BEIJING, Oct 14 (Reuters) - China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken by phone on Saturday on the crisis in Israel and Gaza, a statement from his ministry said.

"China calls for the convening of an international peace conference as soon as possible," the statement read, while warning that "the Palestinian-Israel conflict is escalating and risks getting out of control".

Wang told Blinken that "China opposes all acts that harm civilians and condemns practices that violate international law".

14 October 2023; AA: Voting has ended in New Zealand's general elections and the counting of ballots has begun, the country's election authority said on Saturday.

"Preliminary results will be released progressively throughout the night," said the Electoral Commission.

Thousands of New Zealanders on Saturday cast their ballots to elect representatives to parliament from 19 political parties.

Voting opened at 9 a.m. local time Saturday (2000GMT on Friday) and closed at 7 p.m. (0600GMT).

LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in central London on Saturday, calling for an end to Israel's military action in the Gaza Strip which was triggered by last weekend's rampage in Israel by the Hamas militant group.

Protesters, many of them waving Palestinian flags and signs saying "Free Palestine," gathered close to Oxford Circus from where they planned to head to Downing Street, the official residence and office of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

TEL AVIV, October 14. /TASS/: The Israeli army’ strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip are "just the beginning," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"We are responding to our enemies with great force, with unprecedented force. I would like to point out that it’s just the beginning. Our enemies have just begun to pay. I will not go into detail of what will come next, but I will say that it is just the beginning," Netanyahu said in a televised address to the nation.

13 October 2023; MEMO: The White House stated, on Friday, that Israel’s call for more than one million people in Gaza to evacuate to the south is a “tall order”, Anadolu Agency reports.

"That’s gonna be a tall order, given how densely populated it is, given that it’s a scene of combat" said National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, in an interview with MSNBC.

BEIRUT, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli drone on Saturday morning launched several missiles toward an armed group at a border point in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.

The unnamed sources added that the drone flew for several minutes along the borderline and then launched several air-to-surface missiles towards the axis of Hunin Hill in the central sector of the border area.

Initial information indicated that the drone targeted three armed individuals trying to approach the border fence separating Lebanon and Israel on this axis.

MANAUS (Brazil), Oct 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Manaus, the largest city in Brazil’s Amazonas state, has for days been engulfed by a toxic cloud of smoke from forest fires lit by what the government labeled “criminals”.

The city of nearly two million people has been forced to cancel some public events including a marathon.

The fires in the Amazon have produced a blanket of grey smoke over the capital of the northern state of Amazonas since Wednesday.

Air quality in the city is among the worst in the world, according to the World Air Quality Index.

BEIJING, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Saturday his message to Chinese officials on a Beijing visit had been that Brussels takes China seriously and expects the same in return on geopolitical issues and trade.

"Cooperation is very much important," Borrell told a press conference ending a three-day visit that had twice been postponed.

"Europe takes China very, very seriously," he said. "We also expect to be considered not through the lens of our relationship with others, but in ourselves."

JERUSALEM, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Israel's military said on Saturday it killed two Hamas commanders who were behind the cross-border deadly rampage into Israel a week ago.

The military said it killed Merad Abu Merad, who was the head of the Hamas aerial system, and Ali Qadi, a company commander of a commando force.

UNITED NATIONS, October 14. /TASS/: Moscow suggests that the UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East, according to a Russia-proposed resolution.

The document says that it is possible to ensure a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict only through peaceful means. Russia called for an immediate and long-term ceasefire that all parties would respect.

A Russia-proposed United Nations Security Resolution made available to TASS calls for an immediate release of hostages.

Sihanoukville, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) --The BRI is not only an international cooperative platform promoting global governance and win-win cooperation with mutual benefits, but also an international public good contributing to Cambodia's economic and social development, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wentian said.

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been ushering in a new chapter for the China-Cambodia ironclad friendship, providing tremendous benefits to both sides, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wentian said on Friday.

SOFIA, Oct 14 (NNN-XINHUA) — Bulgaria’s four-month-old government led by Nikolai Denkov on Friday survived a no-confidence motion filed by the opposition parties.

The motion was backed by 71 deputies of the ultra-nationalist Revival party, a coalition led by Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the There Is Such People (ITN) party, while 143 deputies voted against it in the 240-member Parliament.

The opposition filed the motion on Oct. 5 over the government’s green transition plans.