Pope Leo XIV appealed to the world's major powers for "no more war" in his first Sunday message to crowds in St. Peter's Square since his election as pontiff.

Voting was underway in the Philippines on Monday for a normally low-key midterm election that is showcasing an emotionally charged proxy battle between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and ally-turned-foe, Vice President Sara Duterte.

Hamas said it would release a US-Israeli hostage held in Gaza as the group revealed it was engaged in direct talks with the United States towards a ceasefire in the war-battered territory.

In the verdant suburb of Philadelphia, locals, professors and students reveled as Cardinal Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV on Thursday.

An April survey found that a majority of voters in the country of 110 million prefer candidates who assert Philippine sovereignty in the South China Sea, where the Marcos-led administration has taken a more assertive stance in its maritime confrontations with Beijing, which continue unabated.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine in the coming days but did not address a 30-day ceasefire proposal drawn up hours earlier by European allies of Kyiv, reportedly with US backing.

A unified framework on commercial arbitration may help enhance trade between ASEAN member states while also attracting more foreign investment, according to this year's bloc chair Malaysia, as the region faces uncertainties and tensions surrounding global trade and economy.

The fighting was touched off by an attack last month in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, which Delhi blamed on Islamabad.

The trade dispute, combined with US President Donald Trump's decision last month to impose duties on dozens of other countries, has disrupted supply chains, unsettled financial markets and stoked fears of a sharp global downturn.

Chinese state media Xinhua news reported that Xi expressed his country's support for Myanmar pursuing development "suited to its national conditions, safeguarding its sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national stability, and steadily advancing its domestic political agenda".

Both Moscow and Kyiv have hinted they are open to negotiating with each other, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says this would only be possible once a ceasefire takes effect.

The detained Indonesians had tried to enter Saudi Arabia for haj using a non-pilgrimage visit visa, for which they had paid around $9,000, according to the Indonesian Consulate General in Jeddah.

Leo, the first pope from the US, told cardinals in the Sistine Chapel that he hoped to be a "faithful administrator" for the entire Church, and added that the Church should identify itself through the holiness of its members and not "the grandeur of her buildings".

President Vladimir Putin, the longest-serving Kremlin chief since Josef Stalin, stood beside China's Xi Jinping, several dozen other leaders and Russian veterans on a roofed tribune beside Lenin's mausoleum as Russian troops marched past.

Trump is locked in a diplomatic row with South Africa over a land expropriation act that the Republican leader says will lead to the takeover of white-owned farms.

The new Leo XIV, who was born in Chicago, was entrusted by his predecessor Francis to head the Dicastery for Bishops, a key Vatican department that advises the pontiff on appointments.

"We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We can't control these countries, though," Vance said in an interview on Fox News show "The Story with Martha MacCallum."

"Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our country," said US President Donald Trump. "I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!"

Batik Air, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s largest low cost airline Lion Air, has temporarily suspended its flights to and from Pakistan’s Lahore and India’s Amritsar on Wednesday and Thursday amid recent escalating conflicts between the two countries.

Germany's new government on Wednesday said that it would reject most asylum seekers at its borders as conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz seeks to limit irregular immigration and curb the rise of the far-right.

Global temperatures were stuck at near-record highs in April, the EU's climate monitor said on Thursday, extending an unprecedented heat streak and raising questions about how quickly the world might be warming.

The Philippines criticized on Thursday a "high-risk" maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies.

A three-day ceasefire declared by Russia came into effect on Thursday morning with skies over Ukraine's major cities quiet, in a change from successive nights of heavy attacks by Russian drones and ballistic missiles.

Albanese said he will travel to Indonesia on May 14, the day after his government is sworn into office.

Thick black smoke emerged Wednesday from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in a sign that cardinals had failed to elect a new head of the Catholic Church in their first conclave vote.

The Foreign Ministry advises Indonesian nationals living in India and Pakistan to remain alert and avoid traveling to affected or potential target areas after Indian forces launched air strikes on Pakistani territory to avenge terror attacks that killed dozens in Indian Kashmir in late April.

President Prabowo Subianto has received letters of credence from eight new foreign ambassadors in a ceremony seen as an opportunity to strengthen Indonesia’s diplomatic relations with its closest partners.