President Lee Jae Myung's Democratic Party won 12 of 16 metropolitan mayor and governor races in a landslide, while the conservative People Power Party held Seoul and three other seats.
Beijing's coast guard ran 'law-enforcement patrols' in waters east of Taiwan, framing it as protecting sovereignty. Taiwan and its partners describe the near-daily incursions as coercive military pressure.
After Philippine and US forces held joint drills near Scarborough Shoal, China's military ran combat-readiness patrols there. Manila warns of a possible Chinese build-up; Beijing calls the patrols lawful defence of its territory.
As the International Court of Justice hears Guyana's case to affirm its century-old border, Venezuela pressed its claim — swearing in a governor for the disputed Essequibo — and a Guyanese soldier was wounded in a river border shooting.
The Sudanese Armed Forces pushed to retake Kurmuk and nearby areas in Blue Nile state from the paramilitary RSF, which controls much of Darfur after seizing el-Fasher — a takeover a UN mission said bore 'hallmarks of genocide.'
India's interior minister ordered the demolition of unauthorised buildings within 15km of the Pakistan border and a 'zero-tolerance' crackdown on infiltration, a year after the neighbours' worst conflict in decades.