Peyvand Naimi was at work on January 8 when they came for him.

Naimi, a member of Iran's Bahai religious minority from Kerman in southeastern Iran, was hauled away to prison, accused of offences he could not have committed and subjected to torture, according to supporters.

When allowed a brief call with his parents, he said: "'If they execute me do not be sad, my soul will be free of the cage of my body'," a close relative based outside Iran familiar with the details of the case told AFP, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

By Crispian Balmer

ROME, May 8 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday at a moment of unusual strain between her government and President Donald Trump's administration, driven largely by the war with Iran.

Rubio is in Italy for a two-day trip aimed at easing ties with Pope Leo after unprecedented attacks on the pontiff by Trump, while also addressing Washington's frustration over Italy's refusal to support the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

A US fighter jet on Friday disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers, prompting retaliatory attacks and rattling a shaky truce as President Donald Trump said he was awaiting Tehran's reply to his latest proposal to end the Middle East war.

Iranian officials accused the United States of violating the ceasefire with the tanker strikes and hampering diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

SEOUL, May 8 (Reuters) - South Korea's Oceans Ministry said on Friday that government investigators had started examining the cause of an explosion and fire aboard a Korean-operated vessel amid uncertainty over whether it had been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz.

• The ship's operator HMM said investigators dispatched from South Korea boarded the vessel at around 0600 GMT after it had been towed to a port in Dubai.

• The spokesperson said it was to early to estimate when the probe would conclude.

By Jesus Calero

May 8 (Reuters) - Global perceptions of the U.S. have deteriorated for a second consecutive year and are now worse than views of Russia, an annual study on democracy published on Friday showed, as U.S. President Donald Trump's policies continue to severely strain the NATO alliance.

By Mikhail Flores

CEBU, Philippines, May 8 (Reuters) - Leaders of Southeast Asian countries holding a summit on Friday are expected to thrash out a coordinated response to the impacts of the Middle East crisis, as they aim to ease pressure from an energy shock that has rattled their oil import-reliant economies.

By Idrees Ali and Hatem Maher

WASHINGTON/CAIRO, May 8 (Reuters) - U.S. ally the United Arab Emirates said its air defences were engaging missile and drone threats from Iran early on Friday in a further test of the shaky, month-long ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.

US President Donald Trump heads for a superpower summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week hoping the Iran war will not spoil the mood in Beijing.

Trump will be expecting a lavish welcome at the high-stakes meeting, which he delayed in March because of the Middle East conflict.

But the war will still loom large over his first visit to China since 2017, which is supposed to focus on easing tensions over trade and Taiwan between the world's largest economies.

Trump said the two leaders would discuss the issue and that Xi had been "very respectful" over Iran.

An Australian mother and daughter "kept a female slave" after travelling to Syria in 2014 to support the Islamic State group, police said Friday as the pair faced charges in Melbourne.

The women returned to Australia on Thursday after years spent in a Syrian detention camp, where they were stranded after Islamic State's collapse.

Counter-terrorism forces arrested Kawsar Ahmad, 53, and her daughter Zeinab, 31, immediately after their Qatar Airways flight landed at Melbourne International airport.

By Renju Jose

SYDNEY, May 8 (Reuters) - Australian police said on Friday they had charged two women linked to the Islamic State extremist group with slavery offences after they returned overnight from Syria, where they had been detained in a refugee camp for more than seven years.

The women, aged 53 and 31, face crimes against humanity charges including owning and using a slave in Syria, which carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. They were arrested at Melbourne airport on Thursday upon their arrival.