the SK Olympic Handball Stadium, demanding a new election and a thorough investigation. Claims from former president Yoon -- now jailed and on trial for insurrection -- that the NEC had ignored warnings about North Korean threats to voter data resonated with right-wing YouTubers and supporters, who spread unverified election fraud theories online and questioned the commission's credibility.

But Choi In-jae, 29, a volunteer sketching national flags at the demonstration, told AFP: "I believe (right-wing figures) make up only a very small part of the crowd here today." "I myself came out simply because I wanted to help when people are standing up for their fundamental rights." Analysts say the NEC, a constitutional body with limited external oversight, has long faced gaps in internal discipline and review mechanisms.

"This mishap by NEC was unacceptable by any standard," political commentator Park Sang-byung told AFP. "When the integrity of elections is compromised, the foundation of democracy itself is at risk. Strict accountability and stronger checks and balances are desperately needed."

"It's very hot, much hotter than I imagined," the mother of four, who is performing the hajj for the first time, told AFP. "I can't adapt," she added while adjusting her sunglasses to protect her eyes from the harsh glare of the sun. "I had planned to perform all my prayers at the Grand Mosque, but I couldn't go down for the prayers held during the day."

Pilgrims perform most of the hajj's rites outdoors where more than a million devotees gather in stifling conditions, with many attendees succumbing to heatstroke, fainting spells and even cardiac arrest triggered by the heat. Saudi Arabia's National Center for Meteorology predicted daytime temperatures this week would hover between 42 and 47 degrees Celsius in Makkah during the hajj, which officially begins on Monday.

For pilgrims travelling from outside the region, the harsh desert climate can be brutal. "I make sure to drink large amounts of water and beverages rich in salts and minerals, because we sweat constantly and are always on the move," said Imad Ahmed, visiting from Britain. To protect worshippers from the extreme heat, authorities rely on one of the most powerful air conditioning systems in the world to cool the Grand Mosque's courtyards, according to Saudi state television. Other areas have huge fans, mist sprayers and cooled flooring systems to mitigate the searing heat.

Trucks are also continuously distributing free bottles of ice-cold water to pilgrims. But even with these measures, the unrelenting sun continues to bake the white marble surrounding the grounds of the Grand Mosque where most pilgrims have congregated in recent days. "It's really hot," said Mohamed Nabil, who hails from the Algerian coastal city of Oran, where temperatures are currently around 25 degrees Celsius.

The 43-year-old professor said he regularly pours water on his face to stay cool, while racking up 30,000 steps a day as he explores Makkah. Ice cream stands are often mobbed by pilgrims, while others seek shelter in the shade of buildings near the mosque or in indoor galleries, where they lie on carpets beneath enormous fans while waiting to perform their prayers. When the hajj begins, pilgrims will be forced to beat the heat for many of the rites, including the pilgrimage's climax at Mount Arafat on Tuesday where there is little if any shade to be found on the rocky hill.

More than 50,000 healthcare staff and 3,000 ambulances are on hand to help pilgrims in need, the Saudi health ministry said. On Saturday, the ministry said its medical teams had already treated 144 people suffering from heatstroke. In 2024, more than 1,300 pilgrims died as temperatures crossed 50 degrees Celsius, according to authorities.

Speaking from a hospital room in the Mina camp, where authorities treat pilgrims for heat exhaustion, the health ministry's Jameel Abualenain said he was mainly concerned "about rising temperatures" affecting pilgrims. To protect against heatstroke, he said people must "drink enough water, use umbrellas and avoid prolonged exposure to the sun".

Ebola is a deadly viral disease that spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids. It can cause severe bleeding and organ failure. The country declared an outbreak on May 15 caused by the Bundibugyo strain, which has no approved vaccine or treatments. In a previous update released on Saturday, the DR Congo health ministry said 204 deaths had been recorded in three provinces of the vast central African country, from 867 suspected cases. Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people across Africa in the past half-century.

Federal regulators dispatched a team of experts to advise on possible outcomes, with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Lee Zeldin telling CNN on Sunday that the "most catastrophic scenario" would be if one tank exploded and caused other tanks nearby to explode with it. "That's the reason why you see such a big evacuation." However, Zeldin said "the most likely scenario is one of a low-volume release, where the local authorities are going to be able to monitor, neutralize and contain the threat."

On Saturday night, firefighters approached the tank to gather information and saw a "potential crack in the tank, which could potentially be relieving some of the pressure in there," TJ McGovern, interim fire chief for the Orange County Fire Authority, said in a video post on X. "This operation that we did gave us positive intel to make educated decisions today in the positive light," he said, adding that experts are carefully studying the information collected. "We're not there yet, but this was a step in a right direction."

There was no indication as to what caused the leak, which was initially reported on Thursday, and McGovern did not comment on whether the crack was linked to the leak. The tank contains 7,000 gallons (26,000 liters) of methyl methacrylate, a volatile and flammable liquid used to make plastics. Firefighters had warned Saturday that the tank was heating up, adding to fears of a catastrophic blast, and have been spraying water to cool the tank.

The tank is owned by GKN Aerospace, which operates 32 manufacturing locations in 12 countries -- including China, India, Mexico, Turkey, Sweden and Germany -- and has 16,000 employees, per its website. The Birmingham, UK-headquartered company develops airplane technology and said in a statement Sunday that it is "working around the clock to mitigate the risk of a leak." "We are acutely aware of the uncertainty this incident is causing and sincerely apologise for the ongoing disruption to the local community," the statement said.

As of Sunday, evacuees were still not allowed to return home, and more shelters were opened to accommodate them. Disneyland officials said the "resort remains open to guests," and they were keeping a close tab on the matter. The EPA says methyl methacrylate is irritating to the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes in humans. It can also cause respiratory and neurological reactions in cases of acute or prolonged exposure. Responders were working to put containment barriers in place to prevent any spilled material from reaching storm drains or river channels that funnel into the ocean.

Officers armed with shields surrounded the Barinas Judicial Detention Center, located about 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Caracas. Dozens of family members waited anxiously nearby. Yelitza Arrollo told AFP that she has not heard from her son, an inmate at the detention center, since May 8. "They are suffering because they are beating them terribly, torturing them, pouring cold water on them, electrocuting them, setting them on fire, mistreating them terribly," she said outside the prison. "We want the director removed."

Relatives said several of the inmates were injured. Some "1,200 men and more than 100 women incarcerated at the Barinas Judicial Detention Center have gone on strike," the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons, a humanitarian group also known by its acronym OVP, said in a social media post. The government ministry that runs the prisons "is ignoring the inmates, who have been denouncing mistreatment for over a week. They are not being listened to; on the contrary, they are being shot at and tear-gassed," OVP said.

For years, activists have criticized overcrowding, limited food and a lack of medical care in Venezuelan prisons, alongside what they claim are systematic human rights violations. In April, the government confirmed the deaths of five people during a riot at the high-security Yare III prison, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) from Caracas. In 2023, then-president Nicolas Maduro ordered a military operation to intervene in the country's major prisons, which had been controlled by gangs for years. In January, Maduro was dramatically ousted in a lightning US operation that took him and his wife to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges. 

"I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side," Trump said in a social media post Sunday. "The Blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified and signed," he added. Earlier Trump had posted that the deal "has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the various other Countries." Iran's Tasnim news agency said Sunday its information was that key clauses of a possible agreement remained "unresolved at this time," including the issue of frozen Iranian assets.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, told The New York Times that an agreement with Iran had garnered regional support but a nuclear deal couldn't be achieved "in 72 hours on the back of a napkin." "Right now, we have seven or eight countries in the region that are endorsing this approach, and we're prepared to move forward on this approach," he said. Earlier Rubio had said a bargain could be struck to end the regional war as early as Sunday. But Trump again reined in expectations, posting on social media that "If I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one" and adding: "It isn't even fully negotiated yet."

Staunch Trump ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he and the president had agreed that "any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear threat entirely." Iranian officials confirmed the existence of a draft agreement but stressed that -- despite the long-standing US demand for an end to its uranium enrichment -- talks on the issue of Iran's contested nuclear program have been deferred for 60 days after any deal. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told state television that Tehran was "still prepared to assure the world that we are not seeking nuclear weapons," but it was unclear if this promise would be enshrined in the text of the deal.

According to Iran's Fars news agency, "sanctions on oil, gas, petrochemicals and their derivatives would be temporarily lifted during the negotiation period so that Iran can freely sell its products." Leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, as well as representatives from Turkey and Pakistan, joined a call with Trump to discuss the deal on Saturday. Pakistan, which mediated historic face-to-face negotiations between US and Iranian delegations in April, hopes to host another round of talks "very soon," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said.

He said Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir, who visited Tehran on Friday and Saturday, also joined the call, which "provided a useful opportunity... to move the ongoing peace efforts forward to bring lasting peace in the region." Israel's military, meanwhile, continued to pound what it says are Hezbollah targets in southern and eastern Lebanon despite an April 17 ceasefire that has been broken by both sides. Iran-backed Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the war by attacking Israel, starting on March 2, after US-Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader.

Rubio on Sunday accused Hezbollah of trying to plunge Lebanon "back into chaos" and condemned the group's "reckless call to overthrow Lebanon's democratically elected government." He appeared to be responding to comments from Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's leader, who said that "the people have the right to go down onto the streets and to bring down the government" given the Israeli strikes and US sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a financial institution that provides interest-free loans to Shia Muslims.

"We're not kicking it till later. Nuclear talks are highly technical matters. You can't do a nuclear thing in 72 hours on the back of a napkin," Rubio told the Times in a brief interview. "So right now, we have seven or eight countries in the region that are endorsing this approach, and we're prepared to move forward on this approach," he said.

Suzuki is known for opening the first 7-Eleven store in Japan in 1974 and growing the business into the world's largest convenience store chain, including through turning the struggling US headquarters into a subsidiary of the Japanese company and rebuilding it. He is known as the "father of the convenience store" in Japan.

A day earlier 11 people including six women and a child were killed in a single strike in the south's Sir al-Gharbiyeh, the ministry said Sunday, decrying a "massacre". Israel's military has continued to hit what it says are Hezbollah targets in Lebanon despite a ceasefire in the country that began on April 17 and that was recently extended for several weeks. The Iran-backed group has also maintained attacks on Israeli troops who have invaded southern Lebanon, as well as targets across the border, claiming more than 20 such attacks on Sunday including with rockets, attack drones and artillery.

Iran has indicated that an understanding with Washington to halt the regional war would include Lebanon, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday US President Donald Trump had reaffirmed his support for Israel's right "to defend itself against threats on all fronts, including in Lebanon". Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said that "we continue to strike Hezbollah across all dimensions... the security of civilians and the safety of our forces remain paramount", a statement said. Lebanon's official National News Agency reported Israeli airstrikes on more than 30 locations in south and east Lebanon on Sunday, some causing casualties.

AFP correspondents saw large clouds of smoke after strikes in several places. Israel's military issued evacuation warnings for more than a dozen villages in Lebanon's south and the eastern Bekaa valley. Lebanon's civil defence agency said its regional facility in Nabatieh had been destroyed by an overnight Israeli strike.

An AFP photographer saw civil defence personnel recovering equipment from the rubble. Israel's military did not provide any comment on the strike in response to an inquiry from AFP's Jerusalem bureau. Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said that "God willing, this agreement (between the US and Iran) will be finalised... and accordingly that we too will be among those included in this agreement" on a full cessation of hostilities.

He again repeated his group's rejection of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon. Lebanese authorities recently began landmark direct talks with Israel under US auspices, and are preparing for a fourth round in early June, preceded by a meeting between military delegations at the Pentagon on May 29. "Abandon the direct negotiations... Don't be with them and stab us in the back," Qassem said.

He also said that "disarmament is annihilation and we cannot accept it", adding that "we and our people face an existential threat." "We will not bow, even if the whole world turns against us." After Qassem's speech, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Hezbollah of trying to plunge Lebanon "back into chaos". Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

Under the terms of the ceasefire published by Washington, Israel reserves the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks". Israeli troops who invaded Lebanon are also operating inside an Israeli-announced "yellow line" running around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep along Lebanon's southern border.

What do we know about the possible agreement? Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the nuclear issue was not part of an initial framework. It will rather be "subject to separate discussions" later. But the New York Times, citing two unnamed American officials, said a key element of the proposed agreement was an apparent commitment by Tehran to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The question of how Iran would do so would be discussed in a "later round of negotiations over Iran's nuclear program", the paper said.

But Iran's Fars and Tasnim news agencies reported that Iran made no commitments regarding its nuclear programme. "Iran has made no commitment in this agreement to hand over nuclear stockpiles, remove equipment, shut down facilities or even commit not to build a nuclear bomb," Fars said. Both agencies said nuclear-related issues would be negotiated within 60 days of the understanding being signed.

Netanyahu said that in a conversation on Saturday, "President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear threat entirely". "This means dismantling Iran's uranium enrichment facilities and removing enriched nuclear material from its territory," he added. A key sticking point in the talks is traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital global conduit for oil shipments that has come under Iranian control since the outbreak of the war. Iran has insisted that vessels must obtain permission from its armed forces.

Trump said Saturday that "in addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened", a development that would bring relief to global energy markets. But, Fars news agency said that, if finalised, the potential agreement would preserve Iran's management over the strategic waterway. Tasnim reported that "the status of the Strait of Hormuz would not revert to its pre-war situation". It added that the "the naval blockade, according to the reported framework, would also need to be fully lifted within 30 days", referring to the US blockading Iranian ports. Iran has long demanded the release of its frozen assets held under longstanding US sanctions.

According to Tasnim, "Iran has insisted that any initial understanding must be conditional on at least partial access to the assets". It quoted an informed source as saying that Iran "has stressed that there will be no agreement unless a specified portion of Iran's frozen assets is released at the very first stage". A clear mechanism must also be "established to guarantee the continued release of all blocked funds". Tasnim's source warned that "disagreements over this matter are among the reasons why no final understanding has yet been reached".

According to Fars, a potential understanding would also see the US temporarily lifting sanctions on oil, gas and petrochemicals during the negotiation period. Israel has been carrying out daily strikes in Lebanon despite a US-brokered ceasefire, saying it is targeting Hezbollah. Iran has previously said that any ceasefire must apply to all fronts of the regional war, including Lebanon, and Hezbollah has said it is confident that its ally will not abandon it. Tasnim reported that "a memorandum of understanding (MOU) would first be announced, stressing an end to fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon".

"Under the arrangement, Israel, as a US ally, would also be expected to halt the war in Lebanon," it added. Baqaei told state television that "at this stage, we will not discuss the details of the nuclear issue... we have decided to prioritise an urgent issue for all of us: ending the war on all fronts including Lebanon".

Ukraine regularly targets Russia in retaliation for the daily bombardments it has been subjected to since the start of the large-scale Russian offensive in February 2022. At least four people were killed and more than one hundred injured in Ukraine overnight Saturday to Sunday in intense Russian bombardments that particularly targeted the capital, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Kyiv and Moscow reported that Russia used its Orechnik nuclear-capable ballistic missile during these strikes, which followed a Ukrainian drone attack on educational buildings in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk that left 21 dead and more than 40 injured. US-mediated negotiations to end this conflict, the worst in Europe since the Second World War, have been at a standstill since the outbreak of war in the Middle East.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier threatened retaliation for Ukrainian strikes in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine that killed 21 people in a vocational school. In Kyiv, Sofia Melnychenko, 21, thought she was safe in the subway, "but then there were three loud explosions, and after the fourth one the ceiling in the metro started crumbling," she told AFP. "There was complete chaos. Children started screaming, people were panicking," she added.

"It was a very frightening night." The Ukrainian air force said the raid involved 600 drones and 90 missiles, of which 549 drones and 55 missiles were intercepted. Kyiv has been grappling with an acute air defence missile deficit since the US-Israeli air campaign against Iran drove up demand for US-made Patriot rounds. European leaders reacted by saying the salvo showed Russia's desperation. "Terror against civilians is not strength. It's despair," EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X. French President Emmanuel Macron said the strikes signalled "the dead end of Russia's war of aggression", while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the use of Oreshnik a "reckless escalation".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged more action from allies. "I am grateful to everyone now expressing words of support. But concrete steps to bolster air defence are also needed -- missile deliveries must not stop for a single day," he said on social media. He earlier said the Russians hit dozens of residential buildings, schools, a water supply facility and a market in a "genuinely deranged" attack. Russia's army confirmed it had launched the Oreshnik at Ukraine for the third time in the war, saying it was "in response to Ukraine's terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure on Russian territory". The missile was used without a nuclear warhead.

Moscow denied targeting civilians, saying it had struck command posts of the Ukrainian army and intelligence. Four people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in Kyiv and the surrounding region, local officials said. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said damage had been recorded in every district of the capital.

The residence of the Albanian ambassador was also hit and the Balkan country summoned the Russian envoy in protest. Buildings housing a studio of German broadcaster ARD and an office for German outlet DW were damaged as well, the companies said in statements. Both premises were empty of people at the time. Projectiles also hit other Ukrainian regions, with dozens of wounded reported in the Kharkiv, Cherkasy and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Attacks continued during the day, with a shelling killing two and wounding 17 in the frontline city of Kherson. Ukraine had been expecting a major strike after its own forces launched a drone barrage on Starobilsk, in the Russian-occupied east of the country, which Moscow said hit a college dormitory and killed 21 people, most of them young female students. Launched overnight on Thursday to Friday, the drone salvo -- one of Ukraine's deadliest such strikes in months -- also wounded dozens in the city, located in the occupied Lugansk region.

Ukraine denied targeting civilians, saying it had hit a Russian drone unit stationed in the area. Ukraine regularly targets Russian-controlled areas of the country with drones, arguing that the strikes are retaliation for Russian attacks. Kyiv has recently expanded its drone capabilities and stepped up strikes on internationally recognised Russian territory, including residential areas and oil export infrastructure.

Moscow has hit Ukraine almost daily with barrages of missiles and drones since launching its full-scale invasion of the country in 2022, also hitting infrastructure and causing civilian deaths. It denies targeting civilians. US-led efforts to negotiate an end to more than four years of war have slowed in recent months, with Washington's attention diverted towards its conflict in the Middle East.

"It has a lot of support in the Gulf... every country that we've walked through it (with) understands it's not just very reasonable, but it's the right thing for the world to get done." Rubio also voiced confidence that Iran would "enter into a very real, significant, time-limited negotiation on the nuclear matter". He addressed reporters ahead of the next leg of his India visit, which will see him travel to Agra, the northern city famous for the Taj Mahal. Rubio's remarks came after US President Donald Trump tempered expectations of a deal, saying on Sunday he had told his negotiators not to "rush".

"He's not in a hurry, he's not going to make a bad deal, and the president's not going to make a bad agreement," Rubio said of Trump. The war erupted after the United States and Israel attacked the Islamic republic on February 28, and Iran responded with missile and drone attacks across the region. Washington and Tehran have observed a ceasefire since April 8. Rubio told reporters that "Israel always has a right to protect itself". "If Hezbollah is going to launch missiles or launches missiles at them, Israel has every right to respond to that, or to prevent that from happening," he said. "That's always been understood. It's being understood during the ceasefire."

This year's rites, drawing Muslim worshippers from across the world, including Iran, follow waves of Iranian attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbours. Saudi officials have been keen to keep conflict far from the minds of visitors, many whom have travelled long distances for one of the world's largest annual pilgrimages. Despite the uncertainty triggered by the conflict, Saudi officials noted over the weekend that more pilgrims had travelled from abroad to participate in this year's hajj than in 2025.

But, amid the spiritual euphoria experienced by the pilgrims in the days ahead of the hajj, authorities in the kingdom signalled their readiness. A video posted on social media by the Saudi defence ministry showed advanced air defence batteries positioned on the outskirts of Mecca. "The air defence forces are responsible for protecting the skies over the holy sites and dealing with all aerial threats, ensuring the safety and peace of mind of the guests," read the post.

Many pilgrims who spoke to AFP expressed their hope that peace would prevail soon. "The war in Iran has affected the entire world. Nobody wants wars or harm to countries and peoples," said Mohammed Chahada, an Egyptian in his 50s, as he walked through a crowd exiting the Grand Mosque. The hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, must be performed at least once by all Muslims with the means. During the hajj, men wear a seamless shroud-like white garment that emphasises unity among believers regardless of their social status or nationality.

Women must wear loose dresses, exposing only their faces and hands. The first ritual of the Hajj requires walking seven times around the Kaaba, the large black cubic structure at the centre of Mecca's Grand Mosque. Pilgrims next walk seven times between the two hills of Safa and Marwa.

They then move on to Mina, around five kilometres (three miles) away, ahead of the main rite of the pilgrimage at Mount Arafat. On Tuesday, the climax of the hajj is the gathering on Mount Arafat, about 10 kilometres from Mina, where it is believed the Prophet Mohammed delivered his final sermon. The arduous, outdoor pilgrimage will be held against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions but also under punishing heat, with temperatures forecast to top 40C for much of the week.

Despite the heat and the uncertainty over the war, pilgrims in Mecca were ecstatic. "I have wanted to perform the pilgrimage my entire life, for 40 or 50 years," said Jreish Mohammed, a 68-year-old decked out in the traditional attire from his native Morocco. "And this year, my dream came true."

Sharif kicked off his four-day official visit to China in Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang province on Saturday. Pakistan has emerged as a central mediator between the United States and Iran, hosting historic face-to-face talks last month that failed to yield a lasting agreement. China has played a quieter role, shepherding phone calls and meetings with officials of affected Gulf countries. Speaking to Chinese leaders in Beijing alongside Munir, Sharif said "the world is passing through a critical moment", Pakistan television showed.

"Pakistan has played a sincere role to mediate between US and Iran. Field marshal was in Tehran and did not want to miss this great visit," the images carried by Pakistan's state channel PTV showed. "Things are moving in the right direction. I would like to thank China's support to promote peace." Pakistan hosted in April the only direct negotiations between US and Iranian officials to take place since the war began. Munir was at the centre of the action during that round of talks, greeting both delegations on their arrival and displaying bonhomie with US Vice President JD Vance. But the talks ultimately failed, with Iran accusing the United States of making "excessive demands".

"At least 17 people have been killed and more than 10 injured," Bilal Ahmad Faizi, a rescue official told AFP, adding that three of the injured were in critical condition. Muhammad Ali, a doctor at a local hospital receiving the victims, also confirmed the death toll. Many of the passengers were travelling home ahead of Eid, one of the most important religious festivals in the Muslim calendar. Road accidents remain common in Pakistan due to weak enforcement of traffic laws, speeding, poor road safety standards, and reckless driving.

"It's very hot, much hotter than I imagined," the mother of four, who is performing the hajj for the first time, told AFP. "I can't adapt," she added while adjusting her sunglasses to protect her eyes from the harsh glare of the sun. "I had planned to perform all my prayers at the Grand Mosque, but I couldn't go down for the prayers held during the day."

Pilgrims perform most of the hajj's rites outdoors where more than a million devotees gather in stifling conditions, with many attendees succumbing to heatstroke, fainting spells and even cardiac arrest triggered by the heat. Saudi Arabia's National Center for Meteorology predicted daytime temperatures this week would hover between 42 and 47 degrees Celsius in Makkah during the hajj, which officially begins on Monday.

For pilgrims travelling from outside the region, the harsh desert climate can be brutal. "I make sure to drink large amounts of water and beverages rich in salts and minerals, because we sweat constantly and are always on the move," said Imad Ahmed, visiting from Britain. To protect worshippers from the extreme heat, authorities rely on one of the most powerful air conditioning systems in the world to cool the Grand Mosque's courtyards, according to Saudi state television.

Other areas have huge fans, mist sprayers and cooled flooring systems to mitigate the searing heat. Trucks are also continuously distributing free bottles of ice-cold water to pilgrims. But even with these measures, the unrelenting sun continues to bake the white marble surrounding the grounds of the Grand Mosque where most pilgrims have congregated in recent days. "It's really hot," said Mohamed Nabil, who hails from the Algerian coastal city of Oran, where temperatures are currently around 25 degrees Celsius.

The 43-year-old professor said he regularly pours water on his face to stay cool, while racking up 30,000 steps a day as he explores Makkah. Ice cream stands are often mobbed by pilgrims, while others seek shelter in the shade of buildings near the mosque or in indoor galleries, where they lie on carpets beneath enormous fans while waiting to perform their prayers.

When the hajj begins, pilgrims will be forced to beat the heat for many of the rites, including the pilgrimage's climax at Mount Arafat on Tuesday where there is little if any shade to be found on the rocky hill. More than 50,000 healthcare staff and 3,000 ambulances are on hand to help pilgrims in need, the Saudi health ministry said. On Saturday, the ministry said its medical teams had already treated 144 people suffering from heatstroke.

In 2024, more than 1,300 pilgrims died as temperatures crossed 50 degrees Celsius, according to authorities. Speaking from a hospital room in the Mina camp, where authorities treat pilgrims for heat exhaustion, the health ministry's Jameel Abualenain said he was mainly concerned "about rising temperatures" affecting pilgrims. To protect against heatstroke, he said people must "drink enough water, use umbrellas and avoid prolonged exposure to the sun".

"Pakistan will continue its peace efforts with utmost sincerity and we hope to host the next round of talks very soon," Sharif, whose country has played a key role in mediating between Washington and Tehran, posted on X.

City information officer Jay Pelayo told AFP that the building's walls and scaffolding had buckled, likely trapping people in a pile of debris. While there were no initial reports of casualties, "there are 19 personnel that usually report in the area, so they are the ones we are trying to locate now," Pelayo said. "There are big chunks of concrete, and we need equipment to lift them up. That is what's challenging for the rescue right now."

Initial reports suggested 24 people had been rescued from the rubble as well as two from an apartment-style hotel that was hit when the building came down, the city government said. "We hope the 19 people are part of that number" and therefore accounted for, Pelayo said. Interviews to determine the survivors' identities were ongoing, Pelayo added. Those rescued were in a "stable condition", he said. The cause of the collapse is not yet known.

The confrontation took place just after 6 pm (2200 GMT) when a man near the White House security perimeter "pulled a weapon from his bag and began firing." "Secret Service Police returned fire striking the suspect who was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced deceased. During the shooting one bystander was also struck by gunfire," Guglielmi said, without giving details on the bystander's condition.

No Secret Service officers were hurt. Police and security forces swarmed the scene, cordoning off access as National Guard troops blocked an AFP reporter from entering the area in downtown Washington. "We heard probably 20 to 25 what sounded like fireworks, but they're gunshots, and then everyone started running," Canadian tourist Reid Adrian told AFP. Journalists who were on the White House North Lawn at the time said they were ordered to run and shelter in the press briefing room.

ABC News correspondent Selina Wang had been recording a video for social media when the gunfire broke out, capturing the sounds of the shots as she dove to the ground. "It sounded like dozens of gunshots," she said on X. Trump, 79, has been the target of three alleged assassination attempts, the most recent of which took place on April 25 when an armed man stormed a security checkpoint in a hotel where Trump was attending a media gala. The man never got close to Trump or the other guests attending the event.

In July 2024, Trump was targeted during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A gunman killed an audience member and lightly wounding the then-candidate in the ear. A few months later, another armed man was arrested on a West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round. "Thank God President Trump is safe," House Republicans said on X after the Saturday evening shooting. "Endless gratitude to the Secret Service for their immediate, heroic response. Political violence has to stop."

Trump has cited security concerns as one of his reasons for building a ballroom at the White House, tearing down the East Wing after taking office again last year. The $400 million project currently under construction will feature, according to the New York real estate magnate, six floors below the highly secure "drone-proof" ballroom, including an underground military hospital.

It added there were no reports of casualties among its personnel, who had been moved to another location before the incident. The civil defence agency condemned "this attack on a centre dedicated to humanitarian and relief work", stressing that it was facing "growing risks and challenges" in carrying out its operations.

Israeli strikes in Lebanon have continued despite a truce that came into effect on April 17, with Israel saying it is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah. Lebanon's health ministry has recorded the deaths of 123 rescuers and health workers in Israeli strikes since the country was drawn into the wider regional war on March 2 when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in retaliation for the death of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

A total of 247 workers were underground at the time of the blast, which occurred at 7:29 pm (1129 GMT) on Friday at the Liushenyu coal mine, according to state news agency Xinhua. "This is the first time such a big accident has happened here," Zhang, who only wanted to be known by her surname, told AFP. Many of these men were their families' main source of income, she said. "Think about it. He's at that age where he has both elderly parents and young children to support. Then he works in the coal mine, goes down the shaft and never comes back up," Zhang added. "How are they supposed to go on living?"

Police blocked AFP reporters from entering a road leading to the mine but a building bearing its name with the Chinese characters lit up by orange lights was visible in the distance. Security officers sat by the curb, strictly guarding the gantry of the roads, only allowing authorised vehicles in. Ambulances and police cars entered. A security guard at the entrance brushed off AFP's questions as to whether any progress in rescue efforts had been made, saying he didn't know anything.

But the guard said he hadn't slept at all Friday night because work was too busy with people coming in and out. At a gas station near the mine, workers shooed AFP journalists away when they were asked about the mining disaster. "We can't just casually comment on these things," one man told AFP, without giving his name. "We're not aware of the details -- we don't know the exact cause or the specific situation."

He said he hoped the number of deaths "isn't that high", before he hurried back inside the station. At another restaurant selling Sichuan cuisine, a worker with the surname Li told AFP he had noticed ambulances whizzing by his place, frequently patronised by coal mine workers. But he said he hadn't been too emotionally affected, despite initially being surprised by the death toll. "Working in a coal mine, this kind of accident is inevitable," he said, adding that he hoped the missing people would be found soon.

A total of 128 people were sent to hospital for treatment, CCTV said. One of the hospitals that took in people injured in the mine tragedy was cordoned off with tape. AFP spotted multiple police cars surrounding its perimeter. Qinyuan county is peppered with coal mines, and outside one an electronic sign reads: "Go to work happy, go home safely".

Zhang, grilling meat skewers on a stove, said she had that same wish: for the missing miners to be found safe and sound. Even if the pay was good, coal miners were "basically earning money with their lives at risk", she lamented. She expressed hope that authorities would do all they could to prevent accidents like this and increase mine safety.

Zhang said she feels for families who lost loved ones in the mine explosion. "He is also someone's son, someone's father, someone's husband," she said. 

AFP journalists saw police blocking the road leading to the mine late Saturday, allowing only authorised vehicles to enter. Helmeted rescuers took turns descending into the shaft overnight to look for the two missing workers, state media reported. "As long as there is hope, we will make every possible effort," one rescuer told state news agency Xinhua. Chinese authorities launched an investigation into the blast, the worst since 2009 when 108 people were killed in a mine explosion in northeastern Heilongjiang province.

Preliminary findings showed the company operating the mine had committed "serious illegal violations", authorities told a press conference broadcast by the state-run CCTV. "Those found responsible will be severely punished in accordance with laws and regulations," they added. A person "responsible for" the company involved had been "placed under control in accordance with the law", Xinhua said. The State Council, China's cabinet, ordered nationwide "tough crackdowns on illegal and unlawful activities", including the falsification of safety data, unclear headcounts of underground workers and illegal contracting.

Wounded survivor Wang Yong told CCTV he heard no sound but smelled sulphur when the explosion happened. "I didn't hear any sound at all, but then a cloud of smoke appeared," the miner said. "When I smelled it, it was the smell of sulphur like when people set off firecrackers. When the smoke came down, I shouted for people to run," he said. He recalled seeing people choked by the smoke before he fainted.

"After more than an hour, I came to on my own, and then I woke up the person next to me" and got out, he told CCTV. Shanxi, one of China's poorer provinces, is the centre of the country's coal-mining industry. Mine safety in China has improved in recent decades, but accidents still occur in an industry where safety protocols are often lax and regulations vague. In 2023, a collapse at an open-pit coal mine in the northern Inner Mongolia region killed 53 people. China is the world's top consumer of coal and the largest greenhouse gas emitter, despite installing renewable energy capacity at record speed.

This year's rites, drawing Muslim worshippers from across the world, follow waves of Iranian strikes on targets in Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbours after the United States and Israel attacked the Islamic republic in late February. An uneasy ceasefire has largely held since April, even though negotiations between the United States and Iran have failed to reach agreement. On Saturday, both sides indicated that an agreement could come soon, but fears remained that fighting could resume at any moment.

Amid the uncertainty, the American embassy in Riyadh last month advised US citizens not to participate in the hajj. "Due to the ongoing security situation and intermittent travel disruptions, we advise reconsidering participation in Hajj this year," a statement released by the embassy read. On Friday, US media reported the White House was weighing the launch of new military strikes on Iran, with any new fighting likely to have a direct impact on the hajj, according to experts.

"If the conflict breaks out again, there is a strong possibility of real disruptions to pilgrim travel," said Umer Karim, an expert on Saudi Arabia at the University of Birmingham in Britain. "They could find themselves stranded, which could create additional logistical and hosting challenges." But for many, the chance to perform the sacrosanct Muslim rite has taken precedence over the fears of instability caused by the war.

Sayed, a 47-year-old Australian who will attend the hajj for the seventh time, said there were no "second thoughts about coming here", even as his own government issued an advisory urging citizens to reconsider travel to the region. "When you make the intention to come, you come with a reason and a purpose. And that's why you're here and put your faith in God that everything will be fine," he told AFP while standing outside Mecca's Grand Mosque dressed in white garments.

As more than a million pilgrims poured into the holy city ahead of the hajj, the breadth and diversity of the global Islamic community was on vivid display, with many carrying paraphernalia such as bags and umbrellas showing their country of origin. "This is an opportunity that comes once in a life and I decided not to miss it," said Ibrahim Diab, a 63-year-old German national, despite the "shaky situation in the Gulf".

But even amid the euphoric atmosphere in Mecca ahead of the hajj, some pilgrims said fears about the war had troubled them ahead of the journey. "I was very anxious about it," 36-year-old British accountant Imad Ahmad told AFP. Ahmad said his trip to Saudi Arabia was briefly interrupted in Jordan on Wednesday after the military there said it had shot down an unidentified drone in the country's airspace.

But he also said there was no doubt that he would continue on his journey to Mecca. "I will come, whichever way I can, inshallah," he added. 

The deaths were reported in the southern state of Telangana, with revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy calling for "statewide vigilance" to safeguard public health. "The intensity of the heat has reached unprecedented levels" and officials in Telangana should issue advance warnings about precautions to be taken during heatwaves, Reddy's office said in a statement. Health experts say that extreme heat can lead to dehydration that thickens the blood and, in particularly severe cases, causes organs to shut down.

The local government in Telangana advised the elderly, children and pregnant women not to venture out in daytime unless necessary. Earlier this week, the India Meteorological Department predicted above-normal temperatures and intense heatwave conditions in several parts of the country. Temperatures in the capital New Delhi and other nearby cities have stayed over 40C throughout this week, sending power usage soaring to record levels.

In addition to the burning midday heat, overnight minimum temperatures are also high, giving people little respite. India, the world's most populous nation, is the third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and relies heavily on burning coal for power generation. It has committed to achieving a net-zero emissions economy by 2070 -- two decades after most of the industrialised West. The country's highest officially recorded temperature is 51C, measured at Phalodi in Rajasthan in 2016.

The protesters have blockaded more than 50 points across the South American nation, including surrounding La Paz, causing shortages of food, fuel and medicine. "We don't know how long we're going to endure this... we don't have enough to eat sometimes," Marco Cuttila, a student in La Paz, told AFP.

Riot police began operations in the early hours of Saturday to remove debris blocking the roads at various points, firing tear gas to disperse protesters when they tried to defend the blockades. The confrontation went on for hours, and although some cargo vehicles were able to pass through, other areas were reclaimed by protesters by the end of the day.

In an interview with Argentine broadcaster TN on Saturday, Paz said he was going to "use all possible efforts" to achieve a dialogue with protesters. "But everything has a limit," he cautioned, unwilling to rule out measure such as a state of emergency if necessary.

The tank contains 7,000 gallons (26,000 liters) of methyl methacrylate, a volatile and flammable liquid used to make plastics, with firefighters warning the situation was serious. Orange County Fire Authority Incident Commander Craig Covey said Saturday morning that an emergency team had ventured into the area overnight, seeking to neutralize the "explosive potential" posed by an additional 15,000-gallon tank nearby should the 7,000-gallon tank blow up, and were then able to view the temperature gauge on the 7,000-gallon tank.

"Unfortunately, I do have to report that the temperature was 90 degrees (Fahrenheit; 32C). Yesterday morning, it was 77 degrees when we backed out. It's been averaging about a degree an hour increasing, so that's the bad news," he said in a short video posted on social media. He said firefighters are seeking ways to cool the tank. Aerial footage filmed by local TV stations on Friday showed jets of water being sprayed at the tank, which has a capacity of 34,000 gallons.

"The primary focus is the tanks," Covey said during a Saturday evening press conference. "We're continuing to keep them cool and monitor them." A blast zone map released by the Orange County Fire Authority showed areas within about 1,100 feet (335 meters) of the tank would sustain severe damage in the event of an explosion, and about the same distance from that radius could expereince light damage.

On Friday, authorities described the tank exploding or rupturing as the only possible outcomes, but on Saturday Covey said: "Letting this thing just fail and blow up is unacceptable." "Our goal is to find something and not allow that to happen, not to let it damage our community, not let it damage our environment."

He added that residents had followed directions to evacuate and the only people at risk now were the emergency responders. Orange County Health Officer Regina Chinsio-Kwong said Friday the large exclusion zone around the tank was a necessary precaution. "If it does explode and there is a vapor, you are all safe as long as you are out of the zone that was determined to be an evacuation zone," she said.

No injuries had been reported by Friday evening, and there was no immediate indication as to what caused the leak, which was initially reported on Thursday. Responders were working to put containment barriers in place to prevent any spilled material from reaching storm drains or river channels that funnel into the ocean.

The US Environmental Protection Agency says methyl methacrylate is irritating to the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes in humans. "Respiratory effects have been reported in humans following acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) inhalation exposures," a fact sheet on the agency's website says. "Neurological symptoms have also been reported in humans following acute exposure."

"Thank you to our great Secret Service and Law Enforcement for the swift and professional action taken this evening against a gunman near the White House, who had a violent history and possible obsession with our Country's most cherished structure," he said in a post on Truth Social.

"An Agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday. "In addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened," he said, a development that would bring relief to global energy markets after a months-long Iranian blockade of the crucial thoroughfare for oil shipments.

Leaders from Middle Eastern countries incuding Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, as well as representatives from Turkey and Pakistan, joined a call with Trump to discuss the deal on Saturday, the US president said. Pakistan, which mediated historic face-to-face negotiations between US and Iranian delegations in April, hoped to host another round of talks "very soon," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said.

He said Pakistan's powerful army chief Asim Munir, who visited Tehran on Friday, also joined the call, which "provided a useful opportunity to exchange views on... how to move the ongoing peace efforts forward to bring lasting peace in the region." Trump said a separate call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "went very well." US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 sparked the war, with fighting persisting for weeks before a temporary ceasefire came into force in April.

"Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly," Trump said, without providing specifics. The New York Times, citing unnamed American officials, reported that the details of an "apparent commitment" by Tehran to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium would be discussed after the initial agreement was struck.

The report said the current proposal does not define how exactly Tehran would relinquish its stocks of the fuel crucial for building nuclear weapons, a scenario that Washington has long said it will not accept in Iran. Iranian officials have stressed that gaps between the sides persist and the dispute over the nuclear program would not be part of initial negotiations. Iran has not commented on Trump's announcement.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei earlier noted "a trend towards rapprochement" with Washington but said "it does not necessarily mean that we and the United States will reach an agreement on the important issues." "Our intention was first to draft a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement," he said on state television. Baqaei added that he hoped the details of a final agreement could be worked out "within a reasonable timeframe between 30 to 60 days" after the initial framework was complete.

Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had warned earlier that Washington would face a tough response if it resumed hostilities, after US media reports raised the prospect of new strikes. "Our armed forces have rebuilt themselves during the ceasefire period in such a way that if Trump commits another act of folly and restarts the war, it will certainly be more crushing and bitter for the United States than on the first day of the war," Ghalibaf said.

On the war's other main front in Lebanon, state media reported Israel struck the country's south on Saturday, where fighting has continued despite an April 17 ceasefire. Lebanon's military said a strike targeted a Lebanese army barracks in the south and wounded a soldier, while Israel said one of its soldiers was killed on Friday near the border. Iran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel after US-Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader. Hezbollah said Saturday its chief Naim Qassem had received a message from Iran's foreign minister indicating that Tehran "will not give up its support" for the Lebanese group.

The hospital said around 10 people were wounded. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military about the three deaths, though it said it had struck three Hamas weapons storage facilities in central Gaza over the preceding 24 hours. A ceasefire has been in place in Gaza since October, but Israel reserves the right to strike targets it deems a threat.

At least 890 Palestinians have been killed since the October 10 ceasefire, according to Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the UN. The Israeli military says five of its soldiers have also been during the same period. Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.

People could be seen carrying blood-soaked victims on stretchers away from a derailed car, while armed security forces stood guard. The official told AFP that the train carrying army personnel and their family members was going from Quetta to Peshawar in Pakistan's northwest. The train was passing a signal at Chaman Pattak in Quetta "when an explosive-laden car hit one of the carriages that resulted in a big blast", the official said.

Windows were blown out and nearby vehicles were destroyed in the explosion. Another official told AFP that the army personnel were travelling to celebrate the Eid holiday, which is due to start on Tuesday. Balochistan is Pakistan's poorest province and largest by landmass. It lags behind the rest of the country in almost every index, including education, employment and economic development. Baloch separatists accuse Pakistan's government of exploiting the province's natural gas and abundant mineral resources without benefiting the local population.

The agreement would also start a "process that can ultimately leave us where the president wants us to be, and that is a world that no longer has to fear or worry about an Iranian nuclear weapon", he added. His remarks came after President Donald Trump said a proposal that included opening the Strait of Hormuz had been "largely negotiated". "An Agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.

Machado expressed confidence in US President Donald Trump's plans for the country, which she believes will lead to elections. "There is one objective here, and that is to free our country -- one purpose: the transition to democracy through free and fair presidential elections in which all Venezuelans can vote," Machado said. "We believe in, trust, and thank the government of the United States -- President Trump and Secretary (of State) Marco Rubio -- for the progress that has been achieved."

Panama is holding the tally sheets from the 2024 election, in which Machado ally Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia is believed to have won -- despite former president Nicolas Maduro declaring himself the winner. International observers rejected the official results. Gonzalez Urrutia gave the tally sheets to the Panamanian government in January 2025. The ruling, far-left Chavista movement rejected the documents. On Monday, while still in Panama, Machado will visit Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino and the national assembly.

Trump suggested that new elections would be held after US forces captured Maduro on January 3, but no election has been scheduled. Since then, Venezuela has been governed by interim president Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's former vice president.

"In addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened." Among the Middle East countries whose leaders joined a call on Saturday to discuss the deal were Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, Trump said. He added that he had a separate call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it "likewise, went very well."

"Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly," Trump said. His optimistic post came after Iranian officials said gaps remained between the parties, and that the dispute over its nuclear program would not be part of the initial talks. Tehran said it was finalizing a 14-point framework for a deal. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei noted what he called "a trend towards rapprochement," but said "it does not necessarily mean that we and the United States will reach an agreement on the important issues."

"Our intention was first to draft a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement composed of 14 clauses," he said on state television. Baqaei added that he hoped the details of a final agreement could be worked out "within a reasonable timeframe between 30 to 60 days" after the framework is finalized. Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had warned earlier that Washington would face a tough response if it resumes hostilities, after US media reports raised the prospect of new strikes and Iranian officials accused the US side of making "excessive demands."

"Our armed forces have rebuilt themselves during the ceasefire period in such a way that if Trump commits another act of folly and restarts the war, it will certainly be more crushing and bitter for the United States than on the first day of the war," Ghalibaf said. He issued the warning after meeting in Tehran with Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, a leading figure in international efforts to negotiate an end to the war, which broke out after the United States and Israel attacked the Islamic republic on February 28.

Weeks of negotiations, including historic face-to-face talks hosted by Islamabad, have still not produced a permanent resolution or restored full access to the Strait of Hormuz, choking vast quantities of global oil supply. The impasse has left ordinary Iranians in limbo. "The state of 'neither war nor peace' is far filthier than war itself," 39-year-old Tehran resident Shahrzad told AFP.

"I'm about to start a new job, and I'm scared war might break out again -- that I'll end up leaving the job like before, running off to another city out of fear," she said. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Tehran was engaged despite "repeated betrayals of diplomacy and military aggression against Iran, along with contradictory positions and repeated excessive demands" by Washington.

Araghchi held a bevy of diplomatic calls, speaking with counterparts from Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and Oman, Iran's official IRNA news agency said. Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also spoke with Trump on Saturday, as well as with the UAE president and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. An official Qatari statement said Sheikh Tamim and the Saudi prince discussed efforts "aimed at calming the situation and promoting political solutions."

On another front in the war, Lebanese state media said Israel struck the country's south on Saturday, as fighting has not stopped despite an April 17 ceasefire. Lebanon's military said one strike targeted a Lebanese army barracks in the south and wounded a soldier. Israel said one of its soldiers was killed Friday near the border with Lebanon. Iran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel after US-Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader. Hezbollah said Saturday its chief Naim Qassem had received a message from Araghchi indicating that Iran "will not give up its support" for the Lebanese group.

The disagreements between Iran and the United States remained "deep and extensive", he added, according to Iran's ISNA news agency. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had earlier voiced hope of progress toward ending the war, which began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran. An April 8 ceasefire halted open fighting, but negotiations -- including historic face-to-face talks in Islamabad -- have yet to produce a lasting agreement.

President Donald Trump has described the stop-start negotiations as teetering on the "borderline" between a deal and renewed attacks. Pakistan's military said Field Marshal Asim Munir had "arrived in Tehran as part of ongoing mediation efforts". He was welcomed by Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and Pakistan's Mohsin Naqvi. Naqvi had visited Iran for the second time in a week on Wednesday, meeting President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Baqaei said a Qatari delegation also met Iran's foreign minister Friday. "In recent days, many countries -- both regional and non-regional -- have been trying to help bring the war to an end...However, Pakistan remains the official mediator," he added. Pakistan hosted in April the only direct US-Iran talks since the war began.

Munir played a central role in that round, greeting both delegations and showing public warmth with US Vice President JD Vance. But the talks failed, with Iran accusing Washington of making "excessive demands". Since then, the two sides have traded proposals under the constant threat of renewed war. Rubio, speaking on the margins of a NATO meeting in Sweden, said there had been "some progress" in the talks, but warned that Washington was "not there yet".

"It may not" change, Rubio said. "We're dealing with a very difficult group of people. And if it doesn't change, then the president's been clear he has other options." Rubio said Trump "prefers the negotiated option" but had expressed concern that a deal "maybe...is not possible". He also said Trump's "disappointment" with NATO allies over their lack of support in the Iran war would need to be "addressed". European countries may need a "Plan B", Rubio said, to help force open the Strait of Hormuz if the war drags on.

Tehran effectively closed the key shipping lane, which normally carries large volumes of oil and gas, in retaliation for the US-Israeli strikes. The future of Hormuz remains a key sticking point, with fears growing that the global economy will suffer as pre-war oil stockpiles run down. Markets nevertheless took some comfort from the diplomacy, with Wall Street rising Friday and the Dow closing at a second straight record high as investors bet talks could eventually produce an off-ramp.

Oil prices also rose, however, underscoring fears that disruption in Hormuz will keep feeding inflation. US consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level since records began in 1952, with high prices still eroding household finances. European Union nations moved Friday towards sanctions on Iranian officials and others blamed for blocking the strait. Baqaei said Hormuz and the US blockade of Iranian ports were also under discussion.

"The issue of ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, is very important," he added. Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war with rocket fire at Israel after Iran's supreme leader was killed in US-Israeli strikes. Since an April 17 truce, Israel has continued strikes, demolitions and evacuation orders in south Lebanon, saying it is targeting Hezbollah, which has also kept up attacks. Late Friday, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said Israel carried out five airstrikes in the east of the country near the Syrian border, targeting the Nabi Sreij area outside the town of Brital.

The agency said the area had been spared from attacks since the ceasefire, and that the strikes came after Israel called for the evacuation of two areas in southern Lebanon. Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,111 people in Lebanon since March 2. The ministry said Israeli strikes on the south killed 10 people on Friday, including six rescuers and a child. The Israeli military announced a separate strike that killed two people in southern Lebanon.

The United States on Thursday sanctioned nine Hezbollah-linked individuals, including two officers, accused of "obstructing the peace process in Lebanon." They were the first Lebanese officers sanctioned by Washington.

But for Fatima, a 36-year-old German housewife travelling with her family, "there was no second thought" about coming to Mecca, Islam's holiest city. "We know we are at the safest place in the world," she told AFP. The hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, must be performed at least once by all Muslims with the means. As of this week, more than 1.2 million pilgrims had arrived in Saudi Arabia for the multi-day pilgrimage starting Monday, officials said. The hajj has been a point of tension in the past between Riyadh and Tehran, with repeated outbreaks of violence and unrest involving Iranian visitors.

In the years following Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Saudi authorities accused Iranian pilgrims of triggering stampedes and other violence, while also chanting political slogans -- an act seen as taboo by the religious establishment in Mecca. A Saudi state broadcaster this week posted a warning from the interior ministry saying any chanting or raising political or sectarian flags were strictly prohibited during the hajj.

The last major dispute erupted in 2015, when 464 Iranians were among 2,300 pilgrims killed in a stampede -- one of the hajj's biggest tragedies -- prompting accusations between Riyadh and Tehran. Relations were severed a year later after protesters attacked Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran and consulate in the northwestern city of Mashhad, following Riyadh's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. No Iranian pilgrims were allowed that year, as the two sides were unable to organise a protocol for them to attend.

Experts, however, said authorities would do their utmost to prevent any unrest from rattling this year's pilgrimage. "Saudi Arabia and Iran have kept their political engagement open" despite the war, said Umer Karim, an expert on Saudi foreign policy. The two sides only re-established relations in a surprise 2023 deal brokered by China, which saw tensions ease and embassies reopen in their respective capitals. But the detente was upended following the US and Israeli attack on Iran in late February that set off Iran's wide-ranging retaliation against its Gulf neighbours.

Energy installations, airports, export terminals, ports and other civilian infrastructure were targeted by Tehran, as Iranian attacks on the Strait of Hormuz choked Gulf oil and gas exports to the outside world. Despite the fighting, Iranian pilgrims began arriving in the kingdom in late April, with tens of thousands estimated to take part in the hajj. As well as geopolitical tensions, the arduous, outdoor pilgrimage will again be held under punishing sun, with temperatures forecast to top 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for much of the week.

After more than 1,300 people died in 2024, when temperatures soared above 50 degrees Celsius, Saudi authorities introduced a range of heat-mitigation measures including more shaded areas and thousands of extra health workers. More than 50,000 healthcare staff and 3,000 ambulances are on hand to help pilgrims in need, the Saudi health ministry said. Despite the heat and war, pilgrims were overcome with emotion as they kickstarted the hajj festivities in Mecca, Islam's holiest city. "Hajj has been the dream of a lifetime for me," Ahmed Abo Seta, 47, told AFP. "And it is finally coming true."

"It's right on the borderline, believe me," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews near Washington when asked where the talks with Iran stood. "If we don't get the right answers, it goes very quickly. We're all ready to go. We have to get the right answers -- it would have to be a complete 100 percent good answers."

Trump said it would save "a lot of time, energy and lives" if Iran made a deal, saying it could happen "very quickly, or (in) a few days." The US leader said this week he had been an hour away from ordering the resumption of strikes on Iran but postponed the attack planned for Tuesday at the request of Gulf states.

"For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won't be anything left of them," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!" The war has led to an effective blockade of the critical Strait of Hormuz, through which some 20 percent of global oil exports pass in peacetime, and has drawn neighbors Israel and Lebanon into a deadly side conflict.

Iran's clerical state, Hezbollah's patron, has demanded a lasting ceasefire in Lebanon before any broader peace agreement with Trump, who has been frustrated by Tehran's refusal to an accord on his terms. An Israeli military official said Sunday that Hezbollah had fired around 200 projectiles at Israel and its troops over the weekend, despite Israel and Lebanon agreeing to extend a ceasefire. Washington and Tehran agreed to a truce on April 8, but peace negotiations have stalled and sporadic attacks have continued.

On Sunday, Iranian media said the United States had failed to make any concrete concessions in its latest response to Iran's proposed agenda for negotiations to end the war. The Fars news agency said Washington had presented a five-point list which included a demand for Iran to keep only one nuclear site in operation and transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the United States. 

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 675 attack drones and 56 missiles, mainly at Kyiv, adding its air defence units had downed 652 of the drones and 41 missiles. "Everything was burning. People were screaming... people were shouting," Andriy, a Kyiv resident still wearing a nightgown and with blood stains on his shirt, told AFP near a collapsed Soviet-era residential building. President Volodymyr Zelensky said 20 sites in the capital were damaged, including homes, a school, a veterinary clinic and other civilian infrastructure.

"Work is still ongoing in Kyiv at the site of the strike on the building -- a Russian missile strike that literally levelled a residential block, from the first to the ninth floor," he said in an evening address. Twenty-one people including three children were killed in the attacks, Ukraine's emergency service said early Friday, updating a previously announced death toll of 16. Seven bodies were pulled from the rubble of a single destroyed residential building -- three men, three women and a young girl, police said.

Another 45 were wounded. Russian attacks also wounded people in the southern regions of Odesa and Kherson, and in the eastern region of Kharkiv. "These are definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end. It is important that partners do not remain silent about this strike," Zelensky said.

Ukraine said it shot down 94 percent of all drones and 73 percent of the missiles fired by Russia. "The most difficult challenge is defending against ballistic missiles," he said. A slew of Ukraine's allies, including the United Kingdom, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, the Netherlands, Moldova and Slovakia, condemned the fatal attacks. "By bombing civilians, Russia demonstrates less its strength than its weakness: it is running out of solutions on the military front and does not know how to end its war of aggression," French President Emmanuel Macron said.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the attacks on Kyiv showed that Russia "openly mocks" efforts to end the war. Russia, which invaded Ukraine more than four years ago, said the wave of missiles and drones had targeted military-linked sites and energy facilities that support the Ukrainian army. The conflict is the worst in Europe since World War II and has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more. At daybreak Thursday, AFP journalists witnessed chaotic scenes as rescue workers dug through mounds of debris from a collapsed residential building.

Emergency service workers were seen hauling from the site those wounded and killed in the strikes, and residents cried as they waited for news of loved ones and neighbours. The barrage is the latest setback for efforts to end the conflict after US President Donald Trump raised faint hopes for peace by brokering a three-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow last week. Russia's leader Vladimir Putin also suggested the war could be winding down.

But the brief truce was marred by allegations of violations and both sides resumed attacks straight after. Russia's army fired more than 1,500 drones at Ukraine over Wednesday and Thursday, Kyiv's air force said. The Kremlin has poured cold water on the idea that vague comments from Putin last Saturday that the war was "heading to an end" meant Moscow would soften its position. On Wednesday, it repeated its demand that Ukraine fully withdraw from the eastern Donbas region before a ceasefire and full-scale peace talks can take place.

Kyiv has rejected such a move as tantamount to capitulation. Kyiv has urged Trump to discuss ending the conflict during his meetings in Beijing this week with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. "This barbaric attack during such an important summit shows that the Russian regime poses a global threat to international security. Instead of peace and development, Moscow pursues aggression and terror," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said. Russian drones on Thursday also struck a UN vehicle in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Zelensky said, accusing Moscow of having deliberately targeted it, but adding there were no casualties.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Caribbean, is ravaged by gang violence. The situation has steadily deteriorated over the past two years. Violence since the weekend has displaced some 5,300 people. Several families are still trapped in the affected neighborhoods, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, citing local humanitarian organizations. A hospital and a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) facility have been forced to suspend operations and evacuate their staff.

Before evacuating, Doctors Without Borders reported that 40 gunshot victims were treated at the hospital in less than 12 hours. The same two communes in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area saw outbreaks of violence in March and April that displaced nearly 8,000 people, the UN says. BINUH said Thursday that between March 5 and May 11 at least 305 people were killed and 277 wounded in Cite Soleil and Croix-des-Bouquets.

Of the fatalities, 63 were residents -- including 17 women and 13 children -- while the others killed were gang members. A new multinational anti-gang force is being deployed to Haiti to replace the under-equipped and underfunded Multinational Mission to Support the Haitian Police. But so far, only a contingent of 400 Chadian soldiers has arrived in Port-au-Prince. The new force announced on Thursday the arrival of its commander, Mongolian General Erdenebat Batsuuri.

Currently the job is only half done, turning the popular tourist attraction into a fenced-off work site. The 79-year-old Republican president is taking extraordinary interest in the project -- almost as much as in the enormous ballroom he has ordered built on the site of the White House East Wing, which he abruptly tore down after taking power last year. For opponents, the pool mirrors much of what is wrong in the administration.

They point to the rising cost and reported links between Trump and the contractor. And they question the use of blue paint at an iconic landmark, perhaps most famous as the setting for civil rights leader Martin Luther King's 1963 "I have a dream" speech. Coming on top of the ballroom, Trump putting his name on the side of the Kennedy arts center, and plans for building a giant triumphal arch, it has critics fuming. Trump's "putting his fingers in everything that he possibly can," Sammy, a young woman from Richmond, Virginia, said Wednesday, declining to give her last name. "He's so narcissistic," she said. "The city is going to bear the scars of this lunatic for a really long time."

Trump says it's high time to fix up the pool. "It was filthy, dirty and it leaked like a sieve for many years," he said in a White House video. Fans say they trust his experience as a real estate developer -- an image he has cultivated to leverage support for his call to remake not just public buildings, but the nation's economy and politics. "He knows what he's doing with all his buildings," said Elizabeth Miller from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, while visiting the Lincoln Memorial. "He makes America proud by cleaning everything up."

Trump backers also point out that the Reflecting Pool long had maintenance issues. Then president Barack Obama's administration spent $34 million trying to fix it up. Trump said he was rejecting a $300-million, three-year project to replace the stone in the basin, and would instead turn to a swimming pool contractor he knew who could resurfacing the place and coating it blue. This, he said, would cost a mere $1.5 million or so.

For Russ, who was visiting from Arizona and likewise did not want to give his last name, that seems like a deal. "If it's cheaper, quicker and just as effective, why should we waste tax money? I don't see any downside to it," Russ said. But according to reporting in The New York Times, that supposedly bargain price tag is already ballooning to $13 million. The Times also reported that the government gave a no-bid contract for the job to a construction company in Virginia that had done previous work for Trump, bypassing the requirements to seek competing bids.

According to the report, the government cited urgency to get the job done by July 4th, marking America's 250th birthday. Trump has since said he doesn't know the contractor and has not used the company before. But it troubles Margaret Herro, a tourist from Wisconsin. "I understood we had some sort of a process to clean up our national monuments, and I don't feel like he went through that process," she said. "It's a bit of a dictator approach." The non-profit group Cultural Landscape Foundation has sued to stop the makeover, calling the blue paint job "desecration."

That has not stopped work. But beyond the political and symbolic controversies, there are already doubts over whether the Reflecting Pool will be fixed. "It's not the right solution," said an engineer visiting from Maryland who only gave his name as Obe. "They needed to fix the drainage and not just paint it blue to make it look bright." Joining tourists at the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday, Gregory Scott from Atlanta echoed a question on the lips of supporters and opponents of Trump alike. "What is he going to do next?"

The visit comes during a deepening crisis in US-Cuba relations, with the island enduring constant power outages prompted by President Donald Trump's fuel blockade. Only one tanker from Russia -- a historic ally of the Cuban authorities -- has got through. And that oil has now "run out," Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy told state television. "The impact of the blockade is indeed causing us significant harm...because we are still not receiving fuel."

Trump has repeatedly signalled that he wants to topple the communist government in Cuba. According to a report on CBS News, citing unidentified US officials, the Trump administration is also seeking to indict Raul Castro, the 94-year-old brother of the late Cuban communist leader Fidel Castro. But Cuba framed the Ratcliffe visit as a chance to calm tensions. The meeting with Ratcliffe took place "in a context marked by the complexity of bilateral relations, with the aim of contributing to the political dialogue between both nations," a government statement read.

The exchanges "made it possible to demonstrate categorically that Cuba does not constitute a threat to US national security, nor are there any legitimate reasons to include it on the list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism," the Cuban statement added. Cuba "has never supported any hostile activity against the United States, nor will it permit actions against any other nation to be carried out from Cuba," it emphasized, referring to allegations of a Chinese presence.

One of Cuba's last economic lifelines was cut in January when US forces toppled the strongman leader of oil-rich Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and instituted a fuel blockade. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has renewed an offer of $100 million in aid on the condition that the assistance be distributed by the Catholic Church, bypassing the government. In a post on X, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel urged the United States to instead lift its blockade.

"The damage could be eased in a much simpler and faster way by lifting or relaxing the blockade, since it is known that the humanitarian situation is coldly calculated and induced," he said. Despite tensions, intergovernmental talks are ongoing, with a high-level diplomatic meeting taking place in Havana on April 10 -- the first time a US government plane landed in the Cuban capital since 2016. Eastern Cuba was Thursday plunged into the latest outage affecting the whole country, with power returning to some areas later in the day.

The crisis prompted protests on the island. A resident of San Miguel del Padron, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Havana, told AFP that people had protested by banging pots and pans on Wednesday evening. Several other similar small demonstrations were held in neighborhoods across the capital, according to accounts gathered by AFP. "Turn on the lights!" shouted residents in Playa, in the western part of the city.

Data compiled by AFP showed prolonged blackouts and record generation shortfalls in recent days. Some 65 percent of Cuban territory endured simultaneous blackouts on Tuesday. "It's a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it's impossible to change it. I wish it were different," Rubio told Fox News. "I don't think we're going to be able to change the trajectory of Cuba as long as these people are in charge."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who alongside Trump ordered an attack on Iran starting February 28, said in a recent interview that the war was "not over" because the sensitive nuclear material "has to be taken out" of the country.

In April, a UN report deemed the disappearance crisis so grave that it labeled it a "crime against humanity." On Monday, a report by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights denounced a potential undercount in the number of disappeared people. Officially, the Mexican government has recognized 130,000 disappeared people since 2006. "I seriously doubt just that," Alicia Santos Torres, a Cuban whose son Jorge Alejandro Lozada Santos went missing in Chiapas in 2024, told the crowd, referring to the count.

"If (Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum) really cared about what the mothers of Latin America had to say, she would listen and know that all of us here have children who disappeared in Mexico," Santos Torres said. "The southern border has become a corridor of death for many migrants." Many of their family members had gone missing on a boat that departed from Chiapas carrying more than 40 migrants headed north on December 21, 2024, never to be seen again. The families say local residents are afraid to give police tips about the missing, fearing they could be targeted by criminal gangs.

"We've realized that the population feels afraid... for fear of reprisal," Oscar Enrique Hernandez, a Honduran searching for his brother Ricardo Hernandez Barahona, who disappeared on the boat, told AFP. "What we don't understand as families is the uselessness of prosecutors -- they turn a deaf ear, they don't want to act and investigate," he said. The worst thing, Hernandez said, "would be to return to my country with my hands empty."

They will then be shuttled off to a purpose-built quarantine facility on the outskirts of Perth city. "They will be there for at least three weeks," Butler told national broadcaster ABC. "They are on their way back and they will be subject to one of the strongest quarantine arrangements you will see anywhere in the world." The plane left the Netherlands on Thursday, with all on board required to wear personal protective equipment. The 500-bed facility was purpose built for returning travellers during the Covid-19 pandemic, but has hardly been used.

Three people died after the rare rat-borne virus spread through passengers holidaying on the MV Hondius cruise ship, sparking a global health scare. The ship set sail from Argentina on April 1, charting a course across the Atlantic Ocean. No vaccines or specific treatments exist for the virus, but health officials have said the risk to the public is low and have dismissed comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic. Australia has yet to determine how to handle the passengers after the initial three-week quarantine, given the virus' potential incubation period of 42 days.

Leader of the Solomon Islands Democratic Party Wale won 26 votes in a secret ballot of 49 lawmakers, Governor General David Tiva Kapu announced on the steps of parliament. Jeremiah Manele was ousted as prime minister last week in a no confidence motion in parliament. "Change is coming. These changes are necessary and may be painful," Wale told media outside parliament.

Wale said he was taking government at a difficult time "given what is happening throughout the world". "We are not immune from these geopolitical events," he said, calling for Solomon Islanders to unite. "I appeal to the youth of our country, be ambitious for yourself and be part of the growth we want to see in the Solomon Islands," he added.

China, the key foreign customer of Iranian oil, bought small amounts of US oil before Trump imposed tariffs last year and has sharply slowed down purchases of US soybeans, turning instead to Brazil.

Trump's overtures to Xi, whom he described as a "great leader" and "friend", have so far been met with more muted tones by the Chinese leader. The warm handshakes and pomp a day earlier was overshadowed by a blunt warning from Xi that missteps on the sensitive issue of Taiwan could push their two countries into "conflict". Trump did not comment on Taiwan to reporters on Thursday, but US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC the president would say more "in the coming days".

The 79-year-old Trump did discuss another critical subject however, the war against Iran, telling Fox News in an interview that Xi effectively assured his counterpart that China was not preparing to militarily aid Tehran. "He said he's not going to give military equipment... he said that strongly", Trump told Fox after the leaders met, adding that Xi would "like to see the Hormuz Strait open" for maritime transport of oil and other critical products.

Trump also responded to a comment by Xi referring to the "Thucydides Trap," a political theory that war becomes more likely when a rising new power competes with an established great power. Xi, however, said the United States and China could "transcend" this danger. In a social media post in the early hours of Friday, Trump said Xi "very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation."

Trump said Xi was not referring to the United States under his watch, which he claimed was experiencing an "incredible rise," but rather the country under his predecessor Joe Biden. "Two years ago, we were, in fact, a Nation in decline," Trump posted on his Truth Social site. "Now, the United States is the hottest Nation anywhere in the world, and hopefully our relationship with China will be stronger and better than ever before!"

He said that Xi "congratulated me on so many tremendous successes." Trump on Friday is expected to turn discussions to trade. He is accompanied by a host of US business leaders including Tesla's Elon Musk and Nvidia's Jensen Huang. Trump, in his Fox appearance, appeared to announce one of the big business deals by saying China had agreed to purchase "200 big" Boeing jets.

Shares of the US aviation giant fell after Trump's comments, in a sign the market had expected a more robust purchase from China. Trump and Xi were discussing setting up "guardrails" for the use of artificial intelligence, Bessent told CNBC. Bessent said the world's "two AI superpowers are going to start talking", though US export controls on the advanced technology to China remain a sore point in relations.

The two sides are embroiled in a number of outstanding disputes and areas of contention, not least the US-Israeli war in the Middle East, which has seen Tehran close the vital Strait of Hormuz, hitting Chinese and global oil supplies. In its brief readout, the White House said the leaders had "agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy", an issue which analysts have said could weaken Trump's position, having already forced him to postpone this trip, originally planned for late March. Trump's visit to Beijing is the first by an American president in nearly a decade.

Trump and Xi stood in the centre as a Chinese military band played The Star-Spangled Banner and then the Chinese national anthem as cannons fired. Jumping schoolchildren in brightly coloured outfits waving US and Chinese flags chanted "welcome, welcome" as Trump and Xi walked past them in the square. The two leaders will also enjoy a state banquet at the hall in the evening, and Trump will visit the historic Temple of Heaven, a World Heritage site where China's emperors once prayed for good harvest. The US president arrived for the two-day summit on Air Force One late Wednesday accompanied by top CEOs, including Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Tesla's Elon Musk -- symbols of business deals Trump hopes to reach.

The trip to Beijing marks the first by a US president in nearly a decade, after Trump visited in 2017, accompanied -- unlike this time -- by his wife Melania. Top of Trump's wish list will be business deals on agriculture, aircraft and other topics, with a host of top businessmen in the US leader's delegation. Aboard Air Force One en route to Beijing, Trump vowed on social media to push Xi to "open up" China to US firms "so that these brilliant people can work their magic". But Trump is dealing with a different and more emboldened China to the one he visited nine years ago, with a host of unresolved trade and geopolitical tensions between the two countries.

The Iran war in particular has threatened to weaken Trump's position in talks with Xi, having already forced him to postpone it from March. The US president said he expected a "long talk" with Xi about Iran, which sells most of its US-sanctioned oil to China, but insisted that "I don't think we need any help with Iran" from Beijing. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a somewhat different tone. "We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they are doing now, and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told broadcaster Fox News in an interview aired Wednesday.

The long-simmering trade war between the two countries will also be top of the agenda, after Trump's sweeping tariffs last year triggered tit-for-tat levies that exceeded 100 percent. Trump and Xi are set to discuss extending a one-year tariff truce, which the two leaders reached during their last meeting in South Korea in October, although a deal is far from certain. On Taiwan, another issue that has bedevilled ties, Trump said Monday he would speak to Xi about US arms sales to the self-governing democracy claimed by China.

That would be a departure from historic US insistence that it will not consult Beijing on its support for the island, and one which will be closely watched by Taipei and US allies in the region. China's controls on rare earth exports, AI rivalry and the countries' raucous trade relationship are also among the topics expected to be taken up by the two heads of state. Both sides will be looking to come out of the summit with whatever wins they can, while also stabilising an often tense relationship between Beijing and Washington that has global implications. Trump will also be hoping to leave with a firm date for a reciprocal visit by Xi to the United States later in 2026, to prove his rapport with his Chinese counterpart.

Both sides have refused to make concessions and repeatedly threatened to resume fighting, but neither appears willing to return to all-out war. "There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on X. "The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it."

The Pentagon said on Tuesday that the cost of the war had climbed to nearly $29 billion -- about $4 billion higher than an estimate offered two weeks ago. Iran sent its latest proposal in response to an earlier US plan, details of which remain limited. Media reports have said the American plan involved a one-page memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the fighting and establishing a framework for negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme. Iran's foreign ministry said its response called for ending the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, halting the US naval blockade of Iranian ports and securing the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad under longstanding sanctions.

But Trump slammed Tehran's reply as "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE", saying the United States would enjoy a "complete victory" over Iran and that the truce that has halted fighting for over a month was on its last legs. The US president subsequently said ahead of his Tuesday departure for a trip to China that he would have a "long talk" with counterpart Xi Jinping about Iran, but that he does not need Beijing's help to end the war.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they carried out drills in Tehran "to confront any movement of the American-Zionist enemy", state media reported Tuesday. Defence Ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik said if the US declines a diplomatic path, "it should expect a repeat of its defeats on the military battlefield". The war of words has unnerved people in Iran who face uncertainty. "We are just trying to dig our nails into anything that could help us survive. The future is so uncertain and we are just living day to day," Maryam, a 43-year-old painter from the capital Tehran, told Paris-based journalists.

"We are trying to find a way to continue. Keeping hope is very difficult right now." Trump's angry reaction to Iran's counteroffer sparked a spike in oil prices and dashed hopes that a deal could be quickly negotiated to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping. Iran is restricting maritime traffic in the waterway and has been setting up a payment mechanism to charge tolls for crossing ships, sparking a global energy crisis that the head of Saudi oil giant Aramco has described as the largest energy supply shock "the world has ever experienced".

The New York Times reported Tuesday that classified US intelligence assessments say Iran still has substantial missile capabilities -- with about 70 percent of its mobile launchers and pre-war missile stockpile still in action -- and has restored access to 30 of 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz. US officials have stressed it would be "unacceptable" for Tehran to maintain control of the strait, which usually carries about a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas. Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Tuesday that "Iran should not use this strait as a weapon to pressure or to blackmail the Gulf countries".

Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at think tank Chatham House, meanwhile said Iran's leaders "think they can outlast Trump." Tehran was "committed to negotiations", Vakil added, but wanted "to extract concessions because of their improved hand". Meanwhile, Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia will join a "strictly defensive" mission led by France and Britain to secure shipping through the strait, once it is established, and contribute a surveillance aircraft to protect the United Arab Emirates from Iran drone attacks.

On the war's Lebanon front, deadly Israeli strikes continued in the south Tuesday, according to the health ministry, where fighting wore on despite an April 17 ceasefire agreement. Israel has intensified its attacks as it trades fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah since the truce. Israeli strikes in south Lebanon killed 13 people including a soldier, a child and two rescue workers on Tuesday, the country's health ministry said.

Lebanon's health minister said earlier in the day that more than 2,880 people had been killed since the country was dragged into the wider war on March 2 -- including 380 since the truce took hold. Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Tuesday his group's weapons were not part of a third round of upcoming negotiations between Lebanon and Israel this week, vowing not to surrender "however great the sacrifices". "We will not abandon the battlefield and we will turn it into hell for Israel," he said in a statement.

But since the ceasefire began, the two countries have traded accusations of violating it with attacks on civilians. "This weekend my boyfriend and I were walking in the park, and there were still constant air alerts," Anastasia Rybalka, a 23-year-old IT specialist told AFP in Zaporizhzhia, a major industrial city close to the front line and a frequent target of Russian drone and missile attacks. According to Kyiv, the Zaporizhzhia region was among those targeted by Russian drones.

"I can't say that it looked like a ceasefire," said Dmytro Zlochevsky, a 45-year-old English teacher, adding that he had "heard both explosions and shelling" outside the city. "I think we better not count on this ceasefire turning into something bigger," Zlochevsky added.

He said it was "just a period that the aggressor state begged Trump for, in order to hold its own parade. And afterwards they will continue all their actions aimed at destroying the Ukrainian people". Shortly after Trump announced the ceasefire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered army not to attack Russia's annual parade on Red Square. Moscow also confirmed that it had accepted the truce. Since the start of Russia's invasion in 2022, several truces have been announced without leading to concrete progress.

Diplomatic efforts to restart direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow, brokered by the United States, have stalled since the war in the Middle East broke out in February. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he could see the war ending soon, without elaborating. But Svitlana Garbuzova said she had little hope "that the war will end soon".

"It feels like we'll be living with all this for several more years", said the 24-year-old student, referring to repeated strikes and air raid alerts. In Odesa, a major Black Sea port city, Tetiana, a 38-year-old teacher who did not give her surname, was able to finally "get some sleep, go to the sea, relax". The city, a regular target of Russian drones, enjoyed some respite over the weekend. "We would really like this truce to last a little longer," she said, adding that she wanted the war to end "as soon as possible".

Dmytro, a 20-year-old shop assistant, refused to celebrate the relative calm. "Tomorrow or the day after there may be massive attacks around Ukraine," he said. Svitlana, another Odesa resident, told AFP she felt that "there's still anxiety", even though she was able to sleep "peacefully" during the two nights of the truce. The 68-year-old pensioner said she is originally from Donbas -- an industrial region in eastern Ukraine that Russia is trying to annex, where her "home is destroyed, burned down".

In Donbas, the epicentre of the fighting, "it was not calm at all: there were shelling, people were wounded, the destruction continues," she said with a sigh. "Odesa felt a bit of calm, but Donbas did not."

French officials said one woman who tested positive was hospitalized and in stable condition in intensive care. No vaccines or specific treatments exist for the virus, but health officials have said the risk to the public is low and dismissed comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dutch-flagged ship was expected to arrive in Rotterdam on Sunday evening, according to its operator, where it will undergo disinfection procedures.

More than 25 crew members and medical staff were still on board the ship, which is carrying the body of a German passenger who died during the voyage, but all passengers have now disembarked. "Mission accomplished," Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia Gomez said on the quay of the port of Granadilla de Abona, in Tenerife, where a two-day complex evacuation procedure began on Sunday. "Between yesterday and today, we have evacuated the 125 passengers and crew members from 23 countries, who have either already returned home or are in the process of being repatriated. The ship, as you can see, has just weighed anchor. It left the port today at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT)," she said on Monday.

The final cohort of 28 evacuees travelled on chartered buses to Tenerife South Airport and boarded two flights that landed in the Netherlands early on Tuesday. One plane carried mostly crew members -- 17 Filipinos, a Dutch national and a German -- as well as a British doctor and two epidemiologists. A second flight transported six other passengers -- four Australians, a New Zealander and a Briton living in Australia -- who would stay in a quarantine facility near the airport before being repatriated.

Wearing white medical overalls and facemasks, the evacuees disembarked from the air ambulance clutching white bags of their belongings, and walked into Eindhoven airport's terminal. Spanish authorities said the cruise ship, which was originally only authorised to anchor offshore for the evacuation on health and safety grounds, had docked in port because of unfavourable weather. At a news conference at the port, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is due to meet the Spanish prime minister in Madrid on Tuesday, sought to reassure the passengers.

He said they were in good hands now and that the situation could have become difficult if they stayed on the ship, but added that this "is not another Covid". Among the completed repatriations, a French woman -- one of five evacuees from France placed in isolation in Paris -- started to feel unwell on Sunday night, and "tests came back positive", Health Minister Stephanie Rist said. A Spanish passenger has also tested positive, the health ministry in Madrid said, adding that results for the 13 other Spanish evacuees were so far negative.

Spain's health ministry defended the rigour of the evacuations, where medical teams escorted passengers from the ship to an airport on Tenerife under close supervision and following health checks. "From the start, all the measures adopted have aimed at cutting the possible chains of transmission... all measures for prevention and control of transmission have been applied," it said in a statement. Of the five French passengers repatriated on Sunday, one woman who tested positive was placed in intensive care in stable condition, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu wrote on X.

In total, seven cases have been confirmed among living passengers, health officials have said. Other suspected cases and potential close contacts with infected people are being investigated, with health authorities in several countries tracking passengers who had already disembarked from the ship, plus anyone who may have come into contact with them.

In a video shared on Monday by operator Oceanwide Expeditions, captain Jan Dobrogowski paid tribute to the "unity and quiet strength" of everyone on board and highlighted the "courage and selfless resolve" of the crew. The MV Hondius left Argentina, where hantavirus is endemic, on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde. The WHO believes the first infection occurred before the start of the voyage, followed by transmission between humans on board the vessel.

But Argentine health officials have questioned whether the outbreak originated in the southern city of Ushuaia, based on the virus's weeks-long incubation period and other factors.

Kyiv's regional military administration told residents to remain in shelters and said its air defences could be operating in the area. A three-day truce was announced on Friday by US President Donald Trump, just hours before Russia's World War II victory celebrations, with Trump saying he hoped the ceasefire would mark "the beginning of the end" of the conflict. The two countries had traded accusations of attacks on civilians that violated the truce, which Trump had said would be in place May 9-11.

The US has quietly welcomed the Emirati strikes and any other Gulf states who want to join the fight, the paper reported citing one unnamed source. AFP has not been able to independently verify the reported Emirati attacks. The Journal did not specify a date or time. However, the morning of April 8 Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said "missile and drone attacks on the Emirates and Kuwait have taken place a few hours after the targeting of Lavan island oil facilities in Iran."

The state broadcaster said the Lavan facility "was subjected to a cowardly attack" at 10:00 am (0630 GMT). On the same day, just hours after the ceasefire came into effect, the UAE said that it had been targeted by 17 Iranian missiles and 35 drones.

That same morning, Kuwait's military said that it was facing a barrage of attacks on power and desalination plants as well as oil facilities -- an early test of the fragile truce. The refinery was Iran's 10th biggest refinery as of 2020, handling 60,000 barrels of crude per day, according to EIA figures.

At the meeting it was agreed to keep the school calendar as originally planned and have it end July 15, with classes resuming August 31, the Education Department said. The World Cup tournament -- hosted jointly by Mexico, the United States and Canada -- kicks off on June 11 when Mexico takes on South Africa at home in Mexico City. "The idea is to keep the vacation period to six weeks, as it has always been, and perhaps some students will start early, while others will continue with the previous schedule," Sheinbaum said earlier.

"The goal is for it to be a consensus decision," she said. "Now we need to listen." Two states rejected the plan before it was ultimately canceled. Parents also questioned the measure, which, according to the think tank Mexico Evalua, would cause students to fall behind in their studies. "The decision... will reduce effective learning time even more for 23.4 million students," Mexico Evalua wrote in a report.

Sheinbaum also guaranteed "conditions of security" necessary for the games as well as the completion of public works projects started before the tournament, particularly additions to the Azteca stadium and the Mexico City International Airport. 

The cargo plane, operated by delivery company UPS and bound for Hawaii, crashed after one of its engines detached during takeoff and caught fire. The aircraft exploded when it hit industrial buildings near the airport. According to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on November 20, a crucial component attaching the engines to the wings showed fatigue cracks and broke during takeoff.

An NTSB investigative hearing is scheduled for May 19. Boeing -- which acquired McDonnell Douglas in 1997 -- announced on Monday that, following the regulatory green light, it had sent MD-11 owners instructions for carrying out inspections on their aircraft. UPS grounded the fleet four days after the accident, and its chief executive announced in late January that the company would speed up the retirement of the entire fleet, which began in 2023.

"UPS accelerated and completed the retirement of our MD-11s as part of our broader fleet modernization efforts, and the aircraft is no longer part of our operation," a spokesperson told AFP on Monday. FedEx, a competitor, by contrast, had been eagerly waiting to put its own MD-11s back into service. During the presentation of quarterly results on March 19, Chief Financial Officer John Dietrich said he expected a return to service toward the end of the current quarter.

According to a statement sent to AFP on Monday, two FedEx MD-11s resumed commercial flights as early as Sunday, after "confirmation that the required repairs and inspections" specified by Boeing and approved by the FAA had been completed, and after test flights. The two aircraft departed from Memphis Airport in Tennessee, one bound for Miami, Florida and the other for Los Angeles, California.

- New US, UK Sanctions -

The United States on Monday slapped 12 individuals and entities with new sanctions, saying they facilitated the sale and shipment of Iranian oil to China.

The move comes hours after the UK issued its own distinct set of sanctions and days before US President Donald Trump was scheduled to visit China.

- 'Teach a lesson' -

Iran's parliament speaker said his country's military stood ready to "teach a lesson" to any aggressor after Trump warned that the ceasefire in the Middle East war was hanging by a thread.

"Our armed forces are ready to respond and to teach a lesson for any aggression," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X. "A bad strategy and bad decisions always lead to bad results -- the world already understands this."

- US gas tax suspension -

Trump said he plans to suspend a federal gasoline tax as consumers cope with surging energy prices in the wake of the Iran war.

US federal taxes on gasoline amount to 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel.

Suspending the tax would require an act of Congress, where Trump's Republican party holds a razor-thin majority in both houses.

- Ceasefire 'on life support' -

Trump said Monday that the ceasefire with Iran is on "life support" and that he is considering restarting naval escorts -- previously dubbed "Project Freedom" -- through the Hormuz strait as he seeks "complete victory" in the war.

Amid growing pressure at home over the war's impact on the US economy, Trump warned that Iran's rejection over the weekend of Washington's demands meant the already tenuous ceasefire is now "unbelievably weak."

"I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support," he told reporters at the White House.

- 'Largest energy shock' -

The Middle East war triggered the world's largest energy shock, with market recovery likely to extend into 2027 even if the Hormuz blockade is lifted soon, Saudi oil giant Aramco's CEO told investors.

"The energy supply shock that began in the first quarter is the largest the world has ever experienced," said Amin H. Nasser. "If the Strait of Hormuz opens today, it will still take months for the market to rebalance, and if its opening is delayed by a few more weeks, then normalisation will last into 2027."

- UN warns of hunger crisis -

Tens of millions of people could face hunger and starvation if fertilizers are not soon allowed through the Strait of Hormuz, the head of a UN task force aimed at averting a looming humanitarian crisis told AFP.

About a third of a world's fertilizer normally passes through the key waterway in the Gulf that Iran has blocked.

"We have a few weeks ahead of us to prevent what will likely be a massive humanitarian crisis," Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and leader of the task force, told AFP in an interview. 

"These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay," he wrote on social media. The move in response to rising violence and settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank had been stalled by Hungary's former prime minister Viktor Orban. But the ouster of the nationalist leader and Israel ally by Peter Magyar now appears to have paved the way for the veto to be lifted. EU officials said seven settlers or settler organisations would be blacklisted. The bloc also agreed to sanction representatives from the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Israel condemned the new sanctions. "As Israel and the US are 'doing Europe's dirty work' by fighting for civilisation against jihadist lunatics in Iran and elsewhere, the European Union exposed its moral bankruptcy by drawing a false symmetry between Israeli citizens and Hamas terrorists," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on its official X account.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir denounced the European Union as "antisemitic", saying the EU was "trying to tie the hands of those who defend themselves". "The European Union has chosen, in an arbitrary and political manner, to impose sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views and without any basis," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar posted on X.

The occupied West Bank has been gripped by almost daily violence involving Israeli troops and settlers since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. There has been a surge in deadly West Bank attacks by Israeli settlers since the start of the Iran war on February 28, Palestinian officials and the United Nations have said. While the EU is moving ahead with the sanctions on Israeli settlers, there remains no consensus yet among member states to take further steps against Israel such as curbing trade ties.

Foreign ministers meeting in Brussels discussed calls to ban products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Italy's Antonio Tajani said that the EU's executive would now make a proposal on the move and then the bloc would see if it had enough backing from member states. "This is an issue that has been discussed, but no decision has been taken, pending the proposals that will come," he said.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank in settlements that are illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians. In 2025, the expansion of Israeli settlements reached its highest level since at least 2017, when the United Nations began tracking data, according to a UN report. 

In October, Trump underwent his second major medical checkup of 2025, and later said an MRI taken that hospital visit showed his cardiovascular health was "excellent." "His cardiac age -- a validated measure of cardiovascular vitality via ECG -- was found to be approximately 14 years younger than his chronological age. He continues to maintain a demanding daily schedule without restriction," his doctor, Navy Captain Sean Barbabella, wrote in a letter released by the White House at the time.

Trump also had a semi-annual checkup last April. Since returning to office Trump -- the oldest person ever sworn in as US president -- has often appeared with bruising on his right hand, occasionally covered with makeup. The White House has attributed the marks to the aspirin he takes as part of a "standard" cardiovascular health regimen.

Last summer, the administration disclosed that Trump had been evaluated for swelling in his legs and diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency -- a common condition in which faulty vein valves allow blood to pool, causing swelling, cramping and skin changes. It can be managed with medication or targeted procedures.

China said it hoped to achieve greater stability between the world's two largest economies during the visit lasting Wednesday through Friday, the first by a US president since Trump went in 2017. Asked if the United States should keep selling weapons to Taiwan, a key irritant for Beijing, Trump did not answer directly but said: "I'm going to have that discussion with President Xi." "President Xi would like us not to, and I'll have that discussion. That's one of the many things I'll be talking about," he said, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump, after referencing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, said of Taiwan, "I don't think it'll happen." "I think we'll be fine. I have a very good relationship with President Xi. He knows I don't want that to happen," he said. But Trump also noted that the United States was "very, very far away" compared with China. The United States recognizes only Beijing but under domestic law is required to provide weapons for the defense of Taiwan, a self-governing democracy which China considers its own.

Under the 1982 "Six Assurances," a key foundation of US policy on Taiwan after the switch of recognition, the United States said it would not "consult" with Beijing about arms sales to the island. Trump has long berated allies as not spending enough on their own defense. Days ahead of his trip to China, Taiwan's parliament Friday approved a $25 billion defense spending bill, although it fell short of the government's proposal.

Pointing to the vote by parliament, a group of US senators led by Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that Trump should immediately green-light a $14 billion arms package to Taiwan. "We urge you and your team to make clear that America's support for Taiwan is inviolable," wrote the senators, mostly Democrats but including two centrists from Trump's Republican Party.

While discussing economic concerns, Trump should also state that "American support for Taiwan is not up for negotiation," they wrote. Trump delayed the trip once due to the war he launched with Israel against Iran, which is still rebuffing his appeals for an agreement. China is the main international customer for Iran's oil, which Trump has tried to stop all countries from buying through unilateral US sanctions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview Sunday with CBS News' "60 Minutes," said he was unhappy that Beijing had shared missile technology with Iran. Trump's Treasury Department on Monday issued sanctions against 12 individuals and entities it said facilitated the sale and shipment of Iranian oil to China.

The sanctions came even as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent prepared to set up Trump's visit during talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Seoul on Wednesday. Bessent and He have been the chief negotiators for the United States and China on all trade and economic issues. In Beijing on Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said that top-level diplomacy was "irreplaceable" between the two countries.

"China is willing to work with the United States in the spirit of equality, respect, and mutual benefit, to expand cooperation, manage differences, and inject more stability and certainty into a volatile and intertwined world," he told a briefing. Asked about US pressure on Iran, Guo said only that China's position on Iran was "consistent" and that Beijing would continue to play a "positive role" in promoting a ceasefire and peace talks. Trump and Xi last met face-to-face in October on the sidelines of a regional summit in South Korea. They agreed then to a one-year truce in a blistering trade war that saw tariffs on many goods exceed 100 percent.

"We also see that Russia has no intention of ending this war; unfortunately, it is preparing new attacks," he added. Zelensky also said his top negotiator, Rustem Umerov, had reported to him on recent "political" and "technological" meetings in the US.

"It is clear that the war in Iran is now drawing the most attention from America," Zelensky said. "But there is also a priority there and support from the American people to bring this war in Europe to an end as well." Negotiations on the Russia-Ukraine war have so far led to nowhere and were sidelined by the Iran conflict. Trump's ceasefire announcement has raised some hope that US-led talks to end Russia's invasion will be resumed. 

The indictment is part of an ongoing investigations into Petro's 2022 election campaign, and comes less than three weeks before the first round of Colombia's May 31 presidential election. Petro is banned from seeking a second term under Colombia's constitution. Petro's eldest son Nicolas is also being prosecuted for illicit enrichment and money laundering. Nicolas Petro is accused of taking money from a former drug trafficker while campaigning for his father in the 2022 race.

"Preliminary investigations also found that they (the migrants) departed from Kisaran, Indonesia, on May 9 and... headed for several destinations in Malaysia, including Penang, Terengganu, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur," Mohamad Shukri added. He said the agency has deployed boats, a helicopter and surveillance aircraft to search for the missing. Those who were rescued have been handed over to the police for further investigation.

Relatively affluent Malaysia is home to millions of migrants from poorer parts of Asia, many of them undocumented, working in industries including construction and agriculture. But the crossings, facilitated by human trafficking syndicates, are often hazardous leading to boats capsizing. In one of the deadliest recent incidents, 36 migrants died in November 2025 after their boat capsized near the Thai-Malaysian coast.

"It's difficult for me to be concrete about the conversations in the working group but we have taken some steps in the right direction," he said. The United States, which already has the Pituffik military base in northern Greenland, wants to open three new bases in the south of the territory, according to media reports. A 1951 defence pact, updated in 2004, already allows Washington to ramp up troop deployments and military installations on the island provided it informs Denmark and Greenland in advance.

In January Trump backed down from his repeated threats to seize Greenland, after which Copenhagen and Nuuk held a first meeting in Washington. A working group was then established to discuss the US position. Trump has repeatedly argued the US needs to control Greenland for reasons of national security and has warned that if it doesn't take the vast Arctic island, China or Russia will.

"We have been ready from the beginning and said we are ready to do more, take more responsibility ... in terms of national or international security," Nielsen said on Tuesday. "Our only demand is respect." The negotiations are being led by senior US State Department official Michael Needham, Danish ambassador to the US Jesper Moller Sorensen and Greenlandic diplomat Jacob Isbosethsen, according to the BBC.

The working group has held five meetings since January, it said. Denmark has been without a government since a general election on March 24 that failed to give either the left or right bloc a majority.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said just ahead of the vote on Tuesday that conscription would begin this year because it was "necessary to build up troops to protect the nation". Parliament approved a conscription law in 2006 that required Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it was never enforced. The new law increases the period of service to two years, while reducing the age range of conscripted recruits to 18 to 25.

Anyone who refuses to serve will face up to two years in jail during peacetime, up from one year previously. Those evading service during wartime could be jailed for up to five years, according to a copy of the new law. The previous penalty was up to three years in jail. Several young Cambodians said they supported the law. "I am ready to serve in the military, although my mother may object to it," high school student Menghav told AFP. "Because I am not happy with Thailand," added the 18-year-old, who requested his full name not be published.

All 114 members of the National Assembly, including Hun Manet, voted to adopt the law during a legislative session, parliament said in a statement. Cambodia and Thailand have been at odds for decades over the demarcation of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) border, a legacy of the French colonial era. The two countries signed a truce deal in late December but tensions remain high. Cambodia, which is outgunned and outspent by Thailand's military, says Thai forces captured several areas in border provinces and has demanded their withdrawal.

Thailand says its forces are controlling its own territory that Cambodians had occupied for years. Hun Manet told lawmakers that Cambodia needed the new law because the country's sovereignty was "being threatened". "It's necessary to increase the number of young troops who are energised," he said.

The reform push has set off a bitter dispute in Merz's coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats, helping drive Merz's approval ratings to record lows just a year after taking office. Merz had previously promised an "autumn of reforms" to cut costs in Germany's social welfare system, but legislation has been slow to materialise. At the end of April, the coalition struck a deal on health insurance changes which had previously faced opposition from the labour-aligned SPD.

On Monday, the chancellor promised to continue by passing pension reforms -- labelling this "undoubtably the most difficult challenge" -- by late summer. Merz argued that the need "to modernise our country" had been neglected for too long. Germany has the oldest working population in the European Union, with a quarter of the country's workers aged between 55 and 64, according to figures published in February.

Merz warned that demographic trends will mean that a shrinking share of younger workers will have to support growing numbers of pensioners in the future. He has called for increased private investment in funding retirement. The sputtering performance of Europe's largest economy -- which is widely forecast to grow only about 0.5 percent this year -- is "simply too little to maintain our prosperity", Merz said.

Without growth, "there will also be no effective welfare state, good healthcare, or adequate pensions," Merz warned. DGB chairwoman Yasmin Fahimi, who was re-elected to her post on Monday, countered that any reforms must include a "fair distribution of the burden" and rejected government proposals to loosen working time regulations.

Since the start of 2025, when Israel began a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, "at least one Palestinian child has been killed on average every single week" there, adding that another 850 children had been injured during that period. "Most of those killed or wounded were done by live ammunition," he said.

Israeli forces were responsible for a full 93 percent of the deaths, Elder said, highlighting that the scaled-up military operations had come amid "historic levels of settler attacks". According to the UN, March 2026 saw the highest number of Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers in at least 20 years, he pointed out. "Documented incidents include children shot, stabbed, children beaten and children pepper-sprayed," Elder pointed out.

He stressed that such incidents were taking place against the backdrop of the "steady dismantling of the conditions children need to survive and grow". "Homes are demolished, education is destroyed, water systems are attacked, access to healthcare is obstructed, movement is restricted," he said. At the same time, there has been a dramatic spike in the number of barriers and restrictions imposed across the West Bank, meaning children in the Palestinian territory "are routinely cut off from schools, from hospitals and other essential services".

All of this has caused mass displacement, with more than 2,500 Palestinians -- 1,100 of them children -- displaced in just the first four months of this year in the West Bank. "That surpasses the total displacement recorded in 2025," Elder pointed out. Since the war in Gaza erupted in October 2023, after Hamas's attack in Israel, violence has also surged in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 in contravention of international law. Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,070 Palestinians, including many militants, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Authority figures. Official Israeli figures meanwhile show that at least 46 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period.

"The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a cabinet," he added, on what has become the most crucial day yet of his almost two-year-old premiership. At least 80 of Labour's 403 members of parliament have now called for Starmer to quit immediately, or to set out a timetable for his resignation. Starmer's vow Monday to fight on and prove his doubters wrong did little to calm clamour for his removal.

Miatta Fahnbulleh on Tuesday became the first junior minister to do resign, calling on Starmer "to do the right thing for the country and the party and set a timetable for an orderly transition". Jess Phillips then quit as safeguarding minister, telling Starmer in a letter that she was not seeing the change "I, and the country expect". Interior minister Shabana Mahmood late Monday became the most senior government figure to advise Starmer to consider his position, UK media reported.

Newspapers reported that other senior ministers, including deputy prime minister David Lammy and Yvette Cooper had spoken to Starmer about his position. Pressure on Starmer has been soaring since Labour suffered disastrous local election results last week, losing hundreds of councillors to the hard-right Reform UK party and left-wing populist Greens. Labour also lost its century-old dominance in Wales and were hammered by the Scottish National Party in the devolved parliament in Edinburgh.

The results added to a miserable few months for Starmer who has been engulfed in scandal over his decision to appoint -- and then sack -- Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington. Mandelson was a former friend of US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and Starmer earlier this year fended off calls to quit over his decision to appoint him. Starmer has also failed to spur promised economic growth to help British citizens suffering with the cost of living.

On Monday, Starmer pledged that Labour would be "better" and bolder to assuage disgruntled voters impatient for change. But dozens of Labour MPS later urged him to step down, including four government aides who resigned their positions. Several cabinet ministers backed Starmer after the meeting, including Defence Secretary John Healey who warned that "more instability is not in Britain's interest".

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said he had her "full support" while Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle said Starmer was "showing really steadfast leadership". Housing minister Steve Reed also noted that a leadership challenge had not been triggered, "so we all intend to get on with our jobs". Under party rules, any challenger would need the support of 81 Labour MPs -- 20 percent of the party in parliament -- to trigger a leadership contest.

Starmer has vowed to contest any challenge. A contest would likely spark damaging infighting, with MPs from the left and right of the party battling to position their preferred candidate or shore up Starmer. It has long been rumoured that Health Secretary Wes Streeting and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner could try to oust Starmer. But neither is universally popular within Labour.

Another much-touted contender, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is unable to stand as he does not have a seat in parliament. Some of his supporters want Starmer to set a date for his departure that allows their man time to become an MP first.

After slamming the reply as "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE," Trump insisted the United States would see a "complete victory" over Iran, adding that the truce which has largely halted fighting in the Gulf for over a month was on its last legs. "The ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, 'Sir, your loved one has approximately a one percent chance of living,'" he told reporters on Monday. Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who served as chief negotiator in previous talks with Washington, said shortly afterwards that his country was prepared "for any eventuality."

"Our armed forces are ready to respond and to teach a lesson for any aggression," he wrote on X. "A bad strategy and bad decisions always lead to bad results -- the world already understands this." The developments unnerved global energy markets already thrown into chaos by the war and the overlapping blockades imposed by Iran and the US in the Strait of Hormuz -- a vital conduit for oil and gas shipments. "The energy supply shock that began in the first quarter is the largest the world has ever experienced," the CEO and president of Saudi oil giant Aramco, Amin Nasser, told investors.

"If the Strait of Hormuz opens today, it will still take months for the market to rebalance, and if its opening is delayed by a few more weeks, then normalisation will last into 2027." Aside from energy, the world also faces a shortage of fertiliser -- much of which comes from Gulf ports -- and hence food for tens of millions of people. Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), told AFP there were just a few weeks left to avert a potentially "massive humanitarian crisis."

"We may witness a crisis that will force 45 million more people into hunger and starvation." Trump did not say what had offended him in Iran's response, but Tehran's foreign ministry said it had called for an end to the US naval blockade of its ports and to the war "across the region" -- implying a halt to Israel's strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Crucially, ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters Iran demanded the "release of assets belonging to the Iranian people, which have for years been unjustly trapped in foreign banks."

This would be not just a return to the status quo before the US and Israel launched the war on February 28, but a victory in the Islamic republic's long-standing campaign against its economic isolation. "We did not demand any concessions. The only thing we demanded was Iran's legitimate rights," Baqaei said. An end to international sanctions would diminish Washington's leverage over Tehran as it tries to secure a lasting end to Iran's nuclear enrichment.

The US, Israel and their allies have long accused Iran of seeking atomic weapons, an accusation Tehran has repeatedly denied. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the conflict would not end until Iran's nuclear facilities were destroyed. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Iran's counterproposal had included the possibility of diluting some of its highly enriched uranium, with the rest transferred to a third country.

The lack of a path to a resolution has focused concern on the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is restricting maritime traffic and setting up a payment mechanism to charge tolls for crossing ships. US officials have stressed it would be "unacceptable" for Tehran to control the international waterway. Trump told Fox News that he was considering reviving a short-lived US operation to guide oil tankers and other commercial ships through the Hormuz, but that he had not yet taken a final decision.

Saudi sources previously told AFP that Saudi Arabia had prohibited the US from using its airspace and bases for the operation the first time around, fearing "it would just escalate the situation and would not work." Seeking to increase economic pressure on Iran, the United States issued sanctions against 12 individuals and entities that it said facilitated the sale and shipment of Iranian oil to China. It listed three Iran-based individuals and nine companies -- based in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates -- as being subject to the new sanctions.

As part of its blockade, the US Navy has at times fired on ships to disable them, or boarded and diverted them. In a social media post on Sunday, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament's national security commission warned Washington: "Our restraint is over as of today." "Any attack on our vessels will trigger a strong and decisive Iranian response against American ships and bases," Ebrahim Rezaei said.

On Sunday, his Education Minister Bridget Phillipson said a leadership contest was not the answer as Labour licks its wounds from last week's election drubbing. Starmer himself signalled that he hoped to stay in power until 2034. But several Labour lawmakers made it clear they believed it was time for him to go.

Former junior minister Catherine West announced that if a cabinet minister did not challenge Starmer by Monday, she would try to kickstart a leadership contest herself -- a move that could open the door to others. Such a move would also likely spark a damaging bout of infighting as MPs from the left and right of the party battled to position their preferred candidate or shore up Starmer. Under party rules, any challenger would need the support of 81 Labour MPs -- 20 percent of the party in parliament -- to trigger a contest.

Another lawmaker, former loyalist Josh Simons, urged Starmer to step down, saying he had "lost the country". A third, veteran MP Clive Betts, said there had "to be a way to actually bring in a new leader in a proper and constructive manner in the next few months". The election results were particularly tough for Labour in Wales, where they lost control of the devolved government for the first time since the parliament in Cardiff was established 27 years ago.

Elsewhere, they lost nearly 1,500 local council seats while the anti-immigration Reform UK party surged from less than 100 to over 1,400 seats under Brexit figurehead leader Nigel Farage. In Scotland, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) John Swinney called for another independence referendum to shield the nation from a future Reform government. The polls came less than two years after Starmer swept to power in a landslide general election victory, ending 14 years of Conservative rule.

Starmer, 63, has swerved from one policy misstep to another since then, and is engulfed in a scandal over the appointment -- and sacking -- of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to Washington, after revelations about the envoy's ties to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The prime minister has failed to spur economic growth as British citizens continue to feel the effects of a years-long cost-of-living pinch, but has been praised for resisting US President Donald Trump over Iran.

Before last Thursday's polls, the British press had been awash with rumours that former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner or Health Minister Wes Streeting could try to oust Starmer afterwards. But neither is universally popular within Labour and would need to be nominated by a high threshold of the party's MPs to fire the starting gun on a leadership contest. Rayner on Sunday stopped short of calling for Starmer to quit but said the current strategy "isn't working and it needs to change".

"This may be our last chance... The prime minister must now meet the moment and set out the change our country needs," she wrote on X. Another much-touted possible contender, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is currently unable to challenge as he does not have a seat in parliament. The lack of consensus has led to speculation that there could be a move behind a so-called unity candidate like Defence Secretary John Healey or Armed Forces minister Al Carns.

The absence of an obvious successor means Starmer could still hold on. There has also been reluctance in the party to replace him after the Conservatives went through three prime ministers in four months in 2022. Starmer himself has repeatedly resolved to stay put. Questioned over whether he would lead Labour at the next election, expected in 2029 at the latest, and serve a full term of up to five years, he told the Sunday Mirror: "Yes, I will." "I've always said it's a decade of national renewal," he added.

"They have to do the right thing, but it's really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them," Trump said. The Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, is an equal and independent branch of government, intended to check and balance executive and congressional power in American democracy. It's exceedingly rare for the White House to exert open pressure on the nine-judge panel, who are appointed to lifetime terms by the president and confirmed by Congress.

On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order decreeing that children born to parents who were in the United States illegally or on temporary visas would not automatically become US citizens. Lower courts blocked the move, citing the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause. Last month, Trump took the extraordinary step of attending the oral arguments hearing for birthright citizenship in-person at the Supreme Court, where the three liberal justices and several conservatives appeared skeptical of the administration's arguments.

On Sunday, Trump bemoaned his perception that the court "will be ruling against us on Birthright Citizenship, making us the only Country in the World that practices this unsustainable, unsafe, and incredibly costly DISASTER. I don't want loyalty, but I do want and expect it for our Country." The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of the groups that brought the lawsuit against Trump's birthright citizenship policy, has said "Trump's executive order flouts the Constitution's dictates, longstanding Supreme Court precedent, a statute passed by Congress, and fundamental American values."

They expect the Supreme Court's decision "by the end of June or early July." Of the court's current 6-3 conservative majority, Trump appointed associate justices Gorsuch, Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh during his first term in office. Trump also lambasted the court's February tariff ruling in Sunday's post, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the president exceeded his authority in imposing sweeping duties on goods from other countries -- a stinging rebuke to one of his key economic policies, which opened the door to refunds.

"They were appointed by me, and yet have hurt our Country so badly!" the 79-year-old Republican said. "I do not believe they meant to do so, but their decision on Tariffs cost the United States 159 Billion Dollars that we have to pay back to enemies, and people, companies, and Countries, that have been ripping us off for years."

Last month, the US government launched a tool for refunding more than $166 billion in revenue from Trump's tariffs, where more than 330,000 importers could be eligible for refunds on duties or deposits paid on over 53 million shipments.

"At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President of the United States of America Donald J. Trump will pay a state visit to China from May 13 to 15," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said. Trump is expected to push Xi on Iran while aiming to ease trade tensions, according to US officials. China is a key customer for Iranian oil, mainly through independent "teapot" refineries that rely on discounted crude from the Islamic republic.

"This will be a visit of tremendous symbolic significance," US Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told reporters on a call. "But of course, President Trump never travels for symbolism alone. The American people can expect the president to deliver more good deals on behalf of our country."

Trump's first trip to China in his second term will feature pomp and ceremony including a tour of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing and a lavish state banquet, the White House said. This is the first visit by a US president to China since 2017. 

His political and legal travails -- from being ousted by a coup to facing multiple convictions -- could have ended his dynasty's hold over Thai politics at any point in the last two decades. But analysts say Thaksin remains the puppet master behind his Pheu Thai party, which suffered record losses at the polls this year but managed to join the new ruling coalition and land Thaksin's nephew a cabinet position. After his release, "Thaksin will take a more hands-on approach over Pheu Thai", Southeast Asian politics expert Paul Chambers said.

But the 76-year-old is "too old to make a political comeback" as the formal party leader and would leave it to his family's younger generation to be Pheu Thai's public face, Chambers said. Elected prime minister in 2001 and again in 2005, Thaksin was ousted by the army in 2006 and took himself into exile two years later, but never stopped commenting on national affairs. He pledged repeatedly to return, despite being convicted on graft and abuse-of-power charges in his absence.

Thaksin finally made good on his vow in August 2023, touching down in Bangkok to a hero's welcome from his supporters on the day that Pheu Thai returned to office. He was immediately arrested and sentenced to eight years in jail, but was brought to a police hospital within hours on health grounds. Within days, King Maha Vajiralongkorn cut his term to one year, and Thaksin returned to his Bangkok home in February 2024, having seemingly not seen the inside of a jail cell. But the Supreme Court ruled in September that he had not properly served his sentence, and ordered him behind bars for a year.

Thaksin was born in 1949 into one of the most prominent ethnic Chinese families in northern Chiang Mai province. He worked as a police officer before amassing a vast fortune founding a series of data networking and mobile telephone firms that would become telecoms giant Shin Corp. He launched his political party, Thai Rak Thai, in 1998, and became the first premier to serve a full term after being elected in 2001.

With the economy in a deep recession during the Asian financial crisis, Thaksin -- one of Thailand's richest people -- promised to use his business savvy to lift rural villagers out of poverty. His "war on drugs", which Human Rights Watch says resulted in around 2,800 extrajudicial killings, brought international condemnation. He was re-elected in a landslide victory in 2005, thanks to huge support from rural voters grateful for cash injections and debt relief.

The following year he was dogged by corruption allegations and mired in controversy over the tax-free sale of Shin Corp shares. Months of mass protests culminated in the nullification of elections, and in September 2006, army tanks rolled into Bangkok and toppled Thaksin's government while he was at the United Nations in New York. Despite his Thai assets being frozen in 2007, he purchased the Manchester City football club and later sold it for a sizeable profit to an Abu Dhabi-backed group.

"You go in and you take it out," the Israeli leader said when asked how the uranium could be removed. Netanyahu said US President Donald Trump had a similar position. "I'm not going to talk about military means, but the president, what President Trump has said to me -- 'I want to go in there.'" However, Netanyahu's statement was in contrast to Trump's public position. The 79-year-old Republican is under increasing domestic pressure to end the Iran war and he insists that Tehran's nuclear program has been contained.

In an interview aired Sunday but apparently recorded earlier, Trump said Iran was "militarily defeated" and he insisted the uranium could be removed "whenever we want." "We'll get that at some point, whenever we want. We'll have it surveilled," he told independent television journalist Sharyl Attkisson. "If anybody got near the place we will know about it and we'll blow them up." Asked by CBS how the uranium stockpiles could be removed from Iran, Netanyahu said he would prefer an agreement.

"I think it can be done physically. That's not the problem. If you have an agreement and you go in and you take it out, why not? That's the best way." Pressed on whether there are military options to seize the hidden uranium, Netanyahu said he would not discuss such possibilities -- or a timetable. Israel remains a dedicated American ally, but Netanyahu said he has told Trump that he wants US tax dollars committed to Israel, currently at $3.8 billion annually, to drop to "zero" -- and sooner rather than later. "I think that it's time that we wean ourselves from the remaining military support" from the Pentagon, he added. "Let's start now, and do it over the next decade."

In addition to the unresolved uranium stockpile issue, Netanyahu said there were several other war aims that had yet to be accomplished. "There's still proxies that Iran supports, their ballistic missiles that they still want to produce. Now, we've degraded a lot of it, but all that is still there and there's work to be done." Netanyahu also acknowledged that he knew Beijing was assisting Iran. "China gives a certain amount of support (to Iran), and particular components of missile manufacturing," the Israeli leader noted. "But I can't say more than that."

He also spoke of optimism about how a toppled Iranian regime could mean "the end of Hezbollah," as well as Hamas and the Houthis, "because the whole scaffolding of the terrorist proxy network that Iran built collapses if the regime in Iran collapses." But he stopped short of predicting such a downfall of Iran's regime. "Is it possible? Yes. Is it guaranteed? No."

Former municipal councilor Jose Manuel Garcia died "while he was being held in the detention cells of the Anaco Municipal Police" on allegations of fraud and extortion, a coordinator for the prisoner's rights NGO said.

Garcia's death comes after authorities on Thursday acknowledged the death in custody of Victor Hugo Quero Navas nine months ago, bringing the number of deaths of political prisoners in custody to around 20 since 2014.

The virtual meeting follows a two-day gathering in London in April of military planners who thrashed out the practicalities of a multinational mission led by the UK and France to protect navigation in the key waterway following a sustainable ceasefire. "We are turning diplomatic agreement into practical military plans to restore confidence for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz," Healey said. It comes as France and Britain despatched warships to the Middle East. France has sent its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, to the region, and the UK on Saturday said it was sending a destroyer, HMS Dragon.

Both countries said the deployments were a "pre-positioning" ahead of any international mission to help protect shipping. HMS Dragon's deployment was part of "prudent planning" that would ensure the UK was ready to help secure the strait when conditions allowed, a ministry spokesperson told AFP. But Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, earlier Sunday warned Britain and France their warships -- "or those of any other country" -- would meet "a decisive and immediate response".

"Only the Islamic Republic of Iran can establish security in this strait," Gharibabadi said. Macron said later Sunday that France had had "never envisaged" a naval deployment in the Strait of Hormuz but rather a security mission that would be "coordinated with Iran". Speaking to journalists in Nairobi, he said he was sticking to his position opposing a blockade from either side, and to "reject any toll" to ensure ships are able to pass through the strategic waterway.

Britain and France said last month that plans to secure the strait were coming together. The British defence ministry said deploying HMS Dragon would strengthen the confidence of commercial shipping and support mine clearance efforts once hostilities end. Before the US-Israel war on Iran started on February 28, about a fifth of the world's oil was shipped through the strait. But that has been throttled since the war as Iran largely closed the strait, throwing global markets into turmoil and driving up oil prices. The US later imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports in response.

Now, its re-establishment -- greenlit as part of major settlement expansions undertaken by Israel's current right-wing government -- is freighted with symbolic significance. For critics of the expansion, it represents another major step backward, pushing further away the prospect of a Palestinian state. But for Goldmintz and his neighbours in their rows of white bungalows, it is, as far?right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said during an official reopening ceremony, a "historic correction".

"His brother lives next door," said Goldmintz, whose neighbours also include influential settler leader Yossi Dagan, head of the northern West Bank Settlements Council and one of those evacuated from Sa-Nur 20 years ago. Newly established Jewish settlements -- considered illegal under international law, like all settlements in the West Bank occupied by Israel since 1967 -- are generally wary of foreign media, which residents see as hostile to their cause.

But AFP was granted rare access last week to Sa-Nur, reached by a dirt road controlled by an Israeli army checkpoint. Only Goldmintz agreed to speak to AFP, though he insisted the focus shouldn't be on him. "I don't want people to think I'm special," Goldmintz said. "My personal story doesn't matter. The story is the return of the Jewish people." He had never lived in Sa-Nur before 2005, yet he marched alongside the most hardline settlers demanding its re-establishment as part of their vision of a Greater Israel in which Palestinians have neither place nor name.

Goldmintz, a heavily bearded yeshiva teacher in a black kippa and pale shirt, refers to Palestinians simply as "Arabs". The new settlement is still taking shape, with workers repairing electricity poles while bulldozers carve into the earth. A paved road runs alongside around 10 white bungalows. Outside their front doors lie children's bicycles, drying laundry, a hammock, a barbecue and a trampoline. The interiors are basic.

"Ninety square metres, standard size," said Goldmintz, admitting it is far smaller and less comfortable than his previous home in another settlement. He lives with his wife and seven of their eight children -- his eldest daughter being married -- whose portraits decorate the two refrigerators in the living area. There is nothing on the walls, only bookshelves packed with religious texts, a piano covered with a plastic sheet and a sofa. From the window, the view stretches across beige houses and olive groves on the surrounding hills. "They are all Arab villages," he said.

"I don't know why they are here. This is Jewish land." The Palestinian response is spray-painted in Arabic on the walls of an abandoned building: "The resistance will return." Gradually eaten away on all sides, the West Bank is now home to more than 500,000 Israelis living among three million Palestinians in a territory that Palestinians claim as the core of their future state. Settlements, outposts and bypass roads have carved the West Bank into a patchwork of zones under varying degrees of Israeli control -- further eroding the viability of a negotiated two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

In recent years, approvals for new settlements have surged under the current government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, considered one of the most right-wing in the country's history. From just three between 2013 and 2022, the figure rose to 54 in 2025, and already stands at 34 in 2026, according to Israeli NGO Peace Now. "We are burying the idea of a Palestinian state," Smotrich said during the reopening of Sa-Nur last month.

However, Goldmintz insists nobody in the area is hostile towards them. The other day, he says, he was stuck in traffic outside the settlement and young Palestinians helped him get through. But a video filmed by Palestinians the day after AFP's visit tells a different story. Below the settlement, in the cemetery of the village of Al-Asaasa, men can be seen carrying a shrouded body toward the exit.

Behind them stand settlers, assault rifles slung over their shoulders, alongside Israeli soldiers. The body was that of an elderly man who had died that day. "While we were burying him, the settlers started provoking us from up there, but we ignored them," the dead man's son, Mohammad Asaasa, told AFP. He had left once the burial was over, but fellow villagers called him back to say the settlers were still there. When he returned to the gravesite, Mohammad Asaasa found they had dug into the earth "trying to exhume the body", he said.

In a statement, the Israeli army said the funeral had been coordinated in advance with the security forces. It said it had never given orders to remove the body, adding it had confiscated the settlers' tools. The military condemned "any attempt to act in a manner that harms public order, the rule of law, and the dignity of the living and the deceased". Asaasa reburied his father in a nearby village.

- Trump rejects Iran peace response -

President Donald Trump said Sunday he has rejected Iran's response to a US proposal for ending the Middle East war, deeming it "totally unacceptable."

"I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives.' I don't like it -- TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, without providing further details.

- UK, France ministers to hold Hormuz meeting -

The United Kingdom and France will host a multinational meeting of defence ministers Tuesday on military plans to restore trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the British government said.

"The Defence Secretary John Healey will co-chair a meeting of over 40 nations, alongside his French counterpart, Minister Catherine Vautrin, for the multinational mission's first Defence Minister's meeting," a defence ministry statement said Sunday.

- Iran Nobel laureate released on bail for medical treatment -

Iranian authorities have released Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi on bail following growing alarm over her health and she has already been transferred to Tehran for medical treatment, her supporters said Sunday.

After 10 days of hospitalisation in Zanjan in northern Iran where she had been serving her sentence, Mohammadi "has been granted a sentence suspension on heavy bail", her foundation said in a statement.

- Trump to 'pressure' Xi on Iran -

Trump is expected to press Chinese President Xi Jinping on Iran when he visits Beijing this coming week, a senior administration official said Sunday, as the US leader seeks a deal to end the Middle East war.

"I would expect the president to apply pressure," the official said in a call with reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that Trump has done so in previous calls with Xi.

- Iran sends response -

Iran has sent its response to a US proposal to end the war in the region via Pakistan, Iranian state media reported.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran sent today (Sunday) through Pakistani mediators its response to the latest text proposed by the United States to end the war," the official IRNA news agency said, without offering details.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: "We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat."

- Iran warns UK, France over warships -

Iran warned Britain and France that its armed forces would launch "a decisive and immediate response" if they sent warships to the Strait of Hormuz.

London and Paris have both dispatched vessels to the region, as part of international efforts to secure the strategic waterway in the event of a peace deal between the United States and the Islamic republic.

- Drone attacks -

Drones were launched at several targets in the Gulf on Sunday, with one hitting a freighter sailing towards Qatar from Abu Dhabi.

Qatar's defence ministry said a small fire was sparked on the commercial vessel but there were no casualties.

Kuwait's military said it repelled a dawn drone attack.

- Israeli PM says war 'not over' -

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran's stockpile of uranium must be "taken out" before the US-Israeli war against Iran can be considered over.

"It's not over because there's still nuclear material -- enriched uranium -- that has to be taken out of Iran. There's still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled," the Israeli leader told CBS News programme "60 Minutes".

- Iran threatens US sites -

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to target US sites in the Middle East and "enemy ships" if its tankers come under fire, Iranian media reported.

"Any attack on Iranian tankers and commercial vessels will result in a heavy attack on one of the American centres in the region and enemy ships," it said, a day after US attacks against two Iranian tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

It added she had been transferred by ambulance to a hospital in Tehran "to be treated by her own medical team". Her supporters had last week warned that Mohammadi, who won the 2023 prize in recognition of her decades of campaigning for human rights in Iran, was at risk of dying on prison after suffer two suspected heart attacks behind bars in Zanjan. "Narges Mohammadi's life hangs in the balance," her Paris-based husband Taghi Rahmani said in a statement.

"While she is currently hospitalised following a catastrophic health failure, a temporary transfer is not enough. Narges must never be returned to the conditions that broke her health," he added. Her foundation said Mohammadi needed specialised care and added that "we must ensure she never returns to prison to face the 18 years remaining on her sentence". Her Iranian lawyer Mostafa Nili, writing on X, confirmed she has been transferred to Tehran earlier Sunday "following an order halting her sentence for medical treatment".

Mohammadi, 54, who has spent much of the past two decades in and out of prison for her activism, was arrested most recently in December after denouncing the Islamic republic at a funeral for a lawyer. Already suffering from a heart condition, she had two suspected heart attacks, one on March 24 and another on May 1, in prison in Zanjan, according to her supporters. After the most recent incident, she was rushed to hospital in Zanjan for treatment but remained under constant guard.

Her Paris based-lawyer Chirinne Ardakani said last week Mohammadi has lost 20 kilogrammes (44 pounds) in prison, has difficulty speaking and is currently "unrecognisable" from her state before her latest arrest. Her condition has been affected by the war between Iran and the United States and Israel, with at least three air strikes close to her prison. Mohammadi strongly backed the 2022-2023 protests sparked by the death in custody of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini but was arrested before the major demonstrations that erupted in January this year.

As well as campaigning against capital punishment and the obligatory headscarf for women, she has also regularly predicted the downfall of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Mohammadi's twin teenage children Ali and Kiana Rahmani, who live and study in Paris, have now not seen their mother for over a decade. They received the Nobel prize on her behalf while she was in jail.

"This will be a visit of tremendous symbolic significance," Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told reporters on a call. "But of course, President Trump never travels for symbolism alone. The American people can expect the president to deliver more good deals on behalf of our country." Kelly said Trump's visit would focus on "rebalancing the relationship with China and prioritizing reciprocity and fairness to restore American economic independence."

Trump will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening for the visit, which he originally postponed in March due to the ongoing Iran war. There will be a welcome ceremony and a bilateral meeting with Xi on Thursday morning, followed by a visit to the Temple of Heaven that afternoon and a state banquet in the evening, said Kelly. Trump and Xi will then have a bilateral tea and working lunch on Friday before the US leader returns to Washington.

China's Xi and his wife are expected to pay a reciprocal visit to Washington later in 2026, said Kelly. But with Trump still seeking an end to the Iran war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, the US president will also seek to push Tehran's ally Beijing to help. "I would expect the president to apply pressure" over Iran, a senior administration official told reporters on condition of anonymity when asked if Trump would pressure Xi on the subject.

The official added that Trump had raised concerns about Chinese revenue for Iran and Russia through oil sales "multiple times" in calls with Xi, as well as sales of military-civilian dual-role goods. "I expect that conversation to continue," the official added. Recent US sanctions on China over the Iran war are also likely to come up, added the official. The United States and China are also set to discuss extending a year-long trade truce, which the two leaders agreed last October in South Korea. But tensions remain high over Trump's sweeping tariffs.

The United States and China are also set to discuss extending a year-long trade truce the two leaders agreed to last October. But tensions remain high over Trump's sweeping tariffs. A second US official was cagey when asked about whether an extension was likely to be agreed on Trump's trip. "It's not clear yet if that's going to be extended now, or something to be extended later. We are in pretty frequent contact with the Chinese on this," the official told reporters.

"I think what both sides want is stability." Trump and Xi were also set to discuss a so-called "Board of Trade" grouping Chinese and US officials that would "identify areas of the mutual interest in trade, such as agricultural purchases, purchases of aircraft, etc," the official said. Taiwan was also likely to come up, with China pursuing its claim against the self-governing island that the US has sold huge quantities of arms to.

Trump and Xi have held "an ongoing conversation" about Taiwan, the first US official said. "Certainly, the last couple times they've interacted it has been a point of discussion."

But Tehran publicly maintained its defiant line, despite the behind-the-scenes diplomacy. "We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on X Sunday. According to state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran's response to the US plan, passed to Pakistani mediators, focuses on ending the war "on all fronts, especially Lebanon" -- where Israel has kept up its fight with Iran-backed Hezbollah -- as well as on "ensuring shipping security".

It offered little in the way of detail, though the US proposal had reportedly focused on extending the truce in the Gulf to allow for talks on a final settlement of the conflict and on Iran's contested nuclear programme. Netanyahu said in an interview to be aired in full later Sunday that Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium must be removed before the war can be considered finished. "It's not over, because there's still nuclear material -- enriched uranium -- that has to be taken out of Iran. There's still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled," Netanyahu told CBS's "60 Minutes".

He added that US President Donald Trump was on the same page regarding the need to take away the uranium, though the president said in a recent interview that the US could remove it "whenever we want", and that it was "very well surveilled" where it is now. Trump did not mention the Iranian response in a lengthy Truth Social post on Sunday, but accused Iran of "laughing at" the United States and "playing games" with it for decades. "They will be laughing no longer!" he added, without further explanation.

Trump is expected to press President Xi Jinping of China -- a major buyer of Iranian oil -- on Iran when he visits Beijing next week, a senior US administration official said. Iran imposed a blockade on the vital Strait of Hormuz early in the war, sending global oil prices soaring and rattling financial markets. It has since set up a payment mechanism to extract tolls from ships crossing the strait, but US officials have stressed it would be "unacceptable" for Tehran to control an international waterway and the route for a fifth of the world's oil.

The US Navy, meanwhile, is blockading Iran's ports, at times disabling or diverting ships heading to and from them. Britain and France are leading efforts to create an international coalition to secure the strait after a peace deal is reached, with both countries sending vessels to the region in advance. But Iran insisted on Sunday that the two nations would meet "a decisive and immediate response" should they deploy their ships to the strait. "Only the Islamic Republic of Iran can establish security in this strait and it will not allow any country to interfere in such matters," Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X.

French President Emmanuel Macron later insisted that his country had "never envisaged" a naval deployment in the Strait of Hormuz, but rather a security mission "coordinated with Iran". Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told Iran's top diplomat in a call that freedom of navigation "is not open to compromise", according to the Qatari foreign ministry. Fresh drone attacks in the Gulf on Sunday were the latest to rattle the ceasefire after a string of flare-ups in recent days.

The United Arab Emirates said its "air defence systems successfully engaged two UAVs launched from Iran". Iran's neighbour Kuwait reported an attempted attack as well, saying its armed forces dealt with "a number of hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace". And Qatar's defence ministry said a freighter arriving in its waters from Abu Dhabi was hit by a drone off the port of Mesaieed.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Iran's Fars news agency reported that "the bulk carrier that was struck near the coast of Qatar was sailing under a US flag". In a social media post on Sunday, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament's national security commission warned the United States: "Our restraint is over as of today." "Any attack on our vessels will trigger a strong and decisive Iranian response against American ships and bases," Ebrahim Rezaei said. Iran's Revolutionary Guards had threatened the day before to target US interests in the Middle East if its tankers came under fire -- as they did on Friday when a US fighter jet fired on and disabled two Iran-flagged vessels in the Gulf of Oman.

Tehran's military chief Ali Abdollahi also met the country's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei and received "new directives and guidance for the continuation of operations to confront the enemy", according to Iranian state television.

The US passengers, all of whom are asymptomatic, will be taken to a specialized center in the rural state of Nebraska, but will not necessarily be quarantined there, Bhattacharya told CNN's "State of the Union" news program on Sunday. "We're going to interview them and assess them for risk... if they have been in close contact with somebody who was symptomatic," he said.

The biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center was activated ahead of the arrivals, with passengers "expected to land in Omaha early Monday morning," spokesperson Kayla Thomas said in a statement. "One passenger will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival," Thomas said, because the person "tested positive for the virus but (does) not have symptoms." The other passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring, Thomas added.

Following this assessment and depending on the estimated risk, passengers will be allowed "to stay in Nebraska if they'd like, or if they want to go back home, and their home situation allows it, to safely drive them home without exposing other people on the way," Bhattacharya said. In either case, passengers will remain under observation for several weeks by health authorities to ensure they do not develop symptoms, he said, as happened with seven other Americans who left the ship earlier in the journey.

According to the CDC, "people are generally only contagious when they exhibit symptoms." Bhattacharya said the same protocol was followed during a 2018 outbreak "of this exact strain of the hantavirus," which was successfully contained. Responding to criticism that there has been limited communication from US health authorities about the hantavirus risk -- six years after the Covid-19 pandemic -- he said the situations were not comparable.

"If the threat level were higher, then we would have obviously reacted differently," Bhattacharya said. "This is not Covid," he said. "We shouldn't be panicking when the evidence doesn't warrant it."

Bhul said the incident caused the closure of the airport's only runway for almost two hours in the morning but it has since been reopened. The Himalayan nation is home to some of the world's most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks and terrain that poses a challenge even for accomplished pilots.

A string of crashes as well as the European Union's decision to blacklist all Nepalese airlines prompted government officials last year to announce plans to install new radar and weather monitoring systems. In 2015, a Turkish Airline aircraft with 224 passengers skidded off the Kathmandu runway. The passengers were unhurt but the accident led to a runway closure for four days and saw scores of international flights cancelled.

The move in response to rising violence and settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank had been stalled by former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban. But nationalist leader and Israel ally's ouster by rival Peter Magyar now appears to have paved the way for the veto to be lifted. EU officials said seven settlers or settler organisations were set to be blacklisted. The bloc was also set to sanction representatives from Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The occupied West Bank has been gripped by almost daily violence since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, involving both Israeli troops and settlers. There has been a surge in deadly attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Iran war on February 28, Palestinian officials and the United Nations have said. While the EU is moving ahead with the sanctions on Israeli settlers, there remains no consensus among the bloc's member states to take further steps against Israel such as curbing trade ties.

European former colonial powers such as France and the UK remain targets for criticism in Africa but Macron maintained that they were not "the predators of this century". "Europe defends the international order, effective multilateralism, the rule of law, free and open trade," he was quoted as saying. In contrast, the United States and China were locked in a trade standoff, with no respect for the rules, he added. On critical minerals and rare earths, China, he said, "operates according to a predatory logic: it does the processing at home" and creates "dependencies with the rest of the world."

Macron, leading a two-day summit aimed at renewing France's engagement with Africa after years of strained ties with its former colonies, said Europe was instead promoting "a strategy of autonomy" for both continents. Central to transforming Africa's fortunes should be an overhaul of international finance, to set up a system of financial guarantees to bring in private investment, he added. France withdrew its troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger after the military in each country seized power between 2020 and 2023.

Asked about the juntas, Macron said: "I'm convinced that we must let these states and their leaders, even putschists, chart their own course." But he defended France's military presence in the Sahel region, as it had been requested to fight the jihadist threat. "When our presence was no longer wanted after the coups, we left," he said. "That wasn't a humiliation but a logical response to a given situation." "A new era is about to start. The Sahel will one day regain normal governance" with democratically elected leaders who "genuinely care about their people", he added.

"I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives.' I don't like it -- TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!" Trump said. The back and forth came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- whose forces launched the war on Iran along with the US military on February 28 -- insisted the conflict was not over until Iran's enriched uranium was removed and its nuclear facilities dismantled. Tehran publicly maintained its defiant line, despite behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

"We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday on X. According to state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran's response to the US plan, passed to Pakistani mediators, focuses on ending the war "on all fronts, especially Lebanon" -- where Israel has kept up its fight with Iran-backed Hezbollah -- as well as on "ensuring shipping security." It offered little detail, though the US proposal had reportedly focused on extending the truce in the Gulf to allow for talks on a final settlement of the conflict and on Iran's contested nuclear program.

The impasse unnerved global energy markets, with oil prices opening sharply higher Monday. The international benchmark Brent crude jumped 2.69 percent to $104.01 a barrel on July delivery. Netanyahu said in an interview which aired Sunday that Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium must be removed before the war can end. "It's not over, because there's still nuclear material -- enriched uranium -- that has to be taken out of Iran. There's still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled," Netanyahu told CBS's "60 Minutes."

He added that Trump was on the same page about the enriched uranium, though the president said in a recent interview that the US could remove it "whenever we want," and that it was "very well surveilled" where it is now. Trump is expected to press President Xi Jinping of China -- a major buyer of Iranian oil -- on Iran when he visits Beijing this coming week, a senior US administration official said.

Meanwhile The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Iran laid out its own demands to Washington and proposed to have some of its highly enriched uranium diluted, and the rest transferred to a third country. In its response, delivered through mediator Pakistan, Iran sought guarantees that the transferred uranium will be returned if negotiations fail or Washington quits the agreement later, sources told the Journal.

Trump made no mention of such details in rejecting Iran's response. Iran imposed a blockade on the vital Strait of Hormuz early in the war, sending global oil prices soaring and rattling financial markets. It has since set up a payment mechanism to extract tolls from ships crossing the strait, but US officials have stressed it would be "unacceptable" for Tehran to control an international waterway and the route for a fifth of the world's oil and other vital materials.

The US Navy, meanwhile, is blockading Iran's ports, at times disabling or diverting ships heading to and from them. Britain and France are leading efforts to create an international coalition to secure the strait after a peace deal is reached, with both countries sending vessels to the region in advance. The two countries on Tuesday will host a multinational meeting of defense ministers from more than 40 nations on military plans to restore trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the British government said.

But Iran warned Sunday that Britain and France would meet "a decisive and immediate response" should they deploy their ships to the strait. "Only the Islamic Republic of Iran can establish security in this strait and it will not allow any country to interfere in such matters," Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X.

French President Emmanuel Macron later insisted his country had "never envisaged" a naval deployment in Hormuz, but rather a security mission "coordinated with Iran." Fresh drone attacks Sunday in the Gulf were the latest to rattle the ceasefire after multiple recent flare-ups. The United Arab Emirates said its "air defence systems successfully engaged two UAVs launched from Iran."

Kuwait reported an attempted attack as well, saying its armed forces dealt with "a number of hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace." And Qatar's defense ministry said a freighter arriving in its waters from Abu Dhabi was hit by a drone. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Iran's Fars news agency reported that "the bulk carrier that was struck near the coast of Qatar was sailing under a US flag."

In a social media post Sunday, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament's national security commission warned Washington: "Our restraint is over as of today." "Any attack on our vessels will trigger a strong and decisive Iranian response against American ships and bases," Ebrahim Rezaei said.

On Sunday afternoon, it will roll out the carpet -- which at Eurovision is not red but turquoise -- to welcome a parade of the 35 delegations from participating countries, as part of a colourful opening ceremony set to begin at 1200 GMT. On the agenda: the best - and worst - from seven decades of the music competition on a giant screen in front of the neo-Gothic city hall, in a square turned into a secured area reserved for fans.

Today, the contest reaches more than 170 million people on television and online around the world, and its content generates billions of views across digital platforms. Finland is the heavy favourite this year, hoping to hit the jackpot with an entry pairing brooding singer Pete Parkkonen with radiant violinist Linda Lampenius.

Instruments are usually pre-recorded but organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have made an exception to allow Lampenius to play live, according to the Nordic country's media. Spain, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Slovenia have decided to snub this year's edition in protest at Israel's participation.

They have criticised Israel over its bombardment of Gaza in retaliation for the October 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. More than 1,000 artists or groups have also called for a boycott, including Peter Gabriel and Massive Attack. Pro-Palestinian as well as pro-Israeli demonstrations are planned in Vienna with tight security helmed by several hundred police officers on duty every day until Saturday's finale.

Germany, France, Italy and Britain, which contribute the largest financial share, are guaranteed a place in the final. Austria will also be on stage because local artist JJ won the previous edition. But this year, its contestant, Cosmo, is not expected to trouble the leaderboard.

The former royal residence, known for its sprawling gardens, pools and royal halls, has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2013. The fragile truce in place since April 8 has allowed experts to begin gauging the scale of the damage, though the complex remains closed to the public. "The damage has been assessed at several levels, but a more detailed specialised evaluation is still underway," Ali Omid Ali, a restoration specialist and head of the technical engineering department at Golestan Palace, told AFP.

For now, he said, teams are focused on stabilising damaged structures and preventing further collapse before broader repair work can begin. "We need a more stable situation to start the restoration process," he said. Initial estimates suggest work at the site could cost around $1.7 million, though the figure could rise following a full assessment, he added, noting that repairs could take "two or more years".

The palace, known for blending 19th-century Persian arts and architecture with European styles and motifs, is among at least five UNESCO-listed sites damaged during the conflict. "Fifty to 60 percent of its doors and windows are broken," Jabbar Avaj, director of the Golestan Palace museums, told the official IRNA news agency. The palace's famed Mirror Hall -- known for shimmering mosaics covering its ceilings and walls -- and the Marble Throne, a ceremonial platform supported by statues representing mythical and royal symbols, were "seriously damaged", he said.

Other affected UNESCO-listed sites include Chehel Sotoun Palace and the Masjed-e Jame mosque in Isfahan, as well as the prehistoric sites of the Khorramabad Valley. Beyond the listed sites, the war affected at least 140 culturally and historically significant locations across Iran, according to Hassan Fartousi, head of Iran's National Commission for UNESCO. Among them are Tehran's Marble Palace, the Teymourtash house and the sprawling Saadabad Palace complex in northern Tehran, a former royal residence set within a vast park and home to several museums.

"The shadow of war still lingers over Iran's sky, and in this situation, we cannot plan very well for restoration," Fartousi said. While the ceasefire since April 8 has largely halted fighting in major urban centres housing cultural sites, sporadic clashes have occurred in coastal areas and Gulf waters, and talks have so far failed to produce a lasting settlement. Fartousi also worries that even after repairs, damaged heritage sites may never recover their original character, noting the entire idea of cultural heritage rests on "the concept of originality".

"Even if we do the restoration with our great artists and specialists in restoration, where will the originality be?" he said. Funding remains a major challenge, with the Iranian government yet to announce a restoration budget as it struggles to offset the impact of the war and a US blockade that has severely disrupted exports. "Unfortunately, UNESCO and other international organisations have limited budget," he said, adding that negotiations were ongoing to secure support. Asked about the overall cost of restoring the damaged sites, Fartousi simply said: "All of them are priceless."

Harfuch is tall, handsome and stylish. His smiling face, straight out of central casting, is seen on T-shirts, blankets, pillows and towels at stands all over the capital. His soaring popularity has fueled rumors that he'll be named as a potential candidate for President Claudia Sheinbaum's ruling Morena party to succeed her in the 2030 election. But he also is under stiff pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump to do even more to stem the flow of drugs over the common border.

It is tough for Harfuch to connect with ordinary Mexicans, given security concerns in the wake of the assassination attempt. But his public image -- built in part on an official decrease in the number of murders -- has won many over. Born in Cuernavaca in February 1982, Harfuch was raised by his mother alone, but was born with politics and the military in his blood.

His father Javier Garcia Paniagua led Mexico's feared political police during the "dirty war" of the 1970s, and faced accusations of torture. His grandfather was the defense secretary when the military opened fire on university student protesters in Tlatelolco in 1968. Harfuch -- who holds a degree in law and public security -- started his career in 2008, 10 years after the death of his father. Maribel Cervantes says she met him when he joined the now-dissolved federal police force, where she was his boss as the head of intelligence.

Harfuch loved "the streets," preferring "to go on operations" over desk work, Cervantes said. During his time as federal police coordinator in Guerrero state, he faced scrutiny for the handling of the 2014 disappearances of 43 students allegedly kidnapped by drug traffickers in collusion with corrupt police, a case considered to be one of the worst human rights atrocities in Mexico. Some witnesses accused Harfuch of being on the payroll of the cartel believed to be behind the disappearances, which he has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

He eventually became the director of the criminal investigation arm of the Mexican attorney general's office. Harfuch "sought to professionalize, to modernize the intelligence agency to go after crimes," said Gerardo Rodriguez, an academic expert in national security who met Harfuch in 2018. The following year, he was named security chief for Mexico City, when Sheinbaum was the capital's mayor. He created an elite US-trained police unit with expanded investigative and operational powers who patrol with military-grade weapons -- a model he would later recreate at the federal level.

Petty crimes dropped, as did homicides, according to official data, though some disputed the data as possibly massaged to benefit authorities. Reports of police abuses also surged during that time, drawing controversy. Then the assassination attempt -- officially attributed to the Jalisco New Generation cartel -- changed his everyday existence. Two of his escorts and a bystander died in the shooting spree. Harfuch was forced to move into an apartment within the security secretariat, and was largely isolated from his family.

An attack like that "marks you for life, marks you in the sense of commitment," Rodriguez told AFP. When Sheinbaum won the presidency and took power in 2024, she brought Harfuch into the federal government as security secretary. Together they scrapped the non-confrontational "hugs not bullets" policy of her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and pursued open collaboration with US security agencies.

Harfuch -- who was trained in FBI workshops, according to Cervantes -- now frequently meets with US security officials to discuss anti-narcotics efforts. His success and possible political future hinges in part on the results of their intensified crackdown on organized crime. Harfuch's popularity hit new heights in February when Mexico's most wanted narco, Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera, was killed in a military operation.

Sheinbaum is limited to a single six-year term as president, opening the door to... Batman. A high-ranking police official who worked with Harfuch and asked not to be named said a run for the presidency would be a loss for the security community. "The worst that could happen is that we lose Omar so he dedicates himself to politics," the official said.

US President Donald Trump had said on Friday he was expecting Iran's answer to Washington's latest proposal for a peace deal "supposedly tonight". But if Tehran sent Pakistani mediators a response, there was no public sign of it, and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called into question the reliability of the US leadership in a call with his Turkish counterpart. "The recent escalation of tensions by American forces in the Persian Gulf and their numerous actions in violating the ceasefire have added to suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side in the path of diplomacy," he said, according to an Iranian account of the call published by the ISNA news agency.

On Friday, a US fighter jet fired on and disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers that Washington accused of challenging its blockade of Iran's ports. An Iranian military official told local media the navy had responded with strikes. That incident followed another flare-up the night before in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international sea lane that Iran is seeking to control in order to extract tolls and wield economic leverage over the United States and its allies. The US says it is unacceptable for Tehran to control the key oil route.

Washington has sent Iran, via Pakistani mediators, a proposal to extend the truce in the Gulf to allow for talks on a final settlement of the conflict, launched 10 weeks ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran. A reporter for French broadcaster LCI, Margot Haddad, said Saturday that Trump had told her in a brief interview he still expected to find out Iran's answer "very soon". Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said Friday the proposal was still "under review".

Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met with US Vice President JD Vance in Washington on Friday and discussed the Pakistani-led efforts to broker a permanent peace. Iran has attacked sites in Qatar during the war, pointing to the wealthy emirate's role as host of a major US air base. Meanwhile, satellite images have shown an apparent oil slick spreading off the coast of Iran's Kharg Island, a key oil export terminal for the Islamic republic. It was not immediately clear what had caused the apparent spill, which was off the island's west coast and appeared to cover more than 20 square miles (52 square kilometres), according to global monitor Orbital EOS.

A UK-based non-governmental organisation, the Conflict and Environment Observatory, told AFP that by Saturday the slick was "much reduced", and may have been caused by leaking oil infrastructure. Kharg Island is at the heart of Iran's oil export industry, a lynchpin of its battered economy, and lies in the Gulf far north of the narrow Strait of Hormuz. Following the start of the war on February 28, Iran largely closed the strait, throwing global markets into turmoil and driving up oil prices.

The US later imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports in response, and Trump this week abandoned a short-lived US naval operation designed to reopen the strait to commercial shipping. Britain said on Saturday it was sending a naval destroyer to the region as part of "prudent planning" for a British- and French-led coalition to facilitate shipping in the Strait of Hormuz once a durable ceasefire is reached.

A parallel ceasefire on the war's Lebanon front is also under strain amid daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. Authorities said at least eight people were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, while state media reported air raids targeting a highway south of Beirut, outside the militant group's traditional strongholds. The fresh attacks were some of the most intense since the start of a three-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah said it had targeted troops in northern Israel with drones on at least two occasions in response to the continued strikes. Israel's military said several explosive drones were launched into Israeli territory, with one army reservist severely wounded and two others moderately injured. The fresh strikes come as Lebanon and Israel, officially at war since 1948, are to hold direct negotiations in Washington next week, which Hezbollah vehemently opposes.

Hezbollah said Saturday that it had targeted troops in northern Israel with drones on at least two occasions in response to the continued strikes. The Israeli military said "several" explosive drones were launched into Israeli territory, with one army reservist severely wounded and two others moderately injured in one of the attacks. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA), meanwhile, reported a series of Israeli strikes across the south, including one on the town of Saksakiyeh.

The health ministry said that raid "resulted in an initial toll of seven martyrs, including a girl, and 15 wounded, including three children". The Israeli military said it struck "Hezbollah terrorists operating from within a structure used for military purposes" in Saksakiyeh. It added it was "aware of reports regarding harm to uninvolved civilians in the structure in which the terrorists were struck. The details of the incident are under review."

The health ministry reported that another Israeli strike on a motorbike in the city of Nabatieh hit "a Syrian national and his 12-year-old daughter". "After they managed to move away from the site of the first strike, the drone attacked a second time," killing the father, the ministry said, adding the drone then targeted the girl "directly for a third time". The girl was undergoing life-saving surgery, it added.

In the southern town of Bedias, the health ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli strike and 13 wounded, including six children and two women. Israel's military had called on residents of nine villages to evacuate, saying it would act "forcefully" against Hezbollah, though neither of the two locations of the fatal strikes were included in the warnings. NNA also reported that the "Israeli enemy launched two strikes on the Saadiyat highway", referring to a location around 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Beirut and outside areas where Hezbollah has traditionally held sway. It later reported a third strike nearby.

Under the terms of the ceasefire released by Washington, Israel reserves the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks". Earlier on Saturday, its military said it had struck more than 85 Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the past 24 hours. Its troops are also operating inside an Israeli-declared "yellow line", running around 10 kilometres (six miles) inside Lebanon along the border, where residents have been warned not to return.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah on Saturday warned of "a new phase, in which the resistance (Hezbollah) will not accept a return to pre-March 2". Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East conflict on March 2 when it launched rockets at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. Even before then, Israel had carried out regular strikes targeting the group -- accusing it of seeking to rearm -- in spite of a 2024 ceasefire intended to end the last war between the foes.

Until March, Hezbollah had largely refrained from firing back. "When it attacks our villages and suburbs, the enemy must expect a response, and this is what the resistance is doing," Fadlallah said, alluding to an Israeli attack this week on Beirut's southern suburbs that it said killed a Hezbollah commander.

In addition to its drone attack in northern Israel, Hezbollah on Saturday also claimed several attacks on Israeli military targets inside Lebanon using rockets and drones. Lebanese and Israeli representatives are set to hold a fresh round of direct talks in Washington next week. A first meeting was held days before US President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire in Lebanon, and the second round as he announced a three-week extension.

Fadlallah said the meetings amounted to a "path of concessions", reiterating his party's call for the government to withdraw in favour of indirect talks. Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed nearly 2,800 people since March 2, including dozens since the truce went into force, according to Lebanese authorities.

Information Minister Hamza Almustafa and Agriculture Minister Amjad Badr were replaced by Khaled Fawaz Zaarour and Bassel Hafez al-Sweidan respectively. Zaarour was head of the media faculty at the Damascus University before his appointment. The reasons behind the overhaul are unclear.

The Syrian transitional cabinet created in March 2025 came after the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024, and was dominated by Sharaa's inner circle. Sharaa also appointed new governors for several provinces including Homs, Quneitra and Latakia and Deir Ezzor. 

In September, Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison by the Supreme Court, which found him guilty of conspiring to remain in power despite his 2022 electoral defeat to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The law, passed in December by the conservative-majority Congress, was blocked by Lula the following month. However, lawmakers led by Bolsonaro's allies overturned the presidential veto in late April, and the measure was finally enacted on Friday.

The new law, which applies to all those convicted like Bolsonaro for coup plotting, is intended to reduce the waiting period for sentence reductions, potentially significantly reducing prison terms. However, defense attorneys of those convicted must file a request for the Supreme Court to recalculate the terms of sentence reductions on a case-by-case basis. In practical terms, Moraes's order on Saturday suspends the review of these cases until the full Supreme Court meets to decide whether the law is constitutional, after being petitioned by left-wing parties.

The sentence reductions provided for by the law are also intended to benefit those convicted of participating in riots on January 8, 2023, when a mob of Bolsonaro supporters ransacked government buildings in Brasilia, a week after Lula's inauguration. According to the Supreme Court, this assault was an integral part of the coup plot. Bolsonaro, 71, is currently serving his sentence under house arrest for health reasons.

On Friday, his lawyers filed a new appeal, asking the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction in order to "rectify a miscarriage of justice." The former president, who was in office from 2019 to 2022 and has been barred from running again, has designated his eldest son Flavio as his political successor to contest the October election against Lula, who is seeking a fourth term at age 80.

"He should have been our presidential candidate," the 45-year-old senator said of his father at a Saturday event with political allies where he promised to "retire Lula." Recent polls show Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro neck-and-neck. 

Another local official put the death toll at 80. "Our hearts are bleeding," one local youth leader said, accusing nearby army detachments of doing nothing to help, despite multiple calls. One security source described the situation in the region as "worrying". "JNIM is targeting villages that refused to sign local agreements," the source added.

The latest attacks come after JNIM and the Tuareg-dominated Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) carried out an unprecedented assault against the ruling junta in Mali last month. Since then, Mali's security situation has become critical, with several areas in the north now controlled by armed groups.

One Nation's David Farley took 39 percent of the vote in the rural New South Wales seat of Farrer, snatching the seat at a time of rising prices, unaffordable housing and concern over issues like immigration. His nearest rival, an independent candidate, secured 28 percent of the vote while the conservative Liberal Party's contender got 12 percent, and the rural-based National Party 10 percent, official results showed. "This wasn't a by-election -- it was a bloodbath for the coalition," Treasurer Jim Chalmers told Sky News Australia, referring to a Liberal-National party alliance that has governed Australia for much of the postwar period.

"What it shows is that the coalition can't beat One Nation. They'll have to join them. There's no future coalition government, I think, without One Nation in it," Chalmers said. Until the weekend, traditional conservative Liberal and National parties had held the seat of Farrer since 1949. Senior Liberal Party lawmaker Tim Wilson refused to rule out forming a minority government with One Nation's support in the future.

"My objective is make sure that the Liberal Party is in a position to govern as strongly as possible," he said when pressed on the possibility in an interview with national broadcaster ABC. "Of course, we traditionally form a coalition with the National Party. But it is up to the Australian people to decide who they want to vote for." He stressed, however, that he wanted his party to defeat One Nation candidates in any election.

Deputy Liberal Party leader Jane Hume would not be drawn on the question of an alliance with One Nation, telling an interviewer that her party's long-standing coalition with the National Party had served the country well. "Talking about coalitions is very premature and probably irrelevant right now," she said. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's centre-left Labor Party did not contest the by-election, which it considered unwinnable.

The next general elections are expected to be held by May 2028, and the Labor Party has a significant lead in the opinion polls. The Farrer by-election was triggered when former Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley -- who held it for 25 years -- resigned in February after being toppled as her party slumped in opinion polls behind One Nation. The Liberal Party under new leader Angus Taylor is still battling for second place with One Nation, which has surged in the polls since mid-2025 but has few parliamentary seats.

One Nation holds four senate seats and two in the lower house following the Farrer by-election victory, including one gained by a high-profile defection from the National Party. Speaking after his party's defeat on Saturday, the Liberal Party leader called for cuts to immigration and attacked the country's target of achieving net zero carbon emissions -- similar lines to One Nation's. "We need to take our medicine," Taylor said.

He said that 12 officers were confirmed dead with one more missing, the latest attack in the border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during a wave of militancy that has strained ties between Islamabad and Kabul. Gunmen stormed the police checkpost after the car blast, opening fire, according to officials who said they also used small drones in the attack. "During the assault, the militants used quadcopters along with heavy weaponry," a senior administrative official in Bannu told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"In addition, while retreating, the attackers took police personnel and weapons from the station with them," he added. Bannu has been gripped in recent years by militant activity that has grown across Pakistan's border regions. The Taliban government in Kabul denies Pakistan's accusations that Afghan territory is a safe harbour for militants, but the frosty relationship has spiralled into deadly armed conflict, including Pakistani airstrikes on cities in Afghanistan in recent months.

Armed men affiliated with the Codeco militia (Cooperative for the Development of Congo), which claims to protect the Lendu, carried out attacks in several villages on April 28, local and security sources told AFP, killing at least 69 people. These attacks followed an earlier assault by another armed group, the Convention for the Popular Revolution (CRP) -- which says it fights for the Hema community -- on positions held by the Congolese army (FARDC) near the locality of Pimbo, they said.

More than 70 people were killed when Codeco fighters launched the retaliatory attacks in late April, civil society leader Dieudonne Losa told AFP. On condition of anonymity, two other security sources confirmed the attacks, with one stating a death toll of at least 69, including 19 militia members and soldiers.

The presence of Codeco fighters delayed the recovery of the bodies for several days, they said. "Only 25 bodies have been buried," Losa said Saturday, adding several sets of remains had yet to be recovered. A humanitarian source described bodies "strewn on the ground" near the village of Bassa, one of the areas targeted.

The United Nations' mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) said on April 30 it had rescued "nearly 200 people caught under fire" from the CRP assault on the FARDC. On Saturday it said it "strongly condemns the recent wave of deadly attacks targeting civilians" in the restive east. The Ente association, a non-profit representing the Hema community, described the killings as a "massacre", urging its members to avoid retaliation.

Famous for its mineral wealth, ranging from cobalt and copper to uranium and diamonds, the former Belgian colony has long been beset by corruption and bloodshed. Since early 2025, Ituri has seen a resurgence of the CRP, a group founded by convicted Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga. He was found guilty in 2012 by the International Criminal Court for recruiting children into his rebel army and released in 2020 on completion of his prison sentence.

Fighting between the CRP, the Congolese army, and the Codeco militia has been marked by widespread abuses and killings of civilians. The region also faces ongoing attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a group formed by former Ugandan rebels that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. The province has been plunged into a humanitarian crisis, with nearly one million internally displaced people, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Three passengers from the ship -- a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman -- have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents. The only hantavirus type that can transmit from person to person -- the Andes virus -- has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fuelling international concern. "We classify everybody on board as what we call a high-risk contact," WHO's epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director Maria Van Kerkhove said Saturday.

But the risk to the general public and the people of the Canaries remained low, she added. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who arrived in Spain on Saturday and is expected to oversee the ship evacuation, gave the same assurance and thanked the people of Tenerife for their solidarity. "I need you to hear me clearly," Tedros wrote in an open letter to the people of Tenerife on Saturday: "This is not another Covid."

After arriving in Tenerife, he said he was confident the operation would be a success. "Spain is ready and prepared," he told reporters. At the port of Granadilla de Abona early Sunday morning, AFP journalists saw white tents had been sent up along the quay and the police had secured part of the port. Despite the situation, daily life appeared largely normal: some people were swimming, others shopping at the market or sitting at cafe terraces. "There are worries there could be a danger, but honestly I don't see people being very concerned," said David Parada, a lottery vendor.

Regional authorities have refused to allow the vessel to dock. Instead, it will remain offshore while passengers are screened and evacuated between Sunday and Monday -- the only window health officials say the weather will allow. Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said earlier that "all guests and a limited number of crew members" were expected to begin to leave the ship from around 0700 GMT.

"Once disembarked, they will be transferred immediately to their allocated aircraft," the Dutch firm said. The WHO said Friday it had confirmed six cases out of eight suspected ones. There are no suspected cases remaining on the ship. The MV Hondius is sailing from Cape Verde, where three infected people had already been evacuated earlier in the week.

In Madrid, Spain's health and interior ministers insisted there would be "no contact" with the local population, and that passengers would leave "by nationality groups". "All areas (the passengers) pass through will be sealed off," the interior minister said, adding a maritime exclusion zone would be in force around the vessel.

The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde. Provincial health official Juan Petrina said there was an "almost zero chance" the Dutch man linked to the outbreak contracted the disease in Ushuaia based on the virus's incubation period, among other factors. Health authorities in several countries have been tracking passengers who had already disembarked and anyone who may have come into contact with them.

A flight attendant on the Dutch airline KLM, who came into contact with an infected passenger from the cruise ship and later showed mild symptoms, tested negative for hantavirus, the WHO said Friday. The passenger -- the wife of the first person to die in the outbreak -- had briefly been on a plane bound from Johannesburg to the Netherlands on April 25, but was removed before take-off. She died the following day in a Johannesburg hospital.

Spanish authorities said a woman on that flight was being tested for hantavirus, having developed symptoms at home in eastern Spain. She is in isolation in hospital, said health secretary Javier Padilla. Two Singapore residents who had been on the ship tested negative for the disease but would remain in quarantine, the city state's authorities said Friday. British health authorities also said Friday there was a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, one of the world's most isolated settlements with around 220 people.

The pair were seized by Israeli forces and brought to Israel for questioning, while the others were taken to the Greek island of Crete and released. "Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Avila, from the provocation flotilla, were deported today from Israel" following an investigation, the Israeli foreign ministry posted on X on Sunday.

Israel would "not allow any breach" of the blockade on Gaza, it added. Spain, Brazil and the United Nations had all called for the men's swift release. On Wednesday, an Israeli court rejected an appeal contesting the pair's detention. "From their abduction in international waters to their unlawful detention in total isolation and the ill-treatment they were subjected to, the Israeli authorities' actions were a punitive attack on a purely civilian mission," Adalah, the rights group that represented the pair, said after their release.

"The use of detention and interrogation against activists and human rights defenders is an unacceptable attempt to suppress global solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza." The flotilla had set sail from France, Spain and Italy with the aim of breaking Israel's blockade of Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. The Global Sumud Flotilla's first voyage last year was also intercepted by Israeli forces off the coasts of Egypt and Gaza.

Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007. Throughout the Gaza war that started in October 2023, there have been shortages of critical supplies in the territory, with Israel at times cutting off aid entirely. 

However, it won support from other parties, including the opposition Congress, to take its number of seats to 120, making it possible for Vijay to claim the top job. Thousands of supporters gathered in Chennai's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday, chanting "Mudhalvar", or "chief minister" in Tamil, to watch Vijay take his oath of office. "I am not from a royal political background, just a common man," the 51-year-old told the crowd.

"My primary focus will be on basic issues such as education, ration supplies, healthcare, drinking water, roads and bus facilities," he said. Vijay's first set of policies included measures to ease electricity prices and improve women's safety. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Vijay, saying the central government would work with his administration to "improve the lives of people".

Vijay, born to a Christian father and a Hindu mother, began his career as a child actor in 1984 in a movie directed by his filmmaker father. Known for his charismatic screen presence and mass appeal, his fans dubbed him "Thalapathy", or "leader" in Tamil. His blockbuster hits blended action, social messaging and populist themes, burnishing his reputation as a voice for the common man. He cultivated his public image over the years by taking on roles that touched on subjects ranging from farmers' issues to electoral manipulation.

He launched the TVK in 2024 with a promise to end corruption and strengthen social justice. Tamil Nadu is one of India's most significant economic engines, with its industrial sector producing everything from automobiles to electronics. The state is also India's smartphone manufacturing hub, including for Apple iPhones. The TVK's campaign sought to end the dominance of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, traditional parties that had ruled the state since the late 1960s.

Analysts said Vijay's large fan following, combined with demands from young people for a new political leader, was behind his stunning election performance. Vijay, a political novice, now faces the challenge of turning that popularity into policy. His campaign rallies drew thousands of fans, but were also marred by allegations of crowd mismanagement. A stampede at a rally in September killed at least 40 people.

However, it did little to dent his popularity. "When you have a cult, you don't question at all," political commentator Sumanth Raman told AFP after the election results were published.

The United States and Bahrain have drafted a UN resolution, seen by AFP, calling on Iran to halt restrictions on shipping through the waterway, which has become a major flashpoint since the outbreak of war on February 28. "Countries that comply with the United States by imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran will certainly face difficulties crossing the strait," army official Mohammad Akraminia told Iran's official IRNA news agency on Sunday.

"We have established a new legal and security system in the Strait of Hormuz. From now on, any vessel wishing to pass through it must coordinate with us," he added. He said the system was "now in force" and would bring "economic, security and political gains". On Saturday, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament's national security commission, issued a similar warning in a post on X.

"We warn governments, including microstates like Bahrain, that siding with the US-backed resolution will bring severe consequences. The Strait of Hormuz is a vital lifeline; do not risk closing it on yourselves forever," he wrote. Iran has allowed only a trickle of ships to pass through the waterway, a route that in peacetime accounts for a fifth of the world's oil and gas flows, along with other vital commodities.

Last month, Iranian deputy speaker of parliament Hamidreza Hajibabaei said Tehran had received its first revenue from the tolls it imposed on the strait. Veto-wielding Russia has warned it is prepared to block the UN Security Council resolution proposed by the United States and Bahrain, according to diplomatic sources.

Search and rescue teams, combing the area as the volcano continued rumbling and belching ash clouds, found the remains of the two dead Singaporeans on Sunday, national disaster mitigation agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement. Their bodies were found not far from where the remains of an Indonesian hiker had been found a day earlier, he added. "The evacuation process of the last two bodies encountered obstacles due to the victims' position, being buried under volcanic materials of significant thickness and depth," Abdul said. The search operation has now officially ended, he added.

Local search and rescue agency head Iwan Ramdani said the bodies found on Sunday were recovered during a "golden moment" between ongoing eruptions. Speaking to reporters from a volcano monitoring station in Mamuya village, he said that the remains had been transported to a local hospital for identification, after which they would be handed over to the victims' families. Staff from the Singapore embassy in Jakarta were in Halmahera to coordinate with rescuers and facilitate the repatriation of the seven Singaporean survivors, who are expected to return home on Sunday, the city state's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Dukono, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, has been on level two of Indonesia's four-tiered alert system since 2008. Authorities have imposed a four-kilometre exclusion zone around the crater since December 2024, according to the head of the government Geology Agency, Lana Saria. Local police chief Erlichson Pasaribu said on Friday that the hikers had ignored social media appeals and warning signs put up at the entrance of the trail to stay away.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide. The Southeast Asian country has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Iran's Fars news agency reported that "the bulk carrier that was struck near the coast of Qatar was sailing under the US flag and belonged to the United States". This came after Iran's Revolutionary Guards threatened to target US interests in the Middle East if its tankers come under fire -- as they had done on Friday when a US fighter jet fired on and disabled two Iran-flagged vessels in the Gulf of Oman to prevent them from continuing to Iranian ports. "Any attack on Iranian tankers and commercial vessels will result in a heavy attack on one of the American centres in the region and enemy ships," the IRGC said.

Iran's neighbour Kuwait also reported an attempted attack. "At dawn today, the armed forces detected a number of hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace, which were dealt with in accordance with established procedures," the military posted on social media. Iran has choked off the Strait of Hormuz -- a vital route out of the Gulf for oil, gas and fertiliser, seeking to wield economic leverage over the United States and its allies.

The US Navy, meanwhile, is blockading and sometimes disabling or diverting ships heading to and from Iran's ports. Tension is rising as Washington waits for Tehran to respond to its latest offer of a deal to extend a truce to allow the foes to enter peace negotiations. US President Donald Trump had said he was expecting Pakistani mediators to receive Iran's answer on Friday, but none has been made public.

"The recent escalation of tensions by American forces in the Persian Gulf and their numerous actions in violating the ceasefire have added to suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side in the path of diplomacy," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, according to Iran's ISNA news agency. Iran has set up a payment mechanism to extract tolls from shipping trying to cross the strait, but US officials have repeatedly stressed that it would be "unacceptable" for Tehran to control what had been an international waterway and the route of a fifth of the world's oil exports.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Saturday with the leader of Qatar, a key intermediary. Qatar's Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met the previous day with US Vice President JD Vance to discuss efforts to broker a permanent peace. Iran has attacked sites in Qatar during the war, pointing to the wealthy emirate's role as host of a major US air base. 

A parallel ceasefire on the war's Lebanon front is also under strain amid daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. Authorities said at least nine people were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, while state media reported air raids targeting a highway south of Beirut, outside the militant group's traditional strongholds.

The fresh attacks were some of the most intense since the start of a three-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah said it targeted troops in northern Israel with drones on at least two occasions in response. Israel's military said several explosive drones were launched into Israeli territory, with one army reservist severely wounded and two others moderately injured. The strikes come as Lebanon and Israel, officially at war since 1948, are to hold direct negotiations in Washington next week, which Hezbollah vehemently opposes.

"The Secretary expressed appreciation for Qatar's partnership on a range of issues," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement on the meeting between Rubio and Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is also Qatar's foreign minister.

"The Secretary and the Foreign Minister also discussed US support for Qatar's defense, and the importance of continued close coordination to deter threats and promote stability and security across the Middle East."

"We are in direct communication with Americans on board and are prepared to provide consular assistance as soon as the ship arrives in Tenerife, Spain," the spokesperson said on condition of anonymity. The ship operator earlier said that 17 Americans were onboard. The State Department did not immediately give a number of US passengers. Three passengers from the MV Hondius -- a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman -- have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.

The only hantavirus strain that can transmit from person to person -- Andes virus -- has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fueling international concern. The ship is due in Tenerife on Sunday.

The flight will then take the American cruise passengers to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, and then on to a national quarantine facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. "At this time, the risk to the American public remains extremely low," the CDC said.

Nebraska Medicine, a health care network, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center said that the US citizens will be cared for in the federally funded National Quarantine Unit. "At this time, the individuals being monitored are well with no symptoms of illness," they said in a statement. The World Health Organization has said that the United States is among 12 countries with nationals who have already left the ship, on the remote British island of Saint Helena on April 24.

US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said one person survived the strike, without specifying their condition, adding that the US Coast Guard had been notified to launch a search and rescue mission. As with many previous attacks, SOUTHCOM said on X that the boat hit was "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations" and that "intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes."

Black-and-white video accompanying the post shows a small boat moving through the water before it is hit with a projectile, followed by a large explosion. President Donald Trump's administration began targeting alleged smuggling boats in early September, insisting it is effectively at war with what it calls "narco-terrorists" operating out of Latin America. But his administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels it has been striking are involved in drug trafficking, prompting debate about the legality of the operations.

Friday's attack is at least the ninth in a month. Legal experts and rights groups suggest the strikes could amount to extrajudicial killings because they have apparently targeted civilians who do not pose an immediate threat to the United States.

- Trump awaits Iran response -

US President Donald Trump told reporters Friday evening that he was expecting Iran's response to his latest proposal on a deal to ending the Middle East war by "tonight."

- Kharg oil slick -

Satellite images appeared to show an oil slick spreading off the coast of Iran's Kharg Island, a key oil export terminal for the Islamic republic.

The Conflict and Environment Observatory, a non-governmental organization, said on X that the "original source remains unclear, meanwhile it's drifting south and seems unlikely to be addressed appropriately."

- Qatar PM meets Vance, calls for Iran talks -

Qatar's prime minister called Friday for renewed diplomacy on an agreement with Iran as he met in Washington with Vice President JD Vance.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met with Vance and discussed Pakistani-led efforts to broker a permanent peace amid a shaky ceasefire.

- Hezbollah strikes -

Hezbollah said it launched missiles and drones at military bases in Israel in retaliation for a recent attack on Beirut and ongoing strikes in the south, where Lebanese authorities reported 11 people killed on Friday.

- US jet fires on tankers -

US forces fired on and disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers that tried to violate the American blockade of Iran's ports, the US military said Friday.

A US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet "disabled both tankers after firing precision munitions into their smokestacks, preventing the non-compliant ships from entering Iran," US Central Command said in a post on X that included footage of the strikes.

US forces have now forcibly halted four ships they said were seeking to violate the blockade, in place since April 13.

- 'Europe to share Iran burden' -

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Europeans to help secure the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"The world has to start asking itself, what is it willing to do if Iran tries to normalise a control of an international waterway? I think that's unacceptable," he said after meeting Italian PM Giorgia Meloni.

"If one of the main reasons why the US is in NATO is the ability to have forces deployed in Europe that we could project to other contingencies, and now that's no longer the case, at least when it comes to some NATO members, that's a problem, and it has to be examined," he added.

- Hormuz control like 'atomic bomb' -

"The Strait of Hormuz represents an opportunity as precious as an atomic bomb," said Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader.

"Indeed, having in one's hands a position that allows you to influence the global economy with a single decision is a major opportunity."

- 'Saudi banned US use of bases' -

Saudi Arabia prohibited the United States from using its airspace and bases on its territory to launch operations for its brief bid to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, two Saudi sources told AFP on Friday.

But the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Washington's access to Saudi airspace and bases would continue for other uses.

- EU bans fuel surcharges -

The European Union said on Friday that airlines must not charge customers extra fuel fees after they have already bought tickets, as aviation fuel costs soar amidst fears of shortages because of the Middle East war.

The EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) meanwhile cleared the way for the use of Jet A, a US-produced aviation fuel only used in Europe for return flights from the United States.

- UAE reports new Iran attack -

The United Arab Emirates on Friday said an Iranian missile and drone attack on the country had resulted in three moderate injuries.

A parallel ceasefire in Lebanon was also under strain. Iran-backed Hezbollah launched missiles and drones at military bases in Israel in retaliation for a recent attack on Beirut and ongoing strikes in the south, where Lebanese authorities reported 11 people killed on Friday. US Central Command said an F/A-18 Super Hornet used precision munitions on Friday against two ships in the Gulf of Oman -- gateway to the vital Strait of Hormuz -- to prevent them from continuing to Iran.

An Iranian military official told local media the country's navy had "responded to the violation of the ceasefire and to American terrorism with strikes" and "the clashes have now ceased." The latest incident came after another flare-up overnight in the strait, control of which an adviser to Iran's supreme leader compared to having "an atomic bomb." US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated on Friday that it was "unacceptable" for Tehran to control the crucial oil conduit.

Speaking to reporters in Rome, Rubio said Washington was expecting Iran's response to its latest proposal later in the day and expressed hope it would be "a serious offer." Trump, at the White House, later added: "I'm getting a letter supposedly tonight, so we'll see how that goes." Washington has sent Iran, via Pakistani mediators, a proposal to extend the truce in the Gulf to allow for talks on a final settlement of the conflict launched 10 weeks ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Friday that the proposal was still "under review," according to the ISNA news agency. Iran's UN envoy, Amir Saeed Irvani, accused the United States of violating the ceasefire with the attacks on the Iranian tankers, in a letter to the UN secretary-general and Security Council. Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met with US Vice President JD Vance in Washington on Friday and discussed the Pakistani-led efforts to broker a permanent peace.

Iran has repeatedly attacked sites in Qatar during the war, pointing to the wealthy emirate's role as host of a major US air base. Satellite images have meanwhile shown that an oil slick is spreading off the coast of Iran's Kharg Island, a key oil export terminal for the Islamic republic. It was not immediately clear what had caused the apparent spill, which was located off the island's west coast and appears to cover more than 20 square miles (52 square kilometres), according to global monitor Orbital EOS.

Kharg Island is at the heart of Iran's oil export industry, a lynchpin of the country's battered economy, and lies in the Gulf, north of the narrow Strait of Hormuz. Following the start of the war on February 28, Iran largely closed the strait, throwing global markets into turmoil and driving up oil prices. The US later imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports in response. On Sunday, Trump announced a US naval operation designed to reopen the strait to commercial shipping, only to abandon it on Tuesday in favour of a return to negotiations.

Saudi sources told AFP on Friday that the kingdom had refused permission for the US military to use its bases and airspace for the Hormuz operation, with one saying Riyadh "felt it would just escalate the situation and would not work." On the war's other front, Hezbollah said a salvo of missiles targeted a base south of the Israeli city of Nahariya on Friday in response to Israeli targeting of Beirut's southern suburbs and southern Lebanon.

Hours later, the Iran-backed group announced it had launched a swarm of drones at another base in northern Israel. Israel has kept up its strikes on Hezbollah in spite of a ceasefire, and on Wednesday it carried out its first attack on Beirut's southern suburbs in a month, saying it killed a senior Hezbollah commander. The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli strikes in the south killed 10 people on Friday, including two children and three women. Lebanon's civil defence said one of its members was killed. The latest violence came as Lebanon and Israel, officially at war since 1948, were set to hold direct negotiations in Washington next week, which Hezbollah vehemently opposes.

The Conflict and Environment Observatory, a non-governmental organization, said on X that the "original source remains unclear, meanwhile it's drifting south and seems unlikely to be addressed appropriately." Kharg Island is at the heart of Iran's oil export industry, a lynchpin of the country's battered economy. It sits off Iran's Gulf coast, hundreds of kilometers northwest of the narrow, strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Iran largely closed the strait at the start of its conflict with the United States and Israel on February 28. The United States has since imposed a blockade of Iranian ports, stranding many tankers in the area. Kharg Island has Iran's largest oil terminal, oil pipelines, storage tanks and related infrastructure. 

Three passengers from the MV Hondius -- a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman -- have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents. The only hantavirus strain that can transmit from person to person -- Andes virus -- has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fuelling international concern. The Dutch-flagged vessel, which has around 150 people on board, is expected to arrive at the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife on Sunday. Special flights will then take passengers to their home countries.

Earlier Friday, the WHO insisted that the hantavirus outbreak posed a minimal risk to the general public. "This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who's really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters. A picture was emerging from MV Hondius where "even those who have been sharing cabins don't seem to be both infected in some cases", when one has fallen sick, he added.

"The virus is not that contagious that it easily jumps from person to person," he said. The WHO said Friday there were six confirmed out of eight suspected cases of the virus so far. There are no suspected cases remaining on the ship. A flight attendant on the Dutch airline KLM, who came into contact with an infected passenger from the cruise ship and later showed mild symptoms, tested negative for hantavirus, the WHO said Friday.

The passenger -- the wife of the first person to die in the outbreak -- had briefly been on a plane bound from Johannesburg to the Netherlands on April 25, but was removed before take-off. She died the following day in a Johannesburg hospital. Spanish authorities said a woman on that flight was being tested for hantavirus, having developed symptoms at home in eastern Spain. She is in isolation in hospital, said health secretary Javier Padilla.

"This is a pretty unlikely case," he told reporters: someone "two rows behind the person who died with hantavirus". Spanish interior ministry sources said a South African woman who was also on the flight "is currently asymptomatic in South Africa after staying in Barcelona for a week before returning to her country". The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde.

Three suspected cases, including two crew members who later tested positive, were evacuated from Cape Verde to the Netherlands. The third person tested negative, German authorities said Friday, but would remain under observation. Provincial health official Juan Petrina said there was an "almost zero chance" the Dutch man linked to the outbreak contracted the disease in Ushuaia based on the virus's incubation period, among other factors.

Two Dutch healtcare workers are now on board the ship: an expert from the European Centres for Disease Control and a WHO representative conducting a risk assessment. YouTuber Kasem Ibn Hattuta, who is travelling on the Hondius, said passengers were reassured that doctors had joined the ship. "We finally left Cape Verde which was a relief for everyone on board, specially knowing that our sick colleagues are finally getting the medical care they need," he said in a statement.

Everyone was keeping in high spirits, he added: "People are smiling and taking the situation calmly." People were wearing masks indoors and keeping their distance from others, he said. Britain and the United States have announced repatriation flights. Spanish authorities have said the ship will anchor off Tenerife and will not be allowed to dock.

Passengers will be transferred to shore on a smaller vessel then by bus to the airport. The evacuation must happen between Sunday and Monday due to likely adverse weather conditions afterwards, the Canarian regional government said. Dockers in Tenerife protested Friday against the arrival of the ship.

The cruise called at several remote British islands in the South Atlantic. British health authorities said Friday there was a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, one of the world's most isolated settlements with around 220 people.

Lopez Aliaga, Lima's former mayor, has repeatedly claimed that the election was fraudulent and called for it to be annulled. But he has produced no evidence. "A coup d'etat is taking place in Peru, a coup d'etat against democracy," he told reporters on Friday. With nearly 99 percent of the ballots counted, no candidate has an outright majority, meaning the election will go to a run-off between the two top candidates on June 7.

Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, daughter of polarizing ex-president Alberto Fujimori, led the first round with 17.1 percent. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight race for second with leftist ex-minister Roberto Sanchez, who has a 20,000-vote lead over his rival. Lopez Aliaga claimed that electoral authorities were preparing to unveil a second-round line-up consisting of "two people who are not legitimate."

"We will not recognize the results if this situation remains," he threatened. In April, a record 35 candidates ran for president of the chronically unstable Andean nation, which has burned through eight presidents in the past decade, four of whom were impeached. Lopez Aliaga, a Christian nationalist widely known as "Porky" over his self-professed resemblance to rotund cartoon character Porky Pig, campaigned as a hardliner on crime and migration.

The election was marked by delays in the delivery of election materials in Lima, which forced authorities to reopen some polling stations the following day. The European Union's election observer mission nonetheless gave the election a clean bill of health. 

With Syria at the height of its civil war, the Assad government denied responsibility, but agreed to hand over its chemical arsenal in order to avert US strikes. Assad went on to remain in power for more than a decade, only to be ousted in 2024 by Islamist-led rebels led by now President Ahmed al-Sharaa. On Friday, the ministry said it arrested "Khardal Ahmed Dayoub, a former brigadier general in the forces of the ousted regime and former head of the Air Force Intelligence branch in Daraa, for his direct involvement in systematic violations against civilians".

The ministry accused Dayoub of being "implicated in chemical attacks during his service in the Damascus branch and his presence in the Harasta area" where "he oversaw repressive operations and contributed to the logistical coordination for the bombing of Eastern Ghouta with internationally prohibited chemical weapons". Dayoub, among the latest in a string of Assad-era officials detained in recent months, is also accused of extrajudicial killings and coordination with Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, both of which were backing the ousted government.

Survivors of the attacks, including medics, at the time risked their lives by posting dozens of videos online, and spoke to journalists including AFP reporters about the horror they had witnessed. The footage showed dozens of corpses, many of them children, outstretched on the ground. Other images showed unconscious children, people foaming at the mouth and doctors trying to help them breathe.

The scenes provoked revulsion and condemnation around the globe. A United Nations report later said there was clear evidence sarin gas had been used. Syria agreed that year to join the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and disclose and hand over its toxic stockpile under Russian and US pressure, averting the threat of strikes by Washington and its allies.

But that was not the last of the chemical attacks: the OPCW went on to blame Assad's forces for others later in the civil war. Syria's civil war began in 2011, with a brutal crackdown on dissent that yielded an armed rebellion. More than half a million people ended up being killed, and millions more forced into exile. Last month, Interior Minister Anas Khattab announced the arrest of Adnan Abboud Hilweh, one of the Syrian generals internationally sanctioned over involvement in the Ghouta attack.

The interior ministry said Friday evening it had also arrested another former Assad-era general, Sahl Fajr Hassan, accusing him of taking part in "repressive operations against the Syrian people" since the start of the uprising. Syria's new authorities have vowed to provide justice and accountability for Assad-era atrocities, while activists and foreign governments have emphasised the importance of transitional justice to ensure the country moves forward.

Last month, a Syrian court conducted the first hearing in an in absentia trial of Assad himself, alongside several senior members of his government. Assad fled to Moscow as his country fell to rebel hands in December 2024, bringing to a stunning end decades of rule by his clan.

In a statement, Hezbollah said a salvo of missiles targeted a base south of the Israeli city of Nahariya "in response to the Israeli enemy's violation of the ceasefire, the targeting of Beirut's southern suburbs and the attacks that affected villages and civilians in southern Lebanon". Hours later, the Iran-backed group announced it had launched a swarm of drones at another base in northern Israel, saying they too were in response to the Israeli attacks.

Air raid sirens had sounded in several cities in Israel's north during the first attack, according to the Israeli military, though it did not immediately comment on the second. After the first wave, the military said it "intercepted one launch, and the additional launches fell in open areas", adding that no injuries were reported.

The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli strikes in four parts of the south killed 10 people on Friday, including two children and three women. Lebanon's civil defence had said earlier that one of its members was also killed in an Israeli attack on the south. The Israeli military said that one of its strikes in the south had hit a member of the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese Resistance Brigades, saying he had also "operated as a rescue worker".

The Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings for seven southern Lebanese towns, including Toura. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency also reported strikes near Nabi Sheet in the east. Hezbollah, meanwhile, claimed several attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. The terms of the ceasefire announced by the US State Department allow Israel to act against imminent or ongoing attacks.

The latest attacks came as Lebanon and Israel, officially at war since 1948, were set to hold direct negotiations in Washington next week. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met with delegation chief Simon Karam on Friday ahead of his departure to the US, giving him "directives outlining Lebanon's firm positions regarding the negotiations". Lebanon and Israel's US ambassadors had previously met twice in Washington over the past weeks, in an attempt to end the war that started when Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East conflict on March 2.

Hezbollah is strongly opposed to the direct talks, calling them a "sin" and urging Beirut to withdraw. Israeli strikes have killed more than 2,750 people in Lebanon since March 2, including dozens since the ceasefire was announced. EU crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib told reporters in Beirut that since the start of the war on March 2, the 27-member bloc has provided 100 million euros in aid and sent six planes carrying humanitarian aid, with a seventh expected on Saturday.

Russia had previously announced a two-day unilateral ceasefire to mark its WWII victory holiday on May 9. Ukraine earlier stated that it too had offered a truce, but it had been ignored by Moscow. The truce would also include a mutual swap of 1,000 prisoners each, said Trump, who has struggled to end the four-year conflict he once pledged to solve within a day of taking office last year. "I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine," Trump said on his Truth Social network.

"This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy," said the US president. "Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a ceasefire "must be established," ordering the army not to target Moscow's Red Square on May 9, the venue for its annual victory parade, held this year without military hardware.

A senior source in the Ukrainian presidency, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP that Kyiv "exchanged the absence of drones in Moscow tomorrow for 1,000 of POWs." Ukraine will act "mirror-like" during the truce, the source added. In Moscow, the Kremlin had welcomed Trump's proposal, saying it was "important" that it coincided with Russia's "sacred" holiday commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.

Russia and Ukraine had traded attacks earlier on Friday before Trump's announcement. Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 67 drones overnight -- the lowest number in almost a month. "Despite the declared ceasefire, the enemy has not reduced the intensity of assault operations," Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine was reacting in kind.

Russia said it had downed more than 400 Ukrainian drones -- 100 of them targeting Moscow -- since midnight, and that its troops were "responding symmetrically". A Ukrainian drone killed a 41-year-old man and his 15-year-old daughter in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Kherson region, according to the Moscow-backed administration. Kyiv said it had hit two refineries in Russia's regions of Yaroslavl and Perm.

Some 13 airports in southern Russia were closed Friday after a Ukrainian drone hit an air navigation centre in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Moscow's transport ministry said. It later said that flights had been partially restored.

Putin convened a security council meeting over the strike, calling it an "act of a terrorist nature" that could endanger civil aviation. Ukraine had dismissed Russia's temporary truce as a propaganda measure to protect the victory parade on May 9 -- one of the most important patriotic events for Putin. Hours before Russia's ceasefire began, Zelensky warned Moscow's allies against attending the parade. Russia had threatened a massive strike on the heart of Kyiv if Ukraine disrupted the victory parade and urged foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital ahead of the event.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides and tens of thousands of civilians, most of them in Ukraine, have been killed since Putin ordered the invasion in February 2022. Putin has made memory of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany a key pillar of his 25-year rule, staging large parades on May 9 and invoking it to justify his invasion of Ukraine.

But military hardware will be absent from the parade for the first time in almost two decades and only a handful of foreign guests will attend. Talks on ending what has spiralled into Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II have shown little progress and have been sidelined by conflict in the Middle East.

"This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void," the court said, in a 4-3 decision rendered after months of legal challenges. The redistricting proposal, narrowly approved last month, would have allowed Democrats to exceptionally redraw Virginia's districts mid-decade, potentially expanding their 6-5 edge in the congressional delegation to as much as 10-1.

The ruling preserves the current map and marks another flashpoint in an escalating national redistricting war between Democrats and Republicans as both parties scramble for advantage in the narrowly divided House of Representatives. President Donald Trump quickly hailed the ruling on social media as a "huge win" for Republicans.

Trump ignited the latest wave of redistricting battles last year by urging Republican-led states such as Texas to redraw congressional maps in the party's favor. Democrats responded with counter-moves in California and Virginia. The Virginia ruling leaves open the possibility of an appeal to the US Supreme Court, which last week weakened safeguards against racially discriminatory maps in a decision expected to accelerate Republican-led redistricting.

Furious Democrats pointed to conservative Florida, which has avoided a rebuke from its own supreme court despite passing a gerrymandered map that opponents consider unconstitutional -- and without having sought the approval of voters. "Our fight is not over. We are just getting started," said US House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. Republicans across the South are hoping to carve out as many as four new conservative-friendly districts this month.

Tennessee lawmakers on Thursday passed a new map dividing up the state's lone majority-Black district centered on Memphis, in a bid to eliminate its last US House seat held by the Democrats. South Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama are also expected to pursue new maps if pending legal challenges break Republicans' way. The Virginia legal fight centered not on the shape of the proposed districts, but on whether lawmakers followed the process required for placing constitutional amendments before voters.

The case had already ricocheted through lower courts before the state supreme court sided with Republicans, arguing that lawmakers improperly advanced the amendment after early voting for last year's legislative elections had already begun. Virginia reportedly spent about $5 million administering the referendum, while outside groups poured in nearly $100 million.

Legal experts say it is rare for a court to overturn the outcome of a statewide vote, though not unprecedented in Virginia. Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman said Friday's turnaround, despite being decided on a technicality, would have "seismic" consequences. "What was happening in Virginia (was) similar in unfairness, you might say, to the partisan gerrymandering they are doing in Texas," he added.

"But it's just a sort of tit for tat, and the only tool available to Dems to try to match and counteract what is happening in Republican states." David Axelrod, a chief White House strategist under Democratic former president Barack Obama, said his party was still "heavy favorites" to recapture the House, although he admitted the climb was now "a little steeper."

The operation went after "criminal hideouts and wanted individuals" who were "involved in serious acts", the authorities said, citing "murder and attempted murder, kidnapping and extortion, drug, arms and human trafficking, and illegal migration". While authorities have yet to confirm any casualties, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) later in a statement condemned the clashes "amid disturbing reports of civilian casualties".

"The use of heavy weapons and indiscriminate fire in densely populated neighbourhoods is unacceptable," the mission said. "Civilian infrastructure must not be turned into battlefields," the mission added. "All parties must immediately halt such practices and immediately cease hostilities as a matter of urgency." Videos circulating on social media, which AFP could not independently verify, appeared to show armed clashes in residential neighbourhoods and near the refinery complex -- one of Libya's most important -- on the western outskirts of the city.

A Zawiya resident reached by AFP by phone said "the first clashes began in the early hours of Friday", adding that they heard "explosions across the city". Local emergency services urged residents to remain indoors while midday Friday prayers -- when large numbers of worshippers go to mosques -- were set to take place. The city of some 250,000 people has experienced repeated fights between armed groups. In addition to housing important oil infrastructure, Zawiya has been notorious for smuggling networks involved in fuel and other smuggling across the nearby Tunisian border.

It is also a key departure point for irregular migrants seeking to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean. Libya is still plagued by division and instability after years of unrest following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. It remains divided between the UN-recognised government in the west and its eastern rival, backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar.

Twenty hikers were on the slopes when disaster struck, North Halmahera police chief Erlichson Pasaribu told reporters at a volcano monitoring station in Mamuya village. He said nine were from Singapore and the rest Indonesian. As of Friday evening, 17 climbers -- seven of them foreigners -- have been found alive, according to the head of local rescue agency Iwan Ramdani.

Rescue efforts have been paused and will resume Saturday, he said. Tour guide Alex Djangu, who was on the slopes when the eruption happened, said he arrived with a tour group on Thursday and found the volcano acting "a bit strange". "This was the first time I'd seen it so quiet," he said by telephone from his hotel not far from the volcano. "I told the guests that a major eruption is going to happen because the volcano is accumulating pressure at the bottom of the crater. And my prediction turned out to be correct."

When the eruption happened, there were two groups of tourists, about 15 in total, at the crater rim, the 48-year-old recounted. "I panicked, I thought they had all died, but it turned out that in the end only three died," the tour guide added. Djangu was with two German hikers who "survived because we were in the safe radius," he said, describing this as the biggest eruption of Mount Dukono he had ever witnessed.

"Previously, when there was an eruption, there would be a single blast and then it was over. This time, the eruption started at 7:42 and by the time we came down the intensity was still the same, rocks were still coming out of the crater." Erlichson said the bodies of the three deceased were still on the mountain. "Due to ongoing eruptions, the situation is still considered unsafe for evacuation. So, the joint team is still waiting for the right time to begin the search," he said.

Some of the hikers had suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment. The group's guide and a porter were taken to the police station and could face criminal charges for taking hikers into a prohibited area, added the police chief. Since December 2024, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has warned tourists and climbers not to come within four kilometres of the volcano's Malupang Warirang Crater after scientists spotted an uptick in seismic activity.

Erlichson said the hikers had ignored social media appeals and warning signs put up at the entrance of the trail to stay away. "Local residents understand and don't want to climb. Many (hikers) are foreign tourists who wish to create (social media) content," he said. Lana Saria, head of the government Geology Agency, said Friday's eruption was accompanied by a "booming sound" and a thick column of ash and smoke rising 10 kilometres from the summit of Mount Dukono.

"The direction of the ash distribution leans northward, so residential areas and Tobelo City need to be vigilant for... volcanic ash rain," she said in a statement. The smoke could be dangerous for public health, Lana added, and risked disrupting transportation services. There are no settlements within a radius of about nine kilometres of the volcano. Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide.

The Southeast Asian country has nearly 130 active volcanoes. Mount Dukono is on level two of Indonesia's four-tiered alert system. Erlichson urged hikers to stay away to prevent a repeat of Friday's avoidable disaster that has forced rescuers to deploy in "tough terrain" even as the volcano continues rumbling. "After this incident, we will be strictly monitoring posts that hikers can pass. So no hiking as long as the status remains at level 2," he said.

However, a spate of Ukrainian long-range attacks on energy facilities in recent weeks prompted the Kremlin to ramp up security measures and downsize this year's celebrations, with military hardware set to be absent from the parade for the first time in almost two decades. After two failed attempts at truces this week by both Russia and Ukraine, Trump announced on Friday a three-day ceasefire between both sides would come into effect the following day.

"Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War," Trump posted on his Truth Social network, adding the ceasefire would be accompanied by a prisoner exchange. Zelensky issued a decree on Friday ordering the Ukrainian military not to attack the parade and in a separate statement confirmed his government would adhere to the ceasefire to enable the swap of 1,000 detainees from each warring side.

"Red Square is less important to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners who can be returned home," Zelensky said, referring to the historic site in the Russian capital where the annual event is held. Moscow also confirmed it had accepted the truce, which Trump said he hoped could be extended. "It could be. I'd like to see it stopped," the US president told reporters. Now in its fifth year, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and US-mediated talks on ending Europe's largest conflict since World War II have shown little progress since February, when Washington shifted focus to its war against Iran.

Before Trump's announcement, Ukraine had dismissed a temporary truce by Russia and hours before Moscow's ceasefire began, Zelensky warned Moscow's allies against attending the parade. Russia had threatened a massive strike on the heart of Kyiv if Ukraine disrupted the victory commemoration and urged foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital ahead of the event.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, Moscow would reduce the scale of the parade with no military equipment on display in the Red Square and the number of foreign dignitaries in attendance decreased. Only the leaders of Belarus, Malaysia and Laos, as well as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, have travelled to Moscow, according to the Kremlin, in contrast to high-profile visitors including China's Xi Jinping during last year's event.

Authorities had also been intermittently switching off mobile internet in the Russian capital in recent days as a security measure. The Ukrainian military, which has bolstered its drone capabilities, has intensified its strikes in recent weeks, hitting target hundreds of kilometres from Ukraine. Both sides continued to trade attacks on Friday, before Trump's announcement. Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 67 drones overnight -- the lowest number in almost a month.

"Despite the declared ceasefire, the enemy has not reduced the intensity of assault operations," Zelensky had said, adding that Ukraine was reacting in kind. Russia said it had downed more than 400 Ukrainian drones -- 100 of them targeting Moscow -- since midnight, and that its troops were "responding symmetrically". Kyiv said it had hit two refineries in Russia's Yaroslavl and Perm regions. Some 13 airports in southern Russia were closed Friday after a Ukrainian drone hit an air navigation centre in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Moscow's transport ministry said. It later said that flights had been partially restored.

Despite the fighting, Zelensky expressed hope on Friday that US envoys would visit Ukraine in the coming weeks to reboot talks on ending the war after Ukraine's lead negotiator met with US representatives in Florida this week. 

Alongside the Tories, it was also decimated by Nigel Farage's anti-immigrant Reform UK party across England, and failed to make any inroads into Scottish National Party (SNP) dominance north of the border. But Starmer, who has faced persistent calls to quit from rival party leaders and some Labour MPs for months, was adamant he was "not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos".

"The results are tough, they are very tough, and there's no sugarcoating it," the 63-year-old said, adding "it should hurt, and I take responsibility". Several cabinet members voiced support for him, and the lack of an obvious alternative leader has reduced the immediate peril of a potential challenge. Farage, whose upstart party has led national polls for over a year and seized a string of Labour and Conservative councils Friday, predicted Starmer would be ousted within months.

The Brexit architect claimed the elections illustrated a "truly historic shift in British politics". "We have not just crashed the 'red wall'," Farage said of Reform wins in Labour's post-industrial traditional strongholds across northern England. "Today in Essex we crashed the 'blue wall' as well," he added, celebrating victory in the eastern English county where the Tories had long dominated.

In Wales, Labour lost control of the devolved government for the first time since the parliament in Cardiff was established 27 years ago, with its leader there embarrassingly losing her seat. Nationalists Plaid Cymru, which wants Welsh independence in the long-term, won 43 seats -- falling short of a majority. Reform followed on 34, leaving Labour in third with just nine seats, a humiliation for a party that has dominated Welsh politics for a century.

Just two years ago, Labour swept the Conservatives from power in a landslide general election victory. But it has failed to deliver promised economic growth and has been plagued by policy missteps and scandals. Insurgent parties have reaped the benefit, as Britons struggle with an enduring cost-of-living crisis.

Around 5,000 English local council seats -- just under a third of the nationwide total -- were up for grabs Thursday, alongside the entire devolved parliaments in Scotland and Wales. By late Friday, with nearly all the 136 councils reporting, Labour had lost nearly 1,400 councillors and control of 33 councils, while Reform had gained nearly 1,500 local lawmakers.

Farage's party had seized control of 13 councils -- including historic Labour-controlled places. The Greens, which have veered left under the leadership of self-described eco-populist Zack Polanski, gained nearly 400 extra councillors and won control of several councils. Polanski called the era of two-party politics "dead and buried". Pollster John Curtice agreed the results showed unprecedented fragmentation.

Reform voters were "broadly people with a relatively socially conservative outlook" who had "lost confidence in the traditional mainstream parties" and were aligned with Farage on immigration and Brexit, he said. North Yorkshire voter Christina Bloom, 75, said people used Thursday as "a definite protest vote". "They put their faith in Labour and they have been let down," she told AFP. "Farage is playing on that, the fact of that both the Tory and the Labour Party have lied to the people (for) so long."

In Scotland, with nearly all the results in, the SNP failed to get a majority -- winning six fewer seats than in 2021. But the pro-independence party was confident of leading the devolved government for a fifth consecutive term. Back in England, Kemi Badenoch's right-wing Conservatives lost more than 500 councillors and six councils. Badenoch pledged the party was "renewing" and would "keep fighting".

The centrist Liberal Democrats enjoyed moderate success, gaining 115 councillors in England and at least five extra MSPs in Edinburgh. The fellow pro-European Greens were also up five seats in Scotland and fared well in London where it gained more than 100 councillors and its first directly-elected mayors.

Ukraine proposed its own ceasefire for May 6, which Russia ignored. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobianin said on Thursday that at least three drones "flying toward Moscow" had been destroyed. One person was wounded in a Russian strike on Dnipro, according to a Thursday update from Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the regional administration. Russia earlier warned foreign diplomats in Kyiv that it would launch a "retaliatory strike" on the Ukrainian capital if Ukraine disrupted Russian commemorations on Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday accused Russia of rejecting efforts to halt fighting and save lives.

"At the 11th NPT Review Conference currently under way at UN headquarters, the United States and certain countries following its lead are groundlessly calling into question the current status and exercise of sovereign rights" of North Korea, Pyongyang's top UN envoy Kim Song said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"The status of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as a nuclear-armed state will not change based on external rhetorical claims or unilateral desires," he added. "To make it clear once again, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will not be bound by the Non-Proliferation Treaty under any circumstances whatsoever." He continued that the country's status as a nuclear-armed state has been "enshrined in the constitution, transparently declaring the principles of nuclear weapons use".

North Korea has consistently insisted that it will not give up its nuclear arsenal, describing its path as "irreversible" and vowing to strengthen its capabilities. Pyongyang has sent ground troops and artillery shells to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is receiving military technology assistance from Moscow in return. The nine nuclear-armed states -- Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea -- possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads in January 2025, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported.

The US and Russia hold nearly 90 percent of nuclear weapons globally and have carried out major programs to modernise them in recent years, according to SIPRI.

Lula, as the Brazilian is widely known, is looking to boost his image domestically ahead of October elections that are expected to be close. Trump is expected to seek greater investment access to Brazil's strategically important minerals supply as well as cooperation on security matters. Trump hit Brazil with steep tariffs on all its products in July as punishment for what he called a "witch hunt" against his far-right ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence for an attempted coup.

Lula, who once said that Trump wants to be "emperor of the World," took a strong, public stand against the economic measures. He has also slammed the United States' removal of Nicolas Maduro and the war it launched alongside Israel against Iran. But relations appeared to warm after a series of meetings and calls between the two leaders, with Trump at one point hailing the "excellent chemistry" between the two men. The US tariffs have since been partially reduced.

Lula heads to the meeting politically weakened after a series of defeats in Congress. He is tied with Bolsonaro's eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, in opinion polls ahead of the election. The veteran leftist is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term in office. Oliver Stuenkel, an international relations professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo, told AFP that Lula will want to "strengthen the personal rapport with Trump" to reduce the risk of US interference in the elections, such as overt displays of support for Flavio. 

Security is the main concern of Brazilian voters ahead of the vote, and combating organized crime is high on the agenda of the meeting. Finance Minister Dario Durigan, who is part of the delegation, said Wednesday that Brazil wanted to expand cooperation in fighting cartels. The US and Brazil in April signed a deal to share information to combat arms and drug trafficking, such as X-ray data on containers traveling from the US to Brazil. Trump has made the fight against so-called "narcoterrorism" a priority of his second term, designating major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and using it to justify the ouster of Maduro.

Stuenkel said Brazil was keen to show it was doing its part and hopes to "reduce the risk" of Washington designating Brazil's powerful gangs, Comando Vermelho (Red Command) and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), as terrorist groups. "The US increasingly sees these groups as sophisticated transnational criminal organizations with regional reach," said Rebecca Bill Chavez, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue. "But in Brazil, there is real concern about the legal, political, and sovereignty implications of applying a terrorism framework to criminal groups."

Also up for discussion are Brazil's vast reserves of rare earth minerals -- crucial for the production of high-tech goods -- which Washington is scrambling to invest in. The country holds the second-largest reserves of the critical elements in the world after China. "Of course, foreign investment in Brazil is welcome, but we want to...drive industrialization within Brazil, generating high-quality jobs in partnership with our universities," said Durigan. Late on Wednesday, Brazilian lawmakers advanced a bill that would incentivize mineral exploitation. It will next be debated in the senate.

Washington is also investigating Brazil for unfair trade practices, such as whether the country's free PIX electronic payment system is undermining the competitiveness of US companies. Launched in 2020, PIX has revolutionized payments in Brazil and surpassed the use of credit and debit cards, with seven billion transactions in January alone, according to the central bank.

The text concludes with, "Watcha want me to do -- Bust out cryin!! No fun -- NOT WORTH IT!!" The letter had been sealed for years as part of the cellmate's criminal proceedings, but was released by Judge Kenneth Karas of the US District Court for Southern New York after a request by the New York Times. While the document has not been authenticated, its release comes as questions continue to swirl about the well-connected financier's death while awaiting sex trafficking charges.

His death was ruled a suicide, but numerous security lapses at the jail and missing CCTV footage have led to persistent doubts about the official account. Epstein was found injured in his cell in late July 2019, in what officials said was a failed suicide attempt. It was ahead of this earlier incident that the letter was purported to be written and stuffed into a graphic novel.

The Epstein saga has continued to roil American and British politics, as documents related to the expansive investigation into the financier's life have been released in previous months.

"This order reflects our long-term discipline and the scale of our ambitions." Southeast Asia's largest low-cost carrier said the agreement had "the strategic flexibility to upsize the commitment to 300 of the A220 Aircraft Family to meet future demand". Airbus Commercial Aircraft CEO Lars Wagner said the A220 planes will "open up new routes across Asia that were not feasible before".

Once the new fleet is delivered in 2028, it will also free up larger aircraft to focus on long-haul routes to North America, Australia and Europe, he said. With the order, AirAsia is the "global launch customer" for the A220's new 160-seat configuration, added Wagner. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was also at the ceremony, said "the 150 aircraft will be built by Canadian workers on Canadian factory floors.

"For thousands of engineers, electricians, steel welders, and IT specialists, it will mean high-paying and exciting work to build a remarkable aircraft that connects millions of people around the world," he said. Canada is the only country outside of Europe to host a major Airbus programme, with the building of the A220 family.

Trump said Wednesday if "Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to," the war would be over, but if not, the bombing would resume "at a much higher level and intensity." "We've had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it's very possible that we'll make a deal," Trump later told reporters. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told local media that the "US plan and proposal are still under review," and that Tehran would communicate its position to mediator Pakistan "after finalizing its views."

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker who has taken the lead in negotiations, meanwhile warned that Washington "is seeking, through a naval blockade, economic pressure and media manipulation, to destroy the country's cohesion in order to force us to surrender." The US military said one of its warplanes fired on and disabled the rudder of an oil tanker Wednesday that tried to break Washington's blockade of Iranian ports. Trump had said the day before that the US blockade would remain in place as Tehran kept up its own chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

But citing progress toward a deal, he said a new effort to reopen the vital trade route "will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized." Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key figure in initial talks in Islamabad last month, held out hope for a deal. "We are very hopeful that the current momentum will lead to a lasting agreement that secures durable peace and stability for the region and beyond," he said on X. US news outlet Axios, citing two US officials, reported that both sides were close to agreement on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations.

Speaking to PBS, Trump insisted Iran would hand over its enriched uranium to the United States, without explaining how this key point of contention would be resolved. Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on Wednesday, later saying the pair reviewed "the negotiations that are currently underway." He added on X that Iran "looks forward to" Beijing "supporting the establishment of a new post-war regional framework that can balance development and security."

Trump's more conciliatory tone came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US had completed its offensive operations against Iran. Investors welcomed those remarks and the decision to pause the US effort to guide ships through the strait, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing at record highs on renewed breakthrough hopes. But in Tehran one resident told Paris-based AFP journalists that the prospect of any US deal with the current government was "terrifying."

"We've gone through so much hardship and suffering, and no achievements for people?" said translator Azadeh, 43. "I honestly just hope they finish this regime." The standoff in the vital waterway had led to claims of attacks by both sides earlier this week, in the sharpest escalation since a truce took effect on April 8.

Washington and Gulf countries have drafted a UN Security Council resolution demanding Tehran halt attacks, disclose mine locations and end efforts to toll shipping, Rubio said, with a vote expected in the coming days. Its adoption remains uncertain. On the war's Lebanese front, Israel struck Beirut's southern suburbs Wednesday -- the first on the area in nearly a month.

The attack killed a senior Hezbollah commander from the group's elite force, a source close to the Iran-backed group told AFP. At least 11 other people were killed in strikes across the south and east, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Israel's army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir meanwhile visited troops in southern Lebanon, vowing to "seize every opportunity to deepen the dismantling of Hezbollah."

Tehran "firmly rejects and categorically denies any allegations regarding the involvement of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the incident involving damage to a Korean vessel in the Strait of Hormuz", its embassy in Seoul said in a statement.

Traffic in the strategic waterway, through which around one-fifth of the world's crude oil normally transits, has all but stopped since conflict erupted in the Middle East in late February. Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are leading a multinational mission to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, which they say would be entirely defensive and only deployed once lasting peace in the region was agreed.

The flagship of the French navy and its escorts were on Wednesday transiting through the Suez Canal en route to the southern Red Sea, the defence ministry said. The decision was intended "to reduce the time needed to implement this initiative as soon as circumstances allow", the ministry said. More than 40 countries have begun military planning in London towards the Hormuz mission.

According to the Macron aide, "the reason we must now make a renewed effort is quite simply that the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues, the damage to the global economy is becoming increasingly severe, and the risk of prolonged hostilities is too serious for us to accept". France has proposed to the United States and Iran that they "deal with the issue of the Strait of Hormuz separately" from the rest of the conflict.

"It is in the common interest," the aide said. "We can offer Iran the chance to pass through the Strait of Hormuz again", the aide said, "on one condition: that Iran agrees to take part in the substantive negotiations to which the Americans are inviting it." "What we are telling the Americans is that they must lift their blockade of Hormuz and take advantage of Iran's willingness to negotiate on key issues," the Elysee representative added.

If those conditions are met, the coalition can deploy resources to guarantee the safety of vessels passing through the strait and "help restore the confidence needed to calm the markets". The aircraft carrier has around 20 Rafale fighter jets and is escorted by several frigates. The Charles de Gaulle set sail from the southeastern French port city of Toulon in January for a deployment to the North Atlantic.

But in early March, it was redirected to the eastern Mediterranean to defend French interests and allied countries struck by Iran's retaliation for Israeli?American attacks. "The movement of the carrier strike group is separate from the military operations initiated in the region," the defence ministry said. Its presence near the Gulf will allow "an early assessment of the regional operational environment ahead of the possible launch of the initiative," the ministry added.

Ahead of the vote, which he lost 22 to 27, Manele heavily criticised the nation's court for setting a "dangerous precedent" by ruling lawmakers must meet for the vote. His Government for National Unity and Transformation has been at an impasse since March, when it was hit by mass cabinet resignations and the exit of two coalition partners.

On Friday an appeal court ruled Manele, who avoided the no-confidence motion for seven weeks, must convene parliament by May 7 to face the no-confidence motion. Solomon Islands has been seen as one of Beijing's closest partners and backers in the South Pacific in recent years, and changes of leader in the strategically located archipelago are closely watched by Western diplomats.

Polls opened at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) across Scotland, England and Wales in the local ballots that are Starmer's biggest electoral test since his July 2024 general election landslide victory ended 14 years of Conservative rule.

Officials in Spain, where the flight made an unexpected stop on Gran Canaria island, confirmed that the patient "had been transferred to Amsterdam on a different medicalised aircraft" than the one scheduled. It was not immediately clear what would happen to this patient after landing. Of the two passengers who landed on Wednesday, one was taken to a hospital in Leiden, in the Netherlands, the other to Germany.

She died of multiple stab wounds to the neck before the rescue services arrived. An unemployed 23-year-old living with his parents was arrested on Wednesday evening. The prosecutor's office said he could be an ex-boyfriend. White roses and candles had been laid in front of the entrance to the victim's middle school on Thursday morning.

"It's absolutely horrific"," said one mother as she dropped off her daughters. "Normally they take the bus, but this morning I wanted to be there for them," she said. The mother, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect her children, said one of them knew the victim "very well".

The US ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, told reporters this week it would likely be a "frank conversation". For the Vatican's part, "we'll listen to him", Parolin told reporters on Wednesday, noting that Washington initiated the meeting. The Trump administration had celebrated the election one year ago -- May 8, 2025 -- of Leo, the first US pontiff in history.

But its relations with the Holy See have since sharply deteriorated. In an unprecedented attack, Trump last month took to social media to call the pope "WEAK on crime, and terrible for foreign policy". His remarks came after Leo called for peace in the Middle East war launched by Israel and the United States. He condemned a threat by Trump to destroy Iranian civilisation as "truly unacceptable". Before leaving, Rubio said the trip had been planned before the clash, "and obviously we had some stuff that happened".

"There's a lot to talk about with the Vatican," he told reporters at the White House, noting particularly the issue of religious freedom, on which the Vatican and Washington agree. At a Vatican event on Wednesday, Parolin said: "I imagine we'll talk about everything that's happened in recent days -- we can't avoid touching on these topics." But he said they would also discuss international issues, including Latin America, Cuba and Lebanon.

The Holy See has long played an active role in Cuban diplomacy, while Rubio -- a Cuban-American -- has led the US administration's efforts to pressure the communist government. Leo also knows Latin America well, having spent two decades as a missionary in Peru, even acquiring Peruvian citizenship. Despite the peace-making attempt, Trump again criticised the pope in an interview on Monday, alleging that Leo believes it is "OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon".

"I think he's endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people," Trump said of the pontiff. Asked about the comments on Tuesday, Leo said that the Catholic Church's mission was to "preach peace" and the Gospel. "If anyone wishes to criticise me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so truthfully," he told reporters.

"The Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons for years, so there is no doubt about that, and I simply hope to be heard for the sake of the value of God's word." Parolin said Wednesday that attacking the pope "seems a little strange to me", adding: "The pope is being the pope." Leo's nationality means his words carry more weight in Washington than those of his predecessors -- and he has used them, notably criticising the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration.

But it was the pontiff's increasing anti-war rhetoric that triggered Trump's ire. The pope and Rubio met for the first time last year at the Vatican, alongside US Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, just days after Leo's election.

Any agreement to prolong the ceasefire between the United States and Iran could also lower tensions in Lebanon, where an already fragile truce with Israel was under renewed strain after a strike on southern Beirut killed a Hezbollah commander. The war, launched by the United States and Israel in late February, has seen Iran respond with attacks across the Middle East and impose a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Gulf oil and gas industries and a strategic trade route.

Trump had this week briefly launched a naval operation to escort commercial vessels and force open the strait, only to stand it down within hours, citing progress on negotiations with Iran, which have been mediated by Pakistan and supported by Washington's Gulf Arab allies. "We've had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it's very possible that we'll make a deal," Trump told reporters on Wednesday, adding his now habitual threat to return to bombing if Tehran refuses to back down to US demands.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the US proposal remained "under review" and Tehran would communicate its position to mediator Pakistan "after finalising its views". According to a report from US network NBC News, Trump's U-turn came after Saudi Arabia -- whose Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly talked directly to Trump -- refused to allow US forces to use its airspace and bases for the operation to force passage through Hormuz.

US news outlet Axios, citing two officials, reported that both Tehran and Washington were close to agreement on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme. Oil prices fell again, tumbling by two percent Thursday -- having fallen around 10 percent over the previous two days -- and Tokyo's Nikkei index led another strong rally across Asia stocks, fuelled by revived optimism that the talks will bear fruit.

Energy prices are still much higher than before the conflict, but international standard Brent and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate are both now below the symbolic $100 level. Markets have been particularly concerned about the Strait of Hormuz, which in peacetime carries a fifth of the world's oil and LNG trade as well as a good chunk of its fertiliser. Fears surged on Monday when the South Korean cargo ship HMM Namu caught fire while attempting to transit the channel despite Iran's blockade.

Trump later claimed Iran had "taken some shots" at the vessel and urged South Korea to join US-led efforts to restore shipping through the strait, while Tehran's embassy in Seoul said it "firmly rejects and categorically denies" the allegations. In Tehran, meanwhile, one resident told Paris-based AFP journalists that the prospect of any deal with the current Iranian government was "terrifying".

"We've gone through so much hardship and suffering, and no achievements for the people?" said translator Azadeh, 43. "I honestly just hope they finish this regime." On the Lebanese front, Israel struck Beirut's southern suburbs Wednesday in the first such attack in nearly a month, killing a senior Hezbollah commander from its elite Radwan force, a source close to the Iran-backed group told AFP.

At least 11 others were killed in strikes across the country's south and east, Lebanon's health ministry said. The Israeli military said in a statement Thursday that an "explosive drone impact" had wounded four of its soldiers -- one severely -- in southern Lebanon the previous day.

US President Donald Trump met with top security advisors on Monday to discuss the Iranian proposal after Tehran passed "written messages" to Washington via Pakistan, spelling out its red lines, including on nuclear issues and Hormuz, Iran's Fars news agency reported. The proposal was "being discussed," spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told a White House briefing.

The plan would reportedly see Tehran ease its chokehold on the strait and Washington lift its retaliatory blockade on Iranian ports while broader negotiations continue, including over the thorny question of Iran's nuclear program. "The United States is no longer in a position to dictate its policy to independent nations," Iranian defence ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik said, according to state TV, adding Washington would eventually "accept that it must abandon its illegal and irrational demands."

Asked about Iran's proposal, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News "it's better than what we thought they were going to submit," but questioned whether it was genuine. "They're very good negotiators," he said, "and we have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point." Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi blamed Washington's "excessive demands" for the failure of peace talks during a visit to Russia, where President Vladimir Putin promised him Moscow's support in ending the war.

Mediator Pakistan previously hosted a first, unsuccessful round of US-Iran talks, but hopes for a second over the weekend ultimately came to nothing. Trump has said that if Iran wants talks, "they can call us." Tehran would need guarantees that Washington and Israel would not attack again if it was to offer security assurances for the Gulf, Iran's envoy to the UN said. In Russia, Araghchi said the war had shown "Iran's true power" and stability, but back home in Tehran, the mood was more sober.

"Everything in the country is up in the air right now. I have not worked for a long time," small business owner Farshad told Paris-based AFP journalists. "The country is in complete economic collapse." Tehran resident Shervin, a photographer, said he too was feeling the pinch. "It is the first time that I have reached a point where I was late on my rent," he said.

Iran's blockade of Hormuz has cut off flows of oil, gas and fertiliser and sent prices soaring. Trump faces domestic pressure to find an off-ramp as prices rise, with midterm elections due in November and polls showing the war is unpopular among Americans. Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission in Iran's parliament, said Monday that a proposed law for managing the strait would make the Islamic republic's armed forces the overseeing authority, with levies to be paid in Iranian rial.

But the head of the UN's maritime agency, Arsenio Dominguez, said there was "no legal basis" for imposing transit fees. Rubio also rejected the idea. "They cannot normalise -- nor can we tolerate them trying to normalise -- a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway, and how much you have to pay them to use it," he told Fox's "America's Newsroom." Violence has continued on the war's Lebanese front, despite a recently extended ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, with Beirut's health ministry reporting Israel killed four people in the south on Monday.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by firing rockets at Israel, which responded with strikes and a ground invasion. The group's leader Naim Qassem on Monday rejected planned direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel as a "grave sin," and vowed Hezbollah would "not back down."

Shortly afterwards, the Israeli military said it had begun hitting Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Israel maintains that under the terms of the truce, it can act against imminent threats. Israeli army chief of staff Eyal Zamir said 2026 was "likely to be another year of fighting" for Israel on all fronts. 

The LNG carrier Mubaraz, controlled by the Emirati national oil company Adnoc, left the Gulf in April with 132,890 cubic metres of LNG on board, having loaded at Das Island in the United Arab Emirates on March 2, according to Kpler data analysed by AFP.

"He pleads guilty to all except attempted murder," his lawyer Anna Mair told AFP. The Austrian has been in detention since his arrest in August 2024. He is accused of having been a member of a terror organisation from May 2023 "by planning and preparing a terrorist attack on the concert of singer Taylor Swift", prosecutors have said. By sharing Islamic State (IS) propaganda through various messaging services and other offences, he participated and "openly aligned himself" with IS, they added.

Planning the attack on the concert, he allegedly tried to get weapons and worked on making a shrapnel bomb "specific to IS attacks" and received instructions from other IS members on handling explosives, according to prosecutors. He is also alleged to have been involved in other attack plans abroad, including in Dubai and Istanbul though those attacks never materialised.

Another 21-year-old, Arda K., is standing trial together with Beran A., according to Austrian news agency APA. The duo, together with a third Austrian, Hasan E. imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, are accused of forming a "highly dangerous IS terror cell" planning to carry out several attacks in the name of IS, prosecutors say. Hasan E. is accused of stabbing a security official in Mecca in 2024 and injuring four others before he was overpowered.

Austria's embassy is in contact with him and following ongoing judicial proceedings, according to the foreign ministry. Beran A. and Arda K. are accused of encouraging Hasan E. ahead of the attack -- an accusation Beran A. denies, his lawyer Mair said. The trial of the two defendants has been scheduled to last four days.

Beran A., who was arrested just two days before the first Swift concert was to take place, faces up to 20 years in prison on the charges. The concert plot was thwarted with the help of US intelligence. Swift later wrote on social media that "the reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many had planned on coming to those shows". Last year, a Berlin court convicted a Syrian teenager of contributing to the plot to attack the Swift concert. The 16-year-old was given an 18-month suspended sentence.

"The deal is dead," the source said this week, noting that Ghana's negotiating team included health officials, suggesting it may have been partly tied to health. The US team became "hostile" and piled on "pressure" after Ghana pushed back on the demand for personal data, the source told AFP. A spokesman for Ghana's health ministry did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

The deal would have provided Ghana $109 million in funding for five years, according to the source who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, without confirming the specific areas of focus of the proposal. A spokesperson told AFP in an emailed statement that the US State Department "does not disclose the details of ongoing bilateral negotiations" and suggested the funding would have supported "fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases".

"The Public Prosecution affirms that the crime of communicating with hostile foreign entities against the Kingdom of Bahrain is considered one of the most serious crimes affecting national security," Bahrain's public prosecution said in a statement on X.

It is part of the "Jordanian medical corridor" initiative that King Abdullah II agreed to following a meeting with US President Donald Trump in February 2025. Under the initiative, around 2,000 children will be transported to Jordan to receive medical care. Since March last year, more than 716 children have been transferred in cooperation with the World Health Organisation, the majority of them suffering from fractures, major wounds or cancer.

"The children will be treated in a number of Jordanian hospitals, as part of the kingdom's ongoing medical and humanitarian efforts to provide healthcare and medical support to our brothers and sisters in the Gaza Strip," the army said. A ceasefire has largely held in Gaza since last October, but some violence has persisted.

"Once again, millions of children are living through extreme violence, hunger, and displacement," said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF's representative in Sudan. "But this time, the crisis is deeper, and international attention is far from reflecting their suffering," he told reporters in Geneva via video link from Port Sudan. Yett drew a parallel between the current situation and UNICEF's first "Child Alert" report on Darfur, published in 2005, when global outrage sparked a massive humanitarian response.

"I was in Darfur 20 years ago, and we had every Hollywood celebrity competing to get on the plane, to get on the bus, to get in the car," he said. "Now we have absolutely no attention on Darfur, no attention on Sudan." The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict since April 2023 that has killed tens of thousands, displaced around 11 million people and seen widespread sexual violence.

UNICEF said more than half of the around 33 million people in need of humanitarian aid in Sudan are children. In Darfur alone, Yet said more than five million children were facing "extreme deprivation". The agency, he said, was therefore launching a new Child Alert for Darfur, where children were "at a breaking point". "Children are being killed and maimed, uprooted from their homes, and pushed into extreme hunger, disease and trauma," he added.

The situation had been particularly dire in El-Fasher in northern Darfur, which was besieged for 18 months before it was captured by RSF forces last October. "Since April 2024, more than 1,500 grave violations against children have been verified in El Fasher, including the killing and maiming of over 1,300 children," he said. Children were also subject to "sexual violence, abductions and recruitment and use by armed groups".

Since the war began, UNICEF said it had documented more than 5,700 grave violations by parties to the conflict against children across the country, including 4,300 maimings. In the first three months of this year, at least 160 children were reportedly killed and 85 injured, it said. UNICEF's appeal for nearly $963 million for Sudan this year was so far only 16-percent funded, the agency saisd.

The crucial waterway saw roughly 20 percent of global crude and liquefied natural gas pass through its waters before the war largely choked off maritime traffic. Leaders and officials from across the Gulf region were greeted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as they arrived in Jeddah, according to images released by Saudi state media.

"During the summit, a number of topics and issues related to regional and international developments were discussed, as well as the coordination of efforts in response to them," the Saudi Press Agency reported. A source close to the government told AFP that "the current political and security situation in the region" was being discussed during the summit. Iran launched waves of missiles and drones targeting the Gulf states in response to US and Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic that began on February 28, badly damaging major energy installations across the region.

A key highlight of the conference is the launch of the Melbourne Declaration, a landmark commitment aimed at rebalancing power, resources, and accountability across the gender equality landscape. The declaration calls on governments to uphold human rights obligations, empowers civil society and feminist movements to hold institutions accountable, and urges international actors to support — rather than replace — locally led initiatives. Speaking ahead of the opening, Dr Maliha Khan underscored the urgency of collective dialogue.

“This is a critical time for humanity. We must come together — from global leaders to grassroots activists — to address the pressing challenges we face and explore how the gender equality movement can help drive meaningful solutions,” she said. Dr Khan highlighted the importance of inclusive discussions, noting that diverse lived experiences would shape the dialogue and help determine future actions. She also stressed that women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals are disproportionately affected by crises such as climate change, militarisation, and conflict.

“They must not only be recognised as the most affected but also be at the forefront of leadership and solutions,” she added, expressing optimism that the current global challenges could create opportunities for transformative change. Hosting the conference in the Oceanic Pacific region for the first time marks a strategic shift in amplifying voices from underrepresented regions. Dr Khan said the choice of location aims to spotlight both the challenges and innovative solutions emerging from the region.

Victoria’s Minister for Women and Girls, Gabrielle Williams, welcomed the global gathering, stating that the region is proud to host one of the world’s largest forums on women’s rights. “Progress for women and girls is not guaranteed — it must be continuously fought for and protected. Bringing global leaders together is essential to sustaining that progress,” she said. Meanwhile, Noelene Nabulivou, Executive Director of DIVA for Equality and Co-Chair of the Regional Steering Committee for the conference, emphasised the significance of the Melbourne Declaration as both a regional and global call to action.

“For too long, decisions affecting our communities were made elsewhere. This declaration demands that power and resources shift to the people and movements driving change on the ground,” she said. The Melbourne Declaration, shaped through extensive global consultation, is expected to serve as a shared political framework to strengthen human rights accountability while centring the leadership of local and national feminist movements worldwide. The conference is expected to conclude on April 30 with renewed commitments and collaborative strategies aimed at advancing gender equality across the globe.

"Operation Midnight Hammer was a complete and total obliteration of the Nuclear Dust sites in Iran," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding: "Therefore, digging it out will be a long and difficult process."

The US leader regularly uses the term "nuclear dust" to refer to Iran's stock of enriched uranium, which the United States accuses Iran of hoarding in order to make an atomic bomb.

But Tehran's cleric-run government declined to confirm that it would participate and accused the United States of violating the truce through its blockade of Iranian ports and seizure of a ship. "By imposing a blockade and violating the ceasefire, Trump wants to turn this negotiating table into a surrender table or justify renewed hostilities, as he sees fit," said Iran's powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who headed the delegations to talks two weeks ago in Pakistan.

"We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the last two weeks we have been preparing to show new cards on the battlefield," he wrote on X. Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned of targeting any vessel attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without permission. Trump has similarly accused Tehran of violating the truce by harassing vessels in the key strait, the transit passage for about a fifth of the world's oil that Iran had all but shut in retaliation for the war launched February 28 by the United States and Israel.

The channel in peacetime sees around 120 daily transits, according to Lloyd's List, a shipping industry intelligence site. On Tuesday, the site reported that more than 20 Iranian so-called "shadow vessels", had transited past the US blockade. In one of a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, Trump insisted that the blockade was "absolutely destroying" Iran and said it will not end "until there is a 'DEAL'," in which the United States is pressing for Iranian concessions on its contested nuclear programme.

Trump told PBS News that Iran was "supposed to be there" at the talks in Pakistan. "We agreed to be there," he said, warning that if the ceasefire expired "then lots of bombs start going off". He separately told Bloomberg News it was "highly unlikely" he would extend the two-week truce. Based on its start time, the truce theoretically expires overnight Tuesday, Tehran time, although in his comments to Bloomberg, Trump said the end was a day later, on Wednesday evening Washington time.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday while most stocks rose on lingering hopes for a deal to end the US-Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even as Tehran said it had not decided whether to attend peace talks. Despite some normalcy of life returning to Tehran during the ceasefire, city residents who spoke to Paris-based AFP journalists said the situation was far from rosy. "Let's see what happens by Tuesday," one 30-year-old doctor said on condition of anonymity. Saghar, 39, said there was little hope for Iranians squeezed by the government and the war's impact, adding that the "economy is horrible".

A separate ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon was announced on Friday and included Hezbollah, whose rocket fire in support of Iran drew Lebanon into the war. Israel and Lebanon, which have no diplomatic relations, will hold a second round of talks on Thursday in Washington, a State Department official told AFP. Sporadic violence continued and Israel's military warned civilians against returning to dozens of villages in southern Lebanon, claiming Hezbollah's activities were violating the truce.

The UN Security Council condemned on Monday the killing of a French peacekeeper in Lebanon, whose death France blamed on Hezbollah. The Frenchman was killed and three others wounded when their unit was ambushed on Saturday as it headed to a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) outpost cut off from the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told AFP that his group would work to break the "Yellow Line" that Israel has established in the south, even as he said it wanted "the ceasefire to continue".

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 2,387 people since the start of the war, a Lebanese government body said in its latest toll. Another major issue in the US-Iran negotiations has been Tehran's stockpile of enriched uranium, which Trump said on Friday it had agreed to hand over. But Iran's foreign ministry has said the stockpile, thought to be buried from US bombing in last June's 12-day war with Israel, was "not going to be transferred anywhere". Spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said handing over uranium was "never raised as an option" in talks with US negotiators.

However, she told Spanish media she declined a meeting with Sanchez because it would not serve the "higher objective" of Venezuela's freedom. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Machado had acted as an "ideological leader" by engaging with only part of Spain's political spectrum. "I sincerely believe that is a mistake. And when it is the far-right faction, it is an even greater mistake," Albares said during an interview with Spanish public radio.

Albares rejected Machado's criticisms as "unfair," noting that Spain has granted refuge to several Venezuelan opposition figures such as Leopoldo López and has offered Machado refuge in Caracas in the past. Machado, who was in hiding before leaving Venezuela in December to collect her Nobel Prize in Oslo, was barred from running for president in the 2024 election, which resulted in longtime leader Nicolas Maduro claiming re-election in a vote the opposition says was rigged.

Since leaving Venezuela, Machado has held talks with world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, as she lobbies for international support for the Venezuelan opposition.

Zelensky did not mention the United States, but President Donald Trump's administration on Friday issued a month-long sanctions waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products that are at sea. The action was intended to bring down soaring energy prices. But the US Treasury Department extension came two days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Washington would not renew the waiver. Zelensky said there were more than 110 tankers carrying Russian oil in breach of international sanctions currently at sea, carrying more than 12 million tonnes of crude "which, due to the easing of sanctions, can once again be sold without consequences.

"That is $10 billion -- a resource that is directly converted into new strikes against Ukraine," Zelensky said. The Ukraine leader said that in the past week, Russia had launched more than 2,360 attack drones, more than 1,320 guided aerial bombs "and nearly 60 missiles of various types at our cities and communities". A 16-year-old boy was killed and four people wounded in one overnight attack on the northern city of Chernihiv, the head of the local administration said Sunday.

Zelensky said: "It is important that Russian tankers are stopped, not allowed to deliver oil to ports. The aggressor's oil exports must decrease, and Ukraine's long-range sanctions continue to work toward that goal."

Sandakan police chief George Abd Rakman was quoted by local English daily The Star as saying that the "very large-scale and heartbreaking incident" affected 9,007 residents. The Sabah Fire and Rescue Department said it was notified of the incident at around 1:32 am (1732 GMT Saturday) and deployed 37 personnel from two stations to battle the fire. "... the fire involved an estimated 1,000 temporary floating homes with a total area of 10 acres and 100 percent burnt," the department said in a statement.

Narrow access routes prevented fire engines from reaching the site, it said. "Low sea tide also made it difficult for firefighters to get access to an open water source," the department's statement said, while strong wind also fuelled the flames. No injuries or fatalities were reported, it said, adding that "there is no more danger".

Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the federal government was coordinating with Sabah authorities to provide assistance and temporary accommodation for those affected as soon as possible. "The priority now is the safety of victims and immediate assistance on the ground," Anwar said in a Facebook post.

- Israeli soldier killed -

Israel's military said a soldier died during combat in southern Lebanon, where fighting has not stopped despite a temporary ceasefire.

It was the second death of a soldier announced by Israel since the start of a 10-day truce announced by the United States began on Friday -- part of wider efforts to bring a permanent end to the Middle East war.

The total Israeli army death toll in the six-week war between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon is now 15, according to an AFP tally based on military figures.

- Hormuz closed -

The strategic Strait of Hormuz remained closed on Sunday, a day after Iran's central military command announced a new closure in response to a US blockade of Iranian ports.

On Friday, Iran had declared the strait -- where around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits -- open after the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire announcement. Oil oil prices plunged amid elation in global markets.

But President Donald Trump insisted the US naval blockade would continue until a deal to end the wider war was concluded, leading Tehran to again close the strait -- a measure Trump called "blackmail".

- Iran says negotiations far from final -

Progress had been made in negotiations with the United States to end the war, Iran's parliamentary speaker said on Saturday, but the two sides remain far from an agreement.

"We are still far from the final discussion," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one of Iran's negotiators, said in a televised address. "We made progress in the negotiations, but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain."

- Iran's death toll -

Iran's state-run Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying the war with the United States and Israel had left 3,468 people dead in the country.

- UN chief condemns peacekeeper death -

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned an attack on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon that left a French soldier dead and three wounded.

France blamed the attack on Hezbollah and Guterres said, in a statement issued by his spokesman, that an initial assessment by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was that it was carried out by the Iran-backed group.

Hezbollah has denied accusations that it was involved.

- Israel hits Lebanon -

The Israeli military said Saturday its air force had eliminated a "terrorist cell" operating near its troops in southern Lebanon, despite the ceasefire there.

Israeli forces also carried out demolitions in Lebanese towns near the border, including Bint Jbeil, the scene of intense fighting with Hezbollah prior to the ceasefire, Lebanese state media reported.

- Iran navy warning -

"We warn that no ship, of any kind, should leave its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman," Iran's Revolutionary Guards navy said in a statement on its official Sepah News website.

"Any attempt to approach the Strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted."

- No one-sided truce -

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Saturday the 10-day truce with Israel cannot be one-sided, vowing that his fighters would respond to Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

"Because we do not trust this enemy, the resistance fighters will remain in the field with their hands on the trigger, and they will respond to violations accordingly," Qassem said in a statement read out on TV.

"There is no ceasefire from the side of the resistance only, it must be from both sides."

A two-week ceasefire is set to end on Wednesday unless it is renewed. US President Donald Trump said meanwhile that "very good conversations" were going on with Iran but warned Tehran against trying to "blackmail" the United States. On Friday, Tehran had declared the Strait of Hormuz, which usually carries a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas, open after a ceasefire was agreed in Israel's war with Iran's ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

This prompted elation in global markets and sent oil prices plunging, but with Trump insisting the blockade of Iranian ports would continue until a deal is struck to end the wider war, Tehran said it was shuttering the strait once more. "If America does not lift the blockade, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will definitely be limited," Ghalibaf said. Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to be seen since taking power, said meanwhile in a written message that Iran's navy "stands ready" to defeat the United States.

Trump, speaking to reporters at a White House event, accused Iran of getting "a little cute" with its recent moves and warned Tehran not to try to "blackmail" Washington with its flip-flopping on the Strait of Hormuz. "We have very good conversations going on," the president said, adding that the United States was "taking a tough stand."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned that any attempt to pass through the strait without permission "will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted." A handful of oil and gas tankers crossed the strait early on Saturday during the brief reopening, tracking data showed, but others retreated and tracking platforms showed hardly any vessels crossing the waterway by the late afternoon.

A UK maritime security agency said the Revolutionary Guards fired at one tanker, while security intelligence firm Vanguard Tech reported the force had threatened to "destroy" an empty cruise ship that was fleeing the Gulf. In a third incident, the UK agency said it received a report of a vessel "being hit by an unknown projectile which caused damage" to shipping containers but no fire. The Indian foreign ministry said it had summoned the Iranian ambassador in New Delhi to lodge a protest over a "shooting incident" involving two Indian-flagged ships in the strait.

On the diplomatic front, Egypt, which has been involved in mediation efforts along with Pakistan, appeared optimistic on Saturday with Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty saying Cairo and Islamabad hoped to secure a final agreement "in the coming days." Two major sticking points in the talks have been Iran's stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium and the future of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump declared Friday that Iran had agreed to hand over its 440 or so kilograms of enriched uranium. "We're going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators," he said.

Iran's foreign ministry has said the stockpile, thought to be buried deep under rubble from US bombing in last June's 12-day war, was "not going to be transferred anywhere" and surrendering it "to the US has never been raised in negotiations." The Middle East war began on February 28 with a massive wave of US-Israeli surprise attacks on Iran, despite Washington and Tehran being engaged in negotiations at the time.

The conflict rapidly spread across the region, with Iran targeting neighboring Gulf countries and Hezbollah dragging Lebanon into the conflict by launching rockets at Israel. A French soldier was killed and three others wounded in an ambush on Saturday on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon that French President Emmanuel Macron blamed on Hezbollah, an accusation the group denied. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack in a statement and said an initial assessment by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) found it was carried out by Hezbollah.

The top two candidates go to a runoff election, and a close race has emerged for a spot in the next round between leftist Roberto Sanchez, who received 12 percent of the vote, and ultra-conservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga, with 11.9 percent. The gap between the two increased slightly Saturday to 13,600 votes. Clavijo attributed the slow vote count to the review of more than 15,000 challenged ballots, about 30 percent of which involve the presidential vote and the remainder related to legislative elections.

Lopez Aliaga, the former mayor of capital Lima, has emerged as the harshest critic of the vote's delays. He has alleged fraud, without providing evidence, and called for the vote to be annulled. He called on supporters of his Popular Renewal Party to march on Sunday in protest. Sanchez, for his part, also criticized the vote, telling a press conference Saturday: "These serious organizational issues must be investigated and there must be appropriate sanctions." A record 35 candidates ran for president in the chronically unstable Andean nation, where four of the last eight presidents were impeached by Congress.

The election was marked by delays in the delivery of election materials that forced authorities to extend voting into Monday in parts of the capital Lima. The European Union's election observer mission nonetheless gave the election a clean bill of health. On Friday, prosecutors raided a warehouse of the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), which organizes the vote, and four officials have been reported to JNE for alleged crimes against the right to vote.

"The saw is my body," Kim told AFP in her studio in Paju, a city northwest of the capital Seoul. "When I lift it and cut (the wood), it has to move exactly like me -- the saw has to become me, and I have to become the saw." Hoam is exhibiting about 170 of Kim's sculptures and paintings, reflecting her reverence for nature and blending spirituality with meditations on existence, material and form.

Born in 1935 in Wonsan, now in North Korea, she grew up playing alone in the countryside, talking to trees and rice paddies, and making eyeglasses out of sorghum stalks. At the time, Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. Kim saw her older brother disappear after joining the independence movement, and pine trees in her town cut down for fuel. "Those trees were my friends," she said, recalling the pain of seeing them uprooted -- and her drive to salvage and transform them into works of sculpture.

"I think I wanted them to endure -- to keep living on within that (art) form. Maybe that's why I've loved working with wood so much." Kim's family fled south during the horrors of the Korean War, and she later studied in France before returning to become an art professor in Seoul. South Korea was then under a brutal military dictatorship. Authorities held artists in suspicion: a friend of Kim's was interrogated simply for using red, a colour associated with North Korean communism.

"Women, in particular, were virtually invisible," she told AFP, noting that her superiors would comment on the length of her skirt and tell her to refrain from smoking on college campuses. At 48, drawn by the abundant trees in Argentina, she made the unusual choice to move to the South American nation, then just restoring democracy after a dictatorship of its own. She ended up staying for 40 years, taking up chainsaw carving.

Kim focused on dense, durable wood such as palo santo and "algarrobo", and also worked with quarries in Mexico and Brazil, experimenting with stone sculpture using materials such as onyx and sodalite. She managed to forge her "own artistic world, nourished by the country's culture and nature", Tae Hyun-sun, senior curator at Hoam, told AFP. Like many women artists of her generation, Kim has only recently gained global recognition, said Rachel Lehmann, the co-founder of Lehmann Maupin which represents Kim internationally and has shown her work in London and New York.

"Her perseverance and lifelong dedication have helped pave the way for subsequent generations of women artists," she told AFP. Kim returned to South Korea after a major 2023 solo show in Seoul that propelled her to the Venice Biennale the following year. Among her former mentees in Buenos Aires is Korean-Argentine filmmaker Cecilia Kang, 40, an award-winning director who is now making a film about her.

As the daughter of Korean immigrants, she felt pressure to follow a conventional path, but Kim -- whom Kang first met when she was 13 -- showed her "that pursuing a life doing what one loves is possible". At 15, Kim, who was a war refugee, changed her name to Yun Shin - "truth and faith" - on the advice of a monk who urged her to spend her life discovering her "true colour". Those words have always "stayed vivid with me", she said. "Sometimes I feel they are what have carried me through this life."

"Our military detected several unidentified ballistic missiles fired into the East Sea from the Sinpo area of North Korea at around 06:10 (GMT 21:10)," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to a body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. "We have strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for possible additional launches," it added. South Korea's presidential office said it would hold an emergency security meeting over the launches.

Analysts said the tests signalled Pyongyang's latest rejection of attempts by Seoul to repair strained ties. Among them was an expression of regret from Seoul over civilian drone incursions into the North in January, a gesture initially described as "very fortunate and wise behaviour" by Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader. But this month, a senior North Korean official described the South as "the enemy state most hostile" to Pyongyang, reviving a label previously used by leader Kim.

North Korea is subject to multiple United Nations sanctions banning its nuclear weapons development and use of ballistic missile technology, restrictions it has repeatedly flouted. Earlier in April, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw tests of strategic cruise missiles launched from a naval warship, with official photos showing him watching the firings flanked by military officials. Those tests were carried out from the Choe Hyon, one of two 5,000-ton destroyers in the North's arsenal, both launched last year as Kim seeks to ramp up the country's naval capabilities.

The North is also building two more 5,000-ton class destroyers to add to its fleet. A South Korean lawmaker said this month that North Korea appeared to be speeding up construction of a destroyer at the western port city of Nampo, where South Korea said Sunday's missiles were launched from. Citing satellite imagery from a US-based intelligence firm, Yoo Yong-won of the opposition People Power Party said North Korea was "accelerating the naval forces' modernisation on the back of military assistance from Russia". North Korea has sent ground troops and artillery shells to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is receiving military technology assistance from Moscow in return.

- Iran says negotiations far from final -

Progress had been made in negotiations with the United States to end the war, Iran's parliamentary speaker said on Saturday night, but added the sides were still far from an agreement.

"We are still far from the final discussion," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also one of Iran's negotiators, said in a national televised address, adding "we made progress in the negotiations, but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain".

- Iran's death toll -

Iran's state-run Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying Saturday that the war with the United States and Israel had killed 3,468 people in the Islamic republic.

- Israeli military says soldier killed in Lebanon -

The Israeli military said on Saturday that a soldier was killed the day before in southern Lebanon, where a ceasefire came into effect earlier this week.

Command Sergeant Barak Kalfon, 48, died after being wounded on Friday in an incident that also injured three other soldiers, the military said.

- UN chief condemns peacekeeper death -

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned on Saturday an attack on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon that left a French soldier dead and three wounded.

France blamed the attack on Hezbollah and Guterres said, in a statement issued by his spokesman, that an initial assessment by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was that it was carried out by the Iranian-backed group.

Hezbollah had denied France's accusations that it was involved in the attack.

"Hezbollah denies any connection to the incident that occurred with UNIFIL forces in the Ghandouriyeh-Bint Jbeil area, and calls for caution in making judgements and assigning responsibilities regarding the incident pending the Lebanese army's investigations to determine the full circumstances of the incident," the group said.

- Israel demolishes buildings in south Lebanon -

Israeli forces on Saturday carried out demolitions in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil -- about five kilometers from the border -- the scene of intense fighting with Hezbollah prior to the recently agreed 10-day truce, Lebanese state media reported.

"The Israeli enemy is repeating its house detonating operations in the town of Bint Jbeil," Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said, also reporting demolitions in other border towns where Israeli troops are present.

- Iran navy warning -

"We warn that no ship, of any kind, should leave its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. Any attempt to approach the Strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted," the navy of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on its official Sepah News website.

- No one-sided truce -

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said the ongoing 10-day truce with Israel cannot be one-sided, vowing that his fighters would respond to Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

"Because we do not trust this enemy, the resistance fighters will remain in the field with their hands on the trigger, and they will respond to violations accordingly," Qassem said in a statement read out on TV.

"There is no ceasefire from the side of the resistance only, it must be from both sides."

- Israel hits Lebanon -

The Israeli military said its air force had eliminated a "terrorist cell" operating near its troops in southern Lebanon, despite the ceasefire there.

"The IDF eliminated a terrorist cell operating in proximity to IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon, in the area of the forward defence line dedicated to preventing imminent threats to Israel's northern communities," it said, without specifying how many suspected militants were killed.

- Trump warns against 'blackmail' -

US President Donald Trump warned Iran not to "blackmail" Washington with the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran declared the strategic waterway once again closed.

"We're talking to them. They wanted to close up the strait again -- you know, as they've been doing for years -- and they can't blackmail us," Trump said at a White House event.

The 62-year-old has presented himself as a defender of the poor of the EU's poorest country as he walks a tightrope on European issues. He has hailed the benefits Bulgaria has reaped from EU membership while calling for dialogue with Russia as its invasion of Ukraine rages into a fifth year of fighting. "Bulgaria is in a unique position, because we are the only EU member state that is both Slavic and Eastern Orthodox. That should be used," Radev, who was president for nine years, said recently.

"And we really can be a very important link in this whole process, which I am sure will sooner or later begin, to restore relations with Russia," Radev added. Last year he called for a referendum on Bulgaria entering the eurozone, saying it was not ready to join. But he failed and Bulgaria adopted the single European currency on January 1.

Radev has also slammed military aid to Ukraine and the EU trying to turn its back on Russian oil and gas. "Geographically, economically, in terms of resources and as a market, we need to rebuild those relations," he insisted. For sociologist Parvan Simeonov, Radev is hard to figure out like many leaders in the region who, "depending on the visiting delegation, choose whether or not to fly the Ukrainian flag in the background." Radev insists he embodies distrust of the country's elites and oligarchs, denying any links to them.

A graduate of the elite US Air War College, he later served as the head of the Bulgarian Air Force. But he moved into politics in 2016 and later won a presidential election to the mostly ceremonial post. Born on June 18, 1963 in the southeastern Soviet-era new town of Dimitrovgrad, the austere and reserved man does not have the polish of seasoned communicators. When he vows to regulate public tenders through artificial intelligence or to reform the much?criticised judicial system, he sometimes gives the impression of reciting a memorised text.

But he won over many liberal pro-European voters when he openly supported protesters at 2020 rallies against corruption. Radev walked out of the presidential palace with his fist raised to join the protests that ultimately toppled conservative prime minister Boyko Borisov a year later. Radev was re?elected head of state in 2021 with two-thirds of the vote. Late last year he once again backed anti-corruption protesters and when the last government resigned in December, he stepped down as president to run as premier.

Simeonov said Radev's status as "the most popular leader" in the polls would put him in a decent position to negotiate a coalition after the election, leaving out discredited parties. Radev's centre-left movement, Progressive Bulgaria, brings together a plethora of figures including military officers, former socialist officials and athletes, and the union leader of the country's main arms manufacturer, which has boomed from supplying Ukraine's army.

Radev is campaigning on combatting social inequalities and promoting budgetary discipline without calling for radical change, said Simeonov. His promises of a return to stability appeals to voters tired of facing election after election. Married with two children and intensely patriotic, Radev also woos voters with a modest lifestyle and his defence of what he calls family values. A recent campaign video shot in a village shop went viral showing Radev soothing the grocer upset with rising prices and Bulgaria's eurozone entry.

He stepped down earlier this year to lead newly formed centre-left grouping Progressive Bulgaria, with opinion polls before Sunday's vote suggesting the bloc could gain 35 percent of the vote. Radev has said he wants to rid the country of its "oligarchic governance model" and backed anti-corruption protests in late 2025 that brought down the conservative-backed government. "Radev's cause is for Bulgaria to have a future. We have reached a point where we are questioning the very future of our own country," Lazar Lazarov, a 28-year-old philosophy teacher, told AFP at Radev's final campaign rally in Sofia earlier this week.

"Radev has proven himself as president and as a statesman. He's the one who is most acceptable for the EU, the United States, Russia and, if you like, even for China." Borissov's pro-European GERB party is likely to come second, according to opinion polls, with around 20 percent, ahead of the liberal PP-DB. Polling stations will open at 0400 GMT and close at 1700 GMT.

Radev has slammed the EU's green energy policy, which he considers naive "in a world without rules", as well as any Bulgarian efforts to send arms to Ukraine battling a Russian invasion since 2022. Pushing for renewed ties with Russia, Radev denounced a 10-year defence agreement between Sofia and Kyiv that was signed last month, which earned him fresh accusations from his opponents of being too soft on Moscow. The ex-president also stoked dismay by screening images at his rally on Thursday of his meetings with world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin.

In a wave of outrage among pro-European voters on social media, hundreds of users shared a screenshot as proof that Radev sides with the Kremlin. At the event itself, however, in Bulgaria's largest indoor arena, supporters received Radev with cheers, which he cut short with a military-style "at ease!" to laughter from the audience. "We need to close ranks," he told some 10,000 supporters, presenting his party as non-corrupt "alternative to the perverse cartel of old-style parties".

Borissov, who headed the country virtually uninterrupted for close to a decade, has dismissed suggestions that Radev brings something "new". At a rally of his party earlier this week, he insisted GERB had "fulfilled the dreams of the 1990s" with such achievements as the country joining the eurozone this year. Radev has vowed to avoid a coalition with GERB after the election and also ruled out cooperation with Delyan Peevski, heading the DPS party and sanctioned for corruption by the United States and Britain. Instead, Radev said he was aiming at an absolute majority in the 240-seat parliament.

A lack of trust in politics has affected voter turnout, which slumped to 39 percent in the last election in 2024. But with Radev rallying voters, high turnout is expected, according to analyst Boryana Dimitrova from the Alpha Research polling institute. Political parties have called on Bulgarians to show up for the polls, also to curb the impact of vote buying. In recent weeks, police have seized more than one million euros in raids against vote buying in stepped-up operations. They have also detained hundreds of people, including local councillors and mayors.

"We are still far from the final discussion," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also one of Iran's negotiators, said in a national televised address, adding "we made progress in the negotiations, but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain".

"We were victorious in the field," Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a national televised address, adding the United States had not achieved its goals and Iran controlled the strategic Strait of Hormuz maritime transit route. "If we accepted the ceasefire, it was because they accepted our demands," he said, referring to the United States.

"The enemy's every effort was to impose its demands on us and it is important that we register our rights, so this is where negotiation is a method of struggle." Ghalibaf and his delegation held closed door talks in Islamabad with US Vice President JD Vance on April 11, in the highest level Iran-US contacts since before the 1979 Islamic revolution. The talks did not result in a final deal and officials have signalled mediations are continuing, though Iran's deputy foreign minister said on Saturday no date had been set for a new round of talks.

The countries, in a joint statement issued by Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called for a "sincere and respectful dialogue" in line with international law. The purpose of such a dialogue should be to "find a lasting solution to the current situation and to ensure that it is the Cuban people themselves who decide their own future in full freedom," the statement said. The appeal came as a summit of leftist leaders is taking place in Barcelona, led by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of the biggest critics of the United States and Israel's bombing campaigns in the Middle East.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were among the attendees, who called for efforts to "protect democracy." Cuba has been bracing for a possible attack following repeated warnings from Trump that Cuba is "next" after he toppled Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro and went to war against Iran. Trump has imposed an oil blockade of Cuba, aggravating the impoverished island's worst economic and energy crisis in decades.

She will have access to Elizabeth's personal and official papers held in the Royal Archives, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. She will also be able to talk to members of the royal family and the queen's friends and household staff, the palace added. Keay described Elizabeth as "an extraordinary woman, whose life spanned a century of great change".

"I am deeply grateful to His Majesty The King for entrusting me with this responsibility and for granting me access to her papers, and will do all I can to do justice to her life and work," she said. Official royal biographies can sometimes reveal unexpected details about the subject's life. William Shawcross's official biography of Elizabeth's mother, the wife of George VI, revealed how she suffered from bowel cancer in her 60s but was successfully treated.

The total Israeli army death toll in the six-week war between Israel and Hezbollah was now 15, according to an AFP tally based on military figures. It was the second death announced by Israel of a soldier in southern Lebanon since the start of a ten-day truce announced by the United States began on Friday -- part of wider efforts to bring a permanent end to the Middle East war.

The latest round of fighting in Lebanon -- one of the fronts in the regional war -- had began on March 2 when Tehran-backed Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel to avenge the death of its supreme leader in the opening wave of Israeli-US strikes on Iran. Israel then responded with a strikes it said targeted Hezbollah in Beirut and the southern parts of the country where it had also launched a ground operation.

Roberts-Smith was granted bail on Friday after a high-profile arrest on five counts of "war crime -- murder", with police alleging he was complicit in a string of unlawful killings between 2009 and 2012. The Victoria Cross recipient has denied all the charges. "I'm proud of my service in Afghanistan. While I was there, I always acted within my values," he said on Sunday.

Police said the six adult remains included four male and two female corpses, with all but one of the men found with identification tags. Two of the bodies, one male and one female, had signs indicating autopsies had been performed on them. "The TTPS stresses that this is an active and developing investigation, and further forensic analysis is underway to determine the origin of the remains and any associated breaches of law or procedure," the statement said.

Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro called the discovery "deeply troubling," saying his agency was handling the case "with urgency, sensitivity and unwavering commitment to uncovering the truth." Trinidad and Tobago, an English-speaking archipelago nation located about 10 kilometers (six miles) off the Venezuelan coast, has reckoned in recent years with rising violent crime, recording 623 murders in 2024 among the population of 1.5 million.

A US State Department report said the murder rate of 37 per 100,000 people made Trinidad and Tobago the sixth most dangerous nation in the world in 2023. The murder rate fell 42 percent the following year, but Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar declared a state of emergency in March due to another rise in violent crime.

"The attacker has been eliminated," he said, offering condolences to the victims' families. An AFP reporter saw the supermarket -- which had blood stains on its shop window -- cordoned off by a heavy security presence, with officers wearing bulletproof vests and crime investigators arriving at the scene. An employee of the supermarket, Tetyana, told AFP that she had heard sounds "in the store, like champagne being popped or balloons bursting several times. Then the customers started shouting, 'Run!'".

"There's a spot where you can hide behind the refrigerators, and we ran there. I heard a man moaning," she recounted, her voice trembling. Footage posted by the UNIAN news agency, which AFP was unable to immediately verify, showed a man carrying a gun and shooting at a person from close range near a block of flats. The assailant's motive was not immediately known.

Zelensky urged "a swift investigation" into the shooting and said that all the circumstances of the incident were being established. Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said the standoff between the assailant and police negotiators at the supermarket lasted around 40 minutes. "We tried to persuade him. Realising that there was likely an injured person inside, we offered to bring in tourniquets to stop the bleeding. But he didn't respond," Klymenko told reporters at the scene.

"That's why the order was given to eliminate him," he added. The man is also suspected of having set fire to his apartment near the supermarket, according to the authorities. "I called the fire department as soon as I saw smoke coming out of the apartment," Lyubym Gleyevyi, 24, who lives on the floor just above, told AFP. "We had come home five minutes earlier; it's a miracle we didn't run into him," he said.

Fellow neighbour Ganna Kulyk said that he spoke very little and had been living in that apartment "for 10 years". The prosecutor's office confirmed it had opened a terrorism investigation into the incident and that the suspect was a man born in Moscow in 1968. Interior ministry spokeswoman Mariana Reva however told AFP that "so far there is no confirmation that he had Russian citizenship". Ukraine, which has been fighting a more than four-year-long war with Russia, has seen sporadic shooting incidents but has a relatively low crime rate. Last year, a man shot dead two people in a Kyiv suburb in a dispute over the sale of a firearm.

The commission was "conducting monitoring", chairwoman Anis Hidayah told AFP Sunday. She added there was a "strong suspicion" that Indonesian soldiers were responsible. The military did not respond to a request for comment. Local media reported the military's Habema task force in Papua as saying its forces had killed four members of the independence guerrilla movement in an "armed contact" in Kembru, and that they are investigating a report of a fatal shooting that killed a child in another village.

Komnas-HAM, which is part of the Indonesian state system but functions independently, said any operation that resulted in civilian casualties "cannot be justified on any grounds". "Any form of attack against civilians, whether occurring in situations of war or otherwise, and whether perpetrated by state or non-state actors, constitutes a violation of human rights and international humanitarian law," the commission said in a statement Saturday. It urged restraint from all sides and called on the military to re-evaluate its operations against Papuan rebels.

Papua, which shares its main island with Papua New Guinea, is a former Dutch colony that declared independence in 1961. Indonesia, however, took control two years later, followed by a 1969 referendum in which 1,000 Papuans out of a population of some 800,000 voted to integrate into the country. Papuan independence activists regularly criticise the vote and call for fresh polls, which Jakarta has rejected, citing UN acceptance of its sovereignty over the region.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament, said in a televised address on Saturday night that there had been "progress" with Washington "but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain". "We are still far from the final discussion," said Ghalibaf, one of Tehran's negotiators in the talks aimed at ending the war launched by Israel and the United States against the Islamic republic.

A two-week ceasefire is set to end on Wednesday unless it is renewed. US President Donald Trump said "very good conversations" were going on with Iran but warned Tehran against trying to "blackmail" the United States. On Friday, Tehran had declared the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits, open after a temporary ceasefire was agreed to halt Israel's war with Iran's ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

That prompted elation in global markets and sent oil prices plunging, but Tehran reversed course after Trump insisted the US blockade of Iranian ports would continue until a final deal was struck. "If America does not lift the blockade, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will definitely be limited," Ghalibaf said. Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to be seen since taking power after his father was killed in the war's opening strikes, said in a written message that Iran's navy "stands ready" to defeat the United States.

Trump accused Iran of getting "a little cute" with its recent moves and warned Tehran not to try to "blackmail" Washington by flip-flopping on the strait. "We have very good conversations going on," the president told reporters at the White House, adding that the United States was "taking a tough stand". Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned that any attempt to pass through the strait without permission "will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted".

A handful of oil and gas tankers crossed the strait early on Saturday during the brief reopening, tracking data showed, but others retreated and hardly any vessels were crossing the waterway by the late afternoon. A UK maritime security agency said the Revolutionary Guards fired at one tanker, while security intelligence firm Vanguard Tech reported the force had threatened to "destroy" an empty cruise ship that was fleeing the Gulf.

In a third incident, the UK agency said it received a report of a vessel "being hit by an unknown projectile, which caused damage" to shipping containers but no fire. The Indian foreign ministry said it had summoned the Iranian ambassador to lodge a protest over a "shooting incident" involving two Indian-flagged ships in the strait. On the diplomatic front, Egypt, which has been involved in mediation efforts with Pakistan, appeared optimistic on Saturday with Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty saying Cairo and Islamabad hoped to secure a final agreement "in the coming days".

A major sticking point has been Iran's stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium. Trump said Friday that Iran had agreed to hand over its roughly 440 kilograms of enriched uranium. "We're going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators," he said. Iran's foreign ministry has said the stockpile, thought to be buried deep under rubble from US bombing in last June's 12-day war, was "not going to be transferred anywhere" and surrendering it "to the US has never been raised in negotiations". The Middle East war began on February 28 with a massive wave of US-Israeli attacks on Iran, despite Washington and Tehran being engaged in negotiations at the time.

The conflict rapidly spread across the region, with Iran targeting neighbouring Gulf countries that are home to US military bases, and Iran-backed Hezbollah dragging Lebanon into the war by launching rockets at Israel. A French soldier was killed and three others wounded in an ambush on Saturday on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon that France's president blamed on Hezbollah, an accusation the group denied. Israel's military reported that two of its soldiers had also been killed in combat in southern Lebanon since the start of a 10-day truce on Friday between Israel and Lebanon.

The remarks continued a theme of his 11-day tour during which he has delivered pointed warnings against corruption and the plunder of the continent's resources. The trip started in Algeria on Monday, overshadowed by a war of words with President Donald Trump. The US president criticised the American pope as "weak" last weekend after he called for an end to the conflict in the Middle East. Leo said on the plane from Cameroon to Angola on Saturday that he regretted that some of his comments during his African visit had been interpreted as a response to Trump's jibes.

He used as an example a reference to "tyrants" during one of his addresses in Cameroon, saying this speech had been written well before Trump's remarks. It is "not in my interest at all" to debate the US leader, he told journalists. Tens of thousands of people are expected to turn out to meet Leo, who was elected a year ago, for the mass at Kilamba on the outskirts of the capital, Luanda.

From there, he travels 110 kilometres (70 miles) by helicopter to the town of Muxima, Angola's most venerated pilgrimage site, where a 300-year-old church overlooks a river that was once a major slave trading route. The church, with a statue of the Virgin Mary known affectionately as "Mama Muxima", draws roughly two million pilgrims a year and large crowds are expected to meet the pope there on Sunday. Angola's Portuguese colonial settlers built the church to baptise slaves before they were transported down the Kwanza River to the Atlantic and on to the Americas.

The government has embarked on a massive multi-million-euro project to build a basilica, houses and public services in the town. The project has sparked criticism over the government's spending priorities in a country which, though rich in resources like oil and diamonds, is marked by poverty and inequality. "The pope comes to Angola fully aware of the reality our country is facing, particularly in terms of stark social asymmetries and inequalities, which also stem from the unequal distribution of wealth," Catholic lawyer Domingos das Neves told AFP.

"Naturally, the pope cannot avoid addressing the issue of social justice in his official statements during his pastoral visit to our country," he told AFP. "Angola is in great need of a guiding light to illuminate our collective efforts -- both within ecclesiastical institutions and the state -- so that we do not forget the poor and the destitute," he said. Poverty was partly blamed for a three-day looting spree in July last year when around 30 people were killed in what critics said was a heavy-handed police response.

Analysts said the unrest signalled dissatisfaction with Lourenco's socialist MPLA party, which has held power since independence in 1975. On Monday, Leo is due to travel more than 800 kilometres from the capital to visit a retirement home in Saurimo and celebrate another mass before departing the following morning. He will then travel on to Equatorial Guinea, the final stop of a whirlwind 18,000-kilometre journey across the continent.

Israeli strikes on bridges that cross Lebanon's Litani river, which flows around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Israel, have largely cut off the area south of the waterway from the rest of Lebanon, according to the army. On Friday a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect after the first direct talks between the two sides in decades, bringing a pause to weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed nearly 2,300 people and displaced more than a million. Since the truce began, Lebanon's military and local authorities have been working to reopen roads that were blocked due to Israeli strikes.

The vital Qasmiyeh bridge was also reopened on Friday morning, allowing countless people displaced from southern Lebanon by the fighting to return to the area and check on their property. However, many residents have remained hesitant to venture back with the longevity of the truce uncertain. On Saturday, an AFP correspondent in the southern city of Sidon saw heavy traffic heading to Beirut as displaced southerners returned to temporary homes and shelters in the capital after briefly visiting southern areas.

Earlier that day, Hezbollah official Mahmud Qamati warned that "Israeli treachery is expected at any time, and this is a temporary truce". "Take a breath, relax a little, but do not abandon the places you have taken refuge in until we are completely reassured about your return," he said. The Israeli military has carried out strikes and demolitions in southern Lebanon despite the truce. It also said Saturday that it had established a "yellow line", similar to one in the Palestinian territory of Gaza that separates Israeli forces from areas held by militant group Hamas.

"The missiles flew approximately 140 kilometres (87 miles), and South Korean and US intelligence authorities are conducting a detailed analysis of their exact specifications," it added. Seoul was maintaining a "firm combined defence posture" with its security ally the United States, which stations about 28,000 troops in the South to help it defend against military threats from the North, and will "respond overwhelmingly to any provocation", it said. South Korea's presidential office said it held an emergency security meeting over the launches.

Analysts said the tests signalled Pyongyang's latest rejection of attempts by Seoul to repair strained ties. Among them was an expression of regret from Seoul over civilian drone incursions into the North in January, a gesture initially described as "very fortunate and wise behaviour" by Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader.

But this month, a senior North Korean official described the South as "the enemy state most hostile" to Pyongyang, reviving a label previously used by leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea is subject to multiple United Nations sanctions banning its nuclear weapons development and use of ballistic missile technology, restrictions it has repeatedly flouted. "Pyongyang must immediately halt its successive missile provocations that are heightening tensions," Seoul's defence ministry said in a statement.

The North should "actively engage in the South Korean government's efforts to establish peace", it added. Earlier in April, Kim Jong Un oversaw tests of strategic cruise missiles launched from a naval warship, with official photos showing him watching the firings flanked by military officials. Those tests were carried out from the Choe Hyon, one of two 5,000-ton destroyers in the North's arsenal, both launched last year as Kim Jong Un seeks to ramp up the country's naval capabilities.

The North is also building two more 5,000-ton class destroyers to add to its fleet. A South Korean lawmaker said this month that North Korea appeared to be speeding up construction of a destroyer at the western port city of Nampo. Citing satellite imagery from a US-based intelligence firm, Yoo Yong-won of the opposition People Power Party said North Korea was "accelerating the naval forces' modernisation on the back of military assistance from Russia". North Korea has sent ground troops and artillery shells to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is receiving military technology assistance from Moscow in return.

- Iran threatens to close Hormuz again -

Iran will close the strategic Strait of Hormuz again if the United States continues its blockade of Iranian ports, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Saturday.

"With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open," Ghalibaf wrote on X, adding that passage through the waterway would depend on authorisation from Iran.

- Trump says US will bring uranium back from Iran -

President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States and Iran would jointly remove uranium from Tehran's nuclear sites with excavators under any peace deal, before the material is transferred to US territory.

Trump's comment came despite Iran's foreign ministry saying earlier that the Islamic Republic's stockpile of enriched uranium would not be transferred "anywhere."

- Oil prices drop, stocks soar -

Wall Street topped records Friday after Iran's announcement reopening the Strait of Hormuz sent oil prices tumbling from a peak of nearly $120 a barrel to $90.38 for the Brent.

- Lebanon-Israel 'agreements' -

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that his country was on the verge of a "new phase" of "permanent agreements" and no longer an "arena" for anyone's wars, after a ceasefire in with Israel-Hezbollah war went into force.

Aoun added that direct talks with Israel were "not a sign of weakness nor a concession... negotiations do not mean, and will never mean, giving up any right, conceding any principle, or compromising the sovereignty of this nation".

- Kurds killed -

Drone and rocket strikes in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region killed three Iranian Kurds, including two women fighters, an exiled opposition group said, blaming the attack on Iran.

- Iran deal 'very close' -

US President Donald Trump told AFP there were "no sticking points" left for a peace deal with Iran, adding that an agreement was "very close".

"We're very close to having a deal," Trump said in a brief telephone interview. Asked what unresolved issues were left, Trump said: "No sticking points."

- Boeing's war boost -

The Middle East war has so far boosted Boeing's defence business and hasn't affected deliveries to airline customers confronting high jet fuel prices, the company's CEO said.

Kelly Ortberg cited a recent agreement with the US military to triple production of PAC-3 seekers, which identify and strike hostile aircraft and weapons, as an example of increased demand due to the war.

- One killed despite truce -

Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike on a motorcycle in the south killed one person, despite the start of a 10-day ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

- Israel killed 2,300 in Lebanon -

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed nearly 2,300 people since March 2, Lebanon's health ministry said, on the first day of the ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

In a statement, the ministry said that at least 2,294 have been killed, in a preliminary toll that included 274 women, 177 children and 100 health workers and rescuers.

- France, UK Hormuz mission -

France and the UK will lead a multinational mission to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz as "soon as conditions allow", UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said after co-chairing a meeting on the issue with French President Emmanuel Macron.

"Somebody said, how are we going to get the nuclear dust? We're going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators," Trump told a gathering of the conservative Turning Point USA movement in Phoenix, Arizona. "We need the biggest excavators you can imagine," he added. "But we're going to go in together with Iran. We're going to get it. We're going to take it back home to the USA very soon."

Trump's comments elaborated on his claim on Thursday that Iran had agreed to hand over its enriched uranium, but without giving any details on such a transfer. The US leader regularly uses the term "nuclear dust" to refer to Iran's stock of enriched uranium, which the United States accuses Iran of hoarding in order to make an atomic bomb.

But he has also sometimes used it to refer to material left from US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities in June last year. Trump sounded increasingly upbeat on Friday about the chances of a peace deal with Iran, telling AFP on Friday there were "no sticking points" and a deal was "very close." His remarks on Iran came during a speech to Turning Point USA, where he was introduced by Erika Kirk, the widow of the group's founder Charlie Kirk -- a Trump ally who was assassinated in September.

"No matter how deep the disagreements may be, we must not allow words to be replaced again by weapons," he said, adding that "the shortest cut to peace is constructive dialogue and diplomacy". The foreign ministers of Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt met later on Friday on the sidelines of the forum, hours after Tehran declared Hormuz open to commercial shipping. A photo released by the Turkish foreign ministry showed the foreign ministers of four countries meeting in a diplomatic setting.

Pakistan has sought to position itself as a key regional mediator, having hosted rare talks between Iran and the United States last weekend that ended without a breakthrough. The White House said further talks with Iran would "very likely" take place in Islamabad, where Vice President JD Vance led the US delegation during the previous round of negotiations. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who met Qatar's ruler in Doha on Thursday as part of a regional tour, attended the opening of the Antalya forum and also met Erdogan on its margins on Friday.

"We will continue to provide all the support we can to ensure that the ongoing temporary ceasefire turns into a permanent one," a Turkish defence ministry source said on Thursday. The source added that Ankara hoped the war "whose effects are being felt increasingly not only regionally but also globally" would end swiftly, with all parties engaging constructively in negotiations. Turkey, a vocal critic of Israel, has joined diplomatic efforts with Egypt and Pakistan to help secure a ceasefire in the conflict, while maintaining that the truce should also apply to Lebanon.

Erdogan did not comment directly on the latest ceasefire reached between Israel and Lebanon but warned against attempts to derail talks. "We must be prepared and vigilant against Israel's attempts to dynamite the negotiation process," he said. Turning to the Strait of Hormuz, Erdogan said access to the waterway must not be restricted. His words came shortly before Iran's declaration.

"One side of Hormuz is Iran, while the other side is Oman. The right of Gulf countries to access open seas must not be restricted," he told the forum, calling for freedom of navigation "based on established rules" and for the strait to remain open to commercial vessels. More than 150 countries are taking part in the gathering, including more than 20 heads of state and government. Among those attending are Syrian President Ahmed al?Sharaa and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Speaking earlier on Friday, Sharaa said he could consider "long?term negotiations" with Israel over the disputed Golan Heights if Israel agreed to withdraw from recently occupied Syrian territories. Since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al?Assad in December 2024, Israel has deployed troops into a UN?patrolled buffer zone that for decades separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform earlier Friday: "The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear 'Dust,' created by our great B2 Bombers," referring to enriched uranium buried by US strikes last year. But Baqaei said recent talks centred on solving the conflict and not on recovering Iran's uranium. "The previous negotiations focused on the nuclear issue, but now the negotiations are focused on ending the war, and naturally the range of topics discussed has become wider and more diverse," he said.

"The 10-point plan for lifting sanctions is very important to us. The issue of compensation for the damages incurred during the imposed war is of particular importance." He also took aim at Trump for posting on his Truth Social platform Friday that the US naval blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place until a peace deal with Tehran was reached, despite Tehran declaring the Strait of Hormuz reopened.

"The opening and closing of the Strait of Hormuz, does not take place on internet, it is determined in the field, and our armed forces certainly know how to behave in response to any action by the other side," said Baqaei. "What they call a naval blockade will definitely be met with an appropriate response from Iran. A naval blockade is a violation of the ceasefire and Iran will definitely take the necessary measures." His comments came after US news outlet Axios reported that Washington and Tehran were negotiating a plan that would include Washington releasing $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in return for Iran giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium.

Tehran still possesses a significant quantity of uranium enriched both to 60 percent, close to the 90-percent level required to make an atomic bomb, as well as a stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 percent, another critical threshold. Prior to US strikes in June 2025, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) calculated that Iran possessed approximately 440 kilogrammes of uranium enriched to 60 percent, well above the 3.67-percent limit set by a 2015 agreement from which the United States subsequently withdrew. Since June 2025, the fate of this stockpile has remained uncertain, with Tehran refusing access to IAEA inspectors at the sites ravaged by US and Israeli strikes. 

A spokesman for German transportation giant Hapag-Lloyd, which has ships stuck in the Gulf, told AFP by phone that the reopening was "in general... good news". But he cautioned that shippers still needed details of what route vessels could take and in what order, citing fears of sea mines. "One thousand ships cannot just go now to the entrance of the strait, that will be chaos. They (the Iranians) need to give clear orders," said the spokesman, Nils Haupt.

"We would be ready to go very soon if some of these open questions can be solved within the weekend." Bloomberg data indicated there were about 770 vessels used for carrying commodities sending transponder signals inside the Gulf on Thursday, of which about 360 were oil and gas carriers. Before the war, average daily crossings of the strait overall numbered about 120, according to industry journal Lloyd's List.

Afer Iran's announcement on Friday, US President Donald Trump said the Islamic republic had declared the waterway "fully open and ready for full passage". Jakob Larsen, chief security officer of major shipping association BIMCO, said in a statement emailed to AFP that this claim was "inaccurate". "The status of mine threats in (Iran's maritime) traffic separation scheme is unclear, and BIMCO believes shipping companies should consider avoiding the area," he said.

The secretary general of leading industry lobby the International Chamber of Shipping, Thomas Kazakos, said the announcement was "a positive step (but) there is still much uncertainty around what it means in practice". In a statement sent to AFP, he said it offered "a cautious measure of reassurance to" shippers and the thousands of seafarers stuck in the Gulf by the Middle East war for nearly seven weeks.

"It is essential that it marks the beginning of a broader and more durable return, beyond the current ceasefire, to freedom of navigation in one of the world's most critical maritime corridors," he said.

"The secretary-general considers this a step in the right direction. The United Nations' position remains clear: we need the full restoration of international navigational rights and freedoms in the Strait of Hormuz to be respected by all parties," Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The projected aviation fuel shortage stemmed from Iran's effective blockage of the Strait of Hormuz since the United States and Israel started the war at the end of February which spread across the Middle East. Although Iran's foreign minister said on Friday his country was now reopening the strait to commercial traffic, shipping companies are wary. Walsh said in his statement issued before Iran's announcement that, if jet fuel shortages occurred, "it's important that authorities have well-communicated and well-coordinated plans in place in case rationing becomes necessary."

The EU's energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen told the Financial Times that the fuel threat meant that flights could soon be cancelled. He suggested EU countries might share jet fuel to cushion the impact in case of a lengthy crisis. An EU spokeswoman, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, told journalists that, at this moment, "there is no indication of a systemic fuel shortages that would lead to widespread flight cancellations".

"The strait's going to be open, they already are open. And things are going very well." Iran had earlier said it was opening the Hormuz strait -- a crucial sea lane whose closure caused global oil prices to spike -- for the duration of a Middle East ceasefire. On his Truth Social site, Trump said "THANK YOU!" to Iran -- while insisting that an American blockade of Iranian ports would remain in "full force" until completion of a peace deal.

"Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World," Trump said in one of around a dozen Friday morning posts. Touting further progress towards a deal, Trump also said Iran was removing sea mines from the strait, with US help. A first round of US-Iran talks in Pakistan led by Vice President JD Vance last weekend ended without a peace deal, but Trump has said a second round could happen soon.

Trump says the core US demand is that Iran should never be able to develop a nuclear weapon, and he said on Thursday that Iran had agreed to turn over its stock of enriched uranium. Asked what the remaining sticking points for a deal were, Trump told AFP: "No sticking points at all." When asked why he was unable to declare a deal at this point after his string of optimistic posts, Trump added: "I don't do that, I get it in writing."

In his social media posts, Trump again talked up the likelihood of a nuclear deal while insisting that no money would change hands after an Axios report that Washington was considering a $20 billion cash-for-uranium exchange. "The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear 'Dust,' created by our great B2 Bombers - No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form," Trump said in another post. Trump's upbeat comments to AFP came after he struck a celebratory tone on social media, hailing a "GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!"

Trump also gave shout-outs to mediator Pakistan and Gulf allies whose countries have come under attack from Iran since the US-Israel military operation started on February 28. But Trump delivered a fresh slap-down to NATO over the Western military alliance's refusal to join the Iran war or to contribute to a mission in the Strait of Hormuz until hostilities are over. "I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help. I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL," Trump said on Truth Social.

Trump meanwhile also talked up a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, saying Israel was now "prohibited" by Washington from bombing its neighbor. The Lebanon conflict, triggered when Iran-backed Hezbollah struck Israel in response to the US-Israeli war on Iran, was widely regarded as a roadblock for any Iran deal. "Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!" said Trump, who had first announced the truce on Thursday.

The latest move allows for the purchase of oil and petroleum products that have been loaded onto any vessel as of Friday, through 12:01 am (0401 GMT) on May 16. It prolongs an earlier easing of sanctions that expired on April 11. On Wednesday, however, Bessent had told reporters that the United States would not make such an extension for Russian oil -- or Iranian oil.

Both measures aimed to ease global supply shocks from the US-Israeli war against Iran. Tehran retaliated by effectively closing off the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for energy shipments. Oil prices have since surged, squeezing countries and especially those dependent on energy exports from the region. US gasoline prices have jumped as well, putting pressure on households ahead of key midterm elections this year.

But such waivers could complicate efforts to deprive Russia of oil revenue needed for its war on Ukraine. This week, after a meeting of Group of Seven finance leaders in Washington, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure stressed that "Russia mustn't be getting benefits from what's happening in Iran." He added that Ukraine should also not be "collateral damage." Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched in 2022, has become the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

The conference, held mainly by video link, brought together a total of 49 countries from Europe and Asia, which were represented at various levels including dozens of heads of state and government. Neither the United States nor Iran, as warring parties, participated in the meeting. Iran imposed a blockade as soon as the US and Israel launched the war against the Islamic republic on February 28. The economic impact rippled worldwide, triggering inflation fears, concerns over fuel supplies and worries about food shortages.

But markets responded with relief when Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi -- in an X post published while the Paris talks were in progress -- that the Strait of Hormuz was now open to commercial vessels as long as a ceasefire in the Middle East lasts. Starmer said that the multinational mission could be deployed "as soon as conditions allowed". "This will be strictly peaceful and defensive as a mission to reassure commercial shipping and support mine clearance," he said, adding that "over a dozen countries have already offered to contribute assets".

The leaders welcomed Tehran's announcement, but urged a "full, unconditional reopening by all the parties", Macron said. The French president said the announcement made the multinational mission "all the more important because it is what will allow these announcements to be consolidated in the short term and, above all, to have a chance of lasting".

Macron described the mission as "neutral" and "completely separate from the belligerents" involved in the war. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, at the meeting in person, said her country was "ready to participate" in the force, but stressed that hostilities first needed to cease. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, also in Paris, added that it would be "desirable" to have the US be part of the mission.

The meeting was a chance for Europe to display its capacities after having largely been sidelined by the United States in diplomatic efforts to end the war. US President Donald Trump said on social media after Tehran's announcement he had rejected an offer from NATO to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, telling the transatlantic alliance to "STAY AWAY". It was not clear if he was referring to the Paris talks, where NATO was not represented.

Starmer said said the "world needs the Strait of Hormuz fully open because that is how we keep prices down for our people and stop the global economic damage". He welcomed the announcement by Iran on the reopening of Hormuz but warned that "we need to make sure that it is lasting and a workable proposal." Military chiefs are due to meet next week for further discussions at the UK's military command headquarters in Northwood outside London where further details will be worked out, Starmer's office said.

Japan's Defence Minister Koizumi Shinjiro attended the signing of the contract to deliver the first three of the ships, Australia's defence ministry said. "This is the fastest acquisition for the Royal Australian Navy in peacetime," Australia's Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said. "We are working closely with Japanese and Australian industry partners as we acquire one of the most, if not the most, advanced general-purpose frigates in the world," he added.

Australia is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was awarded the tender over Germany's Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems. Mogami-class warships are advanced stealth frigates equipped with a potent array of weapons. Japan is deepening cooperation with US allies in the Asia-Pacific region that, like Tokyo, are involved in territorial disputes with China. Both Japan and Australia are members of the "Quad" group alongside India and the United States.

About one million votes hang in the balance. With 93.3 percent of ballots processed, right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori leads with 17 percent. The top two candidates go to a runoff election, and a close race has emerged between leftist candidate Roberto Sanchez, who pulled 12 percent of the vote, and ultra-conservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga, with 11.9 percent. The gap between them is around 13,000 votes.

On Thursday, four boxes containing 1,200 ballots were discovered in a Lima trash bin, deepening doubts about the election, which was also marked by delays in the delivery of election materials that forced authorities to extend voting. Roberto Burneo, president of the National Jury of Elections (JNE), Peru's highest electoral justice authority, told a congressional committee that "there are serious irregularities in the management and performance" of ONPE in the election.

ONPE chief Piero Corveto and three other officials have been reported to JNE for alleged crimes against the right to vote. A record 35 candidates ran for president of the chronically unstable Andean nation, where four of the last eight presidents were impeached by Congress. The campaign was dominated by a flurry of hardline proposals from the right on how to combat a surge in extortion and contract killings.

France's Jordan Bardella and the Netherlands' Geert Wilders have confirmed their attendance following invitations by Salvini, who is also deputy prime minister in the coalition government of Giorgia Meloni. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has also been invited. Spain, where the Vox party has made strong gains, has not yet announced a participant. Nor has Hungary, where one of the co-founders of the Patriots, Orban, was voted from power after 16 years in a crushing election defeat to pro-EU opposition figure Peter Magyar.

Ahead of that election, the president of France's National Rally, Marine Le Pen, went to Budapest to try and shore up Orban, stressing that 2027 was shaping up to be "absolutely fundamental" for the far right. Major contests in France, Italy, Spain and Poland would give potential far-right winners "the means to radically change the course of the European Union from within", she said. Also on Saturday, progressives including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are set to gather in Barcelona.

"Peace, work and security" will be the watchwords of the Milan rally, Salvini explained ahead of the rally. "We will be numerous, colourful, peaceful, with our faces uncovered but determined," he said. Participants on stage are expected to talk up measures such as ending legal aid to migrants or imposing strict limits on family reunification policies. In line with Meloni, the League has also called for the EU to soften budget deficit rules due to the energy crisis triggered by the Middle East war.

"These rules are unbearable with the wars currently under way ... Some people in Brussels live on Planet Mars, and we're going to bring them back down to Earth on Saturday, with good manners, of course," Salvini said. Farmers in tractors protesting free trade agreements, and motorcyclists opposed to traffic restrictions are to lead the way Saturday for a short march from eastern Milan to the Duomo. The far-right rally is also a show of force for the League in its stronghold of Lombardy and in Italy as a whole, at a time when it can count only on around six to eight percent of voting intentions, according to the latest polls.

The League's popularity has been on a downward trajectory, scoring 17.35 percent in the 2018 elections and 8.8 percent in the last ones in 2022. Salvini's party is under pressure from the new "National Future" party founded by retired general Roberto Vannacci, who defected from the League in February and already has about three percent of voting intentions. Several counter events, including anti-fascist rallies, are planned for Saturday in Milan, a centre-left metropolis in a strongly right-wing region.

Despite being the League's coalition partner in Meloni's government, Forza Italia is also planning an event for its Milan chapter, dedicated to the "social and civic engagement" of children of immigrants in Italy. 

"Maybe I won't extend it, but the blockade is going to remain," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, when asked if the ceasefire will be extended. Asked about a potential deal, Trump said, "I think it's going to happen." Key differences remain between the demands from the United States and Iran, which earlier failed to reach agreement in talks in Pakistan.

Trump told reporters there were "not going to be tolls" imposed by Iran on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz -- something that the Islamic republic put forward during previous peace deal plans. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said China's President Xi Jinping was "very happy" about the global oil chokepoint reopening. "Our meeting in China will be a special one and, potentially, Historic," Trump added, referring to a summit planned in Beijing in May.

Trump also insisted that Washington and Tehran would jointly transfer enriched uranium stored in Iran to the United States under the touted plan to end the war, which began on February 28. Iran's foreign ministry earlier said its stockpile of uranium would not be transferred "anywhere." 

A spokesman for China's foreign ministry told reporters at a press briefing that the moves "undermined China's security interests, increased risks of misunderstanding and miscalculation, and gravely disrupted the order of civil aviation in relevant airspace". In response the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) said the aircraft had been carrying out UN-mandated monitoring of North Korean sanctions in the region.

"These activities are not directed at China but rather aim to monitor evasions of United Nations sanctions on North Korea, which do occur in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea," an NZDF spokesperson said. "The New Zealand Defence Force crew operated professionally and in accordance with international law and civil aviation procedures for the region," they added. "NZDF has reviewed the routes flown and all available information. We have no data which indicates they disrupted civil aviation." The NZDF spokesperson said there had been "dialogue" between Wellington and Beijing over the issue.

The afternoon attack flattened what residents say was a five-storey building, creating a jumble of shattered concrete in the battered city. Nabatiyeh rescuer Mohammad Sleiman told AFP they recovered one body from the strike site on Thursday night, and another three on Friday morning. Sahmarani, 57, said rescuers "came and took me out of the rubble". Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire on Thursday in order to negotiate an end to six weeks of war between Israel and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

The conflict saw massive Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon and also a ground invasion in the south. Lebanese authorities say the war that began on March 2 has killed nearly 2,300 people, and caused widespread devastation in southern towns and cities such as Nabatiyeh. President Joseph Aoun said on Friday that "direct negotiations" with Israel "are crucial", and that the government aims to "consolidate a ceasefire, secure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied southern territories, recover prisoners, and address outstanding border disputes".

Hezbollah halted military operations after the ceasefire came into effect, but warned that it was keeping its "finger on the trigger" in case Israel violated the truce. Nabatiyeh's streets were almost empty on Friday, and countless buildings in the city centre have been damaged or destroyed. A few kilometres outside the city, a small group of Hezbollah supporters cheered on the trickle of cars coming from the direction of Beirut, flashing victory signs and waving the party's yellow flag.

Deadly Israeli strikes were reported up to the final few minutes before the midnight Thursday deadline agreed upon by the two governments. "It was the last hours. If it was the beginning of the war, the middle of the war, one can come to terms with it, but it was the last hours," Sahmarani said, his eyes bloodshot and tearful. Fadel Hassan Zahri, a neighbour, said the people who were killed had been "lifelong friends of mine". "I wouldn't eat without them, I wouldn't drink without them."

Zahri said he was appalled by the government's willingness to negotiate potential peace and normalisation with Israel. "We've been honourable all our lives... we do not normalise with Israel." Sahmarani said he has nowhere else to go, and would probably crawl back into the rubble of his home at night and find a ledge or somewhere to lay his head. "Where should I go now? Who will even look at me?" he asked, adding that he distrusted the Lebanese authorities.

"Let our leaders normalise; no one will listen to them and no one recognises them. "For whose sake? For whose sake am I supposed to lose all of this?" 

The statement said it had no reports of other injuries but did not provide details on who had neutralised the suspect or their condition. Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has risen sharply since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,050 Palestinians -- many of them militants, but also scores of civilians -- in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war. Official Israeli figures say at least 45 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have also been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations.

"We're going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators," Trump said at an event in Arizona. Iran, however, pushed back on the claim, saying its stockpile of enriched uranium was not going anywhere. It also warned that if US warships intercepted vessels coming from Iranian ports, the Strait of Hormuz -- a key global trade artery through which about a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes -- could be closed again.

"With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open," parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X, adding that passage through the waterway would require authorization from Iran. "What they call a naval blockade will definitely be met with an appropriate response from Iran," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, calling the naval blockade "a violation of the ceasefire" it struck with Washington for a fortnight to enable talks.

US forces have so far directed 21 ships to turn around since the blockade began this week, the US Central Command posted on X overnight, accompanied by an image of an American guided-missile destroyer patrolling the Arabian Sea. The sour notes came on a day that Trump had hailed as "GREAT AND BRILLIANT," with a series of social media posts praising talks mediator Pakistan and Gulf allies.

Despite the discord over the status of the strategic waterway, Pakistani leaders whose mediation led to historic face-to-face talks between Washington and Tehran envoys in Islamabad last week, pushed for the warring sides to finalize an agreement to end the war. In his phone interview with AFP, Trump added: "Looks like it's going to be very good for everybody. And we're very close to having a deal," adding that there were "no sticking points at all" left with Tehran.

That echoed the US president's earlier comments he would consider flying to Pakistan to sign any deal struck, raising hopes of another meeting in Islamabad after US Vice President JD Vance left last weekend after 21 hours of talks he said ultimately could not strike a permanent deal. But casting a shadow of doubt, Trump reiterated on Saturday that he planned to maintain the US naval blockade if a peace deal with Iran were not reached, though he signalled he was open to extending the ceasefire with Iran after it expires on Wednesday.

"Maybe I won't extend it, but the blockade is going to remain," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. Oil prices had already fallen on hopes of a negotiated end to the conflict, and the drop accelerated on Friday, with stocks heading upwards as traders soaked up the optimism. Late Friday, the US issued another waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products already at sea, a move likely to further soften oil prices by boosting supply on global markets.

The start of a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday and the reopening of the strait marked progress in Washington's push for a broader deal to end its war with Iran, after Tehran insisted that halting the fighting between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah must be part of any larger agreement to end the regional conflict. In Lebanon, displaced families began returning to their homes in bomb-damaged south Beirut and the country's war-ravaged southern towns.

"Our feelings are indescribable, pride and victory," 37-year-old Amani Atrash told AFP, adding that she hoped the ceasefire would be extended. The fighting in Lebanon began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel days after the wider Middle East war began and in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Trump said Israel had been "prohibited" by Washington from carrying out further strikes and that the United States would work with Lebanon "and deal with the Hezbollah situation in an appropriate manner."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the campaign against Hezbollah was not over. "We have not yet finished the job," he said, adding that a key objective was the "dismantling of Hezbollah". Hezbollah, meanwhile, warned it remained ready to respond to any Israeli violations.

"We're going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators," Trump told a gathering of the conservative Turning Point USA movement in Phoenix, Arizona. Iran, however, pushed back on the claim, saying its stockpile of enriched uranium was not going anywhere. It also warned that if US warships interdict vessels coming from Iranian ports, the Strait of Hormuz -- a key global artery through which a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes -- could be closed again.

"With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open," parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X, adding that passage through the waterway would require authorization from Iran. "The opening and closing of the Strait of Hormuz, does not take place on internet, it is determined in the field, and our armed forces certainly know how to behave in response to any action by the other side," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.

"What they call a naval blockade will definitely be met with an appropriate response from Iran. A naval blockade is a violation of the ceasefire and Iran will definitely take the necessary measures." The sour notes came on a day that Trump had hailed as "GREAT AND BRILLIANT," with a series of social media posts praising talks mediator Pakistan and Gulf allies, while telling NATO to "STAY AWAY" as he rejected the alliance's offer to help secure the strait.

In his phone interview with AFP, Trump added: "Looks like it's going to be very good for everybody. And we're very close to having a deal," adding that there were "no sticking points at all" left with Tehran. Oil prices had already been falling on hopes of a negotiated end to the conflict, and the drop accelerated on Friday, with stocks heading upwards as traders drank in the optimism. Late Friday, the US issued another waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products already at sea, a move likely to further soften oil prices as it increases supply.

The ceasefire in Lebanon and the reopening of the strait marked key progress in Washington's push for a broader deal to end its war with Iran, after Tehran insisted that halting the Lebanon fighting must be part of any agreement. In Lebanon, displaced families used the 10-day truce to return to homes in bomb-damaged south Beirut and the war-ravaged south. "Our feelings are indescribable, pride and victory," 37-year-old Amani Atrash told AFP, adding that she hoped the ceasefire would be extended.

Trump said Israel had been "prohibited" by Washington from carrying out further strikes. "Enough is enough!" he said, adding that the United States would work with Lebanon "and deal with the Hezbollah situation in an appropriate manner." The fighting in Lebanon began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel days after the wider Middle East war began and in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Separately, the Israeli military said it was lifting wartime restrictions, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the campaign against Hezbollah was not over. "We have not yet finished the job," he said, adding that a key objective was the "dismantling of Hezbollah." Israel warned that military action could resume if the area between the security zone and the Litani River is not cleared of Hezbollah fighters, while Lebanese President Joseph Aoun insisted his country would no longer serve as an arena for outside conflicts. Hezbollah, meanwhile, warned it remained ready to respond to any Israeli violations.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the world is currently facing a complex and interconnected economic crisis driven by rising energy prices, disruptions in global food supply chains, and slowing economic growth. These combined pressures have created what experts describe as a “triple shock,” affecting both developed and developing economies, though the latter are expected to bear the brunt of the impact.

The UNDP has proposed an emergency financial package of approximately six billion dollars, which it believes could prevent millions from slipping into extreme poverty. The proposed intervention would focus on targeted financial assistance, including direct cash transfers and temporary subsidies aimed at the most vulnerable populations. Officials emphasize that such measures are not only necessary for humanitarian reasons but also critical to maintaining economic stability in fragile regions.

Speaking on the issue, senior UN officials stressed that the consequences of war extend far beyond immediate destruction, often leaving long-lasting scars on national economies. As conflicts disrupt trade routes and drive up the cost of essential commodities such as fuel and fertilizer, countries across Asia, Africa, and small island nations are already experiencing severe economic strain. Inflationary pressures are mounting, household incomes are shrinking, and food security is increasingly under threat.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that many developing nations are still recovering from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Limited fiscal space and rising debt burdens have reduced their ability to respond effectively to new crises. In this context, the UN’s call for targeted and efficient financial support becomes even more urgent, as traditional broad-based subsidies may prove unsustainable and less effective.

Another important aspect highlighted in the UN’s assessment is the growing role of digital financial systems in delivering aid. The expansion of mobile banking and digital payment platforms has made it possible for governments to reach affected populations more quickly and transparently. This shift not only improves the efficiency of aid distribution but also reduces the risk of mismanagement and corruption, which have historically hindered relief efforts in many regions.

Despite the proposed economic measures, the United Nations has underscored that the most effective solution remains the resolution of ongoing conflicts. Without peace and stability, economic interventions can only provide temporary relief. The organization has therefore called on the international community to intensify diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalation and conflict resolution, while simultaneously ensuring that immediate humanitarian and economic needs are met.

The warning also comes at a time when global inequality is widening, with poorer nations facing disproportionate challenges in coping with external shocks. The UN cautions that failure to act decisively could not only push millions into poverty but also deepen existing inequalities, potentially leading to long-term social and political instability.

In conclusion, the United Nations’ latest assessment presents a sobering picture of the global economic landscape, where conflict and economic vulnerability are increasingly intertwined. The proposed six billion dollar intervention is being framed as a necessary and timely step to safeguard millions of lives and livelihoods. However, the success of such efforts will depend largely on the willingness of the international community to act collectively and decisively in addressing both the immediate crisis and its underlying causes.

After decades of costly yet unsuccessful research, two anti-amyloid drugs called lecanemab and donanemab were initially hailed as gamechangers that finally offered a way to slow the progress of the debilitating disease. Both drugs were approved by the United States and European Union over the last few years. However concerns about their effectiveness, cost and side effects including an increased risk of brain swelling and bleeding have since prompted caution. State-run health services in the UK and France have refused to cover the drugs. The new Cochrane review combined data from 17 clinical trials that included a total of more than 20,000 people with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia.

The trials, which took place over roughly 18 months, studied seven different anti-amyloid drugs. Only one of the trials examined donanemab -- sold under the name Kisunla by US pharma giant Eli Lilly -- while one studied lecanemab, sold as Leqembi by Biogen and Eisai. While early trials suggested these drugs made a statistically significant difference, this did not translate into "something clinically meaningful for patients," lead study author Francesco Nonino of Italy's IRCCS institute told a press conference.

Brain scans showed that the drugs successfully removed amyloids, the researchers emphasised. This means "the idea that removing amyloids will benefit patients was refuted by our results," said study co-author Edo Richard of Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. Richard, who has previously expressed scepticism about anti-amyloid drugs, said he hopes efforts targeting other mechanisms that potentially cause Alzheimer's lead to more effective drugs in the future.

British biologist John Hardy, who first developed the amyloid hypothesis in the 1990s, criticised the review for lumping together data about lecanemab and donanemab along with drugs that are known to be ineffective, therefore dragging down the overall average. "This is a silly paper which should not have been published," Hardy told AFP, disclosing that he has consulted for Eli Lilly, Biogen and Eisai.

In response to such questions, Richard said that while the drugs included in the study may work in different ways, they all have the same target: amyloid beta proteins. Australian neuroscientist Bryce Vissel, who was not involved in the research, said it "does not prove amyloid has no role in Alzheimer's, and it does not rule out future amyloid-directed therapies that may yet help patients". "But it does show that the current generation of anti-amyloid drugs is not delivering the promise that has surrounded it."

Ramagem, 53, had been sentenced to 16 years in prison, but local media reported that he left Brazil via the border with Guyana, bypassing immigration controls, and entered the United States on a diplomatic passport. On Monday he was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Brazilian police had said in a statement that ICE had detained "a fugitive from Brazilian justice following his conviction for the crimes of armed criminal association, attempted coup d'etat, and the attempted violent abolition of the rule of law."

Eduardo Bolsonaro, one of the former president's sons who lives in the United States, wrote on X on Wednesday that "Ramagem is out and at home." Brazilian media reported Ramagem was out of custody without providing further details. A search of an ICE database does not show a result for Ramagem, despite his name being listed two days earlier. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP. Brazil had formally requested the extradition of Ramagem in December.

The refinery, about an hour's drive southwest of state capital Melbourne, pumps out about 10 percent of Australia's fuel, according to energy company Viva. It is capable of producing up to 120,000 barrels of oil each day, company figures stated. The fire ripped through a section of the refinery responsible for the production of high-octane petrol, Bowen said. By triggering isolation valves, other parts of the plant producing jet fuel and diesel had been spared the worst of the blaze.

Images taken Thursday morning showed thick clouds of smoke billowing over the industrial complex. Geographically isolated and with only two oil refineries, Australia is heavily exposed to disruptions in global fuel supply and imports most of its petrol. Bowen urged Australians to ignore the impulse to rush out and panic buy more fuel. "It's important that people buy as much fuel as they need. But no more, no less." Incident controller Mark McGuinness said a "significant leak" of highly flammable gases and liquid hydrocarbons had triggered the inferno.

"The fire has continued to burn overnight and is still burning at the moment," he told reporters. "It was quite ferocious. It went from a small fire through several explosions to a large, intense fire." It would burn for at least another "four to five hours" he said.

Australia holds roughly 38 days' worth of petrol in reserve, according to government figures, far below the 90-day minimum dictated by the International Energy Agency. While the government has so far resisted moves to ration fuel, it has urged drivers to conserve petrol where they can and to favour public transport if possible. Like most nations in Asia and the South Pacific, Australia is heavily reliant on oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, which at one point carried one-fifth of the world's oil and gas. Shipping traffic through the vital waterway has essentially ceased since the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28.

"The four agents linked to the Mossad were apprehended in Gilan governorate" in northern Iran, IRNA reported, citing a statement from Iran's Revolutionary Guards. The Mossad is Israel's foreign intelligence agency. "The arrestees had provided Mossad intelligence officers with images and locations of some sensitive and critical military and security sites via the internet", it said. The suspects have been handed over to judicial authorities, the report added.

"Five bodies have been recovered," civil defense director Juan Salas told AFP, adding to two deaths last week. Emergency officials said at least 30,500 people have been displaced and forced out of their homes, where at least 6,500 homes have been damaged and dozens of communities have been cut off.

Local meteorologists have forecast more rain and hail in coming days. Rains are battering the entire island of Hispaniola, which the Dominican Republic shares with Haiti, where at least 12 people have died since Saturday, according to officials there.

Israel has not targeted the Lebanese capital since a series of attacks across the country on April 8 that killed more than 350 people, but has kept up deadly strikes on southern Lebanon as troops push a ground invasion. "I have ordered that all of the area of south Lebanon up to the Litani (River) line be turned into a Hezbollah terrorist kill zone," Israeli army chief of staff Eyal Zamir said Wednesday during a visit to frontline troops. Lebanon's health ministry said Israel targeted paramedics working in the southern town of Mayfadun "three consecutive times", killing at least three of them and injuring six others, while one paramedic remains missing.

The ministry said three paramedic teams were attacked, one after another, while trying to rescue people wounded in an initial Israeli strike. It decried the "flagrant crime, which reflects the Israeli enemy's determination to prevent paramedics from performing their life-saving work by any means". Since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2, Israel has killed 91 healthcare workers in Lebanon, the ministry said.

The violence has killed more than 2,100 people overall in Lebanon, according to government figures. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported separate Israeli strikes Wednesday on two vehicles, both on the coastal highway around 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Beirut and outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds. An AFP photographer saw a burned-out van with firefighters working to extinguish the blaze. Rescue workers were recovering human remains from the wreckage of the vehicle and its surroundings, and the army had established a security perimeter, causing a massive traffic jam on this major thoroughfare, the photographer added.

NNA also reported several other strikes across southern Lebanon. The Lebanese foreign ministry announced Wednesday that it had asked its representative to the UN "to submit an urgent complaint to the Security Council and the Secretary-General" over the April 8 strike wave. A diplomatic source told AFP last week that there was European and Arab pressure on Israel to refrain from striking Beirut.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, had detected "approximately 30 launches" by Hezbollah towards Israel since the early hours of Wednesday, a spokesman told AFP. Hezbollah said it launched rockets at northern Israel. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah on Wednesday said the group's fighters "are preventing enemy soldiers from seizing control" of the key southern town of Bint Jbeil, five kilometres north of Israel.

The Israeli army had said on Tuesday that 10 soldiers were wounded in the town, which it says it encircled. Wednesday's attacks come a day after Lebanon and Israel's ambassadors to the United States held their first direct talks in decades in Washington and agreed to hold further direct negotiations. The Lebanese envoy called for a ceasefire, but no truce was announced and an Israeli government spokesperson said Wednesday there was "no ceasefire discussion" with Hezbollah. Hezbollah has strongly rejected the talks.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters further talks "would very likely" be in the Pakistani capital, saying: "Those discussions are being had" and "we feel good about the prospects of a deal." US Vice President JD Vance, who led the first round of talks, said Iran was being offered a "grand bargain" to end the six-week war and address the decades-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said on Wednesday that Israel and the US had "identical" goals in Iran.

"We want to see enriched material removed from Iran; we want to see the elimination of enrichment capability within Iran; and, of course, we want to see the (Hormuz) strait reopened," he added. Stocks rose and crude dropped as markets eyed chances of a deal to get oil flowing again through the strait -- choked by Iranian forces since the US-Israeli offensive began, and now the focus of the US blockade. Washington has sought to turn the screws on Tehran with a blockade of its ports, with US Central Command claiming to have "completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea".

The picture based on recent maritime tracking data in the Strait of Hormuz was less clear-cut, and Iran's Tasnim news agency reported shipping has continued from southern Iran. But the head of Iran's military central command centre warned a US failure to lift the blockade would constitute "a prelude" to violating the two-week ceasefire struck on April 8. Unless Washington relents, Iran's armed forces "will not allow any exports or imports to continue in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the Red Sea," said Ali Abdollahi.

Speaking to the New York Post on Tuesday, Trump said a new round of talks could take place in Pakistan "over the next two days", while telling Fox Business the war was "very close to being over". On the Iranian side, a foreign ministry spokesman said "several messages" had been exchanged via Islamabad since talks wrapped up on Sunday. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday welcomed a Pakistani delegation led by army chief Asim Munir in Tehran that Iranian state television said was to relay a new US message and discuss a second round of talks. Trump has insisted that any deal must permanently bar Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. He launched the war on February 28, arguing that Tehran was rushing to complete an atomic bomb, an assertion not backed by the UN nuclear watchdog.

Reports said Washington had sought a 20-year suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment programme during the Islamabad talks, and that Iran, in turn, proposed suspending its nuclear activity for five years -- an offer US officials rejected. Tehran has always insisted its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes and its foreign ministry said Wednesday that Iran's right to enrich uranium was "indisputable", although the level of enrichment was "negotiable". The US vice president said Tuesday that Trump had pledged to "make Iran thrive" if it committed to "not having a nuclear weapon".

"That's the kind of Trumpian grand bargain that the president has put on the table," Vance said, adding: "We're going to keep on negotiating and try to make it happen." The latest signals on US-Iran talks came as Israel and Lebanon also agreed to open direct negotiations after their first high-level face-to-face meeting since 1993 took place Tuesday in Washington. Netanyahu on Wednesday spoke of two central objectives in the negotiations with Lebanon: "First, the dismantling of Hezbollah; second, a sustainable peace... achieved through strength."

Trump's administration is pressing hard for an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, fearing it could jeopardise a broader settlement. The US State Department said "all sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue". But the diplomatic push remained fragile with Hezbollah, which is hostile to any talks, firing dozens of rockets at Israel, whose military claimed hits on more than 200 targets linked to the militant group in Lebanon over 24 hours.

Israel's military chief of staff said he had ordered areas south of Lebanon's Litani River to be turned into a Hezbollah "kill zone" as troops pressed a major offensive there. Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes on the country's south killed at least three paramedics on Wednesday. 

"The pope's visit will soften the hearts of the extremists so that we can find common ground... and reach a peaceful solution," Archbishop of Bamenda Andrew Nkea said. Singing crowds had already greeted the US-born pontiff on arrival in the central African country on Wednesday, despite fears from some Cameroonian Catholics that the visit could help longtime President Paul Biya burnish his image. Leo's trip, the fourth to Cameroon by a pope and the first since Pope Benedict XVI's in 2009, comes six months after the authorities violently put down protests against the 93-year-old leader's disputed re-election for a fourth term.

Speaking alongside Biya -- the world's oldest head of state -- Leo on Wednesday called for an end to the separatist conflict and urged Cameroon's leaders to root out abuses carried out in the name of order. "Security is a priority, but it must always be exercised with respect for human rights," he said in an uncharacteristically pointed speech at the presidential palace within Biya's earshot. The anglophone conflict erupted in 2017 after protests launched the year prior against the French-speaking majority's tightening grip were suppressed by the authorities.

The crackdown led to a full-blown rift between the army and English-speaking insurgents that rights groups say killed more than 6,000 people by 2024. Separatist fighters declared a Republic of Ambazonia in the two anglophone regions, which account for around a fifth of the population. On Monday, separatist groups announced a three-day truce in the two regions to allow for a safe welcome of the pontiff.

"As the pope puts his feet on the soil of Bamenda, we should have peace. All the killing, the kidnapping should stop," Giovanni Mbuna, 36, who was abducted by separatists in 2023, told AFP. After his Bamenda trip, Leo will hold mass for hundreds of thousands in a stadium in the economic capital Douala on Friday, before leaving Cameroon for Angola on Saturday. Leo's first major international tour initially risked being overshadowed by Trump's remarks that he was "not a big fan" of the pope after Leo called for peace in the Middle East.

US Vice President JD Vance -- a Catholic himself -- also weighed in, urging the Vatican to "stick to matters of morality". Leo brushed the jibes aside. "I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration, nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel," he told reporters aboard the papal plane on Monday.

"More countries are engaged in conflict today than at any time since the end of World War II, and this is occurring across every region of the world." Australia's defence spending had previously been forecast to rise to 2.3 percent of GDP by 2033. The new target means Australia will spend an additional Aus$53 billion ($38 billion) over the next decade when compared to its 2024 defence strategy, Department of Defence officials said.

In the shorter term, spending would climb by an extra Aus$14 billion over four years. To help it reach the 3.0 percent target, Australia has changed how it calculates the defence budget to match a NATO definition that includes factors such as military pensions. But the new spending still falls short of the 3.5 percent of GDP that US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth demanded Australia shell out last year. Wary of China's navy build-up, US ally Australia has reshaped its defence force in recent years to focus on its missile strike capability and deterring an adversary from its northern approaches.

Recent military projects include speeding up the construction of a major shipbuilding yard in Western Australia to service nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS defence deal with the United States and Britain. Under that agreement, the United States and Britain will transfer nuclear-powered submarine capability to Australia's navy within 15 years. Critics have alleged the deal does not guarantee that Australia will ever receive the submarines and it leaves the country with a major gap in its defences over the next decade.

Australia's vast coastline and small population have also spurred a focus on developing large autonomous submarines and fighter jets, dubbed the Ghost Shark and Ghost Bat. This week, Canberra said it would boost spending on drones by up to Aus$5 billion in response to shifts in warfare tactics in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Shamkhani is the son of security official Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, both of whom were killed February 28, the first day of US-Israeli attacks and the start of the Middle East war. "The United States is acting to decisively limit Iran's ability to generate revenue as it attempts to hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage," the State Department said in a separate communique.

Iran has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a key conduit for shipping oil and gas, in retaliation for the US and Israeli war campaign. The United States is now engaged in a naval blockade of Iran's ports. On Tuesday, the Treasury Department said it would not extend a temporary sanctions waiver that allowed the sale of Iranian oil already at sea. This had been an attempt to ease pressure on oil prices that shot up because of the war. The United States alleges that the Shamkhani network, which operates in Iran and the United Arab Emirates, dodges sanctions through a group of seemingly legitimate consulting and shipping companies that run the network's fleet.

Last year the United States imposed sanctions against entities linked to the network. The Treasury Department also announced Wednesday it was imposing sanctions against an Iranian man named Seyed Naiemaei Badroddin Moosavi, whom it described as a financier for the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, and "three companies linked to a complex money laundering scheme involving the sale of Iranian oil in exchange for Venezuelan gold."

"Mr Trump wants to become the police of the Strait of Hormuz. Is this really your job? Is this the job of a powerful army like the US?" Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards who was named as a military adviser by Khamenei last month, told state TV. "These ships of yours will be sunk by our first missiles and have created a great danger for the US military. They can definitely be exposed to our missiles and we can destroy them," Rezaei, wearing his military uniform, told the state broadcaster.

Long regarded as a hardliner even within the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, Rezaei said it would be "great" if the United States launched a ground invasion of Iran as "we would take thousands of hostages and then for each hostage we would get a billion dollars." He also added, without giving further details: "I am not in favour of extending the ceasefire at all and this is a personal view."

A veteran and high-profile figure in Iran, Rezaei headed the Revolutionary Guards from 1981 to 1997. The first and so far only round of Iranian negotiations with the US after the outbreak of war were led in Pakistan by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former aerospace forces commander of the Revolutionary Guards.

- Pakistan pushes for talks -

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he met with the Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, before a possible second round of US-Iran peace talks.

Iran has targeted US allies in the Gulf -- including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which Sharif is also visiting -- in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes on Tehran that triggered the war.

"I reiterated Pakistan's firm commitment to advancing its efforts to encourage both the U.S. and Iran towards an agreement aimed at lasting peace and stability in the region," Sharif posted on X.

- Iran warns US ships, soldiers -

Hardliner Mohsen Rezaei, a top military adviser to Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, warned Wednesday that Iran would take ground-invading US forces hostage and sink American ships enforcing a military blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping waterway for oil, gas and other Gulf exports.

Battleships in the US armada "can definitely be exposed to our missiles, and we can destroy them", Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards who was named as a military adviser by Khamenei last month, told state TV.

Rezaei added it would be "great" if Washington launched a ground invasion of Iran, as "we would take thousands of hostages, and then for each hostage we would get a billion dollars".

- Fresh oil sanctions -

United States officials issued new sanctions against Iran, targeting more than two dozen people involved in oil transport, along with companies and tankers that operate within the network of petroleum shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani.

"Treasury is moving aggressively with 'Economic Fury' by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Shamkhani is the son of security official Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, both of whom were killed February 28, the first day of US-Israeli attacks and the start of the Middle East war.

- Growing hunger fears -

The conflict in the Middle East could push millions more toward hunger as its economic fallout reverberates around the globe, the World Bank's chief economist told AFP.

"You have about 300 million people who suffer from acute food insecurity already," Indermit Gill said. "That'll go up by about 20 percent very, very quickly" as knock-on effects grow.

- Stock markets soar -

Japanese stocks hit a record high as Asian equities extended the week's rally Thursday on heightened optimism the United States and Iran will extend their ceasefire for further talks to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Major Wall Street stock indices finished at record highs Wednesday.

- 'Identical' goals -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel and the US are fully aligned in their objectives to contain Iran.

"We want to see enriched material removed from Iran; we want to see the elimination of enrichment capability within Iran; and, of course, we want to see the (Hormuz) strait reopened," he said in a televised speech.

- End of Hezbollah -

Netanyahu said the country's top priority was to secure the "dismantling" of Hezbollah in its first direct talks with Lebanon in decades.

"There are two central objectives: first, the dismantling of Hezbollah; second, a sustainable peace... achieved through strength," he said.

- Round two of talks -

The United States is discussing holding a second round of peace talks with Iran and is optimistic about reaching a deal, the White House said.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that further talks "would very likely" be in Islamabad.

- Israel army chief orders 'Hezbollah kill zone' -

Israel's military chief of staff said he had ordered areas south of Lebanon's Litani River to be turned into a Hezbollah "kill zone" as troops pressed a major offensive there.

- China supports 'momentum' of peace talks -

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart that Beijing "supports maintaining the momentum of the ceasefire and peace talks".

- US says it blocks 10 vessels from Iran ports -

The US military's Middle East command CENTCOM said it had stopped 10 vessels from sailing out of Iranian ports during the first 48 hours of a naval blockade against the Islamic republic.

But ship tracking data indicated at least three ships sailing from Iranian ports crossed the Strait of Hormuz, though some vessels taking the route later turned back.

CENTCOM had earlier put the number of ships turned back at nine, but added a 10th that it said was "redirected" back to Iran by a US guided missile destroyer. While CENTCOM said no vessels have made it through the blockade, maritime tracking data appeared to contradict that assertion.

Tracking data from Tuesday indicated at least three ships sailing from Iranian ports crossed the Strait of Hormuz, though some vessels taking the route later turned back. The three ships were among at least seven Iran-linked vessels that passed through the strait after Washington's blockade came into effect at 1400 GMT on Monday, according to maritime data provider Kpler.

Tehran's forces effectively closed the strait after the start of the US-Israeli air campaign against the Islamic republic on February 28, and the United States on Sunday announced its blockade of Iranian ports after peace talks failed.

"Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon," Trump said Wednesday on his Truth Social platform, referring to a meeting held in Washington the day before -- the first direct negotiations between senior officials from the two countries since 1993. He said the leaders would speak on Thursday, without identifying participants or giving further details.

A senior US administration official said earlier that Trump would "welcome" an end to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, but stressed that any such outcome is not part of talks between Washington and Tehran. "The president would welcome the end of hostilities in Lebanon as part of a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The United States wants to see a durable peace but did not demand an immediate ceasefire," and "negotiations between the US and Iran are not linked to ongoing peace talks between Israel and Lebanon," according to the official. Washington's focus is on building trust between the Lebanese and Israeli governments "so that we can create space for a peace deal, and so that any future understandings can be durable." "Both sides need to build political momentum," the official added. Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday of two central objectives in the talks with Lebanon: "First, the dismantling of Hezbollah; second, a sustainable peace... achieved through strength."

Trump wrote on his Truth Social network earlier that Washington was "trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon. It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow."

"At this time, the number of people who have died on the Cuenca-Molleturo highway has risen to 14, and the number of injured to 29," Ecuador's emergency service ECU911 wrote on X late Wednesday. "Personnel from the coordinated agencies are at the scene searching for more people who may have lost their lives," it added, without specifying the number of passengers on the bus.

Traffic accidents are among the leading causes of death in the South American country, where more than 2,000 people died in road accidents last year, compared to a record 2,373 deaths in 2023, according to official figures.

Trump told The New York Post a new round of talks with Tehran could take place in Pakistan "over the next two days," after saying the day before that unnamed Iranian officials had called him seeking a deal. At the same time, Israel and Lebanon agreed to open direct talks after meeting in Washington, in what amounted to a rare diplomatic breakthrough between two countries formally at war for decades. The negotiations were fiercely opposed by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which said it fired rockets at more than a dozen towns in northern Israel just as the meeting got underway.

Washington is pressing for an end to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, fearing it could unravel the fragile two-week ceasefire in its own war with Iran, after earlier talks with Tehran in Pakistan failed to produce a breakthrough. Lebanon was drawn into the broader war when Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of Iran, its key ally, triggering an Israeli ground invasion and strikes that have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than a million.

The Washington meeting -- the first direct, high-level talks since 1993 -- was mediated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and involved the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States. "This is a historic opportunity," Rubio said as he welcomed the ambassadors, acknowledging the "decades of history" weighing on the process. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he hoped the talks would "mark the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Lebanese people."

A State Department spokesperson later described the discussions as "productive," adding: "All sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue." Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter said the two countries had discovered they were "on the same side" in the goal of liberating Lebanon from Hezbollah while Lebanese envoy Nada Hamadeh Moawad called the meeting "constructive," but said she had pressed for a ceasefire.

Israel is occupying parts of southern Lebanon and has resisted any pause in fighting that leaves Hezbollah intact, arguing that the group remains the central obstacle to peace. Even as diplomacy advanced, Trump sought to tighten pressure on Iran with a naval blockade. US Central Command said the measures cover "vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas."

On Tuesday, it said no vessels had transited the strait and six had complied with orders to turn back, though maritime tracking data suggested several ships that had visited Iranian ports had crossed since the blockade began. Iran's military command called the blockade an act of piracy and warned that if the security of its harbors was threatened, "no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe." Analysts said Trump was aiming not only to choke off Iranian revenue but also to pressure Beijing, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to push Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

China called the blockade "dangerous and irresponsible" after Trump threatened to sink any vessel seeking to leave or dock at Iranian ports. Still, the truce agreed last Wednesday between Washington and Tehran remained in place. Stock markets climbed on renewed hopes for a deal to end the war and reopen the waterway, while the main international oil contracts fell back, with Brent North Sea Crude at $94.79 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $91.28.

The US Treasury said it did not plan to renew a temporary easing of sanctions on Iranian oil that was introduced to soften war-related supply shocks. Before the Washington meeting, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem had called for the negotiations to be scrapped and vowed to keep fighting.

Foreign ministers from 17 countries, including Britain and France, urged both sides to seize the opportunity to bring lasting security to the region. At the heart of any renewed US-Iran diplomacy is the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program. UN chief Antonio Guterres said there was "no military solution" to the conflict and that peace required "persistent engagement and political will."

"Serious negotiations must resume," he told journalists in New York. Senior Pakistani sources told AFP that Islamabad was working to bring Iran and the United States together for a second round of talks. Trump has insisted any deal must permanently bar Iran from becoming nuclear-armed, after launching the war on the claim that Tehran was seeking an atomic bomb -- an allegation it denies. Media reports said the United States sought a 20-year suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment program during the weekend talks.

Iran, in turn, proposed suspending its nuclear activity for five years, an offer US officials rejected, The New York Times reported. Diplomatic efforts also accelerated elsewhere, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Beijing hours after speaking to his Iranian counterpart. Moscow has offered to hold Iran's enriched uranium safely as part of any deal. 

In a social media post, Trump said the bulk of Iran's navy had already been destroyed during the war, but that if any of what he said were Tehran's few remaining "fast attack ships" approach the blockade "they will be immediately ELIMINATED." He also said 34 ships had passed through the strait on Sunday, adding it was the most since the war began, though the figure could not be immediately corroborated.

Trump announced the blockade on Sunday after a delegation led by Vice President JD Vance returned from a meeting with Iranian officials in Pakistan without securing a deal to end the war, launched on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Tehran. "I really think the ball is in the Iranian court, because we put a lot on the table. We actually made very clear what our red lines were," Vance told Fox News on Monday.

He said Washington must control Iran's enriched uranium, and that there must be a verification mechanism to ensure Tehran does not develop a nuclear weapon in the future. Last Wednesday, the US and Iran agreed a two-week truce to allow the negotiations to go ahead, and mediator Pakistan and Gulf state Qatar were still calling on Monday for it to be respected as diplomatic efforts continue.

"The ceasefire is still holding and, as I speak, full efforts are underway to resolve the outstanding issues," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan told a cabinet meeting. Speaking at the White House, Trump said Iranian representatives had called seeking to make a deal since the Islamabad talks failed, without identifying which officials had called. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi blamed the United States for the impasse in the talks during a call with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

"Unfortunately, we witnessed the continued excessive demands of the American side in the negotiations, which led to the failure to achieve a result," his ministry quoted him as saying. Qatari Foreign Minister and Premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani urged both sides to guarantee freedom of navigation and refrain from using maritime routes "as a tool for pressure," encouraging Tehran and Washington to remain in touch with mediators.

Iran had already closed the strait to what it regards as enemy shipping, allowing only vessels serving countries it deems friendly -- such as China -- to cross. Analysts suggested the US president was trying to starve Iran of funds but also pressure Beijing, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to lean on Tehran to reopen Hormuz. Beijing criticized the blockade, with foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun emphasizing the strait's importance to trade and saying that "maintaining its security, stability, and unimpeded flow is in the common interest of the international community."

UN chief Antonio Guterres also called for freedom of navigation to be respected and pointed to the mariners trapped in the Gulf. "We need to remember that some 20,000 seafarers have been caught up in this conflict and are currently stranded on ships, facing increasing hardships daily," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. US Central Command said the blockade included "vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman."

US forces would not impede vessels transiting the strait to and from non-Iranian ports, it added. Iran's military command issued a statement branding the blockade an act of piracy, and warned that if the security of its harbors "is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea will be safe". French President Emmanuel Macron said that France and Britain would host a conference with countries prepared to join a "peaceful multinational mission" to secure the strait, but it would be "strictly defensive" and only operational once circumstances permit.

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran's delegation in Pakistan, has said Tehran will "not bow to any threats," while navy chief Shahram Irani has called Trump's blockade "ridiculous." The strait was far from the only friction point impeding efforts to end the war.

The US delegation in Islamabad -- led by Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner -- was frustrated by Iran's refusal to give up what it insists is a civilian nuclear program. Russia has offered to hold Iran's enriched uranium safely as part of any deal. "The offer still stands, but has not been acted upon," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz," Trump said. "Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!" Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian delegation in Pakistan, said upon arriving back in Tehran that the country would "not bow to any threats" from Washington. Tehran has itself been restricting traffic through the strait -- a key route for global oil and gas shipments -- while allowing vessels deemed to be working for friendly countries, such as China, to pass. There have been unconfirmed reports that Tehran plans to charge tolls.

"THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION," Trump said. "I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits." The US military had said Saturday that two Navy warships transited through the strait to begin clearing it of mines and ensure it was a "safe pathway" for tankers, a claim denied by Tehran. Iran's Fars news agency reported on Sunday that two Pakistani-flagged oil tankers heading for the strait had turned around.

Fears of renewed fighting rattled an already tense region after the US-Iran talks collapsed. "I am worried about the continuation of the situation and the return of attacks again," said Imam, an Egyptian housewife living in UAE capital Abu Dhabi. "I was making a great effort not to pass my tension on to the children." Trump later in a Fox News interview again threatened Iran's energy infrastructure, before warning he would impose a 50 percent tariff on Chinese imports if Beijing tried to help the Iranian military.

"I could take out Iran in one day. I could have their entire energy everything, every one of their plants, their electric generating plants," he said. The president's latest ultimatum appeared to have been triggered by the failure of talks to secure a deal to end the six-week-old war. Iran's refusal to give up its right to a nuclear programme frustrated the US delegation, led by Vice President JD Vance, White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. "I have always said, right from the beginning, and many years ago, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!" Trump said.

"The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade," he added, without specifying which ones. After the talks -- the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the 1979 Islamic revolution -- Vance warned that Washington had made Tehran its "final and best offer" for a deal, adding: "We'll see if the Iranians accept it." Ghalibaf said he had "put forward constructive initiatives" but the US team did not win Iran's trust.

Iranian MP Mahmoud Nabavian, also present at the Pakistan talks, posted on X that the excessive US demands included "a joint share with Iran in the benefits of the Strait of Hormuz" alongside removing the country's 60-percent enriched uranium. Expert Nicole Grajewski said a US blockade of the strait was "not a minor coercive signal", but would rather be considered an effective renewal of the war. "It suggests Washington is increasingly disillusioned with diplomacy and more willing to rely on direct military means," said Grajewski, an assistant professor at Sciences Po's Center for International Research.

The failure of the talks will raise concerns that a return to fighting could drive world energy prices higher and further damage shipping and oil and gas facilities. Pakistan urged both countries to continue respecting the temporary truce. But concern has grown that the ceasefire could collapse in part because of continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where Iran has insisted the truce also applies. Lebanese and Israeli officials are due to hold talks in Washington on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit to troops in southern Lebanon, according to a video posted Sunday, saying the threat of a Hezbollah invasion of northern Israel was removed but the "war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon". Tamara, an 18-year-old cashier in Beirut, said focus should remain on her country, where Israeli strikes killed more than 350 people on Wednesday. "We can't say the war has stopped because there are talks," she said. "We mustn't forget the massacre that happened."

Vance said that the core dispute was on nuclear weapons. Iran insists it is not pursuing an atomic bomb, and the United States and Israel bombed sensitive Iranian sites both in the war launched on February 28 as well as last year. "The simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon," Vance said. "The simple question is, do we see a fundamental commitment of will for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon -- not just now, not just two years from now, but for the long term?

"We haven't seen that yet. We hope that we will." Vance, in brief remarks at a luxury hotel in Islamabad where the two sides have been meeting, did not highlight disagreement on another key issue, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passageway through which one-fifth of the world's oil transits.

He insisted that President Donald Trump -- who on Saturday in Washington said he did not care if the two sides sealed a deal -- had been accommodating in the talks. "I think that we were quite flexible. We were quite accommodating. The president told us, You need to come here in good faith and make your best effort to get a deal. "We did that and, unfortunately, we weren't able to make headway."

"We're now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz," Trump said on his Truth Social platform, calling it "a favor" to countries such as China, Japan and France that "don't have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves." He insisted that Iran is "LOSING BIG!" in the conflict, while acknowledging that Iranian mines in the strategic strait -- through which a fifth of the world's crude passes -- still pose a threat.

"The only thing they have going is the threat that a ship may 'bunk' into one of their sea mines," Trump wrote. US officials did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comments about the reports. The key shipping lane off the coast of Iran has been virtually blocked by Tehran since the United States and Israel started bombing Iran on February 28, though reopening the strait was ostensibly a condition of the shaky ceasefire put in place earlier this week.

Senior Iranian and American officials began negotiations in Pakistan on Saturday, Iranian media reported, in a bid to bring to an end a conflict that has plunged the Middle East into violence and sent shockwaves through the world economy. In an earlier post, Trump said that empty tankers were headed to the United States from around the world to purchase oil, without providing details.

The Iranian delegation had previously met with Pakistani army chief Asim Munir after arriving in Islamabad overnight. Noting Pakistan's previous efforts as an intermediary, Iran's Fars news agency reported that after the meeting with "Munir, the army chief of staff and an influential figure in that country, messages were again exchanged between Iran and the United States". Munir also greeted Vice President JD Vance, who is leading the US negotiating team, upon his arrival on Saturday.

Trump has dispatched Vice President JD Vance to Pakistan to meet with the Iranians in a bid to reach a peace deal in the Middle East war following a two-week ceasefire that was agreed on Tuesday. Vance warned Iran not to "play" Washington as he headed to Islamabad to represent the United States at the high-stakes meeting along with Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff. "If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we're certainly willing to extend the open hand," Vance said. But "if they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive."

The leader of the Iranian delegation, parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, was equally wary. "We have good intentions but we do not trust," Iranian state TV quoted Ghalibaf as saying upon his arrival in Pakistan's capital. "Our experience in negotiating with the Americans has always been met with failure and broken promises." Tehran has said the talks would only begin if Washington accepts its preconditions: a Lebanon ceasefire and the unfreezing of Iran's assets.

Israel is to hold discussions with Lebanon's government in Washington next week but Israel's ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said his country will not discuss a ceasefire with Hezbollah. Israel "agreed to begin formal peace negotiations" with the Lebanese government, with which it has no diplomatic relations, Leiter said in a statement. "Israel refused to discuss a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which continues to attack Israel and is the main obstacle to peace between the two countries," he added.

Israel launched massive strikes and a ground invasion of Lebanon after attacking Iran on February 28, in response to rocket fire into Israel from Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shia Muslim movement and militant group. Israel has said the ceasefire between the United States and Iran does not cover Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities say the weeks of hostilities have killed more than 1,950 people, with Israeli strikes killing more than 350 people Wednesday alone, the first full day of the US-Iran ceasefire. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said making progress at the Islamabad talks would be hard work. "A temporary ceasefire has been announced, but now an even more difficult stage lies ahead: the stage of achieving a lasting ceasefire, of resolving complicated issues through negotiations," he said. "This is that stage which, in English, is called the equivalent of 'make or break.'" The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world's crude passes, will loom large in the peace talks in Islamabad and Trump told reporters the critical oil conduit would be open "fairly soon."

"We're going to open up the Gulf with or without them... or the strait as they call it," he said. "I think it's going to go pretty quickly, and if it doesn't, we'll be able to finish it off. We will have that open fairly soon." Asked what a good deal with Iran would look like, Trump said: "No nuclear weapon. That's 99 percent of it." Official sources say the talks will cover several sensitive points, including Iran's nuclear enrichment and the free flow of trade through the strait.

Trump posted Friday on his Truth Social network that Iran has "no cards" in the talks "other than a short-term extortion of the World by using International Waterways." In Islamabad, all routes leading to the Serena Hotel, the expected venue for the talks, were blocked off with heavy security, while a large banner and digital signs along the expressway heralded the "Islamabad Talks." In Tehran, a 30-year-old resident told AFP he was skeptical negotiations would be successful, describing most of what Trump says as "pure noise and nonsense."

"But we will not renounce our legitimate rights under any circumstances, and in this respect, we consider the entire resistance front as a whole," he added, in an apparent reference to Lebanon where Israel is fighting with Tehran's ally Hezbollah. Iran this week agreed to a fragile two-week ceasefire with the United States that could lead to peace negotiations after threats of annihilation from US President Donald Trump.

Khamenei told Iranians that they must "not imagine that taking to the streets is no longer necessary" despite the announcement of the ceasefire. "Your voices in public squares are undoubtedly influential in the outcome of the negotiations," he said, according to the message broadcast on state TV.

Likely wounded in the strike that killed his father, Mojtaba Khamenei, has still not been seen in public since his leadership appointment. He has issued written declarations, most of them read out by presenters on state television. US President Donald Trump has even speculated that he could be dead, but Iran state television says he is recovering from his injuries and posts photos of him, without specifying when they were taken.

Lebanon was pulled into the war after the Tehran-backed militant group targeted Israel in retaliation for the US-Israel war against Iran. While Iran and the United States agreed to a two-week ceasefire late on Tuesday, Israel insisted that Lebanon was not part of the truce. Hezbollah responded by saying it had fired rockets towards Israel, and Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf appeared to threaten the ceasefire.

"The Secretary-General strongly condemns the loss of civilian lives and is deeply alarmed by the mounting toll on civilians," the UN spokesman said. "There is no military solution to the conflict. The Secretary-General continues to call on all sides to avail themselves of diplomatic channels," he added. The UN rights chief and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) earlier condemned the "scale of killing and destruction in Lebanon" as "nothing short of horrific."

"Such carnage, within hours of agreeing to a ceasefire with Iran, defies belief," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk. French President Emmanual Macron also joined calls for Lebanon to be included in the ceasefire.

"I'm terrified and so should everyone else in the country be," university student Metanat, whose classmate died two weeks ago in an attack, told AFP. The 27-year-old, who declined to give her last name, said as far as Trump's ultimatums are concerned, "some people think they are a joke", but she added: "Death is not a joke."

Iran's ambassador to Pakistan, which is mediating between Iran and the United States, said Tuesday on X that efforts to end the war were "approaching a critical, sensitive stage", without giving details. More than five weeks into the war, the Iranian army has dismissed what it called Trump's "arrogant rhetoric and baseless threats", saying they would not hinder its operations. Brushing aside accusations that such strikes would constitute war crimes, Trump at a press conference warned that "every bridge in Iran will be decimated" and "every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again" if a deal is not reached.

Iranian pensioner Morteza Hamidi said he has seen Trump back down too many times to take his words seriously: "We are now numb to his threats," he told AFP. The 62-year-old added that among many emotions, he felt "gloomy for the future of the country after the war". On Tuesday the Israeli army told Iranians to avoid taking trains until 1730 GMT, while in the Gulf traffic across King Fahd Bridge, a major artery connecting Saudi Arabia and the island nation of Bahrain, was temporarily closed as a precaution amid fears of retaliatory strikes by Iran.

A series of explosions was heard across Tehran on Tuesday, with AFP journalists noting blasts in the north of the city. US-Israeli strikes also "completely destroyed" the capital's Rafi-Nia synagogue, local media reported. Israel's military said Tuesday it had carried out a new "wave" of airstrikes on what it called Iranian "terror regime infrastructure" in Tehran and other areas.

Iranian media said explosions were heard in parts of the capital and nearby Karaj early in the day. The Israeli army later said it had detected missiles launched from Iran towards Israeli territory, adding that air defence systems were working to intercept them. Overnight, attacks on Saudi Arabia hit a petrochemical complex in a sprawling industrial area in the eastern city of Jubail, a witness who requested anonymity told AFP, hours after similar installations in Iran were struck.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Bahrain's interior ministry said air-raid sirens sounded Tuesday morning, while the United Arab Emirates said its air defences were actively engaging missiles and drones. Both Trump and Iran have said a proposal touted by international mediators for a 45-day ceasefire is not yet ready. Trump had said earlier that the plan, which is being mediated by Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey, was a "significant proposal", but he later went on to say it was not good enough.

Iranian state media quoted officials as saying that Tehran too "has rejected a ceasefire and insists on the need for a definitive end to the conflict". Under the plan, Iran would reopen the strait while charging around $2 million per vessel, a fee it would share with neighbouring Oman, the New York Times reported.

Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the US-based Centre for International Policy, wrote that "infrastructure war is not looming. It is already underway". Iran's resilience means that "Tehran is unlikely to give ground on its core interests, above all its control over the Strait of Hormuz, no matter the cost", he wrote in a Substack newsletter.

On the diplomatic front, the UN Security Council is set to vote Tuesday on a watered-down resolution addressing Iran's threats to the strait, diplomatic sources told AFP, after more robust earlier drafts faced potential vetoes. Iran has effectively blocked the waterway since the start of the war on February 28, driving up global oil and gas prices. Around one?fifth of the world's oil normally flows through the strait.

Jubail in eastern Saudi Arabia is home to one of the world's largest industrial cities, where steel, gasoline, petrochemicals, lubricating oil and chemical fertilisers are produced. The source later told AFP that workers in affected areas had been evacuated from their living quarters. AFP reached out to SABIC for comment.

On Monday, Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said his country conducted a "powerful strike" on Iran's largest petrochemical facility in Asaluyeh and Iranian media reported multiple explosions at the site. The attack on the Jubail industrial area came as Saudi air defence forces engaged a barrage targeting the kingdom's eastern region, with seven ballistic missiles intercepted and destroyed, according to a defence ministry spokesperson. "Parts of ballistic missile debris fell around power facilities; damage assessment is underway," the ministry said in a post on X.

Early Tuesday, authorities also announced the temporary closure of the major bridge connecting Saudi Arabia and the island nation of Bahrain as a precaution following the issuance of security alerts in the area. "The movement of vehicles across King Fahd Bridge has been suspended as a precautionary measure," said the General Authority for King Fahd Causeway in a post online.

The causeway is a 25-kilometre (16-mile) series of bridges connecting Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Hours later, authorities said the bridge had been reopened to traffic. Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of regularly targeting its energy installations and infrastructure since Tehran launched a sustained blitz across the Gulf after Israel and the US attacked Iran in late February.

The woman teacher, born in 1970, was attacked at the entrance to her school in the town of Dobryanka, regional governor Dmitry Makhonin said. "Unfortunately, despite all the doctors' efforts, Olesya Petrovna Baguta, a Russian language and literature teacher... could not be saved," he said in a later message. Police detained the attacker, identified by Russia's Investigative Committee as a a 17-year-old student at the school.

"We hope that the countries in the region will use all their diplomatic and political capabilities to prevent such a tragedy from befalling the region," Mohammad Toutounji told AFP. During more than a month of war, Iran has responded to US and Israeli strikes that decapitated its leadership by launching drone and missile attacks across the Gulf. Iran has targeted US embassies, bases and assets but also airports, major oil and gas infrastructure as well as landmarks, ports, hotels and residential areas.

But Toutounji said Tehran "does not want to escalate tensions in the region". "On the contrary, it consistently strives to de-escalate tensions and diligently and in good faith follows the efforts and initiatives of other countries in this regard," he said. He warned that US strikes on vital facilities would lead to "complete and total cessation of energy exports from the region".

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran's ambassador to Pakistan, which is mediating between Iran and the United States, said on X that efforts to end the war were approaching a "critical" stage. "Positive and productive endeavours in Good Will and Good Office to stop the war is approaching a critical, sensitive stage," Reza Amiri Moghadam wrote on X, without giving details.

Health Minister Wes Streeting condemned the decision by the doctors' union to reject the government's latest offer of 4.9 percent amid an ongoing cost of living crisis. Streeting told BBC television the doctors had been the "standout winners of the entire public sector workforce when it comes to pay rises".

He accused the union of rushing to strike action despite the earlier "whopping" pay rise, adding the stoppage would cost the state-funded National Health Service œ300 million ($3.9 million). The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents the doctors, is demanding full pay restoration to 2008 levels. The UK government has repeatedly said that in the current economic environment it is impossible to meet their demands. Streeting has already agreed to the doctors' union's demand that UK-trained medics get priority for training posts over candidates from overseas.

President Joao Lourenco has said the country faces a "race against the clock" to find, rescue and provide medical care to those affected. Emergency services on Sunday had put the death toll at 15 and said thousands had been forced to leave their homes. Benguela has borne the biggest brunt of the flooding, with 23 people killed, TPA television said.

Six people have died and one is missing in Luanda, the fire service said in a statement. In neighbouring Namibia, the Zambezi River has risen sharply, forcing thousands of people living along its banks to flee. Officials said water levels had reached about 6.8 metres (22 feet), well above the usual four metres. Heavy downpours are not unusual in southern Africa during the rainy season but scientists say human-caused climate change is increasing the probability, length and severity of such extreme weather events.

"We are building the capacity necessary to serve the exponential growth we have seen in our customer base while also enabling Claude to define the frontier of AI development." Broadcom has entered a long-term agreement with Google to supply future generations of the internet giant's tensor processing units (TPUs) tailored to power AI in datacenters, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Separately, Broadcom and Google expanded a collaboration to give Anthropic access to about 3.5 gigawatts of TPU-based compute capacity to start coming online next year, the filing indicated. Most of the TPU compute power will be sited in the United States, according to the startup. Anthropic has been locked in a dispute with the US government since the company infuriated Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth by insisting its technology should not be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems.

The Australian Federal Police said they arrested a 47-year-old former Australian soldier, who was widely named in local media as Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith.

"One hundred percent of national assembly deputies approve the resolution electing the president for 2026-2031 term for comrade To Lam", said Tran Thanh Man, who was re-elected chairman of Vietnam's top legislative body on Monday.

Israeli news outlets identified the Filipina victim's given name as Lucille-Jean, saying that she and her family had been pulled from the rubble of their collapsed residence following an hours-long rescue effort. "The Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv has informed the family and is providing all necessary assistance, including arrangements for the earliest possible repatriation of her remains despite the current travel situation in the region," the foreign affairs department said Tuesday.

Mary Ann Velasquez De Vera, a 32-year-old caregiver, became the war's first Philippine fatality on March 1 as she attempted to escort her elderly ward to an Israeli bomb shelter. At least two million Filipinos who live in the Middle East have found themselves in the crossfire since the United States and Israel launched their attack on Iran on February 28. Mostly guestworkers, the overseas Filipino worker community in the region sends billions of dollars in remittances home each year to families that depend on them as the primary breadwinners.

Thousands of Filipino sailors, meanwhile, have found themselves effectively trapped in the Strait of Hormuz, awaiting safe passage through the now-deadly shipping lane, which Iran has effectively bottlenecked. The Philippines said last week that Iran had pledged to allow "the safe, unhindered, and expeditious passage through the Strait of Hormuz of Philippine-flagged vessels, energy sources, and all Filipino seafarers", though the timeline was unclear.

US President Donald Trump doubled down on Monday on a threat to wreck Iran's civilian infrastructure, warning that US forces could destroy bridge and power plants in the country and that a truce proposal from international mediators was not yet enough.

- Israel, Iran trade fire -

Explosions were heard in parts of Tehran and the nearby city of Karaj, Iranian media reported, as the Israeli military said it was carrying out a "wave" of airstrikes on Iran.

"Moments ago, explosions were heard in parts of Tehran and Karaj," local media outlets Fars and Mehr said on Telegram.

The Israeli military also announced its air defences were activated to respond to missiles fired by Iran.

- Saudis down ballistic missiles -

Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed seven ballistic missiles launched toward the country's east, debris of which fell near power facilities, the defence ministry's spokesperson said.

- Two killed in Iraqi Kurdistan-

A drone "coming from Iran" killed a couple in Iraqi Kurdistan after crashing into their home, local authorities reported.

Separately, two blasts were heard near Erbil airport, which hosts advisers from the US-led anti-jihadist coalition, in Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdistan region, an AFP journalist said.

Some hours earlier, air defence systems downed four missiles headed towards the US consulate in Erbil, a security source told AFP.

- Iran slams 'arrogant rhetoric' -

After US President Donald Trump doubled down on his threats to raze Iran's infrastructure, an Iranian army spokesman said the "rude, arrogant rhetoric" was not impacting its actions.

- Trump threatens Iran infrastructure -

Trump told a news conference that "the entire country" of Iran "could be taken out in one night and that night might be tomorrow night," if his ultimatum to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 0000 GMT Wednesday was not met.

"Every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again," he said, threatening the same for the country's bridges. "I mean complete demolition by 12 o'clock (0400 GMT), and it'll happen over a period of four hours -- if we wanted to."

- Details on US airman rescue -

Trump and other senior US officials gave details of the high-risk mission to rescue two US airmen who were shot down over Iran, saying more than 170 aircraft and hundreds of troops were involved in the operation.

"These two operations reflect our nation's most sacred obligation to our military service members," top US general Dan Caine said. "We leave no one behind."

- US, Iran reject ceasefire -

Trump and Iran rejected a ceasefire bid from mediating countries, though the US leader called it a "significant proposal."

"It's a significant step. It's not good enough, but it's a very significant step," Trump told reporters in Washington before his news conference.

Iranian state media said the proposal contained 10 undisclosed points, but Tehran "has rejected a ceasefire and insists on the need for a definitive end to the conflict."

- Red Cross condemns threats to infrastructure -

International Committee of the Red Cross chief Mirjana Spoljaric warned that "deliberate threats... against essential civilian infrastructure and nuclear facilities must not become the new norm in warfare."

"Any war fought without limits is incompatible with the law," she said, without singling out any country or leader.

Trump, asked about potentially committing war crimes by attacking civilian infrastructure, said "I'm not worried about it." He argued an Iran with "a nuclear weapon" would be worse.

- Tehran airports hit -

Israel's military said it had carried out strikes on three airports in Tehran, targeting several Iranian planes and helicopters.

It said the strikes were part of efforts aimed at "degrading the Iranian Air Force and the IRGC air force at airports in Tehran."

- Iran gas sites hit -

Israel said it had struck Iran's largest petrochemical complex, which services the South Pars natural gas field, the biggest natural gas reserve in the world.

Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu said the facility had been "destroyed" and his country was "systematically eliminating the Revolutionary Guards' money machine."

Strikes also hit another petrochemical complex near the Iranian city of Shiraz, local authorities said.

- IAEA warning -

The chief of the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said attacks near Iran's Bushehr atomic power plant "pose a very real danger to nuclear safety and must stop."

IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said one recent strike had hit just 75 metres (245 feet) from the Bushehr perimeter.

- Iran intel chief killed -

Iran said an Israeli strike at dawn killed the intelligence chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Major General Majid Khademi.

The Guards threatened "a major retaliatory strike" in response.

Vance is scheduled to meet with Orban and also deliver a speech on "the rich partnership between the United States and Hungary," according to a statement from his office. The 41-year-old conservative is, within the US administration, one of the fiercest critics of centrist and progressive European governments and one of the most fervent supporters of far-right parties in Europe. His visit is a show of support for Orban in the final stretch before Sunday's elections. Orban, 62, has been in power for 16 years and is close to Moscow. According to analysts, he has benefited from covert Russian assistance to boost his chances of reelection.

Polls by independent institutes predict a sweeping victory for the Tisza party led by pro-European conservative Peter Magyar. In two years, Magyar has built an opposition movement capable of challenging the hegemony of the incumbent Hungarian leader, who has transformed his country into a model of illiberal democracy. Pro-government institutions, for their part, predict victory for Orban's Fidesz-KDNP coalition. Since returning to power, Trump and his government have broken with the traditional restraint past US administrations have shown regarding foreign elections. Instead, it now strongly and openly shows support for leaders it sees as compatible with its ideology and diplomatic priorities.

Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, traveled in mid-February to Budapest, where he wished his Hungarian ally "success." "I can say to you with confidence that President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success," Rubio said during a joint press conference with Orban after their meeting. Orban is particularly aligned with the Trump administration on anti-migrant policies, which came to the fore in Hungary during the refugee crisis 10 years ago. He has visited Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida several times. Vance's wife, Usha Vance, is joining him on the trip.

Earlier Tokyo said that Iran had freed a Japanese national held since January, with Kyodo News reporting that the person was believed to be the Tehran bureau chief of broadcaster NHK. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi late Monday Japanese time, Tokyo said. Motegi "expressed his grave concern over the prolonging exchange of retaliatory attacks (by Iran on Gulf countries), and reiterated Japan's consistent position that an early de-escalation of the situation is of utmost importance," the foreign ministry said.

"In addition, he urged Iran to engage sincerely with the diplomatic efforts currently underway among the relevant countries," a statement added. Japan is the fifth-biggest importer of oil with more than 90 percent of it coming from the Middle East, as well as around 10 percent of its liquified natural gas (LNG) imports. On Monday, US President Donald Trump again criticised NATO allies as well as South Korea, Australia, and Japan for not assisting with the Iran war.

The Supreme Court in Madrid will judge them for alleged bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling, membership of a criminal organisation and misuse of confidential information. The men deny the charges. Proceedings are due to begin at 10:00 a.m. (0800 GMT). This is the first major corruption trial affecting the government since Sanchez came to power in 2018 after ousting a conservative Popular Party (PP) government in a no-confidence vote over its own graft scandal.

The Socialists have sought to distance themselves from the case. Deputy Prime Minister Carlos Cuerpo on Monday urged the court to act "forcefully" against Abalos, saying the party felt "outrage". But PP spokesman Juan Bravo said Abalos was Sanchez's "friend and quite possibly his cover-up man" even though the prime minister has said he knew nothing about his former minister's personal life. Prosecutors want Abalos to serve 24 years in jail. They portray him as the mastermind of a scheme of illicit enrichment. They have called for a 19-year term for Garcia, who they say was a key intermediary.

They argued in court that both men had abused their government positions and contacts to favour businessman Victor de Aldama, who has already admitted his role in the vast and complex affair. Abalos has protested that the investigation has been unfair. More than 75 witnesses and about 20 experts are to testify during the proceedings, which are due to run through April.

The investigation also appears to have ensnared Abalos's successor in the powerful post of Socialist organisation secretary, Santos Cerdan. Caught up in another case of suspected corruption for public works contracts, he has been forced to step down from the key party position. The fall of Abalos and Cerdan -- two of Sanchez's closest allies -- has embarrassed a Sanchez who took power promising to clean up Spanish politics.

Recordings of private conversations between the accused, leaked to the media, frequently mention cash and prostitutes, dealing another blow to the Socialists who have long championed women's rights. Separate corruption investigations into Sanchez's wife Begona Gomez and his brother David, who faces trial later this year, have piled further pressure on the government, one of few leftist administrations in Europe. Both the PP and far-right opposition party Vox have called for Sanchez's resignation and early elections.

They argue that the scandals expose systemic corruption within the Socialists that reaches the premier himself. Sanchez has always denied any illegal funding of his party and rebuffed calls for polls before the next scheduled general election, due in 2027. The Socialists have countered by highlighting corruption cases involving PP figures. One involves a former interior minister who went on trial Monday for allegedly spying on an ex-PP treasurer who had threatened to expose corruption.

Media reports had said earlier that the NHK bureau chief arrested on January 20 was sent to a prison known for holding political detainees. A Japanese government spokesperson at the time told reporters that a Japanese citizen had been detained on that date but declined to give more details. NHK had also declined to comment.

"We have a plan...where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o'clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again," Trump said, brushing aside accusations that such a move would be a war crime. "I mean complete demolition by 12 o'clock, and it'll happen over a period of four hours -- if we wanted to," Trump said at a press conference during which he also recounted the rescue of the two crew members of a US F-15 fighter jet shot down over Iran last week.

Both Trump and Iran said, meanwhile, that a proposal touted by international mediators for a 45-day ceasefire is not yet ready. Trump had said earlier that the plan, which the US media said is being mediated by Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey, was a "significant proposal," but he later went on to say it was not good enough. Iranian state media quoted officials as saying that Tehran too "has rejected a ceasefire and insists on the need for a definitive end to the conflict."

The Iranian army's Khatam Al-Anbiya central command, responding to Trump's threats, called him "delusional" and said "crushing operations of the warriors of Islam against the American and Zionist enemies" would continue. Also on the diplomatic front, the UN Security Council is set to vote Tuesday on a watered-down resolution addressing Iran's threats to the Strait of Hormuz, diplomatic sources told AFP, after more robust earlier drafts faced potential vetoes.

Iran has imposed an effective blockade on the critical waterway since the United States and Israel launched the war on February 28, sending ripple effects throughout the global economy. Iran's virtual blockade of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil normally flows, has sent oil and gas prices soaring and pushed countries around the world to enact measures to contain the fallout. Bahrain, backed by other oil-exporting Gulf countries, launched negotiations two weeks ago on a draft resolution that would have given a clear UN mandate to any state wishing to use force to unblock the strait.

However, objections from several veto-holding permanent members have seen the text watered down and the latest draft seen by AFP does not expressly authorize force. The United States and Israel have continued striking targets across Iran, and Tehran has responded with missile and drone attacks around the region. Iranian media said explosions were heard in parts of Tehran and nearby Karaj early Tuesday. Yemen's Houthi rebels said they launched an attack targeting Israel, supporting their backer Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Israeli air strikes hit major Iranian petrochemical facilities including Asaluyeh on the Gulf coast, the country's biggest, and another outside Shiraz in central Iran. Israel's military said it also struck Iranian air force targets including planes and helicopters at airports in Tehran and elsewhere. Gulf nations allied with the United States have been sucked into the war, with Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates reporting strikes on Monday. The Saudi defense ministry said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed seven ballistic missiles launched toward the country's east on Tuesday.

It said debris fell around power facilities and a damage assessment was underway. Iran's Revolutionary Guards posted on Telegram on Monday that their intelligence chief Majid Khademi had been killed at dawn in US-Israeli strikes. Israel's military also said it had killed Asghar Bagheri, commander of the Guards' Quds Force special operations unit, on Sunday.

"We will reach anyone who seeks to harm us," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. The Guards' Intelligence Organization vowed a "major retaliatory strike" against those responsible for killing their commanders. Iran has continued to launch attacks at Israel, where the military and medics said four bodies were recovered from a residential building Monday in the northern city of Haifa that was struck by a missile.

"A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," the Israeli military said on its official Telegram channel.

"A short while ago, the IDF completed an air strike wave with the aim of damaging Iranian terror regime infrastructure in Tehran and additional areas across Iran," the Israeli military wrote on its official Telegram channel.

Since the Middle East war erupted on February 28, shadowy Iraq-based groups have been claiming near daily attacks on US interests in the country and beyond. The groups are nominally part of the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq", a loose alliance of pro-Iran factions opposed to the US presence in the country. These groups have in turn come under attacks blamed on the United States and Israel.

The Pentagon has acknowledged that helicopters have carried out strikes against pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq during the war. On Sunday, the US embassy in Baghdad said "Iraqi terrorist militias affiliated with Iran conducted two more egregious attacks against US diplomatic facilities in Iraq overnight in an attempt to kill American diplomats". The embassy spokesperson urged Iraqi authorities to prevent further attacks on the US mission and facilities.

"We will not hesitate to defend our personnel and facilities should the Iraqi government be unable to fulfill its obligations," the spokesperson said. On Thursday, the Iraqi foreign ministry said it was "exerting maximum effort to prevent any escalation", including strengthening security to protect foreign and diplomatic interests as well as maintaining internal stability. The Kurdistan region's Peshmerga security forces have also faced multiple attacks since the start of the war, with six of their fighters killed in an Iranian attack in March.

On Monday, the Peshmerga ministry said its command headquarters was attacked overnight by four explosive-laden drones, without specifying whether there were any casualties. "Until now, there has not been a serious stance or practical steps to deter these terrorist attacks and put an end to them" by Iraq's federal authorities, the ministry said.

"Today, India takes a defining step in its civil nuclear journey, advancing the second stage of its nuclear programme," Modi said in a statement late Monday. "This advanced reactor, capable of producing more fuel than it consumes, reflects the depth of our scientific capability and the strength of our engineering enterprise."

Modi called it a "decisive step towards harnessing our vast thorium reserves", a potential fuel for nuclear reactors. The reactor does not yet generate electricity for the grid. That comes in the next stages, once the reactor moves to full power operation. The development also comes at a time of global energy uncertainty, including war in the Middle East, which has heightened concerns about fuel supply disruptions. India remains heavily dependent on coal, but has pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2070.

Security camera footage of the explosion showed a fireball and a thick cloud of smoke emanating from the area. Panamanian firefighter chief Victor Alvarez said a person who was presumed to work at the complex died as a result of the explosion, and two firefighters suffered minor injuries. The Panama Canal Authority reported the explosion had no impact on the canal. The Bridge of the Americas was closed after the incident, and was set to undergo inspections Tuesday to determine if it was damaged by the blast.

"In this response -- set out in ten points -- Iran... has rejected a ceasefire and insists on the need for a definitive end to the conflict," the Iranian state news agency added. IRNA also said Tehran's demands included "an end to conflicts in the region, a protocol for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, reconstruction, and the lifting of sanctions". The New York Times, citing two unnamed senior Iranian officials, reported that Tehran was also seeking guarantees it would not face future attacks, and that Israeli strikes against its ally Hezbollah in southern Lebanon would cease.

Under the reported plan, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping while charging about $2 million per vessel, a fee it would share with Oman, which borders the waterway, according to the New York Times. Iran would use its share of the revenue to rebuild infrastructure damaged by US-Israeli strikes, instead of seeking direct compensation, the newspaper said. US President Donald Trump on Monday called the plan a "significant proposal" but he later went on to say it was not good enough.

Trump had warned on Sunday that unless Tehran agreed by Tuesday evening to allow free passage to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, he would order strikes on its power plants and bridges.

"Enemy drones attacked civilian infrastructure in our region," said Vladimir region's governor Alexander Avdeev on Telegram.

"Two adults and their seven-year-old son were killed," he said, adding that their five-year-old daughter was in hospital with burns.

Gaza's civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, confirmed the death toll. A Palestinian witness told AFP that the violence began with clashes between gunmen from an anti-Hamas militia, allegedly backed by Israel, and some residents in the school who were backed by Hamas fighters. The anti-Hamas gunmen had come to arrest some residents, the witness said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

"Clashes broke out when residents and Hamas members tried to confront the (anti-Hamas) militiamen," he said. "Shortly after, Israeli forces bombed the area near the school and also opened heavy fire," he said. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. It remains unclear how many of the victims were killed by airstrikes and how many died in the clashes. Israel and Hamas continue to accuse each other of violating the truce.

Israel has continued to carry out strikes in Gaza during the ceasefire, targeting what it says are Hamas militants. Since the ceasefire began, at least 723 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza's health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures reliable. The Israeli military says it has lost five soldiers in Gaza during the same period.

Bahrain, backed by other oil-exporting Gulf countries, had launched negotiations two weeks ago on a draft resolution that would have given a clear UN mandate to any state wishing to use force to unblock the strait. However, objections from several veto-holding permanent members have seen the text gradually watered down, and the vote -- originally scheduled for late last week -- has been delayed multiple times.

The latest draft, seen by AFP on Monday, still demands Iran end its attacks on commercial vessels and to halt "any attempt to impede transit passage or freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz." Instead of expressly authorizing force, it "strongly encourages States...to coordinate efforts, defensive in nature, commensurate to the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation, including through the escort of merchant and commercial vessels."

It also encourages coordination "to deter attempts to close, obstruct or otherwise interfere with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz." The draft expresses the Council's "readiness to consider further measures" against anyone undermining freedom of navigation in the Strait. The vote is scheduled for Tuesday at 11:00 am (1500 GMT), nine hours before President Donald Trump's deadline for Iran to agree to a deal or face attacks against its power plants and bridges.

Two people died and 32 were rescued from the boat, which had left Libya on Saturday afternoon with around 105 people on board, according to Mediterranea Saving Humans.

Following an 48-hour ultimatum he issued on Saturday, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that "Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!"

"Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH!" wrote the president, adding: "Praise be to Allah."

The economic strikes are also going the other way. An Israeli or US strike on a petrochemical hub in the southwest of Iran killed five people, according to the deputy governor of Khuzestan province. The war erupted more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, triggering a retaliation that has spread the conflict throughout the Middle East and convulsed the global economy -- particularly due to the closure of the strait, a vital conduit for oil and gas. "Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT," Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to an ultimatum issued on March 26.

"Time is running out -- 48 hours before all Hell will reign (sic) down on them." Iran's central military command rejected the ultimatum, with General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi saying Trump's threat was a "helpless, nervous, unbalanced and stupid action". Echoing Trump's language, he warned that "the gates of hell will open for you".

Trump later posted a video showing explosions lighting up a night sky along with text that said: "Many of Iran's Military Leaders...are terminated, along with much else, with this massive strike in Tehran", without specifying when it took place. Tehran said Friday it had shot down an F-15 warplane and US media reported United States special forces had rescued one of its two crew members, with the other still missing.

Iran's military also said it downed a US A-10 ground attack aircraft in the Gulf, with US media saying the pilot of that plane was rescued. The local Mehr news agency on Saturday quoted the deputy governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, Fattah Mohammadi, as saying the search for the missing airman involved "popular forces and tribesmen alongside military forces and is still ongoing". He added that "last night, people fired at enemy helicopters with rifles and did not allow them to land".

Images posted on social media and verified by AFPTV showed Iranian police firing at a US helicopter in southwestern Iran as US forces searched for the airman. A strike near Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant on Saturday killed a guard and led Russia, which partly constructed the facility and helps operate it, to announce it was evacuating 198 workers and to condemn the strike as "an evil deed". Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that continued attacks on the plant on the southern coast could eventually lead to radioactive fallout that would "end life in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) capitals, not Tehran".

Bushehr is considerably closer to Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar than it is to the Iranian capital. Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote on X that no increase in radiation levels had been reported at the site, but nonetheless voiced "deep concern" at what he said was the fourth such strike in recent weeks. There were also more strikes on Tehran, where an AFP journalist saw a thick haze of smoke covering the skyline.

An investigation was ongoing. The incident comes after a string of similar night-time attacks on Jewish sites in the Netherlands and neighbouring Belgium in recent weeks that has heightened concerns over antisemitism in the wake of the war in the Middle East.

Images released by Ukrainian emergency services showed a building whose upper floors were engulfed in flames. Three people were wounded in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, including a baby aged five months and a six-year-old boy, Oleksandr Ganja, head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram. In Russia, a missile and drone attack on the southern Rostov region bordering Ukraine, left one person dead and four seriously wounded in the city of Taganrog, regional governor Yuri Slyussar said on Telegram.

He said three local residents and a foreigner were all in critical condition but did not specify the origin of the attacks. On the Sea of Azov, a foreign cargo ship was damaged by falling drone debris and caught fire, he added.

In the northern Sumy region, 11 people were wounded in strikes on residential areas and civilian infrastructure overnight, police said. Images released by Ukrainian emergency services showed a building whose upper floors were engulfed in flames. Three people were wounded in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, including a baby aged five months and a six-year-old boy, Ganja said earlier on Telegram. In Russia, a missile and drone attack on the southern Rostov region bordering Ukraine, left one person dead and four seriously wounded in the city of Taganrog, regional governor Yuri Slyussar said.

He said three local residents and a foreigner were all in critical condition but did not specify the origin of the attacks. On the Sea of Azov, a foreign cargo ship was damaged by falling drone debris and caught fire, he added. - Stalled talks - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile arrived in Ankara on Saturday for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. on security cooperation, a Ukrainian official told AFP. Zelensky this week signalled he was ready for a truce over the Easter holidays, but the Kremlin said it had not received "clearly formulated" proposals. Ukraine has accused Russia of prolonging the war to capture more territory, and says Moscow is not interested in peace. Talks between the two warring parties, mediated by the United States, have been stalled by the war in the Middle East. In comments to reporters, including AFP, published on Friday, Zelensky said he had invited an American delegation to Ukraine to relaunch negotiations with Moscow.

"The delegation will do everything possible in the current conditions -- during the war with Iran -- to come to Kyiv," Zelensky said. "The American group can come to us and, after us, go to Moscow. If it does not work out with three parties, let's do it this way," he added. Amid the Middle East war, Ukraine has sought to leverage its expertise in fighting off Russian drones similar to those Iran has been using in retaliatory attacks across Gulf nations. Last week, Zelensky visited several Middle Eastern countries and signed defence agreements with Qatar and Saudi Arabia. He also suggested Ukraine could help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, whose effective closure by Iran has rattled the global economy. He did not specify how Ukraine could contribute, but cited Kyiv's experience in restoring passage through the Black Sea, which Russia had blocked at the beginning of its invasion.

"Green Sanvi has safely transited the Strait of Hormuz, carrying 46,650 MT of LPG cargo with 25 seafarers on board", a statement said, without giving further details on its final destination. It added that 17 Indian-flagged vessels, with 460 Indian seafarers, "remain in the western Persian Gulf region". Data from ship tracking company Marine Traffic's website confirmed that the Green Sanvi was an Indian-flagged tanker. Public broadcaster All India Radio said it was the "seventh India-bound LPG tanker" to cross the Strait of Hormuz since the Middle East war began.

India imports about 60 percent of its LPG needs and has been grappling with a gas crunch over the last month. The Indian government has imposed tighter controls over natural and cooking gas following import disruptions -- prioritising supply towards households and limiting the amount available for industrial use. New Delhi maintains strong relations with Tehran but has steadily expanded cooperation with Israel in defence, agriculture, technology and cybersecurity.

He said five houses were completely destroyed and 33 partially damaged in Kabul, Panjshir, Logar, Nangarhar, Laghman and Nuristan provinces, affecting a total of 40 families. Shaking was felt in many parts of the country, including the capital Kabul, according to AFP journalists. "In the Gosfand Dara area of Kabul Province, eight members of a family died as a result of the earthquake," Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said earlier. A child aged around two was the only survivor from the household and Afghanistan's disaster management agency said the boy had been injured in the tremor.

"The other four people have been killed in the west of Kabul," Afghan Red Crescent Society spokesman Abdul Qadeem Abrar told AFP. Afghanistan is frequently jolted by earthquakes, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet. A shallow magnitude 6 earthquake wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people in eastern Afghanistan in August, making it the deadliest tremor in the country's recent history.

Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which with Indonesia and other neighbours is situated on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said there was no threat of a tsunami. A magnitude-9.1 quake struck Indonesia's westernmost Aceh province in 2004, causing a tsunami and killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia.

An attack on a petrochemical hub in the southwestern port city of Mahshahr wounded five people, the Fars news agency said. Iranian media said a strike on a trade terminal in Khorramshahr, on the border with Iraq, killed one person. The ISNA news agency said the fatality was an Iraqi driver, and two Iranian workers were wounded. Another strike hit a cement factory in the southern port of Bandar Khamir, Tasnim news agency said. Iran's science minister, Hossein Simai Sarraf, said that "more than 30 universities" had been targeted since the war began.

- Ships through Hormuz - An Indian-flagged LPG tanker transited through the Strait of Hormuz -- the latest of several vessels to make it through the Gulf chokepoint in recent days. Turkey said a second Turkey-flagged ship also went through the strait. On Friday, tracking data showed one French-owned ship and one Japanese-owned vessel had passed through. Iran's Revolutionary Guards also said on Saturday they targeted an Israel- linked ship in a drone attack in a Bahrain port, setting it on fire. They said the ship was called the MSC Ishyka. - Israel tells Lebanese to evacuate - Israel, which is simultaneously going after the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon, issued an "urgent warning" for residents in parts of the Lebanese city of Tyre and nearby areas to evacuate. Earlier, Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli airstrikes in Tyre that wounded 11 people damaged several buildings, including a major hospital. - Italy PM talks energy - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, on a visit to the Gulf, spoke with leader of gas-rich Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani about energy issues, and "possible measures to mitigate the shocks suffered", according to her office.

- Iraqi fighter killed - An attack killed a fighter in the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) in Iraq, near the Syria border, the former paramilitary coalition said, blaming a US- Israeli strike. The PMF -- now part of Iraq's regular army but containing pro-Iran factions - - has been repeatedly targeted since the outbreak of war on February 28. - Iran executions - Iran executed two men convicted of membership in a banned opposition group and carrying out actions aimed at overthrowing the Islamic republic. They were the latest in a series of executions targeting the banned People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK). Four other members were executed earlier in the week. - Four injured in Bahrain - Shrapnel from intercepted drones injured four people in Bahrain, authorities said.

Separately, two buildings in Dubai were hit by debris, including one housing the US cloud computing firm Oracle, United Arab Emirates authorities said. - Peacekeepers wounded - Indonesia slammed as "unacceptable" an explosion that wounded three of its UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, just days after three other Indonesians were killed in separate incidents. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said the blast occurred inside a UN facility near El Adeisse on Friday. Indonesia said there was an "urgent need to strengthen protection for UN peacekeeping forces". A UN security official told AFP that Israeli forces had in 24 hours destroyed 17 surveillance cameras linked to UNIFIL's headquarters in southern Lebanon. The bodies of the three Indonesians arrived back in their home country on Saturday. - Missiles fired at Israel - The Israeli army said its air defences responded to missiles fired from Iran, which medics reported wounded one person. Israel's emergency services said a 45?year?old man was treated for minor injuries from glass shrapnel in the central city of Bnei Brak.

The spokesman added that 26 people were killed and 48 were wounded across the country in the past 48 hours due to rains, floods, landslides and lightning. Across the border in Pakistan, 44 people were killed following heavy rains in the last weeks, officials said. At least 32 people died in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since March 25 and 12 in southwestern Balochistan since March 20, the provincial disaster management authorities told AFP. Afghanistan's latest casualties include a child who drowned in a flash flood in southeastern Ghazni on Saturday morning while he was busy playing with other children, provincial police said. Two more children also drowned in different districts of the same province.

That came hours after three people died in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, when the roof of their house collapsed due to rains, the provincial disaster management authority said. - Damage - ANDMA spokesman Hammad said rainfall since the start of spring "can strengthen the underground sources of water and give growth to the agriculture sector". But he said it can also cause human suffering and financial loss. In western Herat province, farmer Abdul Rahim Taimori said: "We don't remember such a flood happening before. It has caused us a lot of damage.

"It has destroyed the crops of people, their homes. If it continues like this then we would have to leave our homes," the 45-year-old told AFP. But relocating is unaffordable for many. "Where shall we go? We are forced to stay," said Majal Niazi, a 45-year-old farmer who lives in a one-room house with his family. The rain has also led to several road closures, with Kabul police reporting the partial closure Friday of the road between the capital and the city of Jalalabad. Afghanistan's disaster management authority renewed its warning to people to stay away from "rivers and flooded streams, and follow the weather forecast seriously".

The latest casualties follow more than 60 people being killed in snow and heavy rain that hit Afghanistan in January. Afghanistan frequently experiences deadly floods, landslides and storms, particularly in remote areas with fragile infrastructure. Among the poorest countries in the world after decades of war, Afghanistan is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change, which scientists say is spurring extreme weather. "It was drought before and now we have these rains, both are a danger," said Abdul Sattar, a 40-year-old farmer in Herat.

Attacks continued during the morning hours on Saturday, wounding six in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, near the front line, regional police said. The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 286 drones overnight, of which 260 were intercepted. In the northern Sumy region, 11 people were wounded in strikes on residential areas and civilian infrastructure overnight, police said.

Images released by Ukrainian emergency services showed a building whose upper floors were engulfed in flames. Another attack killed a woman and wounded another two in the southeastern city of Kherson, which is close to the fighting. In Russia, a missile and drone attack on the southern Rostov region bordering Ukraine left one person dead and four seriously wounded in the city of Taganrog, regional governor Yuri Slyussar said. On the Sea of Azov, a foreign cargo ship was damaged by falling drone debris and caught fire, he added. A family of three, including an eight-year-old child, was killed in a house by a nighttime Ukrainian drone strike that also targeted railway infrastructure in Russian-occupied Lugansk, the Moscow-backed administration said.

- Stalled talks - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was on a surprise visit to Istanbul on Saturday for security talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Zelensky this week signalled he was ready for a truce over the Orthodox Easter holidays, but the Kremlin said it had not received "clearly formulated" proposals. Ukraine has accused Russia of prolonging the war to capture more territory, and says Moscow is not interested in peace. Russia says it wants a permanent settlement instead of a brief ceasefire. Talks between the two warring parties, mediated by the United States, have been stalled by the war in the Middle East.

In comments to reporters, including AFP, published on Friday, Zelensky said he had invited an American delegation to Ukraine to relaunch negotiations with Moscow. "The delegation will do everything possible in the current conditions -- during the war with Iran -- to come to Kyiv," Zelensky said. "The American group can come to us and, after us, go to Moscow. If it does not work out with three parties, let's do it this way," he added. Amid the Middle East war, Ukraine has sought to leverage its expertise in fighting off Russian drones similar to those Iran has been using in retaliatory attacks across Gulf nations. Last week, Zelensky visited several Middle Eastern countries and signed defence agreements with Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

He also suggested Ukraine could help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, whose effective closure by Iran has rattled the global economy. He did not specify how Ukraine could contribute, but cited Kyiv's experience in restoring passage through the Black Sea, which Russia had blocked at the beginning of its invasion.

"About 20 minutes after that ill-fated strike, buses set off from Bushehr station towards the Iranian-Armenian border (with) 198 people, to be precise -- this is the largest evacuation," he added. Likhachev also said that Russia informed the US and Israel about the evacuation. "The likelihood of a risk of damage or a potential nuclear incident is, unfortunately, only increasing, as has been confirmed by this morning's events," the Rosatom CEO said. The agency plans to keep only a skeleton staff at Bushehr amid the threat of further strikes. The Russian foreign ministry slammed the "evil" US-Israeli attack and urged a cessation of hostilities on Iranian nuclear facilities immediately.

The war erupted more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei, triggering retaliation that spread the conflict throughout the Middle East, convulsing the global economy and impacting millions of people worldwide. US Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the loss of the F-15, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "The president has been briefed".

President Donald Trump told NBC the F-15 loss would not affect negotiations with Iran, saying: "No, not at all. No, it's war." A spokesperson for the Iranian military's central operational command said "an American hostile fighter jet in central Iranian airspace was struck and destroyed by the IRGC Aerospace Force's advanced air defence system". "The jet was completely obliterated, and further searches are ongoing."

An Iranian television reporter on a local official channel said anyone who captured a crew member alive would "receive a valuable reward". The US military has announced the loss of several aircraft during Iran operations, including one tanker that crashed in Iraq and three F-15s shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire. Retired US brigadier general Houston Cantwell -- who has 400 hours of combat flight experience -- said key goals for downed pilots include determining their location and figuring out how to communicate.

"My priority would be, first of all, concealment, because I don't want to be captured," he told AFP. Fresh strikes meanwhile hit Israel, Iran, Lebanon and Gulf countries -- and large blasts rocked northern Tehran, an AFP journalist said. Israel said it had launched a wave of strikes in the Iranian capital, alongside parallel attacks in Beirut. Strikes by all sides have increasingly targeted economic and industrial sites, raising fears of wider disruption to global energy supplies.

In the area around a bridge west of Tehran that was targeted by the United States, an AFP reporter saw a villa and residential buildings with blown-out windows -- but no military installations. According to the martyrs foundation of Alborz province, cited by the official IRNA agency, the attack killed 13 civilians and wounded dozens. Writing in the US journal Foreign Affairs, Iran's former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said Tehran should make a deal with Washington to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iran has virtually blocked the key waterway since the war began, where one-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas normally passes. Of the few ships that have managed to cross, most have had links to Iran, with 60 percent of commodity-bearing ships crossing the strait either coming from Iran or heading there, an AFP analysis of maritime data showed.

Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari warned that Iran would increase its own attacks on energy sites in the region in response to threats from Trump of attacks on infrastructure. A drone attack on a refinery owned by Kuwait's national oil company on Friday sparked fires, while a separate Iranian attack damaged a power and desalination complex. Bahrain said four of its citizens sustained "minor injuries" as a result of shrapnel from an intercepted Iranian drone.

And one person was killed and four others injured after a fire at a gas complex in the United Arab Emirates caused by falling debris from an intercepted attack. The Israeli military said Friday it had struck more than 3,500 targets across Lebanon in the month since fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah began. It added that it would attack two bridges in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa region "in order to prevent the transfer of reinforcements and military equipment".

Lebanese state media later reported that Israel destroyed one bridge in the region. Lebanon's health ministry said Thursday that 1,345 people had been killed -- and 4,040 wounded -- since the start of the war. Hezbollah has so far not announced its losses. 

In Japan, the French leader signed a roadmap on critical minerals and defence cooperation and held more talks on Thursday with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, as well as meeting the imperial couple with his wife Brigitte Macron. US President Trump called France "very unhelpful" over the Iran war on Tuesday and then made fun of Macron, saying a day later his wife "treats him extremely badly" while mimicking his accent.

Macron praised Europe's "predictability" on Wednesday while in Japan, contrasting it with those that "could hurt you without even informing you" in an apparent reference to the United States. Trump also criticised South Korea the same day as he urged countries dependent on the Strait of Hormuz to help reopen the key oil route.

"Let the European countries do it. Let South Korea, who was not helpful to us, by the way. You know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm's way over there, right next to a nuclear force. Let South Korea do it," Trump said, referring to North Korea. "Let Japan do it. They get 90 percent of their oil from the Strait. Let China do it. Let them all do it. What the hell are we doing it for?" The United States has around 28,500 troops in South Korea.

In an opinion piece published Thursday in Le Figaro, South Korean President Lee called for stronger cooperation with France, particularly in key areas such as artificial intelligence, nuclear energy, hydrogen technologies and space.

"In an increasingly fragmented and uncertain international environment, partnerships between democratic nations that share common values are no longer merely desirable but are becoming strategically essential," Lee wrote. Like other Asian economies, South Korea relies heavily on energy imports, including through the Strait of Hormuz, the effective closure of which has driven up energy prices and rattled the global economy. The war has already prompted Seoul to impose a fuel price cap to ease pressure on its energy supply, the first such measure since 1997.

While the United States and Israel have said that their attacks on Iran are to stop it developing nuclear weapons -- an aim Tehran denies -- North Korea is thought to be light years ahead by comparison. Despite years of sanctions and diplomatic isolation, Pyongyang is thought to have dozens of nuclear warheads and fissile material for many more, and has unveiled increasingly sophisticated delivery systems.

Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Hussain Andrabi told reporters in the capital that the government hoped for a "durable solution". "Our participation (in talks) is a reiteration of our core concerns," he said. "The burden of real process, however, lies with Afghanistan, which must demonstrate visible and verifiable actions against terrorist groups using (its) soil against Pakistan."

He described the negotiations as "working level talks" and said they were ongoing. "Our delegation has not returned yet," he added. Pakistan, which has longstanding ties with Iran and personal contacts with the Trump administration, has in recent weeks been engaged in a flurry of diplomacy to try to bring Washington and Tehran to the negotiating table to end their own war in the Middle East.

China has backed Pakistan's efforts, aligning itself with the aims of Gulf countries affected by the spread of the conflict in the region. Beijing has also been involved in trying to end the conflict with Afghanistan, and has sent a special envoy to Kabul to try to broker a deal. Pakistan and Afghanistan announced a pause in fighting to mark the end of Ramadan last month, at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

But sporadic attacks have been reported in remote border areas since the temporary truce ended. The Taliban government denies providing sanctuary to extremists. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have previously attempted to reduce tensions since the conflict escalated in February, while talks in Istanbul last November also failed.

Defence Minister Pal Jonson told AFP it was "more important than ever to invest in air defence capabilities", which was true for all countries in the NATO military alliance. "NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said that we will need to see an increase of more than 400 percent in air defence capabilities within the NATO alliance," Jonson said. The government said it had signed deals with manufacturers including Sweden's Saab and BAE Systems Bofors, a Swedish subsidiary of the UK's BAE Systems.

Deliveries were scheduled to begin in 2027, which Jonson noted was "relatively fast" in an environment where Europe's defence industry is facing pressure to keep up with demand. This week, US President Donald Trump expressed frustration with NATO -- which he has long railed against -- and Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned the United States was "going to have to reexamine" its relationship with the alliance.

Jonson said he did not see it as the US intending to leave the alliance but that it was clear that Europe needed to shoulder a greater defence burden. "The obvious answer to that is that Europe must take much greater responsibility for its own security by investing heavily in its armed forces," Jonson said.

"I call up France, Macron -- whose wife treats him extremely badly. Still recovering from the right to the jaw," US President Trump said on Wednesday, referring to a 2025 news video that appeared to show Brigitte Macron shoving the French president's face.

They made off with the 5th-century BC golden Helmet of Cotofenesti and three gold bracelets. Three men are on trial for the theft but have largely remained silent in court. Brand said he and police have been working their contacts to persuade the alleged robbers to hand over the helmet in exchange for a more lenient punishment.

"We were pretty sure it had not been melted down because there were only four days between the robbery and the arrests," said Brand. "It's a fantastic job by the Dutch police." Under huge pressure from Romania, Dutch authorities have made multiple attempts to convince the suspects to tell them where the treasures are stashed. Police offered to halve the sentence of one suspect if he revealed the location of the helmet.

An undercover officer posing as a criminal mastermind reportedly offered another suspect 400,000 euros ($420,000) to tell him where the booty was hidden. Police have also offered a reward of 100,000 euros for information leading to the helmet's recovery. The theft and the search for the Dacian artefacts regularly make headline news in the Netherlands and sparked outrage in Romania, where the items are considered national treasures. The then Romanian prime minister Marcel Ciolacu voiced "outrage that priceless objects" had been stolen and was considering claiming "unprecedented damages".

"You have no idea what the impact of this is on the Romanian community," Romanian cultural journalist Claudia Marcu, who has lived in the Netherlands since 2003, told public broadcaster NOS. "When I heard about the theft I thought: for the Dutch this would be like (Rembrandt's) 'The Night Watch' being stolen. People are devastated." The Dutch government had set aside 5.7 million euros ($6.5 million) for a likely payout following the brazen theft. The pieces were on loan from a Bucharest museum, whose head was promptly sacked for lending the works out in the first place.

The US embassy in Baghdad, located in the centre of the city, has been repeatedly targeted, and on Thursday it warned of more attacks in central parts of the capital. "Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours," the embassy said in a statement on X.

It repeated earlier advice for Americans in Iraq to leave. The frequency of attacks in Iraq has decreased in recent days after the influential pro-Iran group Kateab Hezbollah declared a pause on March 19, which was twice extended. But the group did not announce a further extension on Wednesday night after its latest pause expired. Last month Washington and Baghdad said they would "intensify cooperation" to prevent attacks and ensure Iraqi territory is not used to launch assaults against US facilities.

But the US embassy statement Thursday said "the Iraqi government has not prevented terrorist attacks in or from Iraqi territory". "Iran-aligned terrorist militia groups may claim to be associated with the Iraqi government," it added. Former Iraqi paramilitary alliance Hashed al-Shaabi -- also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces -- is a sprawling coalition of armed groups that are now part of Iraq's regular army, but they contain pro-Iran factions who have a reputation for acting independently.

These factions and the PMF have been targeted by strikes since the outbreak of war and have blamed the US and Israel. The Pentagon has said helicopters have carried out strikes against pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq during the war. Washington has strongly denied claims it has targeted Iraqi security forces. A strike on Wednesday against a PMF position in northwestern Iraq -- which the PMF blamed on the US and Israel -- killed three fighters.

The US embassy in its statement urged US citizens in Iraq to leave immediately, warning that "terrorist militias have targeted Americans for kidnapping". On Tuesday evening an American journalist, named by her employer and media advocacy groups as Shelly Kittleson, was abducted in Baghdad.

A suspect has been detained in connection with the kidnapping, and an Iraqi security official told AFP the man had links to Kataeb Hezbollah. Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region in the north has also not been spared the violence. Security sources told AFP that at least 30 drones targeted the Erbil and Duhok governorates overnight, but there were no casualties reported.

"It is unrealistic because it would take an inordinate amount of time and would expose anyone crossing the strait to coastal threats from the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards, who possess significant resources, as well as ballistic missiles, (and) a host of other risks."

The war's "core strategic objectives are nearing completion," he said, cautioning however that "we are going to hit them, extremely hard, over the next two to three weeks." He also assured regional allies -- Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain -- battered by Iranian drone and missile attacks, that the United States "will not let them get hurt or fail in any way, shape or form."

Trump indicated that talks may be possible with Iran's new leadership, which he described as "less radical and much more reasonable" than its predecessor, signalling he is pursuing some form of deal to end the conflict. But he warned that if none was reached, Washington had "our eyes on key targets including the country's electric generating plants."

The speech did little to calm energy markets, with oil prices surging Thursday as Trump called on other nations to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. One-fifth of global oil normally passes through the narrow waterway, and its effective closure has sent energy prices soaring and destabilized the world economy. Iran's Revolutionary Guards vowed Wednesday to keep it shut to the country's "enemies." Iran on Thursday dismissed Washington's ceasefire overtures, describing US demands to end the conflict as "maximalist and irrational."

"Messages have been received through intermediaries, including Pakistan, but there is no direct negotiation with the US," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, quoted by the ISNA news agency. Trump had claimed earlier Wednesday that Iran's president had sought a ceasefire, but said the Islamic republic must first reopen Hormuz -- which he said in his address would happen "naturally" once the conflict ended.

The speech came as Trump faces plunging approval ratings, economic jitters and spiralling diplomatic fallout from a war that began when the United States and Israel launched a massive surprise airstrike campaign on Iran, killing supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Hours before Trump's address, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian asked the American people whether the conflict was truly putting "America First," accusing Washington of war crimes and of being influenced by Israel. In an open letter posted on social media, he also said ordinary Americans were not Iran's enemy, "even in the face of repeated foreign interventions and pressures." Tehran announced Wednesday evening another barrage of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US bases in the Gulf, striking Israeli cities including Tel Aviv and Eilat as well as US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.

Israel's military said early Thursday its air defences were operating to intercept the incoming fire. As Israel prepared for the Passover holiday, which began at sunset Wednesday, air-raid sirens sounded repeatedly in the Tel Aviv area. Emergency services said an Iranian missile attack Wednesday morning wounded 14 people, including an 11-year-old girl.

The Revolutionary Guards also confirmed hitting an oil tanker in the Gulf they said belonged to Israel; a British maritime security agency said the vessel was struck off Qatar, reporting damage but no casualties. An AFP journalist reported huge explosions in Tehran on Wednesday afternoon and earlier strikes near the former US embassy. Iranian media said an airport in Isfahan province and steel complexes elsewhere in the country had been damaged.

Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei -- not seen publicly since his father was killed in an airstrike on the war's first day -- said "the cruel and ruthless American and Zionist enemy knows no human, moral or vital limits." Thousands of Iranians gathered in Tehran for the funeral of the Guards' naval commander, killed in an Israeli airstrike. "We will resist until the end," said Moussa Nowruzi, a 57-year-old mourner. In Lebanon, seven people were killed in strikes around south Beirut, with the Israeli military saying it had struck a senior Hezbollah commander.

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli attacks had killed more than 1,300 people in the country since war erupted between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah on March 2. Across the Gulf, strikes caused a large fire at Kuwait's international airport, Bahrain reported a blaze at a business facility, and Saudi Arabia said several drones were intercepted.

But investors remain wary as the Wall Street Journal story came on the same day the US president threatened to destroy Iran's key oil export hub and desalination plants unless it accepts a deal, while also suggesting diplomacy was making headway.

The news comes as governments around the world scramble to implement measures to ease the burden of surging fuel prices while also looking to conserve energy, with one-fifth of global crude and gas passing through the waterway.

The Journal, citing administration officials, said Trump and his aides had come to the conclusion that a mission to reopen the waterway would extend the length of the mission past his four- to six-week timeline.

It added that he had decided to focus on battering Iran's missiles and navy, before looking to pressure Iran diplomatically to reopen the Strait.

Both main oil contracts fell Tuesday, though West Texas Intermediate and Brent were still sitting well above $100 a barrel.

And most equity markets rose. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington and Jakarta were all up, while Tokyo fluctuated.

Seoul, Taipei and Manila fell.

However, Trump also threatened Monday to destroy Kharg Island, through which most of Iran's crude passes, if a peace deal is not reached.

He warned US forces would destroy "all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)."

Destroying civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime, experts say.

Iran has previously threatened to retaliate by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants in its Arab neighbours that host the US military, fanning fears of a wider conflict.

But Trump also said officials were speaking to a "more reasonable regime" in Tehran, which has denied any talks and accused the president of lying about negotiations as cover while preparing a ground invasion.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced hope for working with elements within Iran's government.

Market experts warned that any US ground operation or wider Iranian retaliation could send oil prices to levels not seen since July 2008, when Brent hit almost $150 a barrel.

- 'De-escalation and re-escalation' -

In a sign Iran was determined to keep control of Hormuz, state media reported Monday that a parliamentary commission had approved plans to impose tolls on vessels transiting it.

With Trump flipping between hope for talks and threats, analysts said investors were having to walk a tightrope.

"The market continues to be headline-driven as the Trump Administration has delivered a variety of messages surrounding de-escalation and re-escalation of the war in Iran," Wolfe Research's Chris Senyek said.

With the war now in its fifth week, governments are moving to shore up their economies.

Economy ministers and central bankers from the G7 club of rich countries met in Paris to discuss the war's effects, with many countries introducing energy-saving measures or cutting fuel taxes to help consumers.

Dubai said it will provide support worth more than $270 million to help businesses and families, while Norway will temporarily cut diesel and petrol taxes and Bangladesh ordered civil servants to switch off lights and turn down air conditioning to save power.

Sri Lanka announced a nearly 40 percent increase in electricity prices from Wednesday as it battles an energy shortage. Colombo has raised fuel prices three times this month, increasing them by more than a third, and has imposed a four-day working week in a bid to save energy.

"From here, the burden shifts from military outcomes to economic endurance. The question is no longer how high oil spikes, but how long elevated energy costs bleed into growth, margins, and consumption," said SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes.

Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell also provided a little support, saying Monday the bank could look past energy shocks because they "have tended to come and go pretty quickly" but monetary policy changes take time to flow through the economy.

While the spike in energy prices threatens to send inflation soaring again, he added that officials "feel like our policy is in a good place for us to wait and see how that turns out" and "inflation expectations do appear to be well-anchored beyond the short term".

- Key figures at around 0230 GMT -

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.3 percent at $106.04 a barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.7 percent at $102.22 a barrel

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 51,820.30 (break)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 24,869.71

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,935.05

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1474 from $1.1460 on Monday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3207 from $1.3183

Dollar/yen: UP at 159.71 yen from 159.69 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.88 pence from 86.93 pence

New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 45,216.14 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 1.6 percent at 10,127.96 (close)

The minister informed the envoy of the ongoing progress in the information and communication technology sector of Bangladesh, the expansion of digital services and future plans. The Ambassador praised the development and progress of Bangladesh and expressed interest in expanding bilateral cooperation. 

Both sides agreed to work together to enhance mutual cooperation, exchange technology and develop digital services. Among others, Posts and Telecommunications Division Secretary Abdun Naser Khan, Political Counselor of the Bhutanese Embassy in Dhaka Jigdrel Y Tshering and Counselor for Trade Affairs Dawa Tshering were present at the meeting.

"Everything must be done to avoid Iraq being drawn into the current escalation," he said. The PMF -- now part of Iraq's army but which includes some pro-Iran factions -- said three of its fighters were killed in what it described as a US-Israeli attack. Macron said he had told the Iraqi Kurdistan region's President Nechirvan Barzani that he also viewed as "unacceptable" a drone attack against his official residence earlier Saturday.

"This very worrying development adds to a rise in attacks against Iraqi institutions, like those that left six eshmergas dead this week," he said, referring to members of Kurdistan's armed forces who were killed in an Iranian missile strike Tuesday. Iran's government fears armed Kurdish groups in northern Iraq could be sent in through its own Kurdish region, which is in the west, on the border with Iraq.

The blast also wrecked several cars and gouged a large crater at the impact site. At the scene, rescue workers and security forces operated near a house whose roof tiles had been completely blown away, leaving only the shell of the structure. It was a "direct hit by an Iranian missile," Ohad Moyal, commander from the military's Home Front Command, told an AFP correspondent at the site of the strike.

"Lots of buildings were hit," he added. The military also confirmed to AFP that the strike was caused by an Iranian missile. Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani posted a video clip of the site on X, writing: "A family home in Eshtaol -- destroyed by an Iranian missile". The Middle East has been engulfed in war since February 28, triggered by joint US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Since then, Iran has responded with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and several countries in the region.

A German government spokesman said on Friday that Sharaa will visit the country for talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Berlin said the talks would address economic stability in Syria, reconstruction, energy, strengthening bilateral economic relations, as well as Syria's reintegration into the international financial system and the issue of the return of Syrians residing in Germany.

The visit comes in the context of a gradual opening between Damascus and European capitals since the ouster of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Germany reopened its embassy in Damascus in March 2025, while Syria opened a consulate in Bonn last month.

Germany is home to around a million Syrians -- many of whom arrived during the huge influx of refugees that peaked in 2015 under former chancellor Angela Merkel. But with the overthrow of Assad and the end of the country's civil war, some voices in Germany have started urging them to go back home.

As for the United Kingdom, Sharaa's visit comes after London announced in July 2025 the resumption of diplomatic relations with Syria following a visit by Foreign Secretary David Lammy to Damascus, the first visit by a British minister in 14 years. The British government said at the time that its engagement with Damascus was aimed at supporting the political transition, assisting economic recovery, countering the Islamic State group, reducing illegal migration, and addressing the issue of chemical weapons.

Sharaa had visited France in May 2025 on his first European trip since assuming power, where he was received by President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. His current tour comes as he works to keep Syria, ravaged by 14 years of war, insulated from the repercussions of the conflict in the Middle East.

"This headquarters is responsible for the research, development, and production of a wide range of naval weaponry, including surface and sub-surface vessels, manned and unmanned equipment, as well as engines and weapons." Later on Saturday, the military said it had intensified strikes on Iran's military industries.

"I can now say that within a few days, we will complete attacks on all critical components of this industry," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a televised briefing. "This means we will destroy most of its military production capabilities, and it will take the regime a long time to rebuild them. Since the start of the war on February 28, the joint US-Israeli attacks have also struck Iran's nuclear sites, including a uranium processing facility and a heavy water reactor.

The group also includes "transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets," it said. The post features four images, including one showing several Seahawk helicopters on the ship's deck, as well as some Osprey aircraft, typically used for personnel transport.

Another picture shows an F-35 fighter jet. The arrival of the Tripoli group comes as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that Washington could achieve its objectives in Iran without deploying ground forces. But US President Donald Trump has been vague on the issue for weeks, and several US media outlets have reported that he is mulling the idea of soon sending at least 10,000 troops to the Middle East.

Weekly protests against the war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran on February 28 have been taking place in Tel Aviv and other major cities, initially drawing only a few dozen participants.

Numbers now appear to be rising, though far from the tens of thousands who filled Tel Aviv's streets last year to protest the war in Gaza.

A number of former parliamentarians and prominent left?wing organisations joined Saturday's rallies, including Standing Together, Peace Now and Women Wage Peace.

AFP footage showed law enforcement officers removing demonstrators in Tel Aviv. Similar scenes were filmed by activists in the northern city of Haifa.

Under wartime security guidelines, gatherings of more than 50 people are prohibited in Israel, as the country faces daily barrages of missiles and rockets from Iran and Lebanon.

A spokesperson for one of the organising groups told AFP that the protests had not been authorised.

In Tel Aviv, AFP journalists reported that security forces pushed back some demonstrators forcefully, knocking several to the ground -- at times on top of one another -- while at least one protester was held in a chokehold.

According to an AFP journalist, at least four people were detained.

The Israeli police said the "illegal demonstration" in Tel Aviv was dispersed after a Home Front Command representative clarified that such a gathering was prohibited under emergency regulations.

Police said 13 people were arrested in the city.

Another five were detained in Haifa, where "rioters began blocking the road and did not comply with the officers' instructions," police said.

Organisers from the Jewish-Arab activist group Standing Together said in a statement that police had been "instructed to carry out arrests and silence dissent," adding that "the government fears the expansion of the protest movement."

Public support for the war against Iran remains high in Israel. A poll published Friday by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 78 percent of Jewish Israelis back the war - compared to just 19 percent among the Arab Israeli minority.

However, the share of those opposed has grown from four percent in early March to 11.5 percent now, the institute found.

The group's entry into the conflict "marks a serious and deeply concerning escalation", said Farea Al?Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House. Houthi involvement risks "widening an already volatile war, with significant implications", especially for regional stability and global trade, he told AFP.

Here are the possible repercussions.

- An expected move -

Analysts had long predicted the Houthis -- who have controlled large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, since 2014 -- would eventually join the fray.

The rebels likely "tried their best to stay out of this war," said Al-Muslimi, adding they knew it "won't be good for them in any way".

"But they had to ultimately pay back the favour to Iran," which has backed them for years, he added.

For their first strike, they chose to target Israel -- as they often did during the Gaza war -- and not American interests in wealthy Gulf states.

This sends a clear message to supporters at home and allies abroad: "Their main focus is still the Palestinian cause," the US-based risk consultancy Basha Report wrote on X.

"At the same time, they are signaling to the U.S. and Saudi Arabia that they are not targeting them, at least for now."

Their next step, Basha Report suggested, would be attacks on regional maritime traffic rather than strikes on US assets.

This "creates pressure without crossing a line that could trigger a direct U.S. response", it added.

- Second strait at risk -

From their mountain strongholds above the Red Sea, the Houthis can severely disrupt shipping with drones and missiles.

They proved this during the Gaza war, when the rebels targeted vessels they claimed were linked to Israel.

This discouraged passage through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a narrow waterway at the southern tip of the Red Sea that effectively serves as the gateway to the Suez Canal from the Indian Ocean.

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With the Red Sea acting as a key link between Europe and Asia, the strait is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

The chokepoint has become even more vital for global oil flows since Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz on the opposite side of the Arabian peninsula.

The only alternative route is to sail around the Cape of Good Hope off the tip of southern Africa.

If the Bab al-Mandeb strait is also threatened, already-fragile global markets would be shaken even more. And Saudi Arabia is unlikely to sit by, experts say.

- Saudi shift? -

With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, Saudi Arabia has seen tankers diverted to its Red Sea port of Yanbu.

But this is the kingdom's last secure outlet for its oil. If it is blocked, Riyadh may abandon its current stance of intercepting near-daily Iranian missiles and drone attacks without retaliating.

Saudi security analyst Hesham Alghannam told AFP this "careful neutrality in the war" could collapse.

Riyadh might consider retaliation, "even if limited", he added.

- Wider regional escalation -

In their statements, the Houthis have hinted at possible strikes on neighbouring states.

As Al-Muslimi noted, "they are nearer and better placed" than Iran to hit Saudi infrastructure and Western bases across the Gulf.

Such attacks could have severe consequences, he warned, including a high risk of direct confrontation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis previously fought a Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognised Yemeni government in a conflict that stretched from 2015 until 2022, when a truce took hold.

And civilians could once again pay the price. If Yemen slips back into war, the humanitarian consequences for a population still deeply scarred by the previous conflict would be catastrophic.

Israel has responded with large-scale airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south, with Lebanese authorities reporting at least 1,189 people killed since the hostilities broke out. A Lebanese military source told AFP earlier on Saturday that Ali Shoeib of Hezbollah's Al Manar channel and Fatima Ftouni of Al Mayadeen, seen as close to the Iran-backed movement, were killed in Jezzine, alongside Ftouni's brother, a cameraman. Al Mayadeen and Al Manar confirmed the deaths of their journalists.

Shoeib was one of Al Manar's most prominent war correspondents, having covered Israeli attacks on Lebanon for decades. In a statement, the Israeli military said it had targeted Shoeib, alleging that he "operated within the Hezbollah terrorist organisation under the guise of a journalist for the Al Manar network, while operating systematically to expose the locations of IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon and along the border". It later said that it had killed "over 800" Hezbollah members "from the air, sea, and on the ground" since the start of the current war.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the killings, calling them "a blatant crime that violates all the norms and treaties under which journalists enjoy international protection in wars". Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the targeting of journalists was "a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law", while Information Minister Paul Morcos deemed the actions to be "classified as war crimes". A strike on central Beirut earlier this month killed Mohammad Sherri, Al Manar's political programmes director. Several journalists were also killed and wounded during the previous round of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in 2023 and 2024.

At least five journalists were killed in Israeli strikes in the south in that conflict, including a correspondent for Al-Mayadeen TV and a cameraman for Al-Manar. In October 2023, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed and six others wounded, including AFP journalists Dylan Collins and Christina Assi while covering the conflict near the Israeli border. An independent AFP investigation concluded that two Israeli 120mm tank shells were fired from the Jordeikh area inside Israel.

Israel launched a new series of raids on southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing nine paramedics according to Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine. The minister said the nine medics included four from Hezbollah's Islamic Health Committee who were targeted by Israeli strikes while carrying out rescue missions, and five from the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement's Risala Scouts, who were also on duty. Since the start of the war, the Health Ministry has documented the deaths of 46 paramedics and five other healthcare workers in Lebanon due to Israeli strikes, the minister said.

The Lebanese army mourned the death of one of its soldiers, killed in an Israeli airstrike in the town of Deir Zahrani. A military source told AFP that the soldier was not on duty. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported "a series of strikes" at dawn on southern towns and villages, and on the city of Nabatiyeh, hitting "residential and commercial buildings and a fuel station". In Henniyeh, south Lebanon, the health ministry said an Israeli strike killed seven people, six Syrians and one Lebanese, and wounded nine Syrians.

The Israeli military said Saturday morning that it was continuing "to strike Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure". Hezbollah, for its part, said in a statement that it had targeted gatherings of Israeli forces near the town of Taybeh, on the southeastern part of the Litani River, around 3.6km from the eastern side of the Israeli border. In separate statements, the group said it also targeted gatherings of Israeli forces in Debel, a predominantly Christian border town where some residents remain despite the fighting. The NNA said a man and his son were killed nearby after Israeli gunfire hit their "civilian car". Israeli forces have been pushing into areas near the border, and officials have announced plans to establish a buffer zone up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Israel.

The vessels are bringing the final shipments of Our America Convoy, an international humanitarian effort that has brought aid to support Cuba as a US oil blockade deepens the island's energy and economic crisis. The Friend Ship and Tiger Moth, which set sail from southeast Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on March 20, had been expected to arrive in Cuba on Tuesday or Wednesday. But the Mexican Navy announced a search and rescue mission Thursday after losing communication with them, raising concerns about their fate.

The US Coast Guard sparked confusion Friday when it said it had received a report that the two vessels had "safely transited to Cuba," only to say later that the search was ongoing and it was not involved in it. After a tense wait, organizers of Our America Convoy reported early Saturday that the Mexican Navy had finally located the boats and that the crews were safe. The Navy said one of its aircraft had spotted the sailboats 80 nautical miles northwest of Havana. It then deployed a ship to support them.

The identities and nationalities of the crew members have not been disclosed, but Mexico's Navy had been in communication with rescue agencies in Poland, France, Cuba and the United States. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel had voiced concern about their disappearance on Friday and said his country was doing everything to find them. The first shipments from the convoy arrived by plane from Europe and the United States last week.

A fishing boat that was converted into an aid vessel, which had also left Mexico last week, arrived in Cuba on Tuesday, a few days later than planned due to unfavorable weather, currents and battery issues. It had been escorted by a Mexican Navy ship part of the way. The convoy brought more than 50 tonnes of medical supplies, food, water and solar panels to Cuba, with hospitals among the recipients.

Cuban exiles in Miami and other critics have slammed the convoy as benefiting the communist government more than ordinary people. US President Donald Trump imposed a de facto oil blockade on Cuba in January after US forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, whose government had been Cuba's principal source of fuel. Trump has also threatened tariffs on countries that ship oil to Cuba, whose aging electricity system has been hit by regular blackouts, including two nationwide outages last week.

He renewed his threats on Havana on Friday, even as the US-Israeli war against Iran entered its second month. "I built this great military. I said, 'You'll never have to use it,' but sometimes you have to use it," Trump said at the Saudi-backed FII Priority investment forum in Miami. "And Cuba is next, by the way. But pretend I didn't say that."

After his arrest, the suspect claimed to both a minor and a Senegalese citizen, according to a police source, who cautioned that the authorities were still verifying his identity. He was accompanied by a second person, who took flight when officers arrived to arrest the pair. The ignition component had 650 grams (23 ounces) of explosive powder in it, according to an initial assessment. The whole device was taken to the Paris police's forensics lab for full analysis. Prosecutors at France's counter-terrorism office told AFP they had immediately taken over the investigation, and confirmed the suspect caught was in police custody.

It said the probe it had launched was into "attempted damage by fire or other dangerous means in connection with a terrorist undertaking" and a "terrorist criminal conspiracy". Both the Paris judicial police and France's domestic intelligence service, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), were involved in the investigation, the office told AFP. According to a police source, the suspect said he had been recruited via the Snapchat app to carry out the bombing in exchange for the sum of 600 euros ($692).

When the patrolling officers arrested him, he was about to ignite the device with a lighter. A separate police source told AFP that while he was placing the charge, the accomplice stepped back, apparently to take a photo or video of the crime with his mobile phone. A spokesperson for Bank of America, whose US headquarters is in Charlotte, North Carolina, told AFP they were aware of the situation and were in communication with the French authorities.

France's Interior Minister, Laurent Nunez, on X hailed the speedy action by the police officers, given "the current international situation". Speaking later to news channel BFMTV, he said he thought the war in the Middle East might have motivated the attack. "I make a link between the actions carried out in neighbouring countries" and claimed by "small groups that referred to the conflict," he said.

Earlier this month, Dutch officials said they thought four youths arrested on suspicion of detonating an explosive device outside a Rotterdam synagogue might have been recruited by Iran. And in Britain, a little-known group aligned with Iran claimed responsibility for a London arson attack last week on four volunteer ambulances run by a Jewish organisation. Since the outbreak of the war of the Middle East, European countries have been on high alert for potential attacks on Iranian dissidents, Jewish places of worship and US-Israeli assets.

Two police officers were also killed and five wounded in a strike on a Mosul police station that the interior ministry also attributed to a US-Israeli attack.

Since the Middle East war began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Iraq has been increasingly drawn into a conflict it had sought to avoid at all costs.

Pro-Iran Iraqi armed groups have carried out drone and rocket attacks against multiple US targets, including the embassy in Baghdad.

Strikes have also targeted bases of Hashed al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), integrated into the regular army but containing some pro-Iran factions that have acted independently in the past. The PMF has previously blamed these attacks on the US.

Three PMF fighters were killed and four wounded, according to the group, in the "treacherous Zionist-US attack" near Kirkuk city's international airport.

A security official said six Iraqi soldiers were also wounded in the attack, which they said occurred near Iraqi air force and special forces bases.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible.

Relations between Washington and Baghdad have been strained as the Middle East war has gone on, particularly after a strike on a medical clinic in western Iraq that killed seven members of the security forces.

Iraq has not officially blamed the United States, but did summon the country's charge d'affaires over the strike.

Washington has strongly denied targeting Iraqi security forces.

Later on Saturday, officials confirmed the Mosul police station strike that killed two officers. The PMF said the station was jointly used by its forces.

The violence comes just a day after Washington and Baghdad said they would "intensify cooperation" to prevent attacks and ensure Iraqi territory is not used to launch assaults against US facilities.

As well as strikes against pro-Iranian groups, pro-Tehran factions claim daily drone and rocket attacks against the US presence in Iraq and elsewhere in the region.

For the first time in ten days, two drones targeted the US embassy in capital Baghdad late Saturday, before being shot down outside the Green Zone.

Following the last attack on March 18, the influential pro-Iranian armed group Kataeb Hezbollah said it would pause such attacks for five days, twice extending.

- Erbil explosions -

In the north, a drone targeted the second home of the leader of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, with Baghdad promising to investigate.

French leader Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack, as did Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

An AFP journalist heard two explosions near Erbil's international airport late Saturday, with air defences activating. An explosion was also heard in the morning.

The city is home to a major US consulate complex, and the airport hosts military advisers with the US-led anti-jihadist international coalition.

A drone had also targeted the US diplomatic centre in the Baghdad airport overnight, a security official told AFP, though they were unable to provide details on any damage.

- Strike kills two police in Iraq -

A strike on Iraq's northern Mosul city killed two police officers, the ministry of interior said, blaming the attack on the US and Israel.

The ministry said the "Zionist-American" attack also wounded five policemen, as they were helping rescue colleagues wounded in the initially strike.

- Iran strike on Israeli village -

A direct Iranian missile strike on a village in central Israel on Saturday wounded 11 people and left a massive crater, medics said.

It hit a residential area in the village of Eshtaol, near Beit Shemesh -- where an earlier strike killed nine people.

- France links Paris bank bombing bid to war -

France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez on Saturday linked a foiled attempt to bomb a Bank of America building in Paris to the war in the Middle East.

Nunez told news channel BFMTV that it made him think of similar actions that had taken place elsewhere in Europe, such as in the Netherlands claimed by opponents of the conflict.

- Iran navy arms complex hit -

Israel's military said it had struck an industrial complex in Tehran used for the research and development of naval weapons as part of a wave of attacks conducted overnight.

They said it handled "the research, development, and production of a wide range of naval weaponry, including surface and sub-surface vessels, manned and unmanned equipment, as well as engines and weapons".

- Iraq paramilitary fighter killed -

A strike in Iraq's northern Kirkuk city killed one fighter from the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi, a medical and security source told AFP.

Two missiles fired from a fighter jet targeted a base of the Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces -- now part of Iraq's regular armed forces -- near the international airport, according to a security official.

- Aluminium firm damaged -

The firm Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) said one of its sites in Abu Dhabi suffered significant damage after an Iranian attack that left six people wounded, according to authorities.

EGA -- one of the world's largest aluminium producers -- said its "Al Taweelah site sustained significant damage during the Iranian missile and drone attacks at Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi".

- Lebanon rescuers, medics killed -

Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said that 46 rescuers and five medical staff had been killed by Israel since the start of the war with Hezbollah on March 2.

Nassereddine said the figure included nine paramedic killed on Saturday.

- 10-year Gulf deals -

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said deals he signed with Gulf nations during a tour in the region envisaged a decade-long cooperation on defence, including on establishing joint production lines.

"We are talking about a 10-year cooperation. We have already signed a relevant agreement with Saudi Arabia, we have just signed a similar agreement with Qatar, also for 10 years, we will sign one with the Emirates," Zelensky told reporters.

- Syria repels drone attack -

The Syrian army said that it had repelled a drone attack from neighbouring Iraq that targeted a southern Syrian base which previously housed US forces, state media reported.

Syria's official SANA news agency quoted the army as saying that its units were able to "repel a drone attack on the al-Tanf military base in the south of the country".

- Iran tackles 'cluster bombs' -

Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed they had found and dismantled more than 120 unexploded cluster bombs dropped during US and Israeli attacks on a southern province.

"So far, 122 cluster bombs have been discovered and destroyed around Shiraz and in several towns," the ISNA news agency quoted Jalal Yarmohammadi, deputy head of public relations for the Guards in Fars province, as saying.

- Israel kills journalists -

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned as "a blatant crime" an Israeli strike that killed three journalists, including one for Hezbollah's Al Manar TV and another for the pro-Hezbollah Al Mayadeen channel, in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military claimed the Al Manar journalist was a "terrorist in the intelligence unit of Hezbollah's Radwan Force".

Any ground operation would stop short of a full-scale invasion, instead involving raids by special operations forces and conventional infantry troops, the Post said, citing unnamed officials.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted on Friday the United States "can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops," but the Post said planning is advanced, with one official saying: "This is not last-minute planning."

Fears of a widening conflict came as the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon was preparing plans for weeks of US ground operations in Iran -- though it said President Donald Trump has yet to approve any deployment.

The involvement of Houthi rebels has added a new complexity to a conflict that has already impacted a wide swathe of the Middle East.

During Israel's recent war in Gaza, the Houthis, claiming solidarity with Palestinians, attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, forcing companies to take costly detours.

Until Saturday, they had sat out the latest conflict, even as the Red Sea grew more vital.

A Houthi spokesman on Saturday said the group fired "a barrage of cruise missiles and drones targeting several vital and military sites" in Israel.

Since the launch of hostilities, Saudi Arabia has rerouted much of its oil exports via the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says it has closed to shipping from hostile powers.

- Iran threatens US universities -

The attacks on Iran continued Saturday as Israel's military said it struck the headquarters of Iran's Marine Industries Organisation in Tehran, saying the facility developed "a wide range of naval weaponry."

On Saturday evening, a wave of blasts rang out in the capital for several minutes, with no immediate word on what was targeted.

An Israeli military spokesman said attacks on Iranian military industry had intensified and "within a few days, we will complete attacks on all critical components."

"I miss a peaceful night's sleep," an artist in Tehran told AFP, saying the previous night's strikes were "so intense it felt like all of Tehran was shaking."

Iran's Revolutionary Guard meanwhile threatened Sunday to strike US university campuses in the Middle East unless Washington officially condemned US-Israeli attacks on two Iranian universities.

Several American institutions operate campuses across the Gulf region, including Texas A&M in Qatar and New York University in the UAE.

- Pakistan mediation -

The conflict began when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes across Iran that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, engulfing the region in conflict, sending energy prices soaring and prompting diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting.

Pakistan, acting as a go-between for Washington and Tehran, will host foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in Islamabad on Monday for talks on the crisis.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian thanked Islamabad "for its mediation efforts to stop the aggression," while Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Friday he expected a direct US-Iran meeting in Pakistan "very soon."

Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said such a meeting could take place this week, and promoted a 15-point plan that Washington says "could solve it all."

Still, the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying around 3,500 Marines and sailors, arrived in the Middle East on Friday amid speculation over a possible US ground deployment in Iran.

The Washington Post reported late Saturday that the Pentagon is preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran -- potentially including raids on Kharg Island and sites near the Strait of Hormuz -- though President Trump has yet to approve any deployment.

- Red Sea shipping -

The economic fallout of the war remained critical with Hormuz still all but impassable and attacks on infrastructure still frequent in the region.

Many Gulf shipments have been rerouted through Oman's Salalah port on the Arabian Sea, but Danish shipping giant Maersk said operations there were temporarily suspended after a drone attack.

Fire broke out after Iranian missiles and drones struck the Khalifa Economic Zone in Abu Dhabi, injuring six people. Emirates Global Aluminium reported significant damage.

Air travel has also been disrupted, with authorities in Kuwait and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan reporting airport facilities hit in strikes by Iran.

The United States condemned a drone attack on the residence of Kurdish regional leader Nechirvan Barzani, blaming Iranian militia proxies in Iraq and calling it "a direct assault on Iraq's sovereignty."

Elsewhere in Iraq, a former paramilitary coalition, integrated into the armed forces but containing pro-Iran factions, said three fighters were killed in a strike near Kirkuk, while the interior ministry said two police officers died in another in Mosul.

Both were blamed on the United States and Israel.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky offered his military's expertise to help defend against Iranian strikes as left his war-torn country for the region to sign anti-drone cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.

- Three journalists killed -

Attacks continued in Lebanon, which was drawn into the conflict when Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2.

On Saturday, the Israeli military killed three journalists in the south, including Al Manar correspondent Ali Shoeib, one of the network's most prominent war correspondents, who had covered Israeli attacks on Lebanon for decades.

The Israeli military accused him of operating within Hezbollah "under the guise of a journalist."

Lebanese authorities, including President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, condemned the killings as war crimes.

Israel also carried out raids in southern Lebanon that killed nine paramedics, according to the health ministry.

The test of the solid-fuel engine made of composite carbon fibre material was "part of the national defence development plan in the period of the new five-year plan", Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Pursuing the high-thrust engines "conforms with the national strategy and the military demand for modernising the strategic forces", Kim was quoted as saying by the news agency, which did not disclose the date or location of the test.

The latest engine being tested produced a higher thrust of 2,500 kilonewtons, KCNA reported. The development demonstrates North Korea's "resolve to acquire missiles capable of hitting targets around the globe", Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP. "Given the increased maximum thrust, this indicates its intention to possess ICBMs with global strike range, as well as the ability to overwhelm missile defence systems," he added.

It was the first officially confirmed high-thrust solid-fuel engine test since September last year, when state media said an engine generated a maximum thrust of 1,971 kilonewtons. Photos released by the news agency showed Kim inspecting what appeared to be part of the engine, flanked by officials. Another image showed flames erupting from a ground-mounted engine, illuminating the surrounding test site in orange light.

Kim added that North Korea's defence capabilities had entered "a significant phase of change" in the building up of its strategic forces. Kim also visited a special forces training base, according to a separate KCNA report, inspecting drills in which photos showed soldiers wielding weapons, including an axe and a sledgehammer.

The demonstration "showed the physical and technical ability they have prepared to be a-match-for-a hundred combatants with iron fists", KCNA said. 

Minneapolis hosted the flagship event for the third "No Kings" protest since the grassroots movement kicked off last year, in protest of Trump's strongman political leadership and right-wing agenda. Organizers later said an estimated 200,000 people went to the event. Famed US musician Bruce Springsteen headlined the rally in neighboring "Twin City" capitol St. Paul, during which he played his song "Streets of Minneapolis," which he wrote in tribute to Good and Pretti shortly after their deaths.

"Their bravery, their sacrifice and their names will not be forgotten," Springsteen said about the two deceased Americans. At the rally, thousands chanted the slogan: "no Kings, no ICE, no war!" "Your strength and your commitment told us that this is still America, and this reactionary nightmare and the invasions of American cities will not stand," Springsteen told the crowd. Pamela Sinness, 73, told AFP she attended the rally because she believes "in equal rights for all people, including the immigrants who come to our country."

"It feels wonderful to see all the like-minded people gathered here, because the people of Minnesota were very traumatized by the violence and the disrespect shown to all people, and the murders in our streets of Renee Good and Alex Pretti," she said. Among the throngs of people, many carried signs and banners with protest slogans, including some as simple as "ICE OUT," in reference to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which carries out Trump's immigration agenda.

From the rally stage, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, thanked the crowd for standing up to Trump, who he dubbed a "wannabe dictator." Leftist US politician Bernie Sanders also addressed the Minnesota rally, telling attendees: "We will never accept a president who is a pathological liar, a kleptocrat and a narcissist who is undermining the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law every day."

Gina Bilotta-Racelis, who attended the fanfare, said Trump is "incompetent" and that "he has no idea what he's doing." Amid the escalating Middle East war spurred by US-Israeli strikes on February 28, the 73-year-old protester said Trump "should follow the rules and the laws like everyone else." Between the Iran conflict and its economic fallout, including soaring oil prices, as well as the controversial immigration raids, Bilotta-Racelis said she thinks Republicans and their narrow majority in Congress will not survive the November midterm elections. "I think they'll lose," she said. "If you're watching the polls, you can see it happening day by day."

"The safety and security of (Aluminium Bahrain's) people remain its top priority and the Company confirms that two of Alba's employees sustained minor injuries," the company said in a statement carried by the official Bahrain News Agency. It did not give details on the nature of Saturday's strike or the extent of the damage.

Alba, one of the world's largest aluminium producers, said it was assessing the impact on its operations and would issue further updates when available. Bahraini authorities have not yet released additional information on the incident.

Now they have something new to fume over -- the war against Iran that Trump launched alongside Israel, with ever-shifting goals and timelines for completion. US protests began in several cities including Washington, Boston and Atlanta, where thousands of people gathered in a park to decry authoritarianism. "No country can govern without the consent of the people," 36-year-old military veteran Marc McCaughey told AFP in Atlanta. "We're out here because we feel that the Constitution is under threat in a multitude of different ways. Things aren't normal. They aren't okay."

In the Michigan town of West Bloomfield, near Detroit, people braved below-freezing temperatures to protest. And in the capital, Washington, marchers -- some carrying banners that blared "Trump Must Go Now!" and "Fight Fascism" -- walked across a bridge over the Potomac River to the Lincoln Memorial, site of historic civil rights demonstrations of years past. The anti-Trump mood has spilled beyond US borders, with rallies Saturday in European cities including Amsterdam, Madrid and Rome, where 20,000 people marched under a heavy police presence.

"We don't want a world governed by kings... who make decisions from on high," said 29-year-old researcher Andrea Nossa. The first "No Kings" nationwide protest day came last June on Trump's 79th birthday and coincided with a military parade he organized in Washington. Several million people turned out, from New York to San Francisco. The second such protest, in October, drew an estimated seven million protesters, according to organizers. The goal now is to bring out even more people Saturday, as Trump's approval rating sinks below 40 percent and midterm elections loom in November, when Trump's Republicans could lose control of both chambers of Congress.

Just as Trump is worshipped by many in his "Make America Great Again" movement, he is disliked with equal passion on the other side of America's wide political chasm. Foes bemoan his penchant for ruling by executive decree, his use of the Justice Department to prosecute opponents, his apparent obsession with fossil fuels and climate change denial. They also dislike his gutting of racial and gender diversity programs, and his taste for flexing US military power after campaigning as a man of peace.

"Since the last time we marched, this administration has dragged us deeper into war," said Naveed Shah of Common Defense, a veterans association connected to the "No Kings" movement. "At home, we've watched citizens killed in the streets by militarized forces. We've seen families torn apart and immigrant communities targeted. All of it done in the name of one man trying to rule like a king." Organizers say more than 3,000 rallies are planned, in major cities, suburbs and rural areas -- even in the Alaskan town of Kotzebue, above the Arctic circle. Minnesota is a key focal point, months after becoming ground zero for the national debate over Trump's violent immigration crackdown.

Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen, a fierce critic of the president, is scheduled to perform his song "Streets of Minneapolis" in the twin city of St. Paul, the capital of the northern state. Springsteen wrote and recorded the protest ballad in just 24 hours in memory of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two US citizens shot dead by federal agents during January protests against Trump's immigration offensive.

What began in 2025 as a simple day of defiance has mushroomed into a "No Kings" movement of national resistance to Trump. Organizers say two-thirds of those who plan to rally Saturday do not live in big cities, which in America are often Democratic strongholds -- a data point that is up sharply since the last protest.

Communications minister Meutya Hafid said at a press conference late Friday that digital platforms X and Bigo Live have fully complied with the new rules and adjusted their minimum user age in line with the regulation. Other digital platforms operating in the country should "immediately align their products, features and services with applicable regulations," Meutya said.

"We reiterate that there is no room for compromise regarding compliance, and that every business entity operating in Indonesia is required to adhere to the laws in force within the country." TikTok said in a statement late Friday that it was committed to complying with the regulation including "taking appropriate measures related to under-16 accounts" in close consultation with the ministry. Indonesia's ban follows a similar policy in Australia implemented in December -- signs that the global reckoning over social media's potential harms to children is gathering steam.

A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman through the "addictive design" of their platforms, ordering the companies to pay $6 million in damages. Britain's upper house of parliament voted this week in favour of banning children from social media, adding pressure on the government to follow suit.

And now they have something new to fume over -- the war in Iran that Trump launched alongside Israel, with ever-shifting goals and timelines for completion. The first such nationwide protest day came in June on Trump's 79th birthday and coincided with a military parade in Washington that he insisted on holding. Several million people turned out, from New York to San Francisco and many places in between. The second "No Kings" day in October drew an estimated seven million protesters, according to organizers.

The goal now is to bring out even more people on Saturday, as Trump's approval rating is low at around 40 percent and midterm elections loom in November, when Trump's Republicans could lose control of both chambers. Just as Trump is worshipped by many in his "Make America Great Again" movement, on the other side of America's wide political chasm he is disliked or even loathed with equal passion. Trump foes bemoan his penchant for ruling by executive decree, his use of the Justice Department to prosecute opponents, his embrace of fossil fuels and climate change denial even as the planet warms, his fight against racial and gender diversity programs, and his newfound taste for flexing US military power after campaigning as a man of peace.

"Since the last time we marched, this administration has dragged us deeper into war," said Naveed Shah of Common Defense, a veterans association that belongs to the "No Kings" movement. "At home, we've watched citizens killed in the streets by militarized forces. We've seen families torn apart and immigrant communities targeted. All of it done in the name of one man trying to rule like a king," Shah said. Organizers say more than 3,000 rallies are planned, an increase from the last protest day, in major cities coast to coast and in suburbs and rural areas -- even in the Alaskan town of Kotzebue, above the Arctic circle.

Minnesota will be a key focal point, returning to the limelight months after becoming ground zero for the national debate over Trump's violent immigration crackdown. Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen, a fierce critic of the president, is scheduled to perform in St. Paul, the capital of the northern state, his song "Streets of Minneapolis." It is a ballad he wrote and recorded in the space of 24 hours in memory of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Americans shot and killed by federal agents during protests in frigid January weather against Trump's immigration offensive.

"Masked secret police terrorizing our communities. An illegal, catastrophic war putting us in danger and driving up our costs. Attacks on our freedom of speech, our civil rights, our freedom to vote. Costs pushing families to the brink. Trump wants to rule over us as a tyrant," the "No Kings" movement said. It said what began in 2025 as a simple day of defiance has mushroomed into a powerful movement of national resistance to the Trump administration.

Organizers say two-thirds of those who plan to rally Saturday do not live in big cities, which in America are often Democratic strongholds -- a data point that is up sharply since the last protest. "America is at an inflection point," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. "People are afraid, and they can't afford basic necessities. It's time the administration listened and helped them build a better life rather than stoking hate and fear."

Zelensky said on social media he had met with Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and they "agreed to cooperate in the field of security and defence. Our teams will finalise the details." "For all normal states, it is important to ensure stability and protect lives amid today's threats. Ukraine has relevant expertise in this area," he said. Ukraine touts its anti-drone defences as the best in the world.

It has proposed swapping its interceptors for vastly more expensive air-defence missiles that Gulf countries are using to down Iranian drones. Kyiv says it needs more of them to fend off near-daily Russian missile attacks. "Protection must be sufficient everywhere. That is why we are open to joint work that, in a strategic perspective, will certainly strengthen our peoples and the protection of life in our countries," Zelensky said on Saturday.

The war began when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes across Iran, killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and sending shockwaves across the globe. A month later the conflict showed no sign of ending, with Israel announcing fresh strikes on Tehran and an AFP journalist in the city reporting around 10 intense blasts and a plume of black smoke. Emirati authorities said debris from a successful missile interception started fires at an Abu Dhabi industrial zone, injuring five Indian nationals.

Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted a missile and several drones, and Bahrain said a blaze caused by the "Iranian aggression" had been brought under control. In Israel, repeated air raid sirens sent people to shelters, including in Tel Aviv where one man was killed and two others wounded, and in the country's north, where media reported a simultaneous attack from Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. An Iranian missile and drone attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia wounded at least 12 American soldiers, two of them seriously, according to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified officials.

US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said Friday he believes Iran would hold talks with Washington "this week, we're certainly hopeful for it". Washington expected Tehran to respond to a 15-point US peace plan, he told a business forum in Miami. "It could solve it all." One major issue has been the near-closure of the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, which has sent markets into turmoil and pushed oil prices to levels not seen since the start of the war in Ukraine. Trump reiterated his disappointment with NATO allies over their refusal to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had won G7 support to oppose Iran's attempts to impose a toll on the key sea lane for Gulf oil and gas exports.

"It's unacceptable, it's dangerous to the world, and it's important that the world have a plan to confront it," said Rubio, who joined a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in France. Thailand on Saturday joined a handful of nations that have announced they were able to secure safe passage for their oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz in an agreement with Iran. The G7 ministers expressed the "absolute necessity to permanently restore safe and toll-free freedom of navigation" in the waterway and called for "an immediate cessation of attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure".

Rubio declared that Washington expects its military campaign to prove victorious within weeks. "When we are done with them here in the next couple of weeks, they will be weaker than they've been in recent history," he told reporters. Iran had sent "messages" to the American side but had not formally responded to the 15-point plan, Rubio said. While Trump has extended his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on energy assets to April 6, Iranian media reported strikes on Friday on three Iranian nuclear facilities and two steel plants, with officials saying there was no radioactive release.

Israel confirmed it had struck the Khondab heavy water complex and a uranium processing plant in Ardakan, while the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had informed it of another strike on the Bushehr nuclear power plant. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi threatened retaliation "for Israeli crimes" in a post on X, saying the attacks contradicted Trump's "extended deadline for diplomacy". Israel's military reported at least five rounds of Iranian missile fire within just over five hours, and a statement early Saturday said Israeli forces were "striking Iranian terror regime targets across Tehran".

Trump, swinging between threats of obliteration and optimistic talk of dealmaking, has insisted the Islamic Republic wants to "make a deal". Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned they would strike industrial sites across the region, having earlier issued similar warnings for US military bases and hotels hosting American troops. Iranian strikes have shattered the Gulf's reputation for stability, hitting Dubai's airport, Bahrain's capital and energy facilities across the region during the course of the war.

Yemen's Houthi rebels, which did not immediately comment on the missile fire reported by Israel, had warned on Friday they would join the war if US-Israeli attacks on ally Iran continued or if more countries joined the conflict. The Houthis have in the past attacked shipping in the Red Sea in response to regional conflicts, but had so far not intervened in the latest war. "We affirm that our fingers are on the trigger for direct military intervention," the group said in a statement.

Tehran also called for an end to US and Israeli attacks on aligned regional groups -- a reference to Hezbollah, among others, Tasnim reported. Lebanon was drawn into the war after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2. Israel renewed strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs Friday, saying it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. The UN refugee agency warned Lebanon faced a deepening humanitarian crisis risking catastrophe, with over a million people displaced. AFPTV footage showed smoke rising from the Beirut suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold largely emptied after previous Israeli evacuation warnings and heavy strikes.

India's rapidly growing economy, and its 1.4 billion people, has opened the door for the country to become the world's fourth-largest air market, including domestic and international travel. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the airport, a greenfield project in Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state with estimated 243 million people. Modi said he hoped the airport would become a gateway to the wider Delhi region, and once fully operational, a flight would take off every two minutes.

"The airport would boost economic activity in western Uttar Pradesh, creating opportunities for farmers, small businesses and young people," he said. It will complement the existing Indira Gandhi International Airport, 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the centre. "Together, the two airports will function as an integrated aviation system, easing congestion, expanding passenger capacity, and positioning Delhi NCR (National Capital Region), among leading global aviation hubs," Modi's office said.

The development of the air industry sector has been a priority for Modi since he came to power in 2014, and launched a drive to boost air links between small towns and megacities. The number of airports has more than doubled in the past decade -- from 74 in 2014 to 157 in 2024, according to aviation ministry figures.

India's rapidly growing economy, and its 1.4 billion people, has opened the door for the country to become the world's fourth-largest air market, including domestic and international travel. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the airport, a greenfield project in Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state with estimated 243 million people. Modi said he hoped the airport would become a gateway to the wider Delhi region, and once fully operational, a flight would take off every two minutes.

"The airport would boost economic activity in western Uttar Pradesh, creating opportunities for farmers, small businesses and young people," he said. It will complement the existing Indira Gandhi International Airport, 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the centre. "Together, the two airports will function as an integrated aviation system, easing congestion, expanding passenger capacity, and positioning Delhi NCR (National Capital Region), among leading global aviation hubs," Modi's office said.

The development of the air industry sector has been a priority for Modi since he came to power in 2014, and launched a drive to boost air links between small towns and megacities. The number of airports has more than doubled in the past decade -- from 74 in 2014 to 157 in 2024, according to aviation ministry figures.

AFP was not able to independently verify any of these tolls. Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on February 28, killing the Islamic republic's supreme leader and sparking a war that has since spread across the Middle East. Iran has yet to provide an overall death toll, with the latest tally of over 1,200 released on March 8, according to the health ministry, which could not be independently verified.

Blasts rocked the Iranian capital overnight, hitting Iran's University of Science and Technology in the city's northeast causing damages to the buildings but no casualties, local media reported. It was not immediately clear if other locations were hit in the overnight strikes. On Saturday, rescuers from the Iranian Red Crescent were pulling bodies out from under the rubble of residential buildings in the western city of Kermanshah where at least 13 people were killed in separate attacks there the day before, according to local media.

AFP has not been able to access sites outside of the Iranian capital or independently verify figures, but journalists in Tehran have reported damage to multiple residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.

An inquiry commission into the violence found that at least 76 people were killed in the anti-corruption youth uprising on September 8 and 9. At least 20 young people were killed in a crackdown on the first day of protests, which began over a brief social media ban but tapped into longstanding fury over economic hardship. The unrest spread nationwide the following day as parliament and government offices were set ablaze, resulting in the collapse of Oli's government. The government-backed inquiry commission recommended during a caretaker administration that Oli and other officials be prosecuted.

Its report said it was "not established that there was an order to shoot", but added that "no effort was made to stop or control the firing and, due to their negligent conduct, even minors lost their lives". Oli has denied ordering security forces to open fire on protesters. He told AFP during his failed bid for re-election in the March 5 poll that he blamed "infiltrators" for the violence. Oli was arrested by police in the capital in the early hours of Saturday. "They have been arrested for investigation on the protests of September 8 and 9," Kathmandu district police spokesman Pawan Kumar Bhattarai said. AFP reporters later saw Oli walk into hospital, dressed in white and surrounded by a heavy police guard. "He has been admitted at the hospital on doctor's advice," Bhattarai said. "They will oversee his treatment. He has issues with his heart and kidney." Oli's CPN-UML Marxist party called for supporters to stage a "nationwide protest".

The coastguard late Friday said 26 people, including a woman and a minor, were rescued by a Frontex European border agency vessel off the Crete. Survivors said the bodies of those who had died were thrown into the sea.

"During its visit the USS Gerald R Ford will host local officials and key leaders to recognise the strong and enduring alliance between the United States and Croatia," the embassy statement said. The United States and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran in late February following a major US military buildup in the Middle East that included the Ford and another aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln. Both ships -- which have air wings made up of dozens of aircraft -- have played key roles in Iran operations, and the withdrawal of the Ford leaves a gap for US forces in the region.

The Ford has been at sea for nearly nine months -- a deployment that has already seen it take part in US operations in the Caribbean, where Washington's forces have carried out strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats, interdicted sanctioned tankers and seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. A fire broke out in a laundry room aboard the carrier on March 12, injuring two sailors and causing major damage to some 100 beds, according to the US military. The carrier has also reportedly suffered significant problems with its toilet system while at sea, with US media reporting clogs and long lines for restrooms on the ship.

"The suggestion that Bahrain is targeting its citizens based on religious identity is categorically false and inflammatory," Bahrain's National Communication Centre said in a statement to AFP. "Charges have been brought because of specific, evidenced conduct -- including espionage, dissemination of enemy propaganda, and incitement to violence," it said. "Any act that targets national security or seeks to undermine national unity will not be tolerated."

Rights groups told AFP that lawyers had had a difficult time reaching their clients. In the case of one woman arrested over her social media posts, her family spent five days trying to locate her, according to a relative. "The allegation that lawyers were systematically denied timely access to clients is untrue. The specific claim that a female detainee's family could not locate her for five days is equally without foundation. All defence rights have been scrupulously observed throughout," the NCC said. Sunni-ruled Bahrain is home, like neighbouring Iran, to a large Shia community that has long complained of marginalisation.

These pro-Iran factions, some of which are integrated into the Iraqi security forces, have themselves been regularly targeted by strikes, which the groups have blamed on the US or Israel. The US embassy and Iraq released statements late on Friday, announcing the creation of a "High Joint Coordination Committee" to oversee efforts to tackle attacks in Iraq. "The Iraqi and US sides decided to intensify cooperation to prevent terrorist attacks and ensure that Iraqi territory is not used as a launching point for any aggression against the Iraqi people, the Iraqi Security Forces, Iraqi strategic facilities and assets, as well as against US personnel, diplomatic missions, and the Global Coalition," the US embassy in Baghdad said in a statement posted on X.

Relations between Washington and Baghdad have been strained as the Middle East war has gone on, with the latter particularly unhappy over a strike on a medical clinic in western Iraq that killed seven members of the security forces. It has not officially blamed the United States, but did summon the country's charge d'affaires over the strike. Washington has strongly denied targeting Iraqi security forces. Earlier this week, Iraq granted the Popular Mobilisation Forces -- a coalition of armed groups integrated into the regular armed forces that includes pro-Tehran factions -- permission to "confront and respond" to attacks after 15 of its fighters were killed in an airstrike.

Hours after the announcement on Friday, an AFP journalist heard an explosion near the international airport in Erbil, with a witness saying they saw smoke. The city is home to a major US consulate complex, and the airport hosts military advisors with the US-led anti-jihadist international coalition. Late on Friday, the influential Tehran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah -- designated a terror organisation by Washington -- announced it would extend a pause on attacks against the US embassy. It first announced the pause on March 19 and has extended it once already.

"Why would we be there for them if they're not there for us? They weren't there for us." Since the start of the US-Israeli offensive against Iran a month ago, Trump has repeatedly voiced frustration over Western allies' lack of support and reluctance to commit forces to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key sea lane for Gulf oil and gas exports vulnerable to Iranian attacks. Traffic through the narrow waterway has ground to a virtual standstill, leading to a surge in global energy prices.

Six key powers including Britain, France, Germany and Japan say they are ready to "contribute to appropriate efforts" but have not made any commitment. Trump has reserved some of his toughest criticism for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Last week, he dubbed its other members "COWARDS," and declared the alliance was a "paper tiger" without the United States. On Thursday, he said on his Truth Social platform that the United States "needs nothing from NATO." "NATO nations have done absolutely nothing to help with the lunatic nation, now militarily decimated, of Iran." 

Last Saturday, Trump had initially given Iran 48 hours to open the crucial Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, threatening to destroy its power plants, but he has now extended the deadline twice. "As per Iranian Government request... I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time," he posted. Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff told a cabinet meeting earlier of "strong signs" that Tehran was ready to negotiate, confirming publicly for the first time that Washington had passed a 15-point "action list" to Tehran through Pakistani officials.

"We will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them, other than more death and destruction," Witkoff said. At the meeting, Trump said Iran had allowed 10 oil tankers passage through the Strait of Hormuz to show it was serious about talks. The Iranian news agency Tasnim said that "Iran's response to the 15 points proposed by the US was officially sent last night through intermediaries, and Iran is awaiting the other side's response."

The Tasnim report, citing an unnamed official, said Iran's reply called for an end to US and Israeli attacks on Iran and also on Tehran-backed groups elsewhere in the region -- a reference to Lebanon's Hezbollah, among others. War reparations should be paid and Iran's "sovereignty" over the Strait of Hormuz be respected, it said, citing conditions that put Tehran's demands far beyond anything in the US plan. As strikes continued, it remained unclear if the talks would quickly end a war now in its fourth week, after the United States and Israel began airstrikes against Iran on February 28. Tehran has responded with retaliatory drone and missile launches at sites across the Gulf and a de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring and roiling financial markets.

In a televised meeting at the White House, Trump veered between repeated threats to "obliterate" Iran and claims it was already on the verge of capitulating. "They want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit," he said. Trump also said the United States might take control of Iran's oil, comparing it to the deal Washington made with Venezuela after toppling Nicolas Maduro. Trump's tough talk came as Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid warned his country's government for the first time that the war was taking too high a toll.

"The IDF is stretched to the limit and beyond. The government is leaving the army wounded out on the battlefield," Lapid said, echoing a warning delivered a day earlier by military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir. "The government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means, and with far too few soldiers," Lapid said. In a televised briefing, Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said: "On the Lebanese front, the forward defensive zone that we are creating requires additional IDF forces... For that, more combat soldiers are needed in the IDF." Iran was hit by a new wave of Israeli strikes Thursday, one of which Israel said had "eliminated" Alireza Tangsiri, navy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and several senior officers.

An AFP reporter in Tehran heard warplanes overhead and three loud explosions, while Iranian media reported US-Israeli attacks in the central cities of Isfahan and Shiraz, in Gulf port city Bandar Abbas in the south and Tabriz in the northwest. Strikes were also reported in eastern cities of Mashhad and Birjand, towards the Afghan border in an area largely spared until now.

Elsewhere in the region, Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs early Friday, with AFP correspondents hearing several explosions from the Hezbollah stronghold. Lebanon said it would complain to the UN Security Council over Israeli attacks as a threat to its "sovereignty" and "the integrity of its territory." Israel said this week that its military would take control of south Lebanon up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, to create a buffer zone against Hezbollah-fired rockets. In the UAE, two people were killed by debris from an Iranian ballistic missile intercepted near Abu Dhabi, and drones were fired at both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

"They're also afraid they'll be killed by us." The US leader's comments came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that "we do not intend to negotiate". Trump repeated his assertion that Iran was being "decimated" in the conflict now in its fourth week, even though Tehran still maintains an effective stranglehold over the crucial Strait of Hormuz oil route. Lashing out at his domestic opponents, Trump also claimed Democrats were trying to "deflect from all of the tremendous success that we're having in this military operation."

In a mocking reference to calls from Democrats for him to seek the approval of Congress for the conflict, Trump added: "They don't like the word 'war,' because you're supposed to get approval, so I'll use the word military operation." The White House said earlier that Trump was ready to "unleash hell" if Iran did not admit defeat, while also insisting that Tehran is still taking part in talks. Iranian state media had earlier cited an unidentified official as saying that the Islamic republic had responded "negatively" to a reported 15-point plan from Washington.

"If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment, if they fail to understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. "President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again." Asked if negotiations with Iran had stalled, Leavitt replied: "Talks continue. They are productive."

Leavitt declined to say whom the US was dealing with in Tehran following the assassination of supreme leader Ali Khamenei, whose son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public. Reports have suggested the Trump administration's interlocutor is Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's speaker of parliament and one of its most prominent non-clerical figures.

The spokeswoman also declined to confirm reports that top US officials including Vice President JD Vance were set to hold talks with the Iranians in Pakistan, which has emerged as a key mediator. Trump is moving thousands of airborne troops and extra marines to the Gulf amid speculation that he might order a ground invasion to either seize Iranian oil assets in the Gulf or secure the Strait of Hormuz. The White House meanwhile appeared to stick to the four to six-week timeline it has previously given for the war.

Trump announced Wednesday that his visit to China to meet Xi Jinping had now been rescheduled for mid-May, having postponed it by six weeks to deal with the conflict. "We've always estimated approximately four to six weeks (for the length of military operations against Iran), so you could do the math on that," Leavitt added.

"The feasibility and implementation of this action plan obviously depend on fuel solutions," he said. US President Donald Trump imposed a de facto oil blockade on Cuba in January, deepening an energy and economic crisis as he squeezes the communist government. The UN has been in talks with Washington to allow fuel in for humanitarian purposes.

Pichon said the action plan and a "fuel traceability model" were being proposed "as instruments to try to reach an agreement, a pathway to gain access to fuel." He said a fuel monitoring plan was needed "to ensure that it goes to the critical, essential services that are prioritized in the plan." "All solutions are being considered, including working with the non-state sector," he said. Washington slightly eased the embargo last month to allow oil sales to Cuba's small private sector.

Pichon said the plan was presented to dozens of diplomats and representatives of international NGOs on Tuesday. US diplomats were invited, but Pichon said he did not know if they were there. The UN's plan is an expansion of its response to Hurricane Melissa, which slammed Cuba in October, to include the humanitarian impact of the energy crisis. UN staff have been largely unable to carry out field work and UN agencies are having difficulty retrieving aid shipments from Havana's airports.

UN chief Antonio Guterres warned last month that Cuba risked a humanitarian "collapse" if it were denied oil. Cubans have endured regular blackouts that can last more than 20 hours, with two nationwide outages last week alone. President Miguel Diaz-Canel has imposed emergency measures to conserve fuel, including strict fuel rationing. 

With the war now in its fourth week, he added that "we remain on plan or ahead of plan in achieving very clear objectives" for the war launched with Israel. "We have damaged or destroyed over two-thirds of Iran's missile drone and naval production facilities and shipyards, and we're not done yet," he said, adding that US forces had now struck over 10,000 military targets. Iran has retaliated for the US and Israeli strikes by launching missiles at targets throughout the Gulf almost daily.

But Cooper said that Iran's drone and missile launch rates were down by 90 percent, and "we've also removed the regime's ability to rebuild them." Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that Iran did not plan to negotiate with the United States and intended to keep fighting, after the White House said talks were ongoing.

"President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again," she said, while adding that "talks continue". Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, however, rejected the US overture, saying "we do not intend to negotiate". "At present, our policy is the continuation of resistance", Araghchi said on state TV, adding that the United States "speaking of negotiations now is an admission of defeat" by Washington.

Pakistani officials earlier said Islamabad had conveyed to Tehran an American 15-point plan to stop the fighting that began on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks on Iran and has since engulfed the region. Iran state television Press TV cited an unidentified official as saying Tehran had "responded negatively" to the plan and that the war would only end on Tehran's terms, which includes guarantees against future attacks. "We seek an end to the war on our own terms," Araghchi confirmed, "and in a way that it will not be repeated here again".

With thousands more US troops reportedly headed to the Middle East, Iran also threatened to open a new front by targeting Red Sea shipping, should the US launch a ground invasion. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war was "out of control". On the ground, there was no let-up in the hostilities, with targets in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all coming under fire. Iran's military said its cruise missiles fired at the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group had "forced it to change its position", warning of "powerful strikes" when the fleet comes into range.

US ally Israel, meanwhile, said it had struck targets in Tehran as well as a submarine development facility in the central city of Isfahan. From Tehran, 40-year-old Shayan told AFP: "There is gasoline, water and electricity. But there is a sense of helplessness in all of us. We don't know what to do and there's really nothing we can do."

Trump has in recent days repeatedly claimed progress in talks with Iran, even as Tehran denied any formal negotiations were taking place. Mediators in the region said work was ongoing behind the scenes, but Araghchi said the exchange of messages through "friendly countries" did not equate to negotiations with Washington. According to the New York Times, citing anonymous officials, the American 15-point plan touches on Iran's contested nuclear and missile programmes, as well as "maritime routes".

Tehran has largely blocked the vital Strait of Hormuz oil route in retaliation for the US-Israeli attacks, pushing up global energy prices. The Iranian official quoted by Press TV said Tehran has put forward its own five conditions for hostilities to end. These include a robust mechanism guaranteeing that neither Israel nor the US will resume the war as well as compensation for war damages.

Iran's conditions also include a cessation of hostilities on all regional fronts and against all "resistance groups" -- an implicit reference to the Tehran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah. Tehran also wants international recognition and guarantees of Iran's rights to exercise its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. Speculation in Iran of a possible US invasion of an Iranian island led to stark warnings of more violence and a further squeeze on ship traffic.

In the event of a US invasion, Iran would block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, an unnamed military official told local media. Iran has close links to and arms the Houthi rebel group in Yemen which greatly reduced Red Sea traffic in October 2023 when they began attacking vessels in retaliation for Israel's bombardment of Gaza. It remains unclear whether Israel is on board with America's diplomatic overture.

While striking targets in Iran Wednesday, Israel kept up its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Israeli warplanes pounded the southern suburbs of Beirut. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his country's forces were expanding a "buffer zone" in southern Lebanon and that dismantling Hezbollah "remains central" to Israel's objectives in Lebanon.

Lebanon was pulled into the war when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. According to Lebanese authorities, more than 1,000 people have been killed in over three weeks of Israeli strikes and upwards of one million people displaced. With the war sending energy prices soaring, fuelling fears of higher inflation and weaker global growth, markets remained focused on the Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world's oil usually passes.

Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said the strait was "closed only to enemies". "The Strait of Hormuz, from our perspective, is not completely closed -- it is closed only to enemies," Araghchi said on state TV, adding: "There is no reason to allow the ships of our enemies and their allies to pass." He said Tehran's armed forces had already "provided safe passage" for ships from friendly nations. Stock markets rallied and oil prices tumbled on initial reports over potential negotiations, but on Wednesday the Brent crude benchmark crept back above $100 a barrel. 

The Philippines is heavily dependent on imported fuel, the cost of which has hit historic highs since the US-Israeli war with Iran forced the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz. An AFP journalist on Thursday saw the Sara Sky at anchor in Limay port just outside Manila, where the Petron refinery is located. It is believed to be the first shipment of Russian oil to the Philippines in five years. Last week, Ramon Ang, CEO of Petron, told AFP the company was "in talks" to potentially purchase Russian oil.

On Thursday, he declined to confirm the arrival of the shipment. President Ferdinand Marcos said Wednesday that the Philippines was casting a wide net in its search for fuel, with the country's dwindling stocks expected to last only another 45 days. "We have not only gone to our...traditional oil suppliers, we have tried to explore other sources that are not affected by the war that is ongoing in the Middle East," he said in a press briefing addressing the state of emergency.

"Nothing is off the table. We are looking at everything, everything that we can do." The United States this month eased some restrictions on sales of Russian crude, allowing countries to purchase oil that was already at sea until April 11. Kpler analyst Muyu Xu told AFP around 120 million barrels of Russian oil may have been at sea at the time, adding much of it may have already been pre-ordered by Chinese or Indian clients.

On Thursday, the Philippines' Department of Energy activated a 20 billion-peso ($332 million) emergency fund that energy secretary Sharon Garin called a "proactive step" to securing fuel supplies. Garin said earlier this week that the archipelago nation also planned to boost the output of its coal-fired power plants to keep electricity costs down as the war wreaks havoc with gas shipments.

With the cost of LNG (liquefied natural gas) soaring, Garin said the country would "temporarily" be forced to lean even more heavily on the fossil fuel, the main contributor of climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions from human sources. She added that top coal supplier Indonesia had placed "no restriction" on the amount the Philippines could buy if it needs to increase imports.

Making his first trip abroad since the war started, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will join fellow top diplomats from Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Japan and the UK, but only on the second day. One of the objectives of France, which holds the rotating G7 presidency this year, is "to address the major global imbalances which explain in many respects the level of tension and rivalry we are witnessing with very concrete consequences for our fellow citizens," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told AFP on Tuesday.

With Lebanon pulled into the war as Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel, Barrot also urged Israel to "refrain" from sending in forces to take control of a zone in south Lebanon. In a bid to broaden the scope of the elite G7 club -- whose origins go back to the first G6 summit held in the nearby Chateau de Rambouillet in 1975 -- France has also invited foreign ministers from key emerging markets Brazil and India as well as Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. While all G7 nations are close US allies, none have unambiguously offered support for the assault on Iran, angering Trump.

German Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil even complained Trump's "misguided policies" in the Middle East were hitting Germany's economy. Trump has claimed the US is speaking to a "top person" within Iran's clerical system in talks to end the conflict. But Iranian state TV said on Wednesday Tehran had rejected a peace plan conveyed through Pakistan. Trump's threat to hit Iranian energy facilities -- which he is now holding back on amid the purported talks -- troubled European allies who have all called for de-escalation and not engaged militarily in the conflict.

British foreign minister Yvette Cooper on Tuesday voiced unease that the war had shifted focus away from the Gaza peace plan and violence in the occupied West Bank. Over four years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Barrot told AFP that support "for the Ukrainian resistance" and pressure on Russia would continue.

Some exceptions would be made on a case-by-case basis, the department added, such as for the parents of Australian citizens. "There are many visitor visas which were issued before the conflict in Iran which may not have been issued if they were applied for now," Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said. "Decisions about permanent stays in Australia should be deliberate decisions of the government, not a random consequence of who booked a holiday."

More than 85,000 Australian residents were born in Iran, according to government figures, with vibrant diaspora communities found in major cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. Australia angered Iran this month when it granted asylum to seven players and officials from the visiting women's football team. The players were branded "traitors" at home after refusing to sing the national anthem before an Asian Cup match -- a gesture seen as an act of defiance against the Islamic republic. Five of those seven later reversed their decisions to seek sanctuary in Australia, fuelling suspicions their families had come under threat.

"Transportation costs have been increasing, and our competitors have reacted with a number of surcharges," USPS said in a statement. Delivery giant UPS imposed a fuel surcharge in the United States on March 2, and Fedex also frequently updates its fuel surcharge based on US gasoline prices.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States has jumped 33.6 percent since the start of the war on February 28, according to data from motor club AAA. Many delivery trucks run on diesel, whose price has climbed by 43 percent, according to the data, and jet fuel prices have also surged since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran in late February.

The ministry earlier said air raid sirens were activated. In Kuwait, an army statement said air defences were "responding to hostile missile and drone threats", while the UAE's interior ministry reported "a missile threat".

Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said that in a little over an hour, its forces had "intercepted and destroyed" six drones in the country's east and another in the north. On Thursday, drones struck a Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea and caused fires at two others in Kuwait, as Iran stepped up attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure.

Those attacks followed major damage at the world's biggest gas hub, Qatar's Ras Laffan, on Wednesday as Iran retaliated for Israeli strikes on its South Pars gas field.

More than 50 people walk into endocrinologist Nadeem Rais's office every week seeking weight-loss injections. "We have around 70 to 80 patients on active treatment right now," he told AFP. "When generics come out and prices drop, that could go up to 200 easily." His colleague Sunera Ghai agrees saying that demand is "very high" but many "probably aren't taking it just because it is truly a luxury item at this point". The breakthrough comes as patents on semaglutide -- the active ingredient in drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy -- expired Friday in India, the world's largest supplier of generic medicines.

By the end of 2026, core patents on semaglutide will have expired in 10 countries that represent 48 percent of the global obesity burden, according to a study published earlier this month by researchers. These include Brazil, China, South Africa, Turkey and Canada, the study said. For India's drug giants, this marks the start of an aggressive new race. At least four major firms have already prepared generic semaglutide injections, regulatory filings and compliance documents viewed by AFP show.

Some, including Zydus Lifesciences, have announced "Day 1" launches, suggesting generic versions may become available as soon as this weekend in India. Research firm Pharmarack estimates the Indian market will soon be flooded with options. "What we understand is, there will be more than 50 brands that will be launched in the market and there are more than 40 players who will be launching these drugs," Pharmarack's vice president Sheetal Sapale said.

The timing aligns with India's shifting health landscape. While the country still accounts for a third of the world's undernutrition according to the World Health Organization (WHO), rising incomes and urban lifestyles have pushed obesity rates sharply upward. Government data released March last year shows 24 percent of women and 23 percent of men are overweight or obese in India.

"Once a person starts earning money, he becomes more sedentary here," says bariatric surgeon Sanjay Borude. "While in first-world countries, the more the money, they become more active and devote time for their health, this is reversed in India." These flipped economics have worked well for big pharma players like Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk who have been cashing in on the market. India's weight?loss drug sales have grown tenfold in five years to $153 million as of 2026, and are projected to soar to over half a billion by 2030.

But using such drugs can cause side effects including nausea and gastrointestinal issues. Eli Lilly's Mounjaro became the country's top?selling drug by value last year, surpassing even common antibiotics. Still, high prices -- often 15,000 to 22,000 rupees ($161-$236) a month -- limit access, says Swati Pradhan, who runs a weight-loss clinic in Mumbai. She expects patient numbers to rise once generics push treatment costs closer to 5,000 rupees ($60) a month.

The global impact may prove even more profound. India supplies more than half of Africa's generic medicines, and cheaper semaglutide could become a lifeline for countries where obesity is rising rapidly but treatment remains unaffordable. "Lower?cost semaglutide could significantly expand access to effective treatment particularly in middle-income countries where price has been a major barrier," Simon Barquera, president of the World Obesity Federation, told AFP. "Generic products are an important step in breaking the access barrier, now that the scientific one has been overcome."

Indian firms will be a key driving force, with Dr Reddy's Laboratories aiming to launch its version of semaglutide in Canada by May 2026. For patients like 46?year?old Sukant Mangal, who lost nearly 30 pounds in eight months, wider access could not come soon enough. Many he knows simply abandoned treatment mid?way when they realised they would have to spend 20,000 rupees ($214) a month for seven to eight months. "Had it been cheaper, (it) would've been much easier to have it."

ICE has disclosed the deaths of two other Mexicans in its custody this year including a 48-year-old in California this month and a 34-year-old in Georgia in January. "The Mexican government reiterates that such deaths are unacceptable and again demands a prompt and thorough investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding this death, determine accountability, and put in place effective guarantees of non-recurrence," Mexico's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Mexico will take the "necessary diplomatic steps" and pursue "all available legal avenues" to support the family, the ministry added.

At least 30 people died last year while being held in US immigration detention centers -- the highest death toll since 2004, the year after the agency was created. Mexico has requested the reports and documentation to establish the facts of the case and its consulate general in Miami has visited the Florida facility, the foreign ministry said. Perez-Jimenez was transferred into ICE custody on February 21, and at intake denied any behavioral health issues or concerns and answered "no" to all suicide screening questions, according to ICE. "ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments," the agency added.

Antalya Governor Hulusi Sahin said the fire ripped through several containers where greenhouse workers were living in Kepez, just north of Antalya. "Three containers caught fire, and we lost a mother and five children aged between four and nine," he told reporters standing in front of the charred remains of a container and a burned-out car. Five others were injured in the blaze, one of whom had sustained "life-threatening injuries", he said.

According to the Anadolu state news agency, the mother was pregnant at the time. It said four of the injured -- one of whom was a two-year-old -- had the same family names as the victims, while the fifth was the business owner. Although the cause was not immediately clear, Sahin said it appeared someone had been having a barbecue on a burner outside the containers.

"It seems they went to bed without extinguishing it. But for now, we cannot definitively say that's why it happened," he added. Investigators were looking into the cause of the blaze and had arrested three people, he said.

"They wanted to bring two warplanes armed with eight anti-ship missiles from a base in Djibouti to Mattala International Airport from March 4 to 8, and we said 'no'," Dissanayake said. He said the United States made the request on February 26. Iran made a similar request on the same day for three of its warships, returning from India after a naval exercise, to make a port call. "We were still considering the Iranian request to bring the three ships to Colombo from March 9 to 13. Had we said 'yes' to Iran, we would have had to say 'yes' to the US too," he said.

"But we didn't. We are steadfastly maintaining our position of neutrality," he added, drawing applause from the 225-member legislature. The US torpedoed one of the Iranian ships, IRIS Dena, just off the island's southern coast on March 4, killing at least 84 sailors. Sri Lanka's navy rescued 32 survivors. A second Iranian ship, IRIS Bushehr, was allowed to enter Sri Lankan waters the following day amid fears for the safety of its 219 crew, who have since taken shelter in Colombo. Sri Lanka maintains close ties with both the United States, the island's main export market, and Iran, the main buyer of Sri Lankan tea.

The new licence is valid until April 17. "The refinery in Pancevo continues to operate, and the supply of petroleum products will remain reliable," she added. Negotiations over the sale of a Russian-majority stakeholding in the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) have been ongoing for months with Hungarian energy giant MOL. The US Treasury Department has given NIS until March 24 to complete the sale, and MOL Serbia CEO Milenko Jankovic said he expected to meet the deadline.

NIS, which supplies 80 percent of Serbia's fuel market, was forced to halt production at its main Pancevo refinery in December after long-delayed sanctions cut off crude supplies. The move has had a strong impact in Serbia, a close Kremlin ally and one of the few European states not to sanction Russia over the war in Ukraine. Serbia sold a majority stake in NIS to Gazprom in 2008 for 400 million euros ($460 million).

It is now 45 percent owned by Gazprom Neft, which is under US sanctions, while Gazprom transferred its 11.3 percent stake in September to its affiliated firm, Intelligence. The Serbian state owns nearly 30 percent, with the rest held by minority shareholders. Officials say it intends to raise its stake by 5 percent after the sale.

Thursday's joint statement on the so-called small modular reactors (SMRs) also announced a $33 billion investment in natural gas power generation facilities in Pennsylvania and Texas. The countries announced the first tranche of projects under the new investment fund in February, with $36 billion in commitments in three infrastructure projects. Thursday's statement said the projects would ensure security by "accelerating economic growth of both countries, thereby paving the way for a New Golden Age of the ever-growing Japan-US Alliance."

It touted the SMRs, built by GE Vernova Hitachi, as providing "a tremendous next-generation stable power source, stabilizing electricity prices for American people and strengthening the Japan-US leadership in global technological competition." Both sides also released an action plan on developing critical mineral supply chains, amid concerns about China's dominant role in the sector. It includes discussing coordinated trade policies and mechanisms, such as border-adjusted price floors, "focusing in the first instance on select critical minerals."

The two nations will also cooperate on development of deep-sea critical minerals, "including rare-earth muds near Japan's Minamitorishima Island," the White House said. Minamitorishima is an isolated Japanese coral atoll about 1,950 kilometres (1,200 miles) southeast of Tokyo. Sediment containing rare earths was collected by a Japanese deep-sea scientific drilling boat that set sail in January for the island, whose surrounding waters are believed to contain a trove of valuable minerals.

Authorities issued an order typically reserved for blazes that exceed the firefighting capacity of local governments, according to Seoul's Yonhap news agency. Officials have not said how the fire started.

"Around 45 have been injured, and among them, 21 are thought to be in a serious condition," an official from the interior ministry's department that handles fires and other disasters told AFP. "Around 14 people are still believed to be missing." President Lee Jae Myung told officials to mobilise all available resources -- including personnel and equipment -- for rescue operations, his office said.

The incident set social media abuzz. "On a day without shelling -- so far -- the Israelis are greeting the people of Beirut and its suburbs with two sonic booms," one internet user, Salah Halawi, wrote on X. Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel after the killing of the Islamic republic's supreme leader.

Last week Israeli warplanes also caused loud booms in the skies of the Lebanese capital, as they dropped propaganda leaflets on the city, terrifying residents.

Following a month of fasting and prayer, worshippers gathered in large numbers from the early morning hours at designated mosques throughout the Kingdom's cities, governorates, and villages. The prayers, held shortly after sunrise, were accompanied by ‘Eid takbeers’ (praises to Allah) and joyous celebrations nationwide.

The recommendations were approved in late February but only picked up by state media this week. The Kremlin chief casts Russia's shrinking population as a matter of national survival -- warning in 2024 Russia faced "extinction" if it did not boost birth rates. Russia's birth rate is running at a 200-year low of around 1.4 per woman -- far below the 2.1 that demographers say is necessary for a stable population. In recent years Moscow has tightened abortion rules and passed bills to make so-called "child-free propaganda" illegal. Large families are heralded as national heroes and offered a host of financial and social benefits from the state.

The acts of killing Iranian state leaders and attacking civilian targets are even more unacceptable," China's foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference when asked about Larijani's death. "China urges the parties concerned to immediately cease military operations and prevent the regional situation from spiralling out of control", Lin said. Beijing has sought to mediate in the war, with its special envoy to the Middle East, Zhai Jun, travelling across the region this month to meet top officials. His trip included stops in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Egypt. Zhai emphasised during his visits that "non-military targets should not be attacked, and the safety of shipping lanes should not be disturbed", according to spokesman Lin.

The envoy's trips were "one part of China's intensive diplomatic efforts" in the Middle East, Lin said, adding that Beijing's "diplomatic mediation efforts will not cease as long as the conflict continues". China's foreign ministry said this week that Beijing would provide humanitarian assistance to Iran, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

The Gulf kingdom has been regularly targeted by Iranian missile and drone attacks since the Middle East war began, including some aimed at its massive energy installations and the capital's diplomatic quarter. Iran had threatened earlier on Wednesday to target regional energy facilities.

"NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar - In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before," the US president wrote.

"The gas facilities have been shut down," it said, adding no injuries had been reported. The United Arab Emirates' foreign ministry expressed "strong condemnation" of the attack, which it blamed on Iran.

"These attacks constitute a serious escalation and a violation of the principles of international law," the ministry said in a statement posted on X. Iran warned on Wednesday that it would destroy Gulf nations' oil and gas industries, which it considers American interests, if its own energy sector is harmed again following a strike on its South Pars field, the world's largest gas reserve.

"Their courage will never be forgotten," the White House said on X after the event, which was closed to the media at the request of the families. Trump, wearing a black overcoat, saluted as flag-draped coffins were removed from the back of a transport plane, according to photographs released by the White House said. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and top US military officer Dan Caine accompanied Trump, who did not comment to reporters.

On the previous transfer on March 7, Trump attended the return of six troops killed when a drone struck a key US command center in Kuwait on the second day of the war. The "dignified transfer" of bodies of American service members is one of the most solemn duties undertaken by a US president. But Trump faced criticism, including from some Republicans, for wearing a white "USA" baseball cap to the first event.

At the time the White House accused Trump's critics of "disgustingly playing partisan politics." The Middle East war shows no signs of abating, with Trump giving mixed messages over the goals and likely length of the sweeping US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. Tehran has replied by launching missile and drone attacks against several Gulf nations and effectively blocking the Strait of Hormuz, causing global oil prices to soar.

"Qatar resolutely condemns the attacks and threats from ... Iran perpetrated against merchant vessels and seafarers as well as shipping infrastructure in the region," the Gulf state's IMO delegate told the meeting. The United Arab Emirates called Iran's actions "unprovoked, unjustifiable, indiscriminate and wholly unlawful". Saudi Arabia branded them "utterly unacceptable and unjustifiable under any circumstances". The United States urged countries to "push back against the cynical actions of a regime that seeks to sow economic and geopolitical instability as a strategy for political self-preservation".

"We should not allow a country to attempt to degrade the well-being of civilians around the world through leveraging a critical international waterway," the American IMO representative added. In response, Iran blamed "the recent unlawful use of force and military aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime". "Iran did not initiate this war," its IMO delegate told the gathering. "Responsibility for the human, material, and maritime consequences of the present situation rests with those who launched this unlawful aggression."

An effective Iranian blockade of the Hormuz Strait -- through which a fifth of global crude and liquified natural gas normally transits -- has dramatically spiked oil prices and spooked markets. Meanwhile at least 21 ships have been hit, targeted or reported attacks since the start of the conflict, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a naval monitor. IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez kicked off the gathering at its London headquarters -- open to all 176 member states as well as dozens of NGOs and maritime industry bodies -- by urging members to focus on "practical measures".

He called the situation "unacceptable and unsustainable", noting stranded seafarers were "facing high risk and considerable mental strain". "Geopolitics are testing the sector to the limit and every time that shipping is used as collateral damage in these conflicts, the whole world is negatively affected," Dominguez said. Maritime industry bodies have echoed that, urging a "coordinated international approach to security" while demanding that "seafarer welfare must be taken into account". They want measures to ensure their "communications with home can be maintained, crew changes and disembarkation can be facilitated, and the stores and provisions are adequate for the needs of seafarers".

The 40-member council of the UN agency -- responsible for regulating international shipping safety -- could vote Thursday on several proposed resolutions. They include one tabled by Japan, Panama, Singapore and the UAE urging the IMO to help "establish a framework to allow the safe evacuation of seafarers and ships stranded in the Gulf". The US delegate at the IMO said Washington welcomed the proposal encouraging "a safe maritime corridor for the safe evacuation of merchant ships from these affected areas".

"We urge partners around the world to support efforts to reopen the strait," she said. However, if passed, IMO resolutions remain non-binding. Meanwhile Iran-ally Russia rounded on its critics, accusing them of "completely disregarding the actions which preceded the current escalation and which in actual fact led to this situation". "The overwhelming majority of statements and the documents submitted are seriously one-sided," Moscow's IMO representative said. "This selective approach not only does not contribute to the quest for peace, on the contrary it only reinforces divisions and leads to further escalation."

On Monday night, Pakistani jets struck a drug rehabilitation centre in the Afghan capital, prompting fresh calls for an immediate end to attacks and talks to end the bloodshed. Pakistan's information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the government agreed to a halt to its operations from Thursday to Monday "in good faith and in keeping with the Islamic norms". Tarar said: "In case of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident inside Pakistan, (operations) shall immediately resume with renewed intensity."

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said defending Afghanistan was "a national and religious obligation" and the country would respond to any aggression or threat. The Taliban authorities have said that around 400 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in Monday's strike, and a mass funeral was held for some of the victims on Wednesday. Afghan Red Crescent Society volunteers carried dozens of simple wooden coffins from a fleet of ambulances to a mass grave in Kabul, dug in the rocky ground of a rainswept hillside by giant excavators.

At the graveside, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani said they were innocent victims targeted by "criminals", days before the end of the Muslim holy month. "We will undoubtedly seek accountability for them," Haqqani added, and warned those behind Monday night's bombing: "We are not weak and helpless. You will see the consequences of your crimes." But Haqqani, who until last year had a $10-million US bounty on his head, also suggested that talks were the government's preferred option to halt the fighting.

"We do not want war but the situation has come to this," he said. "So, we are trying to solve the problems through diplomacy." Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said the ceremony was for identified victims. Some had been sent back to their home provinces for burial. Identification of other victims was still ongoing, he added. Health ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman told AFP that 50 coffins had been brought to the Kabul site on Wednesday.

Obtaining immediate independent confirmation of exact death tolls is difficult in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with attacks often in hard-to-reach places and with conflicting information. AFP journalists at the scene on Monday evening and Tuesday morning saw at least 95 bodies extracted from the rubble at the devastated centre. Jacopo Caridi, the Afghanistan director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian NGO, said it also had teams on the ground.

"From what we saw and what we discussed with the others involved in the (emergency) response, we can say that there were hundreds of killed and wounded," he told AFP. Recovery of bodies has proven difficult because of the debris and collapsed structures, and Caridi described the scene as "shocking", which would make identification more difficult. "I saw a finger in one place, a foot in another place, a hand in one location. It was really horrific," he said.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have faced calls for an immediate end to the conflict, with the civilian death toll mounting and concern about those displaced. The UN said before Monday's strike that at least 76 Afghan civilians had been killed in the fighting since February 26, and that more than 115,000 people had been forced from their homes. Mediation efforts, however, have so far proved fruitless. The focus of Gulf countries, which led early mediation attempts, has shifted to the situation in their own backyard since the start of US-Israeli strikes on Iran last month.

China has sent a special envoy to mediate and pledged to play a "constructive role in de-escalating tensions". Russia's special representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said Moscow "will be ready" to help broker talks if both sides request it. "So far, this has not happened," he told pro-Kremlin outlet Izvestia.

Cathay had previously axed all flights to Dubai and Riyadh in March, extending earlier suspensions. The company doubled fuel surcharges this month for most of its routes as oil prices have been driven up by the war. Hong Kong Airlines also increased its fuel surcharge on Tuesday for a second time in just over a week. Cathay previously said extra flights to Europe would be operated in March to cater for an upsurge in demand. It also noted a "general increase" in demand from other regions, particularly for long-haul flights, with travellers looking for alternatives to routes that rely heavily on Middle Eastern hubs.

"Air defense forces and our Black Sea Fleet have repelled the Ukrainian Armed Forces attack. A total of 27 UAVs were shot down," Mikhail Razvozhayev posted on Telegram. "A man who was in a private home in a gardening community during the attack died as a result of the Ukrainian Armed Forces attack on Sevastopol," he said, adding two other people received moderate injuries.

The governor of the southwestern Russian region of Stavropol, Vladimir Vladimirov, posted on Telegram that air defences were repelling a drone attack on an industrial zone. Ukrainian authorities also reported strikes in the Black Sea port city of Odesa wounded three people. The United States is pushing Kyiv and Moscow to agree to an elusive peace deal, but a third round of talks has been derailed by the war in the Middle East. 

As the Hungarian prime minister leans into anti-EU and anti-Ukrainian narratives ahead of close-fought national elections on April 12 -- he appears intent on playing hardball. "No oil, no money," he warned this week. "If President Zelensky wants to get his money from Brussels, then the Druzhba pipeline must be reopened." The weeks-long spat has seen landlocked Hungary and Slovakia both accuse Ukraine of stalling on pipeline repairs -- while Zelensky has called it "blackmail" to link the issue to support for its war effort.

The European Commission moved this week to unblock the situation by sending a team to help restore oil transit, but Budapest dismissed the initiative as "theatre" and refused to budge. Cue a looming showdown in Brussels -- and a tricky balancing act for Orban's EU counterparts. It's a well worn routine in Brussels, where Orban has held up countless decisions on Ukraine, and solutions have ultimately been found -- in one famous case having him leave the room while the bloc approved the start of membership talks with Kyiv.

But the frustration is palpable that Orban should renege on a loan he personally greenlit at a previous summit in December. "Everybody wants this to be resolved," summed up an EU diplomat, saying fellow capitals were "more or less fed up" with the Hungarian leader's behaviour. A German government official described a "certain momentum" on the pipeline issue -- seeing a chance of a breakthrough when leaders come face-to-face on Thursday.

But the message from other capitals was less optimistic. "Will we make progress? I have strong doubts," said the EU diplomat, predicting Orban was "not going to budge" on a stance playing well with his voter base at home. Complicating matters, leaders are wary of offering Orban -- who is trailing main rival Peter Magyar in the polls -- a chance to bolster his image as a maverick on the EU stage by publicly ganging up on him. Failure to break the deadlock this week would most likely push the issue back until after the Hungarian vote, whatever its outcome.

Can Ukraine hold out till after Hungary's election? Unclear, say EU insiders. Facing a budget shortfall four years into the war, Kyiv is estimated to need an influx of funds in early May -- implying a decision to unlock the EU loan by mid-April. As Orban has dug in, there has been talk of alternative solutions to help keep Ukraine afloat -- but a second EU diplomat poured cold water on the notion. "There's no bridging solutions or Plan B. There's only one plan, and that's Plan A," they said. "Orban should deliver on his promise."

"Without a doubt, the assassination of such a figure attests to his importance and to the hatred that the enemies of Islam harbour toward him," Mojtaba Khamenei said, in a message published on his official Telegram channel on the day of Larijani's funeral in Tehran.

"Every drop of spilled blood comes at a price, and the criminal murderers of these martyrs will soon have to pay it," added Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public after taking office following the killing of his father, ex-supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the start of the war.

The victims include 17-year-old Mays Ghazi Masalmeh, according to the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa. The Red Crescent said at least eight others were wounded, including one woman in critical condition. Wafa reported that the salon had been set up in a metal caravan next to a house. AFP images showed civil defence workers inside the caravan, whose roof appeared to be punctured by the falling munition. A rug and bed sheets were covered in blood.

The news agency said missile fragments landed in multiple locations across the West Bank, including within the city of Hebron, after Israel's military reported another round of Iranian missile launches. A short while later, Israeli medics said Iranian missile fire had killed a man in central Israel, bringing the death toll in Israel from attacks during the ongoing war to 15. Israel's Magen David Adom medical emergency service described the victim as a "foreign worker", with Israeli media reports saying he was a Thai national working in agriculture.

Thailand's foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday the death of a Thai agricultural worker, citing information from Israeli officials. He was killed in Moshav Adanim, a town about 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Tel Aviv and less then eight kilometres from the West Bank, according to the Israeli medical service. A statement from Magen David Adom quoted its medic Idan Shina as saying "metal shrapnel was scattered across the scene", where the man was found dead with "severe shrapnel injuries".

The Israeli military earlier said it had identified a round of missile fire from Iran, which it was "operating to intercept". Since that attack, the military reported several more waves of Iranian attacks, triggering air raid alerts across parts of central and northern Israel as well as in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had launched missiles and drones at targets across Israel, according to a statement carried by Iranian news agencies Fars and ISNA. Israeli media said some of the overnight barrages saw the use of cluster munitions, which explode mid-air and scatter bomblets across a wide area.

Iran and Israel have previously accused each other of using cluster bombs. Palestinian vice president Hussein al-Sheikh received a phone call from the United Arab Emirates' foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to condemn the deadly Iranian missile attack, according to UAE state media. The UAE itself has suffered numerous Iranian attacks since the war began on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched a massive wave of strikes on Iran.

Anutin passed the 250-vote threshold to win the premiership, according to a tally by AFP journalists as the vote continued.

The individuals were involved in the killing of two law enforcement personnel, Mizan said, adding that their execution was carried out after they were found guilty of the capital offence of "moharebeh", or "waging war against God". Iranian authorities said the protests began in late December as peaceful demonstrations before turning into "foreign-instigated riots" involving killings and vandalism.

Tehran has acknowledged that more than 3,000 people died during the unrest, including members of the security forces and innocent bystanders, and attributed the violence to "terrorist acts". The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), however, has recorded more than 7,000 killings, with the vast majority protesters, while warning the toll could be far higher. 

Light to moderate rain fell across Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, but was heavier in some areas, meteorologists said. Rain in March is common in Punjab province in east-central Pakistan but unusual in Sindh, which is in the southeast. "This kind of extreme weather event hasn't happened for a long time," Pakistan Meteorological Department's senior official Ameer Hyder Laghari told AFP.

Pakistan, where 45 percent of people live below the poverty line, is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources dedicated to adaptation. While South Asia's seasonal monsoon brings rainfall that farmers depend on, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic. Last year, monsoon rains in Pakistan killed more than 1,000 people.

They manage by doing odd jobs and begging at roundabouts or on the city's long roads. "We encounter new cases every day," said Georges Kabongo, sadly. The educator has been running an outreach programme for more than 11 years for the Work to Rehabilitate and Protect Street Children (ORPER) NGO. Every day, teams crisscross Kinshasa's poorest neighbourhoods to bring care and assistance to the neglected and unschooled homeless youths. The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the poorest countries in the world despite its vast mineral wealth that includes deposits of lucrative and sought-after cobalt, coltan, copper and lithium.

Nearly three quarters of the population lives on less than $3 a day, according to the World Bank. The little boy receiving treatment for his arm also had scratches on his legs. "The others cut him with a razor blade. They do that to the new ones," Willie Masale, dressed in a white tunic, said. A girl also laid comatose in the back of the truck, while another aged just 13 hid her pregnancy under a baggy dirty sweatshirt. In the working-class eastern district of Limete, the street kids' lives are marked by violence, drugs and prostitution.

"Girls are also victims of rape; we make them aware about the risks of infection and HIV transmission," Kabongo said. The NGO's mobile team says it helps more than 800 homeless minors every year. Some of the children have been pushed onto the streets because their families accused them of witchcraft. "It's an excuse to be rid of them," Kabongo said. Evangelical churches are flourishing in the capital of the vast central African nation and fake pastors claim to be able to exorcise the youngsters for payment.

"Some even go so far as to hold them captive, deprive them of food and subject them to unbearable practices," Kabongo said. An 11-year-old girl stepped forward, barefoot, and with scars all over her body. "It was my family that poured burning oil over me," said the girl, who ran away with her two older sisters two years ago. The NGO teams tried to convince her to come to a centre where she could be housed and fed. Another association also works in the same district to "restore hope" to the street children through education. "When you graduate, you can become entrepreneurs," the French teacher for the Programme for Monitoring, Educating and Protecting Street Children (OSEPER) said.

It teaches the youngest and gives lessons in reading and writing to those who have dropped out of school, as well as professional training. Around a hundred youngsters are learning carpentry, sewing and how to be a baker. "When they reach adulthood, they will be able to work and be independent. The aim is for these children to reintegrate and become useful in society," Christophe Moke, an OSEPER educator said. In the kitchen, Daniel was shaping pieces of dough. Before being abandoned by his mother, and then his grandmother, he dreamt of having a career as a church singer.

Now, marked by the violence of living on the streets, the 17-year-old just hopes for a "stable" life. "I often cry at night when I think of the past," the teen, who spent several months living among a group of street children, said. "Over there, you have to be tough like them. They hit you every day and you have to steal to eat. I regret a lot of the things I did," he confided, adding he no longer had contact with his family. Desiree Dila, who helps run the OSEPER centre, said the NGOs were "doing the job of the parents and the state".

The association is not subsidised and depends on private donations and partner organisations such as France's Apprentis d'Auteuil, which helps vulnerable young people. Against a background of cuts in global humanitarian funding, the NGOs worry about the impact on their work helping Kinshasa's "shegues".

"I hope to remain in my position to serve the people for as long as I can," Anutin told reporters ahead of the vote. "Those who know me understand that whenever there is a problem affecting the public, I will respond immediately to their needs." The Southeast Asian nation's new government will have to handle the fallout from the Middle East war, sluggish economic growth and lingering border tensions with neighbour Cambodia. Anutin's anointment comes after his pro-military and pro-monarchy Bhumjaithai party had its best electoral performance ever in February, following two rounds of deadly border clashes with Cambodia last year.

Bhumjaithai promised to build a wall on the Cambodian frontier, keep all border crossings closed and recruit 100,000 volunteer soldiers, winning the most seats of any party and putting Anutin in pole position to head the next government. The third-placed Pheu Thai party of jailed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra agreed to join Anutin in a coalition alongside 14 smaller parties, and parliament anointed him on Thursday. The 59-year-old millionaire heir to a family construction fortune -- who championed the decriminalisation of cannabis in Thailand -- was first elected prime minister in September.

He came to office after his predecessor, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin's daughter, was ousted by court order over an ethics complaint. In a leaked phone conversation, Paetongtarn referred to former Cambodian leader Hun Sun as "uncle" and called a Thai military commander her "opponent", triggering public and political outrage. The Pheu Thai-led government fell after Anutin pulled Bhumjaithai out of the then coalition, and parliament later elected him prime minister.

The reformist People's Party -- which had been polling first ahead of the election but ultimately came in second -- will lead the opposition. But 10 of its newly elected MPs, including party leader Natthaphong, face accusations of an ethics breach over their effort to reform the royal insult law, which could see them banned from politics. Speaking to journalists before the vote, Natthaphong said the opposition aimed to "utilise this parliamentary stage to effectively communicate with our fellow citizens".

Thailand's economic growth slowed last year, with the incoming government facing a struggling tourism sector while fast-growing Vietnam is now attracting more foreign direct investment. The day after Israeli-US strikes on Iran, which ignited the war that has thrown global markets into turmoil, Anutin pledged to "turn this Middle East crisis into an opportunity for Thailand". But the country is now reckoning with higher fuel prices and supply disruptions.

Political scientist Yuttaporn Issarachai said that the Thai government's primary agenda has shifted towards daunting external challenges, including the economic fallout of the Middle East conflagration. "So far, the cabinet has failed to produce decisive measures to lower fuel costs, offering only 'band-aid' solutions like working from home," he told AFP. The longstanding border conflict with Cambodia remains a challenge -- even while a fragile ceasefire remains in place.

Soon after becoming premier the first time, Anutin authorised the armed forces to take whatever action they saw fit on the frontier. The countries' 800-kilometre (500-mile) boundary is still not fully agreed, and Thailand's military took control of several disputed areas in the latest fighting in December. But voters' attention had moved elsewhere, Yuttaporn said. "The economy is now the public's top priority."

The timing of the holiday, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, is determined by the sighting of the crescent moon, in accordance with the Muslim lunar calendar. Observing the Ramadan fast is one of the five pillars of Islam, requiring believers to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours.

Observant Muslims are also encouraged to donate to the poor. Fasting is widely practised in Saudi Arabia, home of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. Across the Muslim world, Ramadan festivities this year were overshadowed by the ongoing war in the Middle East, triggered by the US and Israel's attack on Iran. The Gulf region has been pummelled with repeated strikes by Iran in a retaliatory blitz, with airports, residential areas, energy installations and military bases targeted with ballistic missiles and drones.

Tehran, following a strike on its South Pars field, said it would respond forcefully to any further attacks on its energy sector. "We warn you once again that you made a big mistake in attacking the energy infrastructure of the Islamic republic," the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian media. "If it is repeated again, further attacks on your energy infrastructure and that of your allies will not stop until it is completely destroyed."

The Israeli military did not comment on the South Pars attack, while US officials said Washington was aware but not involved. Iran's threat of further retaliation came after Qatar's state energy company said a missile strike sparked a fire causing "extensive damage" at its main gas facility -- the world's largest -- prompting Doha to expel two Iranian diplomats. Saudi Arabia also said it intercepted drones targeting energy infrastructure in the east, while debris from a ballistic missile landed near a refinery south of Riyadh.

Oil prices, already elevated by the near-total disruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, surged again -- with the main US benchmark for crude adding more than three percent on Thursday. French President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken to his US counterpart Donald Trump and the Emir of Qatar, and called for a moratorium on strikes targeting civilian infrastructure. "Civilian populations and their essential needs, as well as the security of energy supplies, must be preserved from military escalation," he posted on social media.

The killing of Khatib followed the death of security chief Ali Larijani, as Israel presses a campaign to eliminate senior Iranian officials. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned Khatib's killing as a "cowardly assassination", while the country's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed retaliation. "Every drop of spilled blood comes at a price," he said in a written message. Khamenei has not appeared in public since taking power after the death of his father, Ali Khamenei, in the opening strikes of the war.

Local authorities said Larijani would be buried at a shrine popular with pilgrims in the city of Qom. In Washington, US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard told Congress the Iranian government remained "intact but largely degraded", while also acknowledging Tehran had not resumed nuclear enrichment. Israel has pursued a strategy of targeting senior Iranian and allied leaders, including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in 2024 and top Hamas figures since the Gaza war began. Despite the losses, Iran has continued to strike back.

An Iranian missile barrage killed a man described as a "foreign worker" in central Israel, emergency workers said, bringing the death toll in the country to 15. Strikes also hit multiple sites overnight, while Iranian media reported fresh bombardment across several regions, including Tehran. The conflict has spread across the Middle East, leaving hundreds dead and millions displaced. In Lebanon, Israeli strikes hit central Beirut multiple times on Wednesday, with casualties reported, as fighting with Hezbollah intensified.

The country was drawn into the conflict when the Iran-backed militant group launched rockets at Israel over Ali Khamenei's death. A line of cars stretched as far as the eye could see along the country's southern coast as residents of affected areas fled to the ancient city of Sidon in search of safety. Nidal Ahmad Chokr initially intended to stay put but finally decided on Tuesday to leave his village of Jibchit, as the air strikes intensified.

"Bakers died while making bread" in the village square and "municipal workers were martyred while using bulldozers", the 55-year-old said. France's foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot is to travel to Lebanon on Thursday, in a visit that the ministry said "underlines France's support and solidarity with the Lebanese people, dragged into a war they didn't choose". In Iraq, the pro-Iranian armed group Kataeb Hezbollah said it would halt attacks on the US embassy for five days, setting conditions including an end to Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and a halt to attacks on residential areas in Iraq. AFP reported no drone or rocket fire targeting the US embassy in Baghdad from Wednesday night through Thursday morning.

In a statement on social media, the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee issued "an urgent warning to residents of... Bashoura neighbourhood", saying Israeli forces would operate against a Hezbollah facility there. A map posted alongside the statement showed a building in Bashoura, telling residents to stay at least 300 metres (985 feet) from it "for your safety".

Kyiv regularly carries out strikes within Russia in response to Russian attacks - which have targeted Ukrainian territory daily since Moscow's full-scale offensive began in February 2022. Kyiv says it primarily targets military and energy infrastructure. Early in March, a Ukrainian missile strike in the Russian border region of Bryansk killed seven and wounded dozens, according to regional authorities. The United States is pushing Kyiv and Moscow to agree to an elusive peace deal, but a third round of three-party talks has been derailed by the war in the Middle East.

Charles will later receive Tinubu for an audience at the historic Windsor Castle, west of London, before hosting a state banquet there in the evening. Britain and Nigeria have a strong diplomatic relationship and London and Abuja concluded a strategic partnership in November 2024 to strengthen economic, immigration and security cooperation. Likely on the agenda are issues ranging from major Nigerian port renovations backed by Britain as well as trade, which reached 8.1 billion pounds ($11 billion) in the year to September 2025, an 11.4 percent year-on-year increase.

The visit comes after suspected suicide bombings killed at least 23 people in northeastern Nigeria on Monday evening. The west African nation has been roiled by a jihadist insurgency since 2009, which US President Donald Trump has claimed amounts to a "genocide" of Christians -- sparking a diplomatic crisis between Washington and Abuja, which denies the allegations. Tinubu responded by ordering security chiefs to move to the northeastern African city of Maiduguri, where the attacks happened, to "take charge of the situation".

On Thursday, Tinubu is expected to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as well as members of the Nigerian community abroad, according to the official schedule. First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, a Christian pastor, is set to preach at London's Lambeth Palace -- the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury -- on Thursday and meet representatives of the Church of England. Missing from the official schedule is the traditional meeting between the visiting head of state and the British opposition.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, who is of Nigerian descent, has repeatedly publicly criticised the country she was raised in over corruption and violence. The last Nigerian state visit to the UK took place in 1989, although Tinubu was received by Charles in September 2024. Before the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 2022, Charles also visited Nigeria four times as Prince of Wales.

The two nations are already at loggerheads after Britain slashed aid to Rwanda, accusing it of supporting M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In 2022, former prime minister Boris Johnson sealed a deal with Kigali to send migrants arriving in Britain via "dangerous or illegal journeys" in small boats or lorries to Rwanda. But the scheme hit legal and political obstacles from the start, with the UK Supreme Court eventually slapping it down as illegal.

When Keir Starmer became prime minister in July 2024, he declared the plan "dead and buried" on his first full day in office, dismissing it as a "gimmick." Then interior minister Yvette Cooper called it "the most shocking waste of taxpayers' money I have ever seen." During the two years before the scheme was scrapped, only four people actually went to Rwanda, according to the current UK government, all voluntarily. According to the UK government website, about o290 million has already been paid to Rwanda, but Kigali argued in its pre-hearing submissions to the PCA that two annual payments of o50m were still outstanding.

"The UK's termination (of the deal) does not change the UK's obligation to pay any amount that was already due and payable," Rwanda said in its 37-page case. Rwanda also claims an additional o6m, as it says the UK breached a reciprocal agreement to house its "most vulnerable refugees", mainly fleeing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It put the cost of accommodating these individuals at o6m. Finally, Rwanda urged judges to order Britain to issue a formal apology for breaching the deal.

"Rwanda considers that it was wrong for the UK to walk away from its obligations... simply because its internal political assessment of the agreement's convenience had changed," its submission says. "Rwanda is rightly aggrieved by the UK's conduct and seeks an apology." Britain's response points to "obvious weaknesses" in Rwanda's legal argument, adding: "Rwanda cannot genuinely be seeking to vindicate any supposed legal right through these claims." London alleged that Rwanda's "real motivation" was a response to Britain's decision last year to suspend most of its financial aid over Kigali's support for the M23 group's offensive in DRC.

On the same day this was announced, according to Britain's submission, Rwanda suddenly went back on its agreement to waive future payments due from the migrant deal. When the aid was removed, Rwanda government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said trust between the two countries had been breached by what she called "unjustified punitive measures."

"The United Kingdom respectfully requests that the Tribunal dismiss each of Rwanda's claims," Britain concluded in its submission. Officials from Rwanda will set out their case on Wednesday, with British lawyers responding on Thursday. Both sides sum up on Friday. The PCA will likely take several months to issue its ruling. Immigration remains a hot-button issue in Britain, which left the European Union in 2020, largely on a promise to "take back control" of its borders.

The latest deaths took the toll from missile attacks on Israel since the start of the Middle East war late last month to 14 people. Police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said that according to an initial assessment of the deadly impact in Ramat Gan, a city just outside Tel Aviv, a residential building was hit by a cluster bomb. Cluster munitions, which Iran and Israel have previously accused each other of using, explode in mid-air and scatter bomblets across a wide area.

The munition "collapsed the roof in on an elderly couple that were in their room. Unfortunately, this couple did not go to the safe room when the alarm sounded, and as a result, we have this unfortunate tragedy," Elsdunne said. Omer, a resident of the area of only gave his first name, said "we heard like a streak of booms... it was not just one, it was a splitting missile". AFP footage from the scene showed police officers, rescuers and military personnel on a street strewn with rubble.

Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service said two people were found dead at the scene. "We saw smoke rising from a building with extensive damage and shattered glass," said a statement from the medics. In Bnei Brak, another city in the Tel Aviv area, a man was lightly injured by shrapnel, the medical service said. Images shared by Magen David Adom showed destruction in multiple locations, including cars on fire, destroyed vehicles and rubble.

Israel's police said its bomb disposal experts were "operating at several impact sites involving munition debris within the (Tel Aviv) district". The national railway company said in a statement posted online that shrapnel caused damage to platforms at Tel Aviv's main station, announcing that trains were "temporarily suspended across the country". It said no casualties were reported.

The military shared footage of Home Front Command teams at a train station, showing shattered glass at a platform and some damage to train windows. In a separate statement, the Home Front Command said its search and rescue teams were "operating at several sites in central Israel where reports of impacts have been received". Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement they had launched missiles at central Israel "in revenge for the blood of martyr Dr Ali Larijani and his companions".

Israel said on Tuesday it had killed Larijani, Iran's security chief, and Tehran has since confirmed his death. The Israeli military reported at least two more waves of missiles launched from Iran after the deadly barrage, triggering alerts across central and southern Israel with no immediate reports of impact.

Agency head Rafael Grossi "reiterates his call for restraint during the conflict to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident", the statement said. The Bushehr plant in southwestern Iran has the Islamic republic's only operational nuclear power reactor and was first connected to the grid in 2011, according to the IAEA.

Tehran has been under biting US sanctions since 2018, when Washington withdrew from a deal that granted Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear activities designed to prevent it from developing an atomic warhead. Iran has always denied any ambition to develop nuclear weapons, insisting that its activities are entirely peaceful.

In Senegal, which is about 95 percent Muslim, most followers of Islam belong to one of four Sufi brotherhoods: the Mouride, Tidiane, Layene or Khadre, all of which play a major role in society. Every Ramadan the Baye Fall, who are Mourides, organise festivities in Touba, a city in central Senegal that is their capital, distributing iftar meals with thousands flocking from across the country to participate. A vast courtyard and surrounding area teemed with people and motion on a March morning, despite stifling dust and heat.

Organised into groups and adorned in their emblematic attire, the Baye Fall worked with devotion, as firewood smoke and the aroma of food drifted. Men and women, old and young helped with slaughtering livestock, preparing food, chopping firewood, collecting garbage and washing dishes. Bayefallism came about more than a century ago and is based on the practices and life of Mame Cheikh Ibrahima Fall (1855-1930), known as "Lamp Fall" ("Light Fall" in English), who was one of the first disciples of the founder of Mouridism, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba.

Hard work, selflessness and repeatedly invoking God's name, as well as serving iftar meals to the faithful, are the foundations of the faith, Abo Fall, one of Lamp Fall's descendants, told AFP. Baye Fall literally means "disciple of Fall". It is a "mystical Sufi Islam where every task, every duty performed represents a spiritual act", said Doudou Mane Diouf, who wrote a biography of Fall. Since its inception, Bayefallism has attracted many people not just in Senegal but also abroad.

According to accounts and contemporary testimonies, Fall dedicated his life to serving his marabout, or spiritual guide, and neglected his own well-being. His followers say he refused all forms of pleasure, never styled his hair and never changed his clothes, which he regularly mended with scraps of fabric, hence the dreadlocks and patchwork outfits of his followers. His appearance was also a means of "asserting his African culture" in a context marked by colonisation, Diouf told AFP.

Adam Khadim, born and raised in France in a Senegalese Baye Fall family, recently moved to Senegal in order to better live his faith. Bayefallism gives him a feeling of "well-being" he said, even though it is a "rather difficult path because there are many more moral obligations than rights". As the time approached to transport the food to the home of the Mouride caliph general, where it would be distributed, the excitement intensified.

A group began chanting religious songs in unison, the volume growing louder and drowning out all surrounding noise. Their faces sweating, some people even seemed to be in a trance. Cheikh Ibra Fall Baye Dieye, one of the Baye Fall adherents present for the festivities, said these sorts of moments "replace fasting". They are "therefore very important" he said, dressed in a yellow and black patchwork tunic. "We reconnect with ourselves."

Becoming a Baye Fall requires adhering to certain rules, such as pledging allegiance to one's marabout and following his instructions. Individuals must agree to undergo spiritual training with the marabout. In Touba the Baye Fall play a central role during major religious events that often draw millions of people: they manage security and cleanliness in the city, prepare meals and organise fundraising drives. They are also known for being experienced farmers and promoting an environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Despite all this they are often misunderstood in Senegal and criticised because of their different approach. "We are quite unique in our practices and that can create some confusion and misunderstanding," said Khadim, who says the Baye Fall are comfortable about being different.

"Wave of global repercussions has only begun and will hit all - regardless of wealth, faith, or race," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X, accompanied by a copy of the US National Counterterrorism Center director's resignation announcement prompted by the war on Tuesday.

"A rising number of voices - (including) European and U.S. officials - exclaim that the war on Iran is unjust. More members of the international community should follow suit," the post added.

"The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait." The bombing raid comes after Iran closed off the strategic waterway, through which one-fifth of the world's oil flows, in retaliation for the war on the country by the United States and Israel.

The bomb -- which according to an Air Force Times report in 2022 cost an estimated $288,000 each -- are still less powerful than the 30,000-pound (13,600-kg) bombs dropped by the United States against Iranian nuclear sites last year.

Child deaths remain heavily concentrated in a few regions: in 2024, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 58 percent of all these deaths and South Asia for one-quarter. Of the 4.9 million children who died worldwide, the report estimated that 100,000 of them, aged 1 to 59 months, died from severe malnutrition. "The toll is far greater when indirect effects are considered, as malnutrition weakens children's immunity and increases their risk of dying from common childhood diseases," the report said.

The main causes of newborn mortality are complications related to premature births (36 percent of cases) and those occurring during labor and delivery (21 percent). Beyond the first month of life, preventable infectious diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia remain major causes of death. "Evidence shows that investments in child health remain among the most cost-effective development measures," the report said.

Low-cost interventions, such as vaccines, treatment for severe acute malnutrition, and skilled care at birth "deliver some of the highest returns in global health, improving productivity, strengthening economies and reducing future public spending."

Japan and the United States, as well as many other countries, are seeking to curb dependence on China for the valuable minerals. "We discussed resources development when President Trump visited Japan in October last year, and since February Japan and the United States have begun concrete discussions on cooperating regarding development of marine mineral resources," Takaichi told parliament.

"The rare earths in waters around Minamitorishima are one of the targets of this effort... I expect it will also be taken up in the upcoming Japan-US summit meeting," scheduled for Thursday, she added. "We will be discussing the specifics of what such cooperation should look like." The sediment containing rare earths was collected by a deep-sea scientific drilling boat called the Chikyu that set sail in January for Minamitorishima, where surrounding waters are believed to contain a trove of valuable minerals.

The mission came as Beijing ramped up pressure on Japan after Takaichi suggested in November that Tokyo may react militarily to an attack on Taiwan, which China has vowed to seize control of by force if necessary. It blocked exports to Japan of "dual-use" items with potential military uses, fuelling worries in Japan that Beijing could choke supplies of rare earths. China has long used its dominance in rare earths for geopolitical leverage, including in its trade war with Trump. The United States last month unveiled a critical minerals partnership with the European Union and Japan, after a gathering in Washington amid growing concerns about China's dominant role in the sector.

However, if passed, resolutions remain non-binding. The meeting -- open to all 176 member states as well as dozens of NGOs and maritime industry bodies -- comes as Iran's retaliation to Israeli-US strikes cripples commercial shipping in or near the Strait of Hormuz. An effective Iranian blockade of the key maritime chokepoint -- through which a fifth of global crude and liquified natural gas normally transits -- has dramatically spiked oil prices and spooked markets. It has also left around 20,000 seafarers stranded on approximately 3,200 vessels west of the strait, according to the IMO.

At least 21 ships have been hit, targeted or reported attacks since the start of the conflict, according to an AFP tally based on data from the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), the IMO and Iraqi and Iranian authorities. A United Arab Emirates submission to the IMO ahead of the upcoming meeting noted "more than 18 merchant ships of various nationalities have been hit by projectiles, missiles, drone boats and sea mines". "At least eight seafarers are confirmed dead with four still missing," the document submitted Monday added. 

Britain, France, Germany and a host of other countries including Gulf states have urged the IMO's council to adopt a declaration to "strongly condemn the egregious attacks" by Iran on its neighbours. Noting Iran had "threatened and attacked commercial vessels and seafarers, as well as civilian maritime infrastructure" it said the attacks were "unjustifiable and must cease". They also urged similar condemnation of the "purported closure of the Strait of Hormuz" by Tehran.

In its submission Iran, which is an IMO member but does not sit on its council, blamed the "current deterioration of the maritime security environment" on the attacks by Israel and the US. "The adverse maritime repercussions currently affecting shipping and seafarers are a direct and inevitable consequence of these unlawful actions and cannot be viewed in isolation from their underlying cause," it stated. Separately, Japan, Panama, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates urged the IMO to help "establish a framework to allow the safe evacuation of seafarers and ships stranded in the Gulf".

It would "facilitate the safe evacuation of merchant ships from the high-risk and affected areas to a safe place... avoiding military attacks and protecting and securing the maritime domain". Meanwhile, maritime industry bodies have tabled a demand for a "coordinated international approach to security" while urging that "seafarer welfare must be taken into account". They want measures to ensure their "communications with home can be maintained, crew changes and disembarkation can be facilitated, and the stores and provisions are adequate for the needs of seafarers".

Another witness saw a fire on the edge of the embassy grounds from her balcony, and a security official said the blaze was caused by a drone. "The embassy was the target of a drone and rocket attack," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another drone, targeting a US diplomatic and logistics centre at Baghdad's airport, was shot down, according to another security official.

Hours later, an AFP journalist heard another explosion, with a security official saying "a drone directly hit the embassy". The official did not specify whether there had been any casualties or damage. A second official said a drone fell "near the embassy's security fence". Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani condemned a "blatant terrorist assault" by unnamed "outlaw groups". Sudani had urged security forces "not to show leniency" in tracking down those responsible, according to a statement from the prime minister's spokesman Sabah al-Numan.

Earlier, the powerful Iranian-backed Kataeb Hezbollah group issued a statement demanding that every "foreign soldier" leave the country. Iraq's instability is due to the malicious American presence, and security will not be achieved until the last foreign soldier leaves Iraqi territory," said the group's newly named security chief Abu Mujahid al-Assaf. He added: "Either everyone enjoys security, or no one does."

Iraq was drawn into the Middle East war after having long been a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran. Strikes have targeted Iran-backed groups, which in turn have claimed daily attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region. In recent days pro-Iranian armed groups have carried out several attacks against the US embassy, located in a heavily fortified area of central Baghdad, and against the American diplomatic and logistics facility at the airport.

The Revolutionary Guards, Iran's powerful military force that is separate from the army, said in a statement Wednesday that it had launched missiles at central Israel "in revenge for the blood of martyr Dr Ali Larijani and his companions".

There was no immediate independent verification of the toll, but AFP reporters saw at least 30 bodies taken from the site in the chaotic and smouldering aftermath of the attack on Monday night. They then saw more than 65 removed on Tuesday as rescuers picked through the rubble searching for victims and survivors.

"The toll is not final as the rescue operation is still going on, but we have around 400 martyrs and more than 200 wounded," said health ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman. Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani gave a toll of "408 killed and 265 wounded" at the same briefing. Afghan authorities have asked families of those killed to accept their relatives being buried in a mass grave. In Geneva, UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan called for a swift, independent investigation into the strike, with those responsible "held to account in line with international standards".

But Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Taliban government claims that Pakistan deliberately targeted the clinic were "entirely baseless". "No hospital, no drug rehabilitation centre, and no civilian facility was targeted," he wrote on X. "The targets were military and terrorist infrastructure, including ammunition and technical equipment storage sites and other installations linked to hostile activity against Pakistan." Late Tuesday, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said that Afghanistan does not want war but would continue "proportionate and legitimate defensive measures until the other side ceases its violations".

The two sides have been in conflict for months, with Islamabad accusing its neighbour of harbouring Islamist extremists who have mounted deadly cross-border attacks on its territory. Chairs, blankets, pieces of hospital beds and human remains could be seen in the blackened ruins of the rehabilitation centre on Tuesday. Crowds gathered outside as family members sought news of their loved ones while rescuers picked through the rubble nearby. Habibullah Kabulbai, 55, arrived at the centre on Monday night, hoping to find his brother, Nawroz, who was admitted five days ago.

"I can't find him," he said, weeping. "What should we do? I have no words... We are helpless. This has not only happened to me but the whole of Afghanistan." Monday evening's attack triggered panic in Kabul, sending people running for cover as anti-aircraft guns fired back not long after they had broken their daily Ramadan fast. "I heard the sound of the jet patrolling," Omid Stanikzai, 31, a security guard at the drug treatment centre, told AFP. "There were military units all around us. When these military units fired on the jet, the jet dropped bombs and a fire broke out."

All of the dead and wounded were civilians, he added. Pakistan's Tarar said the six strikes conducted on Monday also hit the eastern border province of Nangarhar, calling them "precise, deliberate, and professional". The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, said his organisation "saw firsthand the devastating impact on civilians and the hospital". "Civilians and civilian infrastructure must never be targeted," he wrote on X. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had delivered emergency medical supplies after "hundreds were left wounded" in the attack.

At least 76 civilians had been killed in Afghanistan due to the hostilities between February 26 and Monday before the strike, according to the United Nations mission in the country (UNAMA). The UN mission called for "an immediate ceasefire", while Beijing, which had dispatched a special envoy to mediate between the two countries before the Monday strikes, pledged to "play a constructive role in de-escalating tensions". Pakistan's arch-foe India called Monday's attack "a cowardly and unconscionable act of violence" that threatened regional peace and stability. The EU called for "maximum restraint" from both Afghanistan and Pakistan, describing the strike on the Kabul medical facility as "a new and deadly escalation" of the conflict.

The USGS put the alert level for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses at green, meaning "low likelihood for casualties and damage". The towns of Imias and San Antonio del Sur may have experienced moderate shaking, the USGS added. US President Donald Trump vowed on Monday to "take" Cuba, with reports saying his administration has signaled to Cuban officials that Washington wants President Miguel Diaz-Canel to be removed from power. A 5.0-magnitude quake was recorded off the coast of Cuba on March 6, according to the USGS.

His killing, if confirmed, would be a major blow against the Islamic republic, undermining a key figure seen as capable of navigating both ideology and diplomacy. - Pragmatist - Adept at balancing ideological loyalty with pragmatic statecraft, Larijani was central prior to the war to Iran's nuclear policy and strategic diplomacy. Bespectacled and known for his measured tone, the 68-year-old was believed to enjoy the confidence of the late Khamenei, after a long career in the military, media and legislature. In 2025, after Iran's last war with Israel and the US, he was appointed head of Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council -- a position he had held nearly two decades earlier -- coordinating defence strategies and overseeing nuclear policy. He later became increasingly visible in the diplomatic arena, travelling to Gulf states such as Oman and Qatar as Tehran cautiously engaged in nuclear negotiations that were ultimately scuppered by the war. - 'Canny operator' - "Larijani is a true insider, a canny operator, familiar with how the system operates," Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Group's project director for Iran, said before the Middle East war began.

Born in Najaf, Iraq in 1957 to a prominent Shia cleric who was close to the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Larijani's family has been influential within Iran's political system for decades. Some of his relatives have been the targets of corruption allegations over the years, which they denied. He earned a PhD in Western Philosophy from the University of Tehran. A veteran of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the Iran-Iraq war, Larijani later headed state broadcasting IRIB for a decade from 1994 before serving as parliamentary speaker from 2008 to 2020. In 1996, he was appointed as Khamenei's representative to the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). He later became secretary of the SNSC and chief nuclear negotiator, leading talks with Britain, France, Germany and Russia between 2005 and 2007. He ran in the 2005 presidential elections, losing to populist candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with whom he later had disagreements over nuclear diplomacy.

Larijani was then disqualified from running for president in both 2021 and 2024. Observers viewed his return as the head of the SNSC as signalling a turn reflecting his reputation as a conservative capable of combining ideological commitment with pragmatism. Larijani supported the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers which unravelled three years later after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement. In March 2025, Larijani warned that sustained external pressure could alter Iran's nuclear posture. "We are not moving towards (nuclear) weapons, but if you do something wrong in the Iranian nuclear issue, you will force Iran to move towards that because it has to defend itself," he told state television.

Larijani repeatedly insisted negotiations with Washington should remain confined to the nuclear file and defended uranium enrichment as Iran's sovereign right. - Violent repression - Larijani was among officials sanctioned by the US in January over what Washington described as "violently repressing the Iranian people", following nationwide protests which erupted weeks earlier due to the rising cost of living. According to rights groups, thousands of people were killed in the government's brutal crackdown of the protests. Larijani acknowledged that economic pressures had "led to the protests", but blamed the violence which ensued on foreign involvement by the United States and Israel.

Reports of their deaths come less than three weeks after US-Israeli strikes on February 28 killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader since 1989, triggering a war that has engulfed the region. He was replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, whose whereabouts and health is the subject of much speculation. US President Donald Trump said Monday that "we don't know... if he's dead or not". Hundreds of people have been killed and millions have been displaced because of the war, notably in Lebanon and Iran.

The conflict has also sent oil prices soaring, after Iran's attacks on vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that is key to the transit of crude and liquefied natural gas. Oil prices rose more than five percent early Tuesday after several countries pushed back on Trump's demand they help protect shipping.

An AFP reporter had earlier Tuesday reported blasts in Tehran, after a night of heavy bombardment mixed with thunder and rain. Israel's army said it had launched a wave of strikes "against Iranian terror regime infrastructure across Tehran", as well as strikes in Lebanon. Lebanese state media reported Israeli strikes at dawn hit a residential building in Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

An AFP photographer saw firefighters tackling a blaze at the site of a strike, while rubble and debris were strewn across the road. In retaliation for the US-Israel attacks, Iran has targeted US interests, energy facilities and civilian infrastructure of its energy-rich neighbours. Its threats and attacks on tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global crude oil passes, have also all but closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has called on world powers to help and on Monday demanded US allies join quickly and with "great enthusiasm" an armada to escort tankers through the strait. He has warned that it would be "very bad" for the future of the NATO military alliance if the allies refused to help. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London was working with allies to craft a "viable" plan to reopen the strait, but ruled out a NATO mission.

Berlin also said it "has been clear at all times that this war is not a matter for NATO". EU foreign ministers meeting Monday showed "no appetite" for extending their Red Sea naval mission to help reopen Hormuz, the bloc's top diplomat said. Analysts said it was not surprising that America's partners were unenthusiastic about joining a war they were not consulted on, after a year of tensions with Washington on everything from tariffs to Greenland.

The United States had "launched a war without consulting allies, expecting them to mop up the mess, and that's not going fly", said Erwan Lagadec of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. Trump on Monday admitted he was "shocked" at Iran's response to the US-Israel attacks. "They weren't supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Those missiles were set to go after them," he said.

"So, they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that. We were shocked." The Gulf has borne the brunt of Iran's attacks in response to US-Israeli strikes, with Tehran targeting US assets but also civilian infrastructure. Falling debris from a missile intercept killed one person on Tuesday in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi.

More than 1,200 Iranians have been killed by US and Israeli strikes, according to the last toll from Iran's health ministry on March 8, which could not be independently verified. Western allies Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom also urged Israel to show restraint in Lebanon, where it has announced "limited" ground operations against Hezbollah. But Israel's President Isaac Herzog told AFP that Europe should support "any effort to eradicate Hezbollah now". Authorities in Lebanon have said more than one million people have registered as displaced since March 2, with more than 130,000 people staying in upwards of 600 collective shelters.

Lebanon was drawn into the war when Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants struck Israel over Khamenei's killing. Iraq, long a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, has also been drawn in. A drone and rocket attack targeted the US embassy in Baghdad early Tuesday, while a strike killed four people at a house reportedly hosting Iranian advisors, security officials said. An AFP journalist reported seeing black smoke rising after an explosion in the embassy complex, as well as air defences intercepting another drone.