At least 8 killed, 750 wounded in blast at southern Iranian port

At least 8 people were killed and 750 others injured in a huge explosion that occurred on Saturday at a port in Iran's southern province of Hormozgan, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Six people went missing in the incident that occurred at the Port of Shahid Rajaee, according to IRNA.

According to China's Consulate General in Bandar Abbas, three Chinese citizens sustained minor injuries in the explosion. They are now in good condition after receiving medical treatment.

Ahmad Pouyafar, governor of the provincial capital Bandar Abbas, announced that all educational centers across the city would be closed on Sunday due to the explosion and consequent air pollution.

Hossein Zafari, spokesperson for the National Disaster Management Organization, told the semi-official Fars news agency that chemical materials in a container at the port caused the blast.

Putin, Witkoff discuss prospect of direct Russia-Ukraine talks during meeting in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff discussed the possibility of direct Russia-Ukraine talks during their meeting in Moscow, local media reported Friday citing Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

Ushakov said the talks focused on the possibility of restarting direct negotiations between representatives from Russia and Ukraine, and said the meeting helped to further align the positions of Russia and the United States, both on Ukraine and on other international issues.

He called the talks constructive and useful, adding that dialogue between Moscow and Washington would continue at various levels.

Putin and Witkoff met in the Kremlin on Friday. The meeting, which lasted three hours, was also attended by Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Russian special presidential envoy for economic cooperation with foreign countries.

Witkoff reportedly arrived in Moscow earlier Friday.

Trump, Zelensky meet on sidelines of Pope's funeral

U.S. President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral in Vatican City.

A spokesperson from Kiev was quoted by Italian broadcaster Rai News as saying that Zelensky and Trump held a meeting ahead of the funeral, without providing further details.

The White House also confirmed the meeting, describing their conversation as "productive."

Several media outlets also reported that Trump and Zelensky agreed to meet again on Saturday following the funeral.

The two leaders' meeting came just one day after Trump said Russia and Ukraine were "very close to a deal," following talks between his envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday.

Omani FM says Iran, U.S. express "shared aspiration" to reach deal

The United States and Iran have expressed "a shared aspiration to reach an agreement based on mutual respect and enduring commitments" during their latest round of indirect talks in Muscat, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi said Saturday.

In a statement issued on the social media platform X, Albusaidi said that "core principles, objectives, and technical concerns" were discussed thoroughly in the Omani-mediated talks, adding that negotiations are set to continue next week and that a further high-level meeting is provisionally scheduled for May 3.

The two delegations, headed by Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, respectively, started the dialogue earlier Saturday, following an expert-level technical discussion between the two sides on the same day in Muscat.

The talks touched upon the details regarding the two sides' demands and expectations from one another, Iran's state-run IRIB TV reported.

Trump administration to reverse termination of legal status of int'l students

The Trump administration said Friday that it will reverse the termination of the legal statuses of more than 1,200 international students amid legal challenges.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was in the process of manually restoring the statuses for individuals whose Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records were terminated in recent weeks, a government attorney told a federal court in Oakland, California.

A similar statement was made by a government lawyer during a separate hearing in Washington, D.C.

"ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain Active or shall be re-activated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination," said a copy of the statement provided to media by Brian Green, attorney representing the plaintiffs.

At least 34 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza

At least 34 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded in airstrikes carried out by the Israeli army across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Gaza's civil defense said.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the civil defense, told Xinhua that the Israeli army targeted several residential homes, gatherings, and tents housing displaced persons in various areas of the coastal enclave.

At least 13 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on two houses in the west and south of Gaza City, Basal said.

Three other people were killed in two Israeli drone attacks in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, while two were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the town of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip.

Nine people were killed, including four in an Israeli airstrike on a cafe in the city of Deir al-Balah and five in an attack on a Palestinian gathering north of the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to Basal.

Seven others were killed in Israeli shelling targeting a gathering in the town of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip and another in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis in the south, said Basal.

U.S. conducts 1,200 raids on Yemen since March

The Houthi group claimed on Friday that U.S. warplanes had conducted 1,200 raids on Yemen since mid-March, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties and widespread destruction of infrastructure.

In a press statement, the foreign affairs authority of the group alleged that the U.S. operations destroyed "numerous civilian facilities, including residential neighborhoods, ports, health facilities, water tanks, and archaeological sites, in flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law."

The group accused Washington of making "miserable attempts to evade its responsibility for the crimes it is committing in Yemen" and of "working to cover up its sinful aggression against Yemen and its crimes against civilians."

The U.S. government has not issued an immediate response to these Houthi allegations.