WORLD

Voting has been suspended in two municipalities in southern Mexico due to a spike in violence, authorities said Saturday, just one day before the country elects a new president.

Mohammed Al-Najjar, a 33-year-old Gazan, said Saturday he was "shocked" and feeling "lost" as he returned home, only to find much of Jabalia refugee camp in ruins after an Israeli offensive "All the houses have been reduced to rubble," Najjar told AFP in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv Saturday to demand acceptance of a ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden, with many fearing the premier would reject the proposal.

It was predicted to go badly but turned out to be worse: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa led the ANC to its worst election result since the end of apartheid, one which threatens his survival.

Netanyahu's statement came after Biden announced that Israel had proposed a three-phase deal for a ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for Hamas releasing hostages.

A series of diplomatic setbacks, strong condemnation of a recent Gaza strike, and intense protests on Western campuses have left Israelis feeling their country is unfairly isolated.

Zelenskyy will deliver an in-person speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, considered Asia's premier defense summit.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Saturday at a Singapore security forum, as he seeks to rally support for Kyiv while a Russian offensive gains ground.

India's gruelling heatwave is set to abate soon but that was no consolation to housewife Bindwasvini Devi, one of the millions braving Saturday's scorching sun to vote in the final day of national elections.

South Africa's ruling ANC awaited the imminent confirmation on Saturday that it had lost its three-decade-old absolute majority and would have to find allies if it is to remain in power.

Israeli forces hammered Rafah in southern Gaza with tanks and artillery Saturday, hours after US President Joe Biden said Israel was offering a new roadmap towards a full ceasefire.

Iceland goes to the polls Saturday in a presidential election that looks set to be a close race between three women, including former prime minister Katrin Jakobsdottir.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday the Asia-Pacific region remained a "priority" for Washington, saying the United States was secure "only if Asia is".

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Friday urged members to commit to providing Ukraine at least 40 billion euros ($43 billion) a year in military aid, seeking to ensure long-term support as war with Russia grinds on.

US President Joe Biden said Friday that Israel had offered a new roadmap towards a permanent peace in Gaza, urging Hamas to accept the surprise deal as it was "time for this war to end."

A prominent Islam critic was among several people wounded in a knife attack Friday in Germany denounced as "terrible" by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The US Federal Reserve's favored measure of inflation remained unchanged in April, according to government data published Friday, as services prices remained elevated.

Genevieve de Galard, a nurse dubbed the "Angel of Dien Bien Phu" for treating wounded during a defining 1954 battle in then French Indochina, has died aged 99, with President Emmanuel Macron on Friday hailing her "exemplary devotion".

Proponents of the bills say the expanded parliamentary powers are needed to curb corruption, but critics fear the laws could weaken self-ruled Taiwan's democracy against the influence of China -- which claims the island as part of its territory.

North Korea sent around 260 balloons carrying bags of trash -- including waste batteries, cigarette butts and what appeared to be manure -- from Tuesday night to Wednesday, according to Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff, which condemned the move as "low-class" and inhumane.

The United States and China will resume military-to-military communications "in the coming months", U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday, as Beijing hailed the "stabilizing" security relations between the countries.

Evergrande was once China's biggest real estate firm, a powerhouse in a sector that helped propel the country's rapid economic growth during recent decades.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis on Friday threatened to escalate attacks on Red Sea shipping after overnight strikes by the United States and Britain killed 16 people, according to rebel media.

Israeli forces on Friday struck targets across the Gaza Strip, with witnesses reporting air raids around the southern city of Rafah, the latest focus of the nearly eight-month war.

Gutted buildings, vacant windows and blocks bombed to rubble show the price paid by the western Myanmar town of Pauktaw for victory against the junta in the country's civil war.

North Korean state media on Friday released images of leader Kim Jong Un supervising tests of a multiple rocket launcher system, a day after Seoul accused Pyongyang of firing a volley of short-range ballistic missiles.

In a small Cambodian town near the banks of the Mekong River, law student Oeun Bunthav tenses his slender torso and steels himself for an elbow strike to his head.

Russia is using North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine, a new Pentagon report says, citing debris analysis to confirm long-standing allegations that Pyongyang has been sending weapons to Moscow.

Russian strikes killed three people in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the regional governor said early Friday, hours after the United States authorised Kyiv to use American weapons to hit targets inside Russia in defence of the embattled region.