By Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -As a crowd looked on, uniformed Taliban surrounded the Toyota Landcruiser in which Mahmood Habibi, a naturalized U.S. citizen, sat. Other Taliban smashed open the door of his Kabul apartment, emerging later with his laptop and papers.

Blindfolded in the back seat, Habibi and his driver were driven off by gunmen sporting shoulder patches of the Taliban's feared secret police, the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), according to several witness statements in U.S. government possession seen by Reuters.

Police in London arrested 466 people Saturday for supporting Palestine Action at the latest and largest protest backing the group since the government banned it last month under anti-terror laws.

The Metropolitan Police said it had made the arrests, thought to be one of the highest number ever at a single protest in the UK capital, for "supporting a proscribed organisation".

It also arrested eight people for other offences including five for alleged assaults on officers, though none were seriously injured, it added.

By Andrew Osborn

(Reuters) -A peace push backed by U.S. President Donald Trump leaves Azerbaijan and Armenia just one step from a final peace deal and is a paradigm shift in the strategically important South Caucasus region, a top Azerbaijani diplomat said on Saturday.

Trump welcomed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the White House on Friday and witnessed their signing of a joint declaration aimed at drawing a line under their decades-long on-off conflict.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia condemns and rejects Israel's plan to expand its military operation in the Gaza Strip, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

"The implementation of such decisions and plans, which provoke condemnation and rejection, is fraught with the risk of exacerbating the already extremely dramatic situation in the Palestinian enclave, which has all the hallmarks of a humanitarian catastrophe," the ministry said in a statement.

(Reporting by Maxim RodionovEditing by Mark Potter)

LONDON (Reuters) -More than 50 people protesting against Britain's decision to ban the Palestine Action group were arrested outside parliament on Saturday, London's Metropolitan Police said.

Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.

In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain's support for Israel.

ANKARA (Reuters) -Muslim nations must work in total unison and work to mobilise the international community against Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday after talks in Egypt.

Speaking at a joint press conference in El Alamein with his Egyptian counterpart after meeting Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Fidan also said the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had been called to an emergency meeting.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Early on Saturday, as temperatures soared outside, a sprawling shopping centre in Dubai echoed to the squeak of sneakers as hundreds of people joined "Mallathon" -- an indoor, air-conditioned race.

The government-backed initiative aims to encourage exercise during August, often the United Arab Emirates' hottest month, and make use of Dubai's giant malls which are otherwise empty at that time.

Running outside during summer in the Gulf, one of the world's hottest regions where temperatures sometimes top 50C, is unpleasant and even unsafe for many.

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement on Friday during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trumpthat wouldboost bilateral economic ties after decades of conflict and move them toward a full normalization of relations.

The deal between the South Caucasus rivals - assuming it holds - would be a significant accomplishment for the Trump administration that is sure to rattle Moscow, which sees the region as within its sphere of influence.

By Riham Alkousaa and Matthias Williams

BERLIN (Reuters) -The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel's plans to expand military control over the enclave have pushed Germany to curb arms exports to Israel, a historically fraught step for Berlin driven by a growing public outcry.

Conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, hitherto a staunchly pro-Israel leader, made the announcement on Friday arguing that Israel's actions would not achieve its stated war goals of eliminating Hamas militants or bringing Israeli hostages home.

By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) -The University of California said on Friday it was reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump's administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests.

UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in federal funding.