By Pesha Magid

JERUSALEM, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. security firm that deployed armed military veterans to Gaza to guard aid sites run by a now-defunct distribution operation is seeking to hire Arabic-speaking contractors with combat experience, according to job listings on its website.

Israel's plans to tighten control over the occupied West Bank, paving the way for further settlement expansion, are a step towards consolidating illegal annexation, the UN rights chief said Wednesday.

The plans include allowing Jewish Israelis to buy West Bank land directly, and extending greater Israeli control over areas where the Palestinian Authority exercises power.

Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the decisions by Israel's security cabinet were the latest in a string of measures to annex Palestinian lands.

By Dmitry Antonov and Vladimir Soldatkin

MOSCOW, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that new U.S. restrictions on the role of Russia and other countries in Venezuela's oil business were blatant discrimination and the Kremlin said it would clarify the matter with Washington.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday issued a general license to facilitate the exploration and production of oil and gas in Venezuela. The license did not authorise transactions involving Russian, Chinese and Iranian nationals or entities.

By Yannis Souliotis

ATHENS, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Most of the 15 Afghan migrants who were killed off the Greek island of Chios last week when their dinghy collided with a coast guard vessel died of head injuries, not from drowning, autopsy results seen by Reuters show.

A criminal investigation has been opened into the February 3 collision - one of Greece's deadliest migrant accidents in years - in which a coast guard vessel struck a dinghy carrying about 39 people, causing it to capsize.

DUBAI, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Iran's missile capabilities are its red line and are not a subject to be negotiated, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader said on Wednesday, as Tehran and Washington eye a new round of talks to avert conflict.

U.S. and Iranian diplomats held indirect talks last week in Oman, amid a regional naval buildup by the U.S. threatening Iran.

"The Islamic Republic's missile capabilities are non-negotiable," Ali Shamkhani said according to state media while appearing in a march commemorating the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

Iran's president vowed on Wednesday that the Islamic republic would not bow to outside aggression, as it marked the anniversary of the 1979 revolution with events overshadowed by the looming threat of US military action.

Protesters, meanwhile, renewed anti-government chants from the balconies of residential blocks, in defiance of an ongoing crackdown on opposition to the clerical system, which rights groups say has seen security forces shoot thousands dead.

ANKARA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will host Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday for talks likely to focus on migration and longstanding maritime disputes, as the NATO allies and historic rivals try to build on warming ties.

Fifteen migrants died in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Chios last week after their boat collided with a Greek coastguard vessel and sank in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish coast.

Feb 11 (Reuters) - Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed in a phone call efforts for regional de-escalation and stability, the Emiri Diwan said on Wednesday.

The call comes ahead of a meeting between Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu where the Israeli prime minister is expected to press him to widen U.S. talks with Iran to include curbs on Tehran's missile arsenal and other security threats beyond its nuclear programme.

(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Jana Choukeir; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Feb 11 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss renewed U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran amid concern that failed talks could spark a wider conflict.

Here are the takeaways from the six previous meetings of the two leaders, mostly focused on Iran and Gaza, since Trump's White House return in January 2025.

* February 4, 2025: In a shock announcement, Trump says the U.S. wants to take over the Gaza Strip.

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM, Feb 11 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will host Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday where the Israeli prime minister is expected to press him to widen U.S. talks with Iran to include curbs on Tehran’s missile arsenal and other security threats that go beyond its nuclear program.