World powers resume crisis talks with Iran on Monday amid hope that a crippling oil embargo and pressure from hosts Russia will finally force the Islamic Republic to scale back its nuclear drive.

The two-day meeting follows a bruising May session in Baghdad during which Iran nearly walked out of negotiations aimed ultimately at keeping it from joining the exclusive club of nations with an atomic bomb.

Head of Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc MP Mohammed Raad said on Sunday that Hizbullah hopes dialogue will lead to “a methodology that guides Lebanese towards the state principle”, pointing out that rational solutions are “necessary to preserve the security of the North.”

During a memorial ceremony in the southern town of Kafra, Raad said that “dialogue is a permanent necessity because it fortifies Lebanon, and contributes to finding appropriate solutions to the crises that beset our country.”

Egypt's ruling military council is to stay in control of legislation and the budget in the absence of a parliament, even as the country prepares to announce a new president, military sources told Agence France Presse Sunday.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which took power when president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in an uprising last year, is set to issue an amended constitutional declaration, consolidating its powers just hours before Egypt wraps up a divisive presidential election to pick Mubarak's successor.

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired eight mortar shells at Israeli troops on the other side of the border fence on Sunday but no soldiers were injured, an Israeli army spokeswoman told Agence France Presse, after two Palestinians were injured by Israeli army fire.

She said that troops returned fire at militants in the central part of the enclave.

The two rockets, apparently fired from Sinai, which landed near towns in the deep south of Israel were linked to the Egyptian presidential election, a senior Israeli security source told AFP on Sunday.

"The rockets fired at Israel over the weekend were a one-off and carried out by those who wanted to influence the Egyptian presidential election," he said referring to militant groups in the Sinai.

Bomb blasts damaged five churches in four cities in Nigeria's northern Kaduna state on Sunday, injuring dozens of worshippers and leading to an immediate curfew, officials said.

The number of casualties in the blasts in the neighboring cities of Zaria and Kaduna and in the southern Christian-dominated Nassarawa and Barnawa was not immediately clear. Police and the military cordoned off the areas.

Two Palestinians were shot dead by an Israeli truck driver after they tried to steal his vehicle in the south Hebron Hills on Sunday morning, Israeli police said.

Palestinian officials confirmed the two deaths but had no information about the circumstances of the shooting which took place at the Shani junction near Al-Samua, in the southernmost part of the West Bank.

The Lebanese Forces’ candidate for al-Koura by-elections Fadi Karam announced on Sunday his electoral program, which emphasized the importance of the freedom and sovereignty of the state.

He said during a press conference: “Along with my colleagues in the LF, I believe in the rise of a democratic nation ... and an army who weapons cannot be overshadowed by any other.”

Saudi Arabia wants to buy 600-800 Leopard battle tanks from Germany, more than twice as many as originally envisaged, the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported, quoting government sources.

Thus far, reports had said the Saudis wanted to purchase around 300 Leopard-2 tanks, Germany's main battle tank which is also produced under license in Spain.

Bombings in Iraq killed five people and wounded 34 others on Sunday, security and medical officials said, after a bloody week that cost the lives of more than 100 people.

A car bomb targeting an army patrol killed one soldier and wounded three others in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, army Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed al-Obaidi from the Anbar Operations Command said.