By Andrew Chung
August 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined on Monday to halt $655.5 million in damages that Palestinian authorities were ordered to pay plaintiffs in a U.S. civil lawsuit concerning attacks that killed and injured Americans in Israel from 2002 to 2004.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas
CAIRO/GAZA, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Palestinians in Gaza said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump's touting of a deal aimed at disarming Hamas and ending the war was out of touch with their worsening reality, after Israel killed 18 people in one of the deadliest days since a ceasefire last year.
Trump declared last Thursday "a major milestone" toward implementing the Gaza peace plan agreed to in October, saying that Hamas would disarm and Israel would withdraw in phases.
WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said Iran faced "decapitation" if it did not agree a pact to end the conflict between the two nations, saying Tehran had one last chance to strike a deal.
"I think we're going to maybe get something, but I want to give them every last chance before decapitation," he said, reiterating a threat to launch a major attack on Iran.
Earlier on Monday, after Iran said there were no talks under way, Trump slammed what he called Iran's "unbelievably duplicitous" leadership.
US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace on Monday assured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel's withdrawal in Gaza would only begin after Hamas's complete disarmament, following his objections.
Two members of Netanyahu's security cabinet had urged a vote to tear up the deal championed by Trump after the board released a text that called for Israel to begin a phased withdrawal.
By Xinghui Kok
SINGAPORE, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The British band Massive Attack said its members were detained by Singapore police and "isolated and separately questioned" after the two performers raised a Palestinian flag at their concert in the city-state last Wednesday.
In a statement posted on Instagram on Sunday, the band said they were "surprised and disappointed" that the entire band was detained and questioned.
Several members had their hotel rooms searched and passports temporarily confiscated, the post said.
PESHAWAR/DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Aug 3 (Reuters) - At least 17 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing outside a police station in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, a rescue group and a regional police official said, as the country battles widening insurgencies.
The explosion took place in the Kabal area of Swat, a district in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
A pro-police rally of local residents was taking place in the same area on Sunday, but it was not immediately clear whether the rally was the intended target.
By Samia Nakhoul
BEIRUT, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Iran is betting it can outlast Washington by turning the Middle East's trade routes, shipping lanes and energy infrastructure into pressure points that steadily raise the cost of confrontation, according to Gulf officials and analysts.
Rather than seeking a decisive military victory, Tehran is pursuing a strategy of calibrated escalation aimed at widening the conflict without triggering full-scale war.
US President Donald Trump said Monday that negotiations with Iran were ongoing despite Tehran's denials and the Islamic Republic was facing a "last chance
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Steven Scheer
CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza for a second straight day on Sunday, killing at least 18 Palestinians, medics said, despite U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a breakthrough in efforts to implement last year's ceasefire agreement.
From dawn, Israeli warplanes hit Gaza City in the north, the central city of Deir al-Balah and the southern area of Khan Younis, causing the biggest daily death toll in weeks, according to Palestinian health officials.
US President Donald Trump said that new negotiations with Iran will begin Monday after he decided to hold off on striking the Islamic republic to pursue a deal to end the war entering its sixth month.
Trump told reporters on Sunday that the talks would cover the Strait of Hormuz –- a route for global energy supplies that has become a key sticking point in the conflict -- and ultimately, the denuclearization of Iran.
