Reuters World News Summary

Two officials with knowledge of the talks said that under a U.S. proposal for a truce, Israel would allow the return of 150,000 Palestinians to north Gaza with no security checks. Biden welcomes 'global partner,' Japan's Kishida, at White House summit U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will showcase a strong and growing partnership during a White House state visit on Wednesday focused on joint defense cooperation to deter an aggressive China.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

South Korea opposition set for big win in legislative election in blow to Yoon

South Korea's main opposition party and its allies were projected to win a majority in Wednesday's elections for the country's legislature, exit polls showed, in what would mark a significant blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol. A joint poll released by broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS estimated that the opposition Democratic Party (DP) and its minor allies could secure between 183-197 seats in the single-chamber, 300-seat parliament, and Yoon's conservative People Power Party (PPP) and its affiliates would win 85-100.

Israel and U.N. disagree over Gaza aid figures

Israel has accused the United Nations of undercounting aid entering Gaza, saying on Wednesday the U.N. was using a flawed approach meant to conceal its own distribution difficulties, amid growing pressure on Israel to let in more relief supplies. While Israel says the number of trucks entering Gaza has risen sharply in recent days, the U.N. has given much lower figures, and says it is still far less than the amount required to meet humanitarian needs.

The losing battle against Greece's tumbling birthrate

Army sergeant Christos Giannakidis was planning to have a second child when Greece's debt crisis exploded last decade, straining his finances and erasing hope of extending the family.

One son is expensive enough, he says, especially the cost of ferrying him around his remote corner of northeastern Greece where the number of children has plummeted in recent years.

Floods swamp swathes of Russia and Kazakhstan but worse still to come

Floods engulfed cities and towns across Russia and Kazakhstan on Wednesday after Europe's third-longest river burst its banks, forcing over 110,000 people to evacuate and swamping parts of the Russian city of Orenburg. The deluge of melt water overwhelmed scores of settlements in Russia's Ural Mountains, Siberia, Volga and areas of Kazakhstan after major rivers such as the Ural, which flows into the Caspian, rose more 70 cm (2 foot 3 inches) beyond its bursting point to over 10 metres.

Israel would let 150,000 Gazans return north in potential truce, officials say

Israel has agreed in Gaza war ceasefire talks in Egypt to concessions about the return of Palestinians to the north of the enclave, but believes Islamist group Hamas does not want to strike a deal, Israeli officials said on Wednesday. Two officials with knowledge of the talks said that under a U.S. proposal for a truce, Israel would allow the return of 150,000 Palestinians to north Gaza with no security checks.

Biden welcomes 'global partner,' Japan's Kishida, at White House summit

U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will showcase a strong and growing partnership during a White House state visit on Wednesday focused on joint defense cooperation to deter an aggressive China. The summit kicks off with an official arrival ceremony on the White House South Lawn, followed by a closed-door meeting, a joint news conference planned for the Rose Garden, a state dinner and a performance by musician Paul Simon.

China's Xi says nobody can stop 'family reunion' with Taiwan

Chinese President Xi Jinping told former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou on Wednesday that outside inference could not stop the "family reunion" between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and that there are no issues that cannot be discussed. Since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists, no serving Taiwanese leader has visited China.

EU lawmakers vote on migration system revamp ahead of bloc's election

European lawmakers are holding a vote on Wednesday on a revamp of the bloc's migration system that the pro-EU political centre casts as a proof of its viability against the far right ahead of the bloc's parliamentary election in June. It promises to cut the times for security and asylum procedures, and increase returns to reduce unwanted immigration from the Middle East and Africa, a high priority on the EU's agenda.

Gazans live on memories of past Eid festivals as war ruins special day

Palestinians visited the graves of loved ones killed in the Gaza war and prayed beside the wreckage of a mosque and in shattered streets as the devastating conflict cast a pall over the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Millions of Muslims around the world are observing Eid, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, with festivities, feasts and family gatherings.

Are Iranian drones turning the tide of Sudan's civil war?

A year into Sudan's civil war, Iranian-made armed drones have helped the army turn the tide of the conflict, halting the progress of the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Force and regaining territory around the capital, a senior army source told Reuters. Six Iranian sources, regional officials and diplomats- who, like the army source, asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the information - also told Reuters the military had acquired Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the past few months.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)