PARIS (Reuters) -French investigating judges have issued arrest warrants for seven former top Syrian officials, including ex-President Bashar al-Assad, for the bombing of a press centre in Homs in 2012, a judicial source and a human rights organisation said on Tuesday.

Homs, in western Syria, was a major rebel stronghold during the Syrian civil war and was besieged by Assad government forces from 2011 to 2014. The siege ended with anti-Assad rebels withdrawing from the city.

By Kate Holton and Ben Makori

LONDON (Reuters) -The recognition of a Palestinian state by leading Western nations will trigger a sprint towards a two-state solution, the head of the Palestinian mission in London said on Tuesday.

Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium have all said they will recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, although London could halt the process if Israel eased the humanitarian crisis in war-shattered Gaza and committed to a long-term peace process.

By Sayed Hassib

KABUL/ MAZAR DARA, Afghanistan (Reuters) -Nasrullah Khan's voice breaks as he describes how with his own hands he buried three children in one grave and two young men in another after an earthquake struck the mountainous southeastern Afghan province of Kunar on Sunday.

Nasrullah, an office worker from Kunar City, travelled six hours into Dewagul Valley in Kunar after the quake to help rescue efforts.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -A Turkish court on Tuesday ousted the Istanbul provincial head of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), dealing a fresh judicial blow to opponents of President Tayyip Erdogan and triggering sharp falls in share and bond markets.

The Istanbul court ruled that the votes of delegates in a 2023 CHP provincial congress had been influenced by cash payments, and thus the board members elected at the congress should be removed.

(Reuters) -Six security personnel and six militants were killed on Tuesday during an assault on the base of a paramilitary force in northwest Pakistan that began with a suicide bomber ramming the compound and led to a 12-hour gun battle, police said.

The suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into the boundary wall of the base in the town of Bannu early on Tuesday, causing an explosion that allowed other attackers to enter the compound, said Sajjad Khan, the regional police chief.

DUBAI (Reuters) -The path to nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States is not closed but U.S. demands for curbs on Iranian missiles are obstructing prospects for talks, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday.

A sixth round of Iran-U.S. talks was suspended after the start of a 12-day war in June, in which Israel and the U.S. struck Iranian nuclear facilities and Iran retaliated with waves of ballistic missiles against Israel.

(Reuters) -More than 1,400 people were killed and over 3,100 injured after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan around midnight on Sunday.

As rescue efforts continue, here is a look at why Afghanistan experiences frequent tremors, and how their impact can be reduced:

ARE EARTHQUAKES COMMON IN AFGHANISTAN?

Hemmed in by rugged mountains, Afghanistan is prone to a range of natural disasters, but its earthquakes cause the most fatalities, killing about 560 people on average each year and causing annual damages estimated at $80 million.

ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he discussed ways to end the Ukraine war with Russia's Vladimir Putin during talks in China and with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy by phone, but that the sides were "not yet ready" for a leaders' meeting.

Erdogan spoke to reporters aboard his plane returning from China, where he met Putin and then said he called Zelenskiy. He said talks in recent months between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul showed the path to peace remains open.

ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the United States should immediately revise its decision to revoke the visas of Palestinian officials and bar them from attending the United Nations meeting in New York this month.

Washington said last week it would not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York, where several U.S. allies are set to recognise Palestine as a state.

ROME (Reuters) -Israeli President Isaac Herzog will travel to the Vatican on Thursday to meet Pope Leo, who has recently stepped up his calls for an end to the war in Gaza.

The one-day visit is being made at the invitation of the pope, Herzog's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

The president will also meet Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's chief diplomat, and tour the Vatican Archives and Library, it added.