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.

German election winner Friedrich Merz sealed a deal Wednesday to form a new government that aims to spur economic growth, ramp up defense spending, take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernization.

The agreement paves the way for new leadership in the 27-nation European Union's most populous member, which has Europe's biggest economy. It follows months of political drift and weeks of negotiations as the continent faces uncertainty over the Trump administration's sweeping tariffs and its commitment to European allies' defense.

Iran's president again pledged Wednesday that his nation is "not after a nuclear bomb" ahead of talks between Tehran and the United States, going as far as dangling the prospect of direct American investment in the Islamic Republic if the countries can reach a deal.

The comments by reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian represent a departure from Iran's stance after its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, in which Tehran sought to buy American airplanes but in effect barred U.S. companies from coming into the country.

Chinese diplomats threatened to cancel a summit and called top officials in two African countries to pressure lawmakers to quit an international parliamentary group critical of China, officials from the group told The Associated Press.

It's an example of how far China will go to influence politicians overseas, and how that pressure can succeed behind closed doors.

Moscow on Wednesday slammed France and summoned its ambassador after it said a Russian foreign ministry employee had been detained at a Paris airport on Sunday as he tried to enter the country.

"In the course of the conversation, the Russian foreign ministry issued a strong protest to the head of the French embassy. As a result of the demarche, our colleague was eventually allowed to enter the country," Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a briefing.

Iran 's foreign minister said Tuesday he'll meet with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman for the first negotiations under the Trump administration seeking to halt Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program as tensions remain high in the Middle East.

Speaking to Iranian state television from Algeria, Abbas Araghchi maintained the talks would be indirect, likely with Omani mediators shuttling between the parties. U.S. President Donald Trump, in announcing the negotiations on Monday, described them as direct talks.

Elon Musk on Tuesday described Peter Navarro, a senior White House trade advisor, as "truly a moron" and "dumber than a sack of bricks" in a growing rift over Donald Trump's tariff policy.

Musk, a key aide to the president, has signaled opposition to the tariffs, and the Tesla CEO hit out after Navarro described him as "not a car manufacturer" but "a car assembler."

The Ukrainian military has captured two Chinese men fighting alongside the Russian army in the eastern Donetsk region and has information that "significantly more" are with Russian forces, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday.

There was no immediate comment from China. Beijing is not known to have provided Russia with weapons or military expertise, and it was not clear whether the Chinese had joined the fight on their own initiative. Russia allows foreigners to enlist in its military, as does Ukraine.

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to use an 18th century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants, but said they must get a court hearing before they are taken from the United States.

In a bitterly divided decision, the court said the administration must give Venezuelans who it claims are gang members "reasonable time" to go to court.

Russia on Tuesday said it had retaken one of the last important villages that was held by Ukraine in its Kursk region, with Moscow having recaptured most of the border area since Ukraine's shock August 2024 attack.

The Russian defence ministry said its troops had taken control of the village of Guyevo, near the Ukraine border and south of the regional hub of Sudzha, which Moscow reclaimed last month.