The premier's announcement late Wednesday comes as the country starts to feel the impact of the Middle East war on global fuel supplies.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned the economic shocks of the war in the Middle East would be felt for months and encouraged citizens to take public transport in a rare address to the nation on Wednesday.

A China-born accused scam boss was extradited from Cambodia, Chinese state media said Wednesday, linking him to an alleged kingpin indicted by the US for running a multibillion-dollar cyberscam network from the Southeast Asian nation.

A Russian tanker full of crude oil has entered Cuban waters and was expected to reach port on Monday, possibly granting a lifeline to Cuba as US President Donald Trump appeared to relax a de facto oil blockade on the Caribbean island.

Organizers said "at least 8 million people gathered today at more than 3,300 events across all 50 states," from big cities and small towns. US authorities provided no national crowd estimate.

Two sailboats carrying humanitarian aid to crisis-hit Cuba reached Havana on Saturday after disappearing during a longer-than-expected journey from Mexico that triggered a search-and-rescue operation.

His administration has opened up negotiations with elements of Cuba's leadership in recent weeks, while Trump himself has hinted that kinetic action could be possible.

Trump described the alliance as a "paper tiger" and said removing the United States from the defence pact was now "beyond reconsideration," the newspaper reported. He said he had long held doubts about NATO's credibility.

"I think there's no doubt, unfortunately, after this conflict is concluded, we are going to have to reexamine that relationship. We're going to have to reexamine the value of NATO in that alliance for our country," Rubio said to host Sean Hannity on Fox News.

Pope Leo said on Sunday that God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have "hands full of blood", in unusually forceful remarks as the Iran war entered its second month.

In an evening speech from the White House, Trump broke little new ground on how the war would end and vowed two to three weeks further of "extremely hard" strikes against Iran.

"We will not pay any toll as what may have been misunderstood by some netizens online. We're not paying anything," Fahmi Fadzil, who is also communications minister, told a regular press conference.

The two countries outlined a joint initiative "for restoring peace and stability in the Gulf and Middle East region", after a visit from senior Pakistani officials to Beijing.