Iranian officials reached out to the wider Middle East on Wednesday over the threat of a possible U.S. military strike on the country, a month since the start of protests in Iran that soon spread nationwide and sparked a bloody crackdown.

Two nations, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have signaled they won't allow their airspace to be used for any attack. But America has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided missile destroyers into the region, which can be used to launch attacks from the sea.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday toured a southern town in Sicily where days of heavy rains from a cyclone triggered a massive landslide that cleaved off the town's edge, collapsing houses and forcing the evacuation of over 1,500 people.

The area of the landslide spanned 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) and civil protection crews created a 150-meter-wide (150-yard-wide) "no go zone." At the edge of Niscemi, some cars and structures had already tumbled 20 meters (yards) off the cliff while other homes remained perched perilously on the edge of the continuously shifting ground.

Israel has pledged an investigation after two Italian security officers were held up by an Israeli soldier with an automatic weapon in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli ambassador to Italy, Jonathan Peled, made the pledge Monday in Rome after he was summoned by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani over the incident, the Italian Foreign Ministry said.

An international media association expressed disappointment after Israel's supreme court again postponed ruling on a petition seeking free and independent press access to Gaza, in a statement sent to media on Wednesday.

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, triggered by an attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the Israeli government has barred foreign journalists from independently entering the blockaded territory.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans on Wednesday to warn that the Trump administration is ready to take new military action against Venezuela if the country's interim leadership strays from U.S. expectations.

In prepared testimony for a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio says the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela and that its interim leaders are cooperating, but he notes that the Trump administration would not rule out using additional force if needed following a raid to capture former President Nicolás Maduro early this month.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives in Beijing on Wednesday for a four-day visit to China aimed at repairing ties and expanding opportunities for British businesses in the world's second-largest economy.

He is the first British leader to come to Beijing since Theresa May in 2018. The relationship has deteriorated in recent years over growing concern about Chinese spying and surveillance, China's support for Russia in the Ukraine war and Beijing's crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, the former British colony.

For more than two years, Israelis wore yellow ribbons to remember the hostages abducted during the deadliest day in the country's history. On Tuesday, they finally could remove those ribbons and shut down a haunting clock in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, marking the end of a painful chapter.

The return of Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer killed while fighting Hamas militants during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, fulfilled nationwide hopes to return all the hostages, living or dead.

Russian forces have begun pulling out of positions in northeast Syria in an area still controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces after the group lost most of its territory in an offensive by government forces.

Associated Press journalists visited one base next to the Qamishli airport Tuesday and found it guarded by SDF fighters who said the Russians had begun moving their equipment out in recent days.

Refusing to let a tumultuous football game strain diplomatic and economic ties, Morocco and Senegal pledged Monday to give fresh momentum to their relationship and boost trade and investment between the two African nations.

The prime ministers of Morocco and Senegal signed 17 agreements in the Moroccan capital Rabat on increasing investments in sectors like agriculture, infrastructure, fisheries and mining.

Spain will host the final of the 2030 World Cup the president of the Spanish football federation said Monday.

FIFA has not yet said where it plans to stage the decisive match of a tournament that will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco. But Rafael Louzán told reporters at a media event that the title match will be in Spain, although he did not specify in which city or venue it would be played.