By Renju Jose

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia on Wednesday dismissed suggestions by Israel that its interventions prompted Canberra to expel Iran's ambassador as it blamed Tehran for directing at least two antisemitic arson attacks in the country's biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne.

"Complete nonsense," Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told ABC Radio, when asked about Israel claiming credit for Australia's decision to order Tehran's ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi to leave the country.

By Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Tuesday President Donald Trump will chair a meeting on Gaza at the White House on Wednesday and added that Washington expected Israel's war in the Palestinian territory to be settled by the end of the year.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Trump had promised a swift end to the war in Gaza during the 2024 U.S. election campaign and after taking office in January but almost seven months into his term, that stated goal remains elusive.

(Reuters) -Hussam al-Masri, the Reuters journalist killed by Israeli fire on Monday while operating a live video feed at Gaza's Nasser Hospital, reported on the war's civilian suffering while himself living in a tent and struggling to find food for his family.

Masri, 49, was an experienced cameraman whose positive approach in the most dangerous situations made him popular among Gaza's tight-knit community of reporters, journalist colleagues said.

(Reuters) -Hamas denied on Tuesday that any of the Palestinians killed in Israel's attack on Gaza's Nasser hospital on Monday were militants.

Earlier, Israel said it had killed six militants in the attack but it was investigating how civilians, including five journalists, were killed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as a "tragic mishap."

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Tuesday that Tehran told Europe's top three powers the revival of the "snapback" mechanism, re-mposing UN sanctions on Iran, will have consequences.

Baghaei said Tehran told Europeans during a meeting in Geneva they do not have the right to trigger the mechanism, adding both sides would continue nuclear talks in the coming days.

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; Writing by Menna Alaa El-Din; Editing by Chris Reese)

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the August 7, 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa cannot seize $3.5 billion of Afghanistan central bank assets to address the Taliban's role in the attacks, a divided federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.

(Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that Turkey, the Gulf States or European countries could host talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Now, this week there will be contacts with Turkey, contacts with the Gulf States and with European states which could host talks with the Russians," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "From our side, things will be prepared to the maximum in order to end the war."

By David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -John Bolton, a former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump who is now a persistent critic, said on Tuesday he was concerned about the withdrawal of his Secret Service protection and criticized raids on his home and office last week.

Bolton, speaking at an online event assessing Trump's summit on Monday with the South Korean leader, was asked if he felt safe in the current environment, where the administration was at odds with his beliefs, and said that he had been the target of an Iranian assassination attempt in the past.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -A Berlin court on Tuesday gave a 16-year old who helped prepare a foiled attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna last year a suspended 1-1/2 year prison sentence under juvenile criminal law.

Charges against the Syrian adolescent, who was 14 during the plot, were brought in June. At the time of the charges, he was only identified as Mohammad A. in accordance with German privacy laws.

The Berlin court said on Tuesday the defendant had fully confessed and that the sentence, which can be appealed, was in line with the verdict sought by prosecutors.

(Reuters) -The Israeli military said on Tuesday an initial inquiry into its strike on a Gaza hospital that killed five journalists determined that troops had identified a camera "positioned by Hamas" in the area to observe its forces.

Israeli forces struck Nasser hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 20 people including journalists who worked for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and others outlets.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said later on Monday that Israel deeply regretted what he called a "tragic mishap".