Suspect in Berlin ramming attack shot dead by police

The suspect in a vehicle ramming and stabbing attack on Saturday in Berlin was shot dead by police on Sunday evening, local police said in a statement.

Police said the suspect was located at around 6:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) in the Spandau district of Berlin. Preliminary findings indicated that the suspect ran toward police officers with a stabbing weapon, prompting officers to open fire.

On Saturday evening, a van was driven into a crowd near Berlin's Tiergarten park. The driver then attacked passersby with a weapon believed to be a machete, leaving one woman dead and 29 others injured. The incident occurred near the site of the city's Christopher Street Day pride parade.

Earlier on Sunday, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that the incident was suspected to be an "Islamist terrorist attack."

The suspect, born in 2005, is a German citizen of Lebanese descent, the minister said, adding that the suspect had a record of multiple offenses and radicalization, and had previously been sentenced by a German court to one year and 10 months in prison, which was suspended on probation.

Iran says exchange of messages with U.S. continues through mediators

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the United States is exchanging messages with Iran through mediators, including Pakistan and Qatar, according to Iranian media reports, citing his remarks in an interview with Austrian broadcaster ORF.

Baghaei stressed in the interview that for any dialogue to be formed, the "proper ground" must be prepared, noting that the United States has destroyed such a ground, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

He accused Washington of violating "all its provisions" in practice under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Iran and the United States.

The spokesman said Iran's current priority "is to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and protect its people against the war crimes that are being perpetrated by the United States."

Under the MoU signed on June 18, the United States and Iran were scheduled to hold talks within a period of 60 days to reach a final agreement, but the talks' fate is hanging in the balance following renewed clashes between the two over the past two weeks.

Spain battles largest recorded wildfire as nearly 100,000 affected

Wildfires continued to rage across central Spain on Sunday, with the blaze in Avila province becoming the largest on record in the country's history after burning around 50,000 hectares, according to authorities.

Spain's Third Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Ecological Transition Sara Aagesen said wildfires affecting the Madrid region and the provinces of Avila and Toledo had burned more than 77,000 hectares in total.

The Madrid region, Avila and Toledo have been the hardest-hit areas, with nearly 100,000 people evacuated or ordered to remain indoors across 46 municipalities. Another wildfire that broke out over the weekend in the eastern province of Castellon has affected more than 16,000 people in 18 municipalities.

Thousands of firefighters, supported by Spain's Military Emergency Unit (UME), firefighting aircraft and helicopters, continued battling the blazes on Sunday.

Houthi source says the group attacked 3 Saudi oil tankers

Yemen's Houthi group had targeted three Saudi oil tankers over the past 48 hours, a source within the group, cited by Lebanon-based broadcaster Al Mayadeen, said on Sunday.

The source said the attacks were part of efforts to enforce the group's maritime ban on Saudi shipping.

The source claimed that no Saudi tankers have passed through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea, since the blockade was imposed last Monday, alleging that "16 Saudi ships have been turned back and denied passage."

The claims could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities or the Saudi-led coalition.■