Over a feverish few days of diplomacy, Pakistan's military and civilian politicians successfully divided the Middle East between them to push for a second round of US-Iran peace talks expected to take place in Islamabad this week.

The country's powerful military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, headed to Tehran on Wednesday for what would become a three-day trip, where Iranian leaders said he carried US proposals for a second round of peace talks.

Bending low in the baking sun and sheathed in heavy protective gear, Hussein Idris sweeps a metal detector across a vast minefield in central Khartoum that was once a park beloved by local families.

The war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has moved on from the capital since the military retook it last year, but Khartoum is still littered with explosive remnants that authorities are struggling to clear.

April 19 (Reuters) - Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday that he spoke with Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian about the conflict in the Gulf.

During the talk, Sharif shared insights with Pezeshkian regarding his recent conversations with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, he said in a post on X.

"I appreciated Iran’s engagement, including its high-level delegation to Islamabad for the historic talks, and recent discussions with Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir in Tehran," Sharif said.

Argentine President Javier Milei declared on Sunday that the joint US-Israel war against Iran was the "right thing to do", as he signed on to the so-called Isaac Accords aimed at deepening bilateral ties between Israel and Latin American countries.

Making his third visit to Israel as president, Milei reaffirmed Argentina's support for the campaign against Iran, citing his government's earlier decision to designate the Islamic republic's Revolutionary Guards a "terrorist organisation".

By Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM, April 19 (Reuters) - The Israeli military published for the first time a map of its new deployment line inside Lebanon on Sunday, bringing dozens of mostly abandoned Lebanese villages under its control, days after a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect.

There was no immediate comment from Lebanese officials or from Iran-backed Hezbollah. Israel and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to a U.S.-backed ceasefire in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Security in Pakistan's capital Islamabad was stepped up visibly on Sunday ahead of peace talks between the United States and Iran in the coming days.

President Donald Trump said US negotiators will be in Pakistan on Monday to resume talks on ending the war with Iran, little more than a week after face-to-face talks in Islamabad on April 11 ended without agreement.

"My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations," he wrote on Truth Social.

By Michael Holden

LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - Britain's chief rabbi said on Sunday a sustained campaign of violence against the Jewish community was gathering momentum after a synagogue in north London became the latest target in a spate of arson attacks.

UK counter-terrorism police are heading up an investigation into the latest incident, which occurred at Kenton United Synagogue in the Harrow area of the city shortly after midnight.

Mahla, an interior designer in Tehran, says she has been forced to sell her valuables and gold to pay employees as Iran's internet shutdown, imposed at the start of the Middle East war, tanks her business.

The internet blackout, which was put in place soon after the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, was already the longest nationwide shutdown on record as of April 5, according to NetBlocks, which says it has now lasted more than 50 days.

By Yesim Dikmen and Joshua McElwee

KILAMBA, Angola, April 19 (Reuters) - Pope Leo urged Angolans on Sunday to overcome divisions after decades of bloody conflict in an address to an estimated 100,000 people who flocked to a Mass in a dirt field near the capital Luanda.

In one of the biggest events of his four-nation Africa tour, the pope called Angola, which experienced a bloody, 27-year civil war from 1975 to 2002, a "beautiful yet wounded country."

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Sunday to bring perpetrators of recent arson attacks on Jewish sites in London to justice as Britain's chief rabbi said "a sustained campaign of violence and intimidation" against Jews was accelerating.

The British capital's Metropolitan Police said it was investigating whether the spate of incidents in northwest London, the latest of which came on Saturday night, had been carried out by Iranian proxies.