Iranian leader bans further talks with US

DUBAI • Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, yesterday banned any further negotiations between Iran and the United States, putting the brakes on moderates hoping to end the country's isolation after reaching a nuclear deal with world powers in July.

Mr Khamenei had said last month there would be no more talks with the US after the nuclear deal, but had not declared an outright ban.

REUTERS

Belgians rally against austerity measures

BRUSSELS • Tens of thousands of Belgian protesters took to the streets of Brussels yesterday to rally against austerity measures introduced by Prime Minister Charles Michel's government, police and trade unions said.

Protest organisers said 100,000 turned up, making it one of the biggest rallies of its kind in Belgium in recent years. Some unions went on strike yesterday and a national rail strike is planned for tomorrow.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Israeli PM cancels trip to Germany

BERLIN • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a trip to Germany planned for today, German government sources said, as new violence rocked Israel and the West Bank.

The knife attack yesterday in Jerusalem's Old City, in which a Palestinian woman stabbed a Jewish man before being shot and seriously wounded, was the second in the walled heart of the city in days. In the West Bank, settlers shot and wounded a Palestinian after a stone throwing incident.

REUTERS