By Ariba Shahid

ISLAMABAD, April 24 (Reuters) - For nearly a week, Pakistan's capital has been waiting for peace talks between the U.S. and Iran to take place there, and although there is no sign the two sides will meet, large parts of the city remain sealed off by authorities.

Key roads leading into Islamabad are shut down and a strict security cordon envelops the administrative centre, the so-called "Red Zone". In the adjacent "Blue Area", cafes have run out of fruit, markets are deserted and with no service at bus terminals, weekend commuters are struggling to get home.

By Crispian Balmer

ROME, April 24 (Reuters) - Conflict, drought and shrinking aid will keep global hunger at critical levels in 2026, with food insecurity expected to worsen in some of the world's most fragile countries, according to the 2026 Global Report on Food Crises.

The 10th edition of the hunger monitor, published by a coalition of development and humanitarian organisations, said that acute hunger had doubled over the past decade with two famines declared last year for the first time in the report's history - in Gaza and Sudan.

The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Oil mixed, stocks at record highs -

Oil prices had a mixed day, with Brent oil futures edging higher to again finish above $100 a barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate dropped 1.5 percent to $94.40 a barrel.

Major Wall Street indices closed at fresh records as US and Iranian officials headed to Pakistan for expected peace talks.

- US freezes $344 mn in cryptocurrency -

EU leaders vowed to boost security and economic ties with Middle East partners and push for a diplomatic end to the Iran war, after talks in Cyprus focusing on the fallout from the conflict.

Leaders from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan as well as the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, were in Nicosia to meet their European Union counterparts on the sidelines of an EU summit.

By Michele Kambas and Ingrid Melander

NICOSIA, April 24 (Reuters) - EU leaders have asked officials to prepare a blueprint for how the bloc's previously obscure mutual assistance clause would work, host Cyprus said at a summit on Friday, amid doubts over the U.S. commitment to the NATO military alliance.

Worries about President Donald Trump's criticism of NATO for failing to back the war with Iran, along with his threats earlier this year to seize Greenland from ally Denmark, have created greater urgency to define the EU's mutual assistance provisions.

BEIJING, April 24 (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry on Friday rejected an accusation by U.S. President Donald Trump that an Iranian-flagged cargo ship intercepted by U.S. forces was a "gift from China."

The U.S. said it fired on and seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to evade its blockade of Iranian ports. Iran's military said the ship had been travelling from China and vowed retaliation against what it called "armed piracy by the U.S. military."

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - An internal Pentagon email outlines options for the United States to punish NATO allies it believes failed to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing the U.S. position on Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands, a U.S. official told Reuters.

By Parisa Hafezi and Simon Lewis

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - Israel and Lebanon extended their ceasefire for three weeks at a meeting at the White House brokered by President Donald Trump, who said he was prepared to wait for "the best deal" to end his conflict with Iran.

Fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon has been one of a number of sticking points to resolving the wider eight-week regional conflict, along with Iran's nuclear ambitions and control of the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - A woman and her five children, whose immigration detention of over 10 months marked the longest family detention under President Donald Trump's administration, were released on Thursday hours after a judge's order, their lawyer said.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas ordered the family's release on Thursday.

Iran's footballers will be welcome at this year's World Cup, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday, distancing the US government from a proposal that Italy could take their place in the tournament.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Rubio denied that Washington had asked the Iranian team not to come to the World Cup -- but warned the United States may yet bar entry to members of the Iranian delegation it judged to have ties to Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is regarded as a terrorist organization by Washington and several other governments.