Iran's foreign minister is to visit ally Russia this week to discuss nuclear negotiations with the United States, ahead of a new round of talks planned between the foes.
On Saturday, Abbas Araghchi held talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman -- the highest-level discussions since the 2015 nuclear accord collapsed.
"The first meeting was positive, constructive, compelling," Witkoff said in a Fox News interview on Monday.
Artillery fire echoed from nearby Gaza as Shye Klein-Weinstein slowly walked around a memorial honouring the nearly 400 people killed at the Nova music festival in Reim, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023.
The 28-year-old photographer and survivor of Hamas's attack recalled names and events from that fateful day -- some of which he captured on film, documenting the final moments of his fellow revellers.
Klein-Weinstein, an immigrant from Canada who had arrived in Israel just four months prior to the attack, also recalled another detail from the festival: taking ecstasy.
Oscar Piastri powered to victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, coasting clear from George Russell's Mercedes to maintain McLaren's strong start to the season.
Pole-sitter Piastri kept his composure in an incident-packed race to give the Bahraini-backed McLaren team a first ever win at the 21st attempt in a race at their 'second home'.
Piastri, who also won in China last month, crossed the line 15.499sec clear of Mercedes' George Russell, who was under investigation for an issue with the DRS (drag reduction system), meaning he could take a five-second penalty.
An Israeli air strike Sunday hit one of Gaza's few functioning hospitals, resulting in the death of a child according to the World Health Organization, as Israel warned it would expand its offensive if Hamas does not release hostages.
Since the outbreak of war, tens of thousands of Gazans have sought refuge in hospitals, many of which have suffered severe damage in the ongoing hostilities.
"A child died due to disruption of care" at the Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza after a strike, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
Iran's foreign ministry said Sunday that talks with the United States slated for next weekend would remain "indirect" with Omani mediation, and be focused solely on the nuclear issue and lifting of sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held a first round of talks on Saturday in Muscat, marking the highest-level Iran-US nuclear negotiations since the collapse of a 2015 accord.
They agreed to meet again in seven days.
An Israeli air strike early Sunday heavily damaged one of the few functioning hospitals in Gaza, as the Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas "command and control centre" operating from within the facility.
Since the outbreak of war, tens of thousands of Gazans have sought refuge in hospitals across the territory, many of which have suffered severe damage in ongoing hostilities.
Alhurra, the Arabic-language network created by the US government after the Iraq invasion, said Saturday it would cease broadcasts and lay off most staff after President Donald Trump's administration shut off funds.
The network went on air in 2004, when US officials were complaining about coverage of the Iraq war from Qatar-backed Al-Jazeera -- which two decades later maintains a dominant role in Arabic-langauge media.
Hamas's armed wing released a video on Saturday showing an Israeli-American hostage alive, in which he criticises the Israeli government for failing to secure his release.
Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified him as Edan Alexander, a soldier in an elite infantry unit on the Gaza border when he was abducted by Palestinian militants during their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
AFP was unable to determine when the video was filmed.
Security forces from the new Islamist government in Damascus deployed Saturday around a strategic dam in northern Syria, under a deal with the autonomous Kurdish administration, state media reported.
Under the agreement, Kurdish-led fighters of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will pull back from the dam which they captured from the Islamic State group in late 2015.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, on Saturday opposed a South American request to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams, saying such increases in numbers would lead to "chaos".
The centenary edition, hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco with three matches also being staged in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, is already set to welcome 48 teams - a far cry from the 13 in the inaugural event in Uruguay in 1930.
