Report: US, Iranian Teams Could Return to Islamabad for Peace Talks This Week

US Vice President JD Vance (L) is welcomed by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ahead of their meeting on Iran  amid the US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad on April 11, 2026. (AFP)
US Vice President JD Vance (L) is welcomed by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ahead of their meeting on Iran amid the US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad on April 11, 2026. (AFP)
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Report: US, Iranian Teams Could Return to Islamabad for Peace Talks This Week

US Vice President JD Vance (L) is welcomed by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ahead of their meeting on Iran  amid the US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad on April 11, 2026. (AFP)
US Vice President JD Vance (L) is welcomed by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ahead of their meeting on Iran amid the US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad on April 11, 2026. (AFP)

Negotiating teams from the US and Iran could return to Islamabad later this week, five sources said on Tuesday, days after the highest-level talks between the two countries in decades ended without a breakthrough.

A source involved in the talks said a date was not yet decided, but both countries could return as early as the end of this week.

"No firm ‌date has been ‌set, with the delegations keeping Friday through Sunday ‌open," ⁠a senior Iranian ⁠source said.

The weekend meeting in Pakistan's capital to resolve the conflict between the US and Iran, held four days after last Tuesday's ceasefire announcement, was the first direct encounter between US and Iranian officials in more than a decade, and the most senior engagement since Iran's 1979 revolution.

A proposal has been shared with both the US and ⁠Iran to resend their delegates to resume the ‌talks, the first source said.

Two Pakistani sources ‌with knowledge of the talks said Islamabad was communicating with the two sides ‌about the timing of the next round and the meeting would ‌likely take place on the weekend.

"We have reached out to Iran and we got a positive response that they will be open to a second round of talks," a senior Pakistani government official said.

Pakistan's foreign ministry, military and ‌prime minister's office did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The White House also did ⁠not immediately respond ⁠to a request for comment.

US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf led their respective delegations in the last round of talks to work out a slew of issues, including the Strait of Hormuz, a major transit point for global energy supplies that Iran has effectively blocked but the US has vowed to reopen, as well as Iran's nuclear program and international sanctions on Tehran.

Vance told reporters after the talks ended that "we leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer."

"We'll see if the Iranians accept it."



Iran Executes Man Over Links to Nationwide Protests

A woman rides a bicycle as others cross a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP)
A woman rides a bicycle as others cross a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP)
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Iran Executes Man Over Links to Nationwide Protests

A woman rides a bicycle as others cross a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP)
A woman rides a bicycle as others cross a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP)

Iran on Monday executed a man convicted of carrying out armed attacks during the nationwide anti-government protests that peaked in January, the judiciary said.

Abbas Akbari's is the latest in a string of executions by the authorities after it ramped up hangings in security-related cases after the outbreak of war with Israel and the United States on February 28.

"Abbas Akbari... was hanged this morning," the judiciary's Mizan Online website reported, describing him as "one of the armed leaders" during protests in the central province of Isfahan.

According to the report, Akbari "opened fire in the street at security forces" and "was one of the armed leaders of the riots in Nain town in Isfahan province" while carrying a handgun.

He was also accused of attacking the governorate building, security establishments and health centers in Nain.

The judiciary said Akbari had been sentenced to death on charges including "moharebeh" -- waging war against God -- as well as deliberate destruction of public property "with the intent of confronting the system, disrupting public order and security, and assembly and collusion against national security".

The Supreme Court upheld the sentence following his appeal, and he was executed on Monday morning, Mizan said.

On Sunday, Iran executed a man convicted of espionage in the first reported execution linked to spying accusations during the war.

Iran carries out the second-highest number of executions in the world after China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International.


Australian Activists Return After Gaza Flotilla Incident, Allege Israeli Abuse

Members of a Gaza-bound flotilla, that were detained by Israeli security forces last week, speak during a press conference after arriving at Sydney International Airport on May 25, 2026. (AFP)
Members of a Gaza-bound flotilla, that were detained by Israeli security forces last week, speak during a press conference after arriving at Sydney International Airport on May 25, 2026. (AFP)
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Australian Activists Return After Gaza Flotilla Incident, Allege Israeli Abuse

Members of a Gaza-bound flotilla, that were detained by Israeli security forces last week, speak during a press conference after arriving at Sydney International Airport on May 25, 2026. (AFP)
Members of a Gaza-bound flotilla, that were detained by Israeli security forces last week, speak during a press conference after arriving at Sydney International Airport on May 25, 2026. (AFP)

Australian activists detained by Israel while on a flotilla attempting to deliver aid to Gaza have returned home, with organizers alleging abuse, sexual assault, and beatings, that left some detainees in hospital.

Israel's prison service has denied the allegations, which Reuters could not independently verify.

Eleven Australians were among the 430 volunteers on 50 boats intercepted in international waters last week by Israeli forces aiming to stop the flotilla delivering aid supplies to the Gaza Strip. The flotilla ‌included people ‌from 40 countries.

One activist reached Melbourne on ‌Sunday ⁠evening, while others arrived ⁠in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on Monday.

Juliet Lamont, an Australian activist and documentary filmmaker, told Reuters on Monday she was dragged, sexually assaulted and beaten when she was detained.

"That was just the beginning of four days of absolute hell. I've looked into the eyes of the most ⁠soulless people in the universe, and nothing came ‌back. These people need ‌to be stopped," Lamont said.

Another Australian activist, Sam Woripa Watson, said he sustained ‌a fractured rib along with bruises and cuts ‌across his body. Watson also said he had witnessed activists being tasered and shot with rubber bullets, with stun grenades thrown at them.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, the organizers of the aid shipment, ‌said it had documented at least 15 cases of sexual abuse, with the worst occurring on ⁠one Israeli ⁠landing craft which had been converted into a makeshift prison with barbed wire and shipping containers.

The statement was released after the Israeli prison service's blanket denial of mistreatment, rape and sexual assault allegations.

The allegations of mistreatment have increased international pressure on Israel, following a video posted by far-right Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in which he taunted activists restrained on the ground, sparking widespread condemnation.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong described the footage as "shocking and unacceptable."

Australia imposed a travel ban and financial sanctions on Ben-Gvir last year for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.


Pope to Release Major Artificial Intelligence Manifesto

Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field. Andreas SOLARO / AFP
Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field. Andreas SOLARO / AFP
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Pope to Release Major Artificial Intelligence Manifesto

Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field. Andreas SOLARO / AFP
Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field. Andreas SOLARO / AFP

Pope Leo XIV will release on Monday his long-awaited manifesto on artificial intelligence (AI), a bid to address ethical and social challenges as the technology rapidly develops worldwide.

The US pope will attend the presentation of the "Magnifica Humanitas" (Magnificent Humanity) encyclical at the Vatican in person -- a first for the Catholic Church.

He will be joined not only by officials from the Holy See but experts including the co-founder of the American startup Anthropic, a key player in the booming AI landscape.

Anthropic is in a legal battle with the US military after refusing to change its internal policy prohibiting the use of its Claude model for lethal autonomous warfare or mass surveillance.

Leo has denounced the race for AI in the military field, saying that "delegating decisions concerning the life and death of human beings to machines" is a "destructive spiral".

Since his election a year ago as the Church's first US pope, he has repeatedly warned of the dangers of AI, including "the gradual replacement of reality by its simulation".

And he has slammed the "environmental devastation" caused by the "frenzied race" for rare earth elements, which are essential for modern electronics.

- 'Wake-up call' -

AI could be worth up to $4.8 trillion (4.13 trillion euros) by 2033, a 25-fold increase in a decade, while concentrating its profits in the hands of a limited few, according to the UN.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last year warned "the window is closing to shape AI -- for peace, for justice, for humanity".

Leo has made the hot-button issue a cornerstone of his papacy in dedicating to it his first encyclical -- a document which lays the basis for Church teaching and longer-term debate.

Experts say "Magnifica Humanitas" could prove as influential as Pope Francis's "Laudato Si", a 2015 climate manifesto that triggered political and civic reactions worldwide.

The Vatican sees this new text as an extension of its social teachings on "protecting people in the AI era".

It was signed on May 15, the 135th anniversary of a 1891 encyclical by Leo XIII which laid the foundations of the Church's social doctrine during the Industrial Revolution.

"The Industrial Revolution transformed the labor market, people's lives, hegemony, and power dynamics," said Marijana Grbesa, political science professor at the University of Zagreb, and a speaker at an AI conference in the Vatican.

"At the time, it was necessary to train individuals in the use of tools. The same is true today: we need to train and educate," she told AFP.

The pope, she said, will emphasize that "education is not enough today".

"It's a wake-up call for the whole of civilization", to "be rational when we use these tools".

- 'Perception of reality' -

Leo has emphasized the need for "digital literacy... to understand how algorithms shape our perception of reality."

In April he warned against the use of AI to fuel "polarization, conflict, fear, and violence". And in January he lamented "the lack of transparency in the creation of the algorithms" that govern the operation of various chatbots, whose use is growing rapidly worldwide.

The release of "Magnificent Humanity" follows several years of study by the Church of AI-related technologies.

As early as 2020, the Holy See launched the "Rome Appeal for an AI Ethic", which called for new technologies to respect human dignity.

Leo's predecessor Pope Francis spoke extensively on the subject, calling for AI to be regulated and warning that it could exacerbate inequalities.