Reuters: World

Protests erupt as Armenia nears peace deal with Azerbaijan Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday that a peace treaty with Azerbaijan was close to completion, but that his country would not accept Baku's demands that it change its constitution. After Pashinyan made the comments, clashes broke out between police and demonstrators, the latest in a series of protests denouncing his policies, including the handing back of ruined villages to Azerbaijan, and demanding his resignation. read more

French conservatives' chief wants election deal with far right, in major shift The leader of France's conservative Republicans on Tuesday called for an alliance between his party's candidates and the far right National Rally in a snap parliamentary election - a political shift that will have wide repercussions. "We say the same things so let's stop making up imagined opposition," Eric Ciotti told TF1 television. "This is what the vast majority of our voters want. They tell us 'reach a deal'." Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration, eurosceptic National Rally (RN) is widely expected to emerge as the strongest force after President Emmanuel Macron unexpectedly called snap elections for June 30 and July 7, although it may fall short of an absolute majority. read more

Malawi president: all killed on plane carrying Vice President Chilima Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera said on Tuesday during an address to the nation that everyone on board the airplane carrying Malawi Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima that went missing on Monday had been killed. source

Far-right advances in EU election, France calls snap national vote Gains by the far-right in voting for the European Parliament on Sunday prompted a bruised French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap national election and added uncertainty to Europe's future political direction. While the centre, liberal and Socialist parties were set to retain a majority in the 720-seat parliament, the vote dealt a domestic blow to the leaders of both France and Germany, raising questions about how the European Union's major powers can drive policy in the bloc. read more

China says US provoking arms race in moves into South China Sea The U.S. poses the largest security challenge in the South China Sea as its military deployment there is turning it into "the whirlpool of an arms race", Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong said in remarks published on Sunday. Recent maritime run-ins between China and the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, have made the highly strategic South China Sea a potential flashpoint between Washington and Beijing. read more

India's president invites Modi to head new coalition government, swearing-in on Sunday Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that President Droupadi Murmu had invited him to form a government, as he promised his new coalition of 15 parties would strive for unanimity and emerge successful. Modi's comments came after he met Murmu and accepted her invitation to head the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)coalition government and run the world's most populous nation for the next five years. He said the new government would be sworn in on Sunday evening, which would make him prime minister for a historic third consecutive term. read more

Israeli forces batter central, south Gaza with renewed truce bid at impasse With no sign of progress in mediators' arduous efforts to broker a ceasefire in the Gaza war, Israeli tanks and warplanes blasted central and southern areas of the enclave overnight, killing at least 23 Palestinians, local medics said. Qatari and Egyptian mediators backed by the United States, have tried to halt hostilities, secure the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinians jailed in Israel, and get aid flowing into shattered Gaza to ease a humanitarian crisis. But sources close to the talks said there were no still signs of a breakthrough. read more

Gaza war: Hamas leader demands full end to conflict in blow to Biden plan The leader of Hamas said on Wednesday the group would demand a permanent end to the war in Gaza and Israeli withdrawal as part of a ceasefire plan, dealing an apparent blow to a truce proposal touted last week by U.S. President Joe Biden. Israel, meanwhile, said there would be no halt to fighting during ceasefire talks, and launched a new assault on a central section of the Gaza Strip near the last city yet to be stormed by its tanks. read more

Israel launches new military operation in central Gaza The Israeli military says it has taken “operational control” over eastern areas of Bureij refugee camp and the town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, as dozens of Palestinians were reported killed. On Wednesday morning, the military said troops backed by air strikes had begun an operation against “terrorists and terrorist infrastructure above and below ground". Residents reported intense bombardment and the charity Médecins Sans Frontières said at least 70 dead people - the majority women and children - had been brought to a local hospital since Tuesday. It came as US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators meet in Doha and Cairo to discuss how to finalise a new ceasefire and hostage release deal. read more

Iran's parliament speaker Qalibaf signs up for presidential race Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guards commander, on Monday announced he would run for president to succeed Ebrahim Raisi who died last month in a helicopter crash, state media reported. Qalibaf, who has unsuccessfully contested two presidential races and dropped out of a third to avoid splitting the hardline vote, signed up to run in the June 28 election despite being re-elected as parliament speaker last week. "If I don't present myself as a candidate, the work that we have started in the last few years to solve the people's economic problems and which is reaching fruition, would not be completed," Qalibaf told reporters. read more

Claudia Sheinbaum claims sweeping mandate to become Mexico's first female president Claudia Sheinbaum, a Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist, will become Mexico's first female president after winning a landslide election victory and promising to continue the work of her mentor and outgoing leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Sheinbaum, 61, secured between 58.3% and 60.7% of votes, according to the INE electoral institute's rapid sample count released late Sunday night, the most support won by a candidate in a Mexican presidential election since the end of one-party rule in 2000. read more

Biden details Gaza truce proposal, Hamas responds positively U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday laid out what he described as a three-phase Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza in return for the release of Israeli hostages, saying "it's time for this war to end" and winning a positive initial reaction from Hamas. The first phase involves a six-week ceasefire when Israeli forces would withdraw from "all populated areas" of Gaza, some hostages - including the elderly and women - would be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian civilians could return to their homes in Gaza and 600 trucks a day would bring humanitarian aid into the devastated enclave. read more