Ankur Desai

Our LA correspondent Shama Khalil was at a landing watch party at the Columbia Memorial Space Center and told us about the moment the capsule splashed down safely.

Before we let you go, is this something that will inspire the next generation of astronauts?

Is that the sense that you're getting in terms of the increased appetite for civilian space travel in the future?

Shama Khalil reporting.

Next, final preparations are being made in Pakistan for historic talks between the US and Iran, which could pave the way for a lasting peace, or if they fail, lead to a return to major conflict in the Middle East.

The US delegation is being led by the Vice President, J.D.

Vance.

Before flying to Islamabad, he made the American position clear.

The fact that the two sides will be meeting face to face is significant enough.

But big hurdles remain.

No sooner had Mr Vance taken to the skies than Iran demanded preconditions for the talks in Islamabad.

And of immediate concern for the global economy is whether Iran will allow more oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

From Islamabad, our Pakistan correspondent Caroline Davies sent this report.

Driving around the city is increasingly difficult, particularly the closer you get to the red zone, the area where the embassies and Pakistan's government buildings are based.

Caroline Davies reporting.

Well, our chief international correspondent, Lise Doucette, is also in Islamabad.

After some doubt as to whether the Iranians would show up, their planes touched down here in Islamabad, and it has brought a very senior delegation, including the foreign minister, the secretary of the defence council, central bank governor, some leading MPs,

And most importantly, Iran's parliamentary speaker, a former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Bagher-Ghalibaf, who's a hardliner who's regarded as a pragmatist.

So he's meant to lead the talks with that U.S.

delegation, which is now on its way.