New Jersey city spurns data center as defiance spreads

Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and England's Justin Rose were set for early starts chasing co-leaders Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns as Friday's second round of the Masters began at Augusta National.

Defending champion McIlroy, trying to become only the fourth golfer to capture back-to-back Masters titles, and Burns were on five-under par 67 after 18 holes.

With magical escapes from the trees that would have made Spanish legend Seve Ballesteros proud, five-time major winner McIlroy managed his second-best Masters start despite finding only five of 14 fairways, just one on the front nine.

"The first seven holes were really important, that I played them in par," McIlroy said. "I made some good swings from where I found myself."

Burns, the 54-hole leader at last year's US Open, managed his lowest round in 13 at Augusta National despite the firm greens.

"They're only going to get firmer," Burns said. "As the golf course speeds up, it only gets more difficult out there, and I think it's going to be a really good test."

Past champion Patrick Reed, fellow American Kurt Kitayama and Australian Jason Day shared third on 69 and like the co-leaders were set for afternoon starts on the firm and fast layout.

That left the early stage to 2013 US Open champion Rose, a three-time Masters runner-up who lost to McIlroy in a playoff last year, and four-time major winner Scheffler, who seeks his third green jacket in five seasons.

Both are three adrift in a pack on 70 that also includes later starters Shane Lowry, the 2019 British Open champion from Ireland, and 10th-ranked Xander Schauffele, a US two-time major winner seeking his first Masters crown.

Scheffler, the 2022 and 2024 Masters winner, went eagle-birdie at the par-five second and par-four third holes, but couldn't get lower in afternoon heat on hardened greens, settling for pars at the par-five 13th and 15th holes but expecting better conditions on Friday morning.

"I played pretty solid. A lot of good stuff," Scheffler said. "I hit it nice, made some good iron shots, but it got so firm late in the day, it was pretty challenging."

Rose delivered five birdies in his opening round, four of them on Augusta's par-five holes, but closed with back-to-back bogeys to stumble from the heels of the leaders.

"Every hole you're just being patient through experience, knowing that grinding out the pars is a good thing," Rose said. "Just eating up the holes is a good thing."

The holes ate hopefuls as well with some big names struggling to make Friday's cut to the low 50 and ties.

Scotsman Robert MacIntyre shared 82nd on 80 with Spain's Jon Rahm, a two-time major winner, on 78 and two-time US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau on 76 in a share of 56th.

Rose expects Augusta National will remain a test of patience as well as shotmaking with lightning-fast greens.

"I can't even point to anywhere where you can be aggressive," he said.

"I think it's in their control really how they want it to be... when it gets completely rock hard and you can't access any pin anywhere, then a lot of good shot-making is taken out of the equation."

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Celine Dion's fans are not the only ones excited about the megastar's new tour in Paris -- hotels, restaurants and shops are hoping for a multimillion-euro boost from concertgoers in the French capital.

The 58-year-old Canadian singer announced last month that she was returning to the stage for 16 concerts after a lengthy break prompted by a rare health condition.

She could prove the latest in a series of stars to bring with them significant economic uplift from music fans, following Taylor Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour and as the South Korean mega-group BTS embarks on its tour.

The Eiffel Tower was lit up to honour the return of the singer -- who sings both in French and English -- and with the city covered in billboards and posters, Parisian businesses are hoping the tour will prove a major money spinner.

Dion's tour could bring an additional 300 million to 500 million euros ($351-$585 million) into the city, said Alexandra Dublanche, president of Choose Paris Region, the organisation that promotes the wider Paris area.

This includes ticket sales, hotel and restaurant bookings, retail spending and more, she told AFP, adding that international visitors tend to spend more than domestic travellers.

When Swift held four concerts in Paris in 2024, the city saw an economic boost of around 150-180 million euros, Dublanche said.

Dion has said she was diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disorder, and she was forced to cancel her last tour dates due to both the Covid pandemic and ill health.

The latest tickets for Dion's shows went on sale Friday, with an estimated half a million fans to attend the concerts, a third from overseas, according to Dublanche.

Others have put the figure higher, with MKG Consulting estimating the potential economic impact at more than one billion euros, including a 180-million-euro boost for the Parisian hotel industry.

MKG analyst Vanguelis Panayotis said the economic benefits could reach 1.2 billion euros if taking into account transportation, and all the associated expenses and logistics of Dion's support team as well as fans.

-'Driver of travel' -

Swift's Eras tour became the highest-grossing musical tour in history, with ticket revenues estimated at more than $2 billion and hundreds of millions of dollars in extra economic activity in cities where she performed.

"Major musical events are a driver of travel," said Vanessa Heydorff, managing director for France at Booking.com.

The hotel reservation site said that searches for Paris around the dates of Dion's concerts increased by 49 percent.

The Adagio chain, which has ten hotels in the city's La Defense district where the concerts will be held, saw a 400 percent increase in bookings.

"This will be good for Paris because the capital is currently experiencing a drop in hotel occupancy rates" due to the international situation, said Didier Arino, chief executive at the consulting firm Protourisme.

Arthur Lemoine, CEO of the high-end Galeries Lafayette department stores, said they saw a boost in shoppers during Swift's concerts, not only during the days when she was performing in Paris, but also around the timing of gigs in the neighbouring city of Lyon.

"Celine Dion's presence in Paris for a month and a half should definitely benefit business on Boulevard Haussmann," he said, referring to the high-end street that is home to Galeries Lafayette's flagship store.

After South Korea's BTS announced two coming concert dates in Paris, searches for hotels in the French capital soared by 590 percent, according to the Hotels.com website.

"This phenomenon is part of a broader trend called 'gig-tripping', where the concert becomes the starting point but not the sole reason for booking a trip," said Heydorff, adding the challenge was to keep the visiting fans within the region in the days before and after the concert.

For Panayotis, at MKG, "Events that draw fans -- whether a singer, an artist or a football team -- are becoming an extremely powerful indicator of tourism spending, something we're seeing everywhere."

"There's a real strategic advantage [for cities] in attracting events of this kind because they generate extremely strong economic benefits," he said.

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The Irish government was set to hold talks Friday with agricultural and haulage representatives, as days of protests over spiralling fuel prices sparked warnings over supplies, including for emergency services.

The demonstrations began Tuesday over the soaring cost of petrol and diesel amid the Middle East war, with protesters partly blocking Ireland's only oil refinery and restricting access to at least two other fuel depots.

Demonstrators, many organising online outside of formal representative bodies, have also used convoys on motorways to snarl traffic and tractors to gridlock central Dublin on occasions.

Industry group Fuels for Ireland said 100 petrol retailers have run dry, mainly in the west of Ireland, after customers started panic buying. 

It has warned of "real significant life-death problems" with supplies for emergency service vehicles, while Ireland's emergency planning group echoed the comments with "serious concern" about the situation.

Irish police warned Thursday the protests had become "blockades" which were putting critical supplies of food, fuel, clean water and animal feed at risk.

"This is not tolerable and is against the law," the country's national force, known as the Garda, said in a statement.

It added officers were "now moving to an enforcement phase" and those involved would "face the full rigours of the law".

Ireland's armed forces have been put "on standby" to assist with clearing the blockades, defence minister Helen McEntee has said.

Ministers were set to meet later Friday with 10 representative organisations for farmers, agricultural contractors and haulage operators, but it was unclear if protesters would be present.

Representative bodies recognised by the government, including the Irish Road Haulage Association and the Irish Farmers' Association, are not officially involved in the protest.

Those bodies and protesters have made varying demands around lowering the cost of fuel, in particular urging cuts to fuel taxes.

Demonstrators also want fuel prices to be capped and oil exploration off the west coast of Ireland to begin.

Government leaders have condemned the protests as "wrong" and "not in our national interest", and said the fuel blockades were holding the country to "ransom".

In March, Dublin announced a €250 million package to reduce fuel costs, notably including a diesel rebate for road hauliers

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A cloud of uncertainty hung Friday over the scheduled start of talks in Pakistan between the United States and Iran, with no announcement yet on the arrival of negotiators and both sides accusing the other of failing to properly implement a fragile ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump has voiced displeasure at Iran's handling of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which was meant to be reopened under the deal, while Tehran has reacted angrily to Israeli attacks in Lebanon, insisting that it too falls under the agreement -- something Washington disputes.

Islamabad was nonetheless pressing ahead with its preparations for the high-stakes talks, which official sources say will cover several sensitive points, including Iran's nuclear enrichment and the free flow of trade through the strait.

Iran has suggested that its participation could hinge on a halt in Israeli attacks on Lebanon: "The holding of talks to end the war is dependent on the US adhering to its ceasefire commitments on all fronts, especially in Lebanon," said Esmaeil Baqaei, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman.

Iranian officials have said the Israeli strikes had rendered the Pakistan talks "meaningless". 

Nevertheless, Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards signalled they were committing to the ceasefire and had "not launched anything at any country", according to the state broadcaster.

In a barrage of social media posts that sparked fresh fears for the shaky truce, Trump on Thursday accused Iran of doing a "very poor job" of allowing oil through the Strait of Hormuz and of breaching the terms of their ceasefire agreement.

A fifth of the world's oil and vast quantities of natural gas and fertiliser pass through the strait in peacetime, but only a small number of vessels have crossed since the truce was announced.

- 'Meaningless' -

The two-week truce was agreed to allow negotiations between US and Iranian officials aimed at ending a conflict that has already killed thousands and plunged the global economy into turmoil.

"I am scared of the war starting again, and at the same time I'm scared of the regime staying", Tehran resident Sheida told AFP, withholding her last name out of concern for her safety.

Contributing to the uncertainty around the planned talks, Tehran's ambassador to Pakistan on Thursday deleted a social media post saying an Iranian delegation would arrive in the country later that day.

Still, Vice President JD Vance is due to lead the US delegation on Saturday, joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Fresh fractures in the mediation process emerged when Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif joined in the criticism of Israel's strikes on Lebanon, calling the country a "cancerous state" and "a curse for humanity" on Thursday evening, in a post taken down hours later.

The Israeli prime minister's office called the remarks outrageous, saying: "This is not a statement that can be tolerated from any government, especially not from one that claims to be a neutral arbiter for peace."

Pakistan does not formally recognise Israel -- a fact that could complicate its role as mediator -- and has insisted the ceasefire includes Lebanon.

One 30-year-old resident of Tehran told AFP they were sceptical negotiations will be successful, describing most of what Trump says as "pure noise and nonsense".

"He wants to manipulate the Islamic republic into getting a deal. I think that was his intention, if you can say there is an intention."

- Parallel talks -

Air raid sirens sounded early Friday in Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv and other parts of the country, with Hezbollah announcing it carried out drone and rocket strikes targeting Israeli forces on both sides of the border as well as a town in Israel's north. 

On Wednesday, less than 48 hours after the ceasefire came into force, Israel carried out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon since Iran-backed Hezbollah entered the Middle East war, killing more than 300 people.

Afterwards, Trump told NBC News that Israel was "scaling back" strikes in Lebanon and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had assured him its attacks would become more "low-key".

A Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity that there was ongoing "pressure from European states, Gulf states and Egypt on Israel to prevent renewed Israeli airstrikes on Beirut after 'Black Wednesday'".

As of Friday morning, the Israeli army had not acted on warnings the day before that it would strike wide areas in the capital's south.

Washington has said the Lebanese front of the war will be dealt with under separate talks.

"We can confirm that the Department will host a meeting next week to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel and Lebanon," a US State Department official said.

Neither Israel nor the Lebanese government have publicly confirmed these talks, although the announcement came shortly after Netanyahu ordered his ministers to seek direct dialogue with Lebanon focused on disarming Hezbollah. 

A Lebanese government official told AFP that Beirut would require a truce before entering any negotiations with Israel.

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Shipping was at a near-standstill in Belgium's port of Antwerp on Friday following an overnight oil spill, Europe's second-biggest port said as it raced to contain the risks of pollution and economic damage.

A port statement said the spill occurred during a "bunkering operation" -- the process of filling a ship with fuel -- in the Deurganck Dock, which is used by some of the largest vessels in the world to load and unload goods in Antwerp.

A spokesman told AFP that as of midday Friday the port's North Sea access route via the Scheldt river estuary was "totally blocked", with Belgian media reporting that several dozen container and cargo ships heading in and out had been affected.

"We hope that the port will be fully operational in 24 hours," the spokesman said.

The port statement said the source of the spill had been stopped and the "directly involved seagoing vessels have been contained for active clean-up operations."

However, it said the pollution had spread towards the Scheldt river overnight.

"Emergency services are fully mobilised and are focusing on containment and clean-up operations," it said.

It was not yet clear how much oil had been spilled into the water.

The tidal Scheldt river estuary is the main maritime access route to Antwerp port, along with several narrower canals primarily used for inland navigation. 

An AFP team on site saw around 15 stationary ships near the port entrance, though it was not possible to confirm if they were being kept out by the traffic shutdown.

Local media reported that the spill occurred during the refuelling of the container ship MSC Denmark VI.

The ship's operator, MSC, confirmed the vessel was involved in the incident but declined to provide additional information. 

"Our priority is safety," a spokeswoman for the company's Belgian office told AFP, adding that they were focused on safeguarding "the crew, the terminal, the nature". 

- Key gateway -

Citing a "risk of impact on nearby nature areas", the port said it was "doing everything possible to minimise both operational and ecological damage".

"We regret the impact of this incident on our port and the vulnerable nature areas along the Scheldt," the statement said.

The Pieter Coecke, a Belgian-flagged pollution control vessel, was operating in the area of the spill Friday, according to the Marine Traffic website.

Second only to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the Antwerp port on Belgium's north coast is a key gateway for goods coming into Europe from the United States, China and elsewhere.

Larger than 22,000 football fields, it handles transit each year of around 267 million tonnes of goods and is used by around 20,000 seagoing vessels and 50,000 inland vessels, according to its website.

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Inside an underground shelter at a hospital in the Israeli city of Haifa, a television screen flickers with images of Iranian missiles as doctors and midwives deliver Sarah Bird's third child.

"She's beautiful," a midwife says, placing the newborn in her mother's arms for a first kiss.

"She is!" exclaims Bird, 38, breaking into a broad smile.

Her husband Yitzhak, tense throughout, finally exhales, then explains that the couple will wait a week before choosing a name.

The couple had arrived just hours earlier at the Mount Carmel Medical Center and were taken straight to the facility's underground shelter, carved into the mountainside.

About 10 babies are born there each day, according to Clalit, Israel's main healthcare provider, which operates the hospital.

Since the war began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, 370 newborns have been delivered in the shelter.

Within hours of the initial strikes on Iran, major hospitals across Israel shifted to maximum emergency readiness, moving patients and critical departments underground. 

Operating theatres, intensive care units and even maternity wards have been relocated to protected subterranean spaces.

A fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran took effect on April 8, and no Iranian missiles have been fired at Israel since.

But in Haifa — still reeling from a strike on a residential building that killed four people days before the truce — sirens continue to wail.

Rocket fire from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, an ally of Tehran, has not stopped. Israel says Lebanon is not covered by the ceasefire and has continued strikes on its neighbour, which have left more than 300 people dead this week.

More than 20 rocket alerts sounded in northern Israel on Thursday alone, along the Lebanese border, after Hezbollah said it had fired multiple barrages.

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A cloud of small bubbles and a fishy gurgle announce the latest arrival at the "fish doorbell" in the Netherlands: a perch, recognisable by its dorsal fin and tiger-striped scales.

As the perch stares at the camera with globulous eye, thousands watching a livestream race to click a button that will open a lock separating the River Vecht from the canals of Utrecht, enabling the fish to glide through.

Open from March to June, the "fish doorbell" allows web users from all over the world to ease the path of perch, catfish, and eels -- a key need in the Netherlands where millions of fish find themselves blocked by locks, dykes and pumping stations.

"A number of species of fish migrate in spring to reproduce and they get stuck at all the obstacles," said Anne Nijs, who operates the doorbell along with the Utrecht authorities.

The quirky "fish doorbell" has shot to fame, even being featured on the US talk show "Last Week Tonight", with comedian John Oliver spending a full 10 minutes explaining it.

Nijs, 46, told AFP that there was a serious side to the doorbell, raising awareness of the man-made obstacles fish and other aquatic animals have to face on their life journey.

Before the doorbell was set up in 2021, fish would sometimes wait for weeks before passing through the lock, which is closed for much of the time.

As well as losing valuable reproduction time, the wait made them vulnerable to predators both from the water and the air, Nijs explained.

Now, every click sends a screenshot to her and her team, who decide when a critical mass is reached to ask the lock-keeper to open the doors.

"Sometimes 300 people ring the bell for one fish... it takes up a bit of time but it's one big positive project," she told AFP.

"Lots of people say that it's kind of slow TV to them, (it helps them to) calm down," she added.

- 'Inland waters' -

Despite its popularity, the fish doorbell is just a drop in the ocean.

The Dutch are world-famous for creating an intricate system of flood defences and dykes to shield the low lying country from rising sea levels.

The problem is that these barriers also block aquatic life, preventing several species from their natural migratory path or reaching cooler waters.

Like the fish doorbell, sometimes human intervention is the only solution.

For 12 years, the Dutch Foundation for A Sustainable Eel Sector (DUPAN) has organised the transport of millions of European eel fry into Dutch waters.

"They are coming here, but they cannot get into the inland waters where they grow," said Magnus van der Meer from DUPAN.

After wriggling across the Atlantic Ocean from their birthplace in the Sargasso Sea off the east coast of the US, the glass eels arrive in the cooler waters of Europe.

Many thrive in Portuguese or French waters, but thousands find themselves stuck trying to get into the Netherlands.

So DUPAN transports three million eels annually from France -- where they thrive -- to rebalance the Dutch population.

"Of course there should be another solution. It would be nice to offer the eel the opportunity to just come naturally inside the Dutch waters," the 70-year-old told AFP.

But as long as water levels are high, the Dutch need their defences, meaning "that solution will not be available in the near future," he added. 

Many of the eels will grow to adulthood, be fished and eventually eaten. Others however are released back into the sea to continue the migratory cycle.

Some might even make it to Utrecht and a webcam where from far away, the lock is magically opened for them.

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The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Saudi refinery shut -

French energy giant TotalEnergies said it had shut down a major refinery on the eastern Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia after it was damaged during the war.

The Saudi energy ministry had announced Thursday "multiple attacks" recently on its oil and gas sites, including the SATORP refinery, a joint venture owned by TotalEnergies and the Saudi state-owned Aramco group.

No details on production impacts, nor the type of attack, were disclosed.

- Israel air raid sirens -

Air raid alerts sounded across Israel, including in the commercial hub of Tel Aviv and the southern coastal city of Ashdod, after rocket fire from Lebanon.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but Israeli media reported that air-defence systems had intercepted at least one incoming rocket.

Earlier Friday, Hezbollah said it had launched three waves of rocket and drone strikes against Israeli soldiers on both sides of the border as well as a town in northern Israel.

- Iran leader issues new message -

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said in his latest written message that the Islamic republic did not want war with the United States and Israel but would protect its rights as a nation, state television reported.

"We will not renounce our legitimate rights under any circumstances, and in this respect, we consider the entire resistance front as a whole," he added, in an apparent reference to Lebanon, where Israel is fighting with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Khamenei has still not been seen in public since being appointed to succeed his father, late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the initial wave of US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

- Iran doing 'poor job' on Hormuz: Trump -

US President Donald Trump accused Iran of doing a "very poor job" of allowing oil through the Strait of Hormuz, and of breaching the terms of their fragile two-week ceasefire agreement.

"Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz," Trump said on his Truth Social platform. "That is not the agreement we have!"

- Trump warns against Hormuz tolls -

Trump also warned Iran against imposing a toll for ships passing through the key strait.

"There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait -- They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!" he said on Truth Social.

In a second message, Trump added: "Very quickly, you'll see Oil start flowing, with or without the help of Iran."

- Beirut evacuation order -

Israel's military warned residents of Beirut's southern suburbs, long a Hezbollah stronghold, of imminent strikes and called for them to evacuate.

The World Health Organization urged Israel to cancel the evacuation order, saying the district it intends to target is home to two hospitals.

The announcement came a day after Israel carried out its largest wave of strikes since the start of its war with Hezbollah on March 2, killing more than 300 people and wounding over 1,000, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

- Trump, Starmer seek 'practical plan' -

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Trump called "for a practical plan" to get shipping moving again through the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Iranian ceasefire, the UK leader's office said.

The two leaders "agreed that now there is a ceasefire in place and agreement to open the Strait, we are at the next stage of finding a resolution", according to Downing Street.

"The leaders discussed the need for a practical plan to get shipping moving again as quickly as possible," and agreed to speak again.

- Israel-Lebanon talks planned -

Israel and Lebanon will hold negotiations next week in Washington after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered direct talks, a US official said Thursday.

The negotiations will come soon after the United States and Iran are due to open talks in Pakistan.

Israel has said the Lebanon invasion, in which it is targeting Hezbollah, is not affected by the ceasefire between the United States and Iran.

But a Hezbollah lawmaker reiterated his group's rejection of any direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

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Pakistan is due to host talks between Iran and the United States in a bid to turn a fragile two-week ceasefire into a lasting end to a war that has roiled global energy markets.

Here are five things to know about the Islamabad talks:

- The war behind the talks -

On February 28, the US and Israel launched deadly coordinated strikes that killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei and struck Iran's military and nuclear infrastructure. More than 3,000 people were killed in Iran in five weeks, according to Iranian media and US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

Tehran responded by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil and gas passes, sending energy prices soaring and disrupting trade worldwide.

On April 8, the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan. The ceasefire is expected to expire April 22.

- Pakistan's unlikely starring role -

Pakistan's value as a mediator rests on an unusually broad diplomatic network. 

Iran was the first country to recognise Pakistan following independence in 1947, with the two neighbours sharing a 900-kilometre (560-mile) border and deep historical, cultural and religious ties. Pakistan is also home to over 20 million Shia Muslims: the second-largest such population in the world after Iran.

Islamabad has cultivated strong ties with Washington, Riyadh and Beijing. 

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar visited Beijing at the end of March for talks with Wang Yi, who backed Islamabad's mediation efforts as "in keeping with the common interests of all parties".

Trump himself told AFP that China helped bring Iran to the negotiating table, an account backed by Pakistani officials.

"On ceasefire night, hopes were fading, but China stepped in and convinced Iran to agree to a preliminary ceasefire," a senior Pakistani official familiar with the negotiations told AFP on condition of anonymity. 

- What's on the table? -

The gap between the two sides remains vast.

Washington's reported 15-point proposal centres on Iran's enriched uranium and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has countered with a 10-point plan demanding control over the strait, a toll for vessels crossing the strait, an end to all regional military operations and the lifting of all sanctions.

Lebanon is also a major sticking point. Israel continued its strikes in the country targeting Hezbollah -- after the ceasefire came into force -- with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's assertion that the truce included Lebanon.

US Vice President JD Vance appeared to take a softer tone, saying there may have been a "legitimate misunderstanding" from Iran that Lebanon would be included. 

Iranian sources have also told Iranian media that Tehran won't attend the talks unless a ceasefire is in place in Lebanon

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on X that Israel's strikes on Lebanon rendered the negotiations "meaningless".

Iran has also long refused to concede to Washington's demands on its nuclear programme. 

- Who are the negotiators? -

Vance will lead the American team, joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. 

It marks the most senior US engagement with Iran since Secretary of State John Kerry negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal. Witkoff held multiple rounds of Oman-mediated talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi before the war cut the process short.

Iran has not officially announced the composition of its delegation.

- Islamabad on lockdown -

The talks are being held in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

The government has kept its cards close to its chest without confirming the venue, but the Serena Hotel -- located next to the foreign ministry in the capital's high-security Red Zone -- asked its guests to clear out on Wednesday.

The same day authorities in the capital announced a two-day public holiday on Thursday and Friday.

The talks themselves are expected to be indirect: the two delegations sitting in separate rooms with Pakistani officials shuttling proposals between them, mirroring the format used in earlier Oman-mediated rounds. 

Outside, the streets of Islamabad are flooded with armed security personnel in military fatigues, traffic diversions and police checkpoints. The capital, already a quiet city, was even quieter on Friday.

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When the US-Israeli war with Iran began at the end of February, it was widely assumed that Moscow would be one of the conflict's key winners.

Higher oil prices, a distracted Washington and a sudden need for Western air defence systems in the Gulf were seen as a boost to Moscow's four-year invasion of Ukraine.

But in Kyiv, officials and analysts say a flurry of high-level visits by President Volodymyr Zelensky and the inking of security accords across the Middle East amount to a diplomatic coup that have given the embattled country outsized clout in a region recently seen as aligned with Russia.

"Ukraine is for the first time -- and to some countries' surprise -- acting as a state that can provide security services, that can, as experts say, export defence and security expertise," Volodymyr Fesenko, a respected political observer in Kyiv, told AFP.

That is a marked turnaround from 2022 when an under-equipped Kyiv went on bended knee to the United States and Europe to appeal for sophisticated air defence systems, advanced battle tanks, and as many artillery shells as they could get their hands on.

The rapid proliferation of drones has made many of those weapons less relevant, and spurred Ukrainian rag-tag arms producers to become global leaders in drone warfare and anti-drone systems. 

- 'Moscow extremely upset' -

Kyiv's forces neutralise hundreds of the Iranian-designed drones launched by Russia every day, and as Iran started firing off drones across the Middle East in retaliation for the US-Israeli attacks, Zelensky quickly deployed more than 200 of his anti-drone experts to at least four states.

Zelensky himself paid high-profile visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Syria -- becoming one of the first foreign leaders to visit the region during the war.

"Moscow is extremely upset with Ukraine's rapid strengthening of ties with the Gulf countries in the wake of Iranian air terror," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said on social media.

"They understand that Ukraine's unique experience has dramatically changed its role in the region," he added.

Sybiga said Russia and its close ally Iran had taken to spreading disinformation about Ukrainian anti-drone units to undermine Kyiv's diplomatic reach -- like that Iran had struck a depot housing Ukrainian anti-drone systems in the United Arab Emirates.

Despite Ukraine managing to give itself a surprise role in the conflict, the question remains what material benefit it can extract besides some good publicity.

"Frankly, in the Gulf countries you can simply ask for money," political analyst Taras Zagorodniy suggested to AFP in a telephone interview.

"This is a way to scale our own technologies and attract additional resources, because we need money to support our technologies and investments," Zagorodniy, Managing Partner of the National Anti-Crisis Group think tank, added.

Details of the defence agreements struck with several states in the region have not been made public.

Zelensky had previously proposed swapping Ukrainian drone warfare technology for the advanced air defence missile ammunition -- though that idea appeared to gain little traction.

- No 'breakthrough' -

The Ukrainian leader has also suggested that improved ties with the Gulf could help place broader pressure on Russia to halt its invasion. 

But analysts have warned that these overtures do not amount to a breakthrough -- yet.

For one, the impact of the two-week truce agreed between the United States and Iran is unclear. 

Zelensky has said Ukrainian anti-drone units will remain in the Middle East but the long-term demand for Ukrainian war tech remains in question.

The region has largely refrained from criticising Russia's invasion and has not hit Moscow with sanctions. Many states seek good relations with both sides to play a mediating role -- hosting talks or brokering the return of children.

"It is premature to speak of a breakthrough. This is not even a step -- rather a first cautious move in the right direction," former Ukrainian diplomat Vadym Triukhan wrote in a recent analysis.

To be a "game changer" for Kyiv, the pace of engagement needed to be kept up.

"If this tempo is not lost, then within a few months it will be quite realistic to reach multi-year, multibillion contracts," Triukhan wrote.

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