MADRID (AP) — Spain goes to the polls on Sunday for local and regional elections seen as a bellwether for a national vote in December, with the conservative Popular Party steadily gaining ground on the ruling Socialists in key regions.

Spain’s 17 regional governments, plus two autonomous cities, have enormous power and budgetary discretion over education, health, housing and policing. Twelve of them and the two cities will be contested on Sunday. Other key battles include the selection of mayors for the country’s two largest cities, Madrid and Barcelona.

BELGRADE, May 26 (Reuters) - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic placed the country's army on full combat alert and ordered its units to move closer to the border with Kosovo, the Tanjug news agency reported on Friday.

Vucic's orders came as Serbs in the northern Kosovo's municipality of Zvecan clashed with Kosovo police who were trying to help the newly elected ethnic Albanian mayor enter his office.

The local vote had been boycotted by Serbs who represent a majority in the area.

UNITED NATIONS, May 26 (APP): A legally-binding instrument that addresses the interests of all states would be the best option to deal with increasing cyber threats to international peace and security, Pakistan has told a UN Security Council’s “Arria-Formula” meeting.

“Cyber attacks are taking place with an increased intensity across the entire spectrum of our social, economic and political domains, with devastating impact on critical infrastructure and societies,” Ambassador Aamir Khan, deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, said on Thursday.

SEOUL, May 26 (Reuters) - South Korean police on Friday detained a man who opened a door of an Asiana Airlines (020560.KS) plane minutes before it was due to land in the city of Daegu, causing panic among the passengers, officials said.

The Airbus A321-200 plane landed safely at around 12:40 p.m. (0340 GMT). It had set off from the holiday island of Jeju an hour earlier, the airport's flight schedule showed.

Nine passengers, all teenagers, were sent to hospital after suffering breathing issues, a Daegu fire department official said.

MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/: Russia has a bright future, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, pointing to the country’s enormous resources.

"As for the future, everyone actually has a future but the key question is what kind of future it will be. I am confident that Russia has a bright future. First, because we know what we want and what means to use to achieve our goals. Second, we have enormous resources, primarily human resources," the head of state said at a meeting with members of the Business Russia organization.

25 May 2023; MEMO: Egypt has deferred payments for its large wheat purchases, in some cases by months, according to a government official and traders, as the country grapples with a shortage of hard currency, Reuters reports.

Egypt is one of the world's biggest wheat importers and uses the purchases to make heavily subsidised bread, a politically sensitive benefit available to tens of millions of people.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — The two children squinted to see through the thick smoke that hung in the air after a deafening blast shook their small home in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

The pair, ages 9 and 10, called out for their father. Only eerie silence followed.

Then Olha Hinkina and her brother, Andrii, rushed to the bomb shelter, as they had been taught. When the booms stopped and the smoke cleared, they found their father on the porch — motionless and covered in blood after being struck by a Russian projectile.

CAIRO (AP) — Saudi Arabia and the U.S. said Friday the warring sides in Sudan’s conflict are adhering better to a week-long ceasefire following days of sporadic fighting.

The truce, brokered by Riyadh and Washington, went into effect Monday, but fighting continued in Khartoum and the western Darfur region. Particularly intense clashes flared up on Wednesday, the two countries said in a joint statement.

ZVECAN, Kosovo, May 26 (Reuters) - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic placed the country's army on full combat alert and ordered army units to move closer to the border with Kosovo on Friday, after protesters and police clashed in a majority Serb town in the neighbouring country.

"An urgent movement (of troops) to the Kosovo border has been ordered," defence minister Milos Vucevic said in a live TV broadcast. "It is clear that the terror against the Serb community in Kosovo is happening," he said.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian man was shot and killed on Friday after infiltrating a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said.

In a statement, the military said the man tried to stab a resident in the Tene Omarim settlement and was shot by an armed civilian. It said the infiltration had set off an alarm and soldiers were scanning the area.

The Palestinian Health ministry confirmed the death but gave no further details.

MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/: A peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia may be signed in the foreseeable future, but in the end, what matters most is not when it is inked but that all issues are resolved, Russian presidential press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday.

BAGHDAD, May 26 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi political leaders, met yesterday, with visiting Czech Foreign Minister, Jan Lipavsky, to discuss bilateral ties and economic cooperation.

During a meeting with a delegation led by Lipavsky, Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, lauded the Czech role in supporting efforts of the Iraqi security forces, in combatting terrorism, the media office of the prime minister said, in a statement.