Negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program will move Wednesday to what's known as the "expert level" — a sign analysts say shows that the talks are moving forward rapidly.

However, experts not involved in the talks who spoke with The Associated Press warn that this doesn't necessarily signal a deal is imminent. Instead, it means that the talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff haven't broken down at what likely is the top-level trade — Tehran limiting its atomic program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

In the last 18 months of his life, Pope Francis had a frequent evening ritual: He would call the lone Catholic church in the Gaza Strip to see how people huddled inside were coping with a devastating war.

That small act of compassion made a big impression on Gaza's tiny Christian community and was why he was remembered at his death Monday as a beloved father figure in the beleaguered territory.

Israel was supposed to fully withdraw from Lebanon under a ceasefire reached in late November after more than a year of fighting. Israeli forces withdrew from villages in southern Lebanon but stayed in five "strategic" overlook locations along the border inside Lebanon.

The Israeli army also continued to carry out strikes against what it says are militant targets and Israel's defense minister said Wednesday that Israeli troops will stay "indefinitely" in "security zones" in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and Syria.

The Israeli defense minister says his country's troops will stay in "security zones" in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, after Israel unilaterally expanded its frontiers in the war unleashed by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Israel says it needs to hold on to the zones to prevent similar attacks, but the takeovers appear to meet the dictionary definition of military occupation.

The once unthinkable disarmament of Hezbollah could finally be within reach, as the United States pushes Lebanon to act and applies pressure to the group's backer Iran over its nuclear program, analysts said.

Hezbollah was left badly weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel, beginning with the group's campaign of rocket fire at its arch-foe in support of ally Hamas, and culminating in a major Israeli bombing campaign and ground incursion into Lebanon.

Near front lines where they once battled each other, former fighters in Lebanon's civil war now gather to bear the same message, half a century after the devastating conflict erupted: never again.

Iran and the United States will hold talks in the sultanate of Oman on Saturday in an attempt to jump-start negotiations over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program.

President Donald Trump insists they'll be direct negotiations. However, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says he'll be speaking indirectly through a mediator to U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.

Iran and the United States will hold talks in the sultanate of Oman on Saturday in an attempt to jump-start negotiations over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program.

Even before the talks, however, there was a dispute over just how the negotiations would go. President Donald Trump insists they'll be direct negotiations. However, Iran's foreign minister said they'll be indirect talks through a mediator.

After giving a red carpet welcome this week to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza, Hungary announced it would quit the court.

Should Hungary follow through with its withdrawal from the world's only permanent global court for war crimes and genocide based in The Hague. It will become only the third country in the institution's history of more than 20 years to do so. The process will take more than a year.

An already fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to be on shaky ground Friday after rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel triggered Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The rocket launch from Lebanon was the second in a week, after a lull since December. In both cases, Hezbollah denied being behind the attacks.