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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranians voted Friday in a runoff presidential election between a hard-line former nuclear negotiator and a reformist lawmaker, with both men trying to convince a skeptical public to cast ballots after years of economic woes and mass protests roiling the Islamic Republic. The race between hardliner Saeed Jalili and Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and longtime member of parliament, comes after a first round of voting saw the lowest turnout ever for an Iranian election, leaving turnout Friday a major question. Meanwhile, wider tensions have gripped the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In April, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israel over the war in Gaza, while militia groups that Tehran arms in the region — such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels — are engaged in the fighting and have escalated their attacks. Iran also continues to enrich uranium at near weapons-grade levels and maintains a stockpile large enough to build several nuclear weapons, should it choose to do so. And while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remains the final decision-maker on matters of state, whichever man ends up winning the presidency could bend the country's foreign policy toward either confrontation or collaboration with the West. A heavy security presence could be seen on the streets of Tehran on Friday, as crowds appeared light at dozens of polling places. State television broadcast scenes of modest lines at polling centers around the country. Jalili and Pezeshkian voted in southern Tehran, home to many poor neighborhoods, in a bid to boost turnout. Although Pezeshzkian came out on top in the first round of voting on June 28, Jalili has been trying to secure the votes of people who supported hard-line parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who came in third and later endorsed the former negotiator. One voter, 27-year-old Yaghoub Mohammadi, said he voted for Jalili in both rounds. "He is clean, without depending on powerful people in the establishment," Mohammadi said. "He represents those who have no access to power." Voter Samira Sharafi, the 34-year-old mother of a toddler, said she voted for reformist Pezeshkian, despite having voted for Qalibaf in the first round. She described him as "more experienced" than Jalili. There have been calls for a boycott, including from imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, although potential voters in Iran appear to have made the decision not to participate last week on their own as there's no widely accepted opposition movement operating within or outside of the country. State television broadcast images of modest lines at select polling places around the country as polls opened Friday. As has been the case since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women and those calling for radical change have been barred from the ballot while the vote itself will have no oversight from internationally recognized monitors. Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, who is in charge of overseeing the election, announced all the polls had opened at 8 a.m. Khamenei cast one of the election's first votes from his residence, television cameras and photographers capturing him dropping the ballot into the box. "I have heard that people's enthusiasm is more than before," Khamenei said. "God willing, people vote and choose the best" candidate. However, Khamenei on Wednesday said that those who didn't vote last week weren't against the country's Shiite theocracy. "There are reasons behind this matter which should be examined by sociologists and those involved in politics," he said. More than 61 million Iranians over the age of 18 are eligible to vote, with about 18 million of them between 18 to 30. Elections are scheduled to end at 6 p.m., but traditionally get extended until midnight to boost participation. Friday's election marks Iran's second presidential runoff since 1979. The first came in 2005, when hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad bested former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Under Ahmadinejad, Iran faced international sanctions over its advancing nuclear program, as well as the 2009 Green Movement protests and the crackdown that smashed them. Pezeshkian's supporters have been warning Jalili will bring a "Taliban"-style government into Tehran, while Jalili has criticized Pezeshkian for running a campaign of fearmongering. The election comes after 63-year-old President Ebrahim Raisi died in a May 19 helicopter crash that also killed the country's foreign minister and others. He was seen as a protege of Khamenei and a potential successor as supreme leader. Still, many knew him for his involvement in the mass executions that Iran conducted in 1988, and for his role in the bloody crackdowns on dissent that followed protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by police over allegedly improperly wearing the mandatory headscarf, or hijab.

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MOSCOW — The Kremlin on Thursday said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia next Monday and Tuesday and hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The visit was first announced by Russian officials last month, but the dates have not been previously disclosed. Russia has had strong ties with India since the Cold War, and New Delhi's importance as a key trading partner for Moscow has grown since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China and India have become key buyers of Russian oil following sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies that shut most Western markets for Russian exports. Under Modi's leadership, India has avoided condemning Russia's action in Ukraine while emphasizing the need for a peaceful settlement. The partnership between Moscow and New Delhi has become fraught, however, since Russia started developing closer ties with India's main rival, China, because of the hostilities in Ukraine. Modi on Thursday skipped the summit of a security grouping created by Moscow and Beijing to counter Western alliances. Modi sent his foreign minister to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at its annual meeting in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana. The meeting is being attended by Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Indian media reports speculated that the recently reelected Modi was busy with the Parliament session last week. Modi last visited Russia in 2019 for an economic forum in the far eastern port of Vladivostok. He last traveled to Moscow in 2015. Putin last met with Modi in September 2022 at a summit of the SCO in Uzbekistan. In 2021, Putin also traveled to New Delhi and held talks with the Indian leader. Tensions between Beijing and New Delhi have continued since a confrontation in June 2020 along the disputed China-India border in which rival troops fought with rocks, clubs and fists. At least 20 Indian troops and four Chinese soldiers were killed. After his reelection to a third straight term. Modi attended the G7 meeting in Italy's Apulia region last month and addressed artificial intelligence, energy, and regional issues in Africa and the Mediterranean. In the early 1990s, the Soviet Union was the source of about 70% of Indian army weapons, 80% of its air force systems and 85% of its navy platforms. India bought its first aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, from Russia in 2004. It had served in the former Soviet Union and later in the Russian navy. With the Russian supply line hit by the fighting in Ukraine, India has been reducing its dependency on Russian arms and diversifying its defense procurements, buying more from the U.S., Israel, France and Italy.

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JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Friday it was conducting counterterrorism activity that included an airstrike in the area of the West Bank city of Jenin. Palestinian authorities said five people were killed. The military said Israeli soldiers had "encircled a building where terrorists have barricaded themselves in" and the soldiers were exchanging fire, while an airstrike had "struck several armed terrorists" in the area. The Palestinian Health Ministry said five people died but did not provide any information on their identities. No further details were immediately available from either side. The clashes in Jenin, a known militant stronghold where the army frequently operates, came a day after an Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group said the government plans to build nearly 5,300 new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank. The construction plans revealed by the Peace Now group are part of the hard-line government's efforts to beef up settlements as part of a strategy of cementing Israel's control over the West Bank to prevent a future Palestinian state. The Palestinians seek the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — for an independent state. Violence has spiraled in the West Bank since the start of Israel's war in Gaza, sparked by the October 7 raid into southern Israel by Hamas militants who killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 others as hostages. The war has so far killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, Gaza's Health Ministry says. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count, but it includes thousands of women and children. Cease-fire talks appeared to be reviving after stalling for weeks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Thursday he was sending negotiators to resume the talks, a day after Hamas handed mediators its latest response to a U.S.-backed proposal for a deal. The revival of negotiations appeared to mark another attempt by U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators to overcome the gap that has repeatedly thwarted a deal over the past months. Hamas wants an agreement that ensures Israeli troops fully leave Gaza and the war ends, while Netanyahu says the war cannot end before Hamas is eliminated. Israeli negotiators are expected to arrive in Doha, Qatar's capital, for the talks as early as Friday, with American, Egyptian and Qatari officials present.

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TULUM/CANCUN, Mexico — Mexico's top tourist destinations were on red alert as Hurricane Beryl strengthened to a Category 3 storm on Thursday evening after leaving behind a deadly trail of destruction across several Caribbean islands. Beryl was packing winds up to 185 kph as it bore down on the Yucatan peninsula's eastern coast early Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), which warned of a dangerous storm surge and damaging waves. Mexico's civil protection agency issued a "red alert" and asked people to stay in their homes or at storm shelters as it neared popular coastal tourist spots like Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, Tulum and Puerto Morelos. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged people in the storm's path to take shelter after the meteorological service forecast heavy to torrential rains that could trigger landslides and flooding. "No hesitating. Material things can be recovered. The most important thing is life," the president wrote on social media. The storm churned past the Cayman Islands earlier on Thursday after belting Jamaica with winds that tore apart buildings and uprooted trees. Authorities say at least 11 people have so far died from the storm across Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and in northern Venezuela. The toll could rise as communications are restored and more reports come in from islands devastated by flooding and powerful winds. The entire state of Quintana Roo, home to Mexico's top tourist destination Cancun, was bracing for the storm, Governor Mara Lezama said in a video posted on X. "Let's take all measures of prevention and care because the winds and rains will be felt throughout the state. At this time no one should be away from home," Lezama said. At Cancun international airport, at least 100 flights were canceled Thursday as tourists scrambled to catch the last ones out. Stragglers perused the beach in Cancun on Thursday evening as winds began picking up. In nearby Playa del Carmen, police blocked off beach entrances with yellow caution tape to dissuade visitors ahead of Beryl's arrival. The unusually fierce, early season hurricane was about 145 kilometers east-southeast of the Mexican beach resort of Tulum, according to the NHC. Earlier on Thursday, officials in the Cayman Islands issued the all-clear after the storm spared them the worst. Beryl had weakened Thursday after skirting Jamaica's southern coast late on Wednesday as a powerful Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. "We're happy to be alive, happy that the damage was not more extensive," said Joseph Patterson, a beekeeper in the southwestern Jamaican town of Bogue. He described felled power lines, roads blocked with debris and "tremendous damage" to farms. There were two deaths in Jamaica related to the storm, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in an interview on CBC on Thursday. Some 70% of the National Water Commission's 400,000 customers were without water, a company representative said. Still, most Jamaicans were "giving thanks," Holness said, after having "escaped the worst." Beryl was forecast to dump 10-15 centimeters of rain on Mexico's Yucatan through Friday, with as much as 25 centimeters in some places, the NHC said. The hurricane center expects the storm to weaken rapidly as it crosses the peninsula early Friday, but is seen getting stronger again when Beryl moves over the Gulf of Mexico. The storm is expected to move toward northeastern Mexico and southern Texas late in the weekend, the NHC said. Tourists beware On Thursday, around 3,000 tourists were evacuated from island getaway Isla Mujeres back to the mainland near Cancun, the island's tourism director Jose Magana said. Fisherman Jose Martin was one of several who docked his boat in Cancun ahead of Beryl's arrival. "It affects us a good deal because, first, we can't work, and second, we need to find shelter, so it's not good," Martin said. Schools in the state of Quintana Roo were closed Thursday and Friday. Mexico's defense ministry opened around 120 storm shelters in the area. Residents in Tulum lined up at gas stations to fill their tanks and additional containers, while hotels and tourist complexes removed loose furniture and equipment. Beryl is the 2024 Atlantic season's first hurricane and at its peak was the earliest Category 5 storm on record. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an "extraordinary" storm season this year. Scientists say human-caused climate change is fueling extreme weather. Mexico's major oil platforms, most of which are clustered around the southern Gulf of Mexico's shallow waters, are not expected to be shut down or otherwise affected. Offshore oil projects to the north, in U.S. territorial waters, could be hit, according to the hurricane's expected trajectory.

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LONDON — Britain’s Labour Party swept to power Friday after more than a decade in opposition, official results showed, as a jaded electorate appeared to hand the party a landslide victory but also a mammoth task of reinvigorating a stagnant economy and dispirited nation. Labour leader Keir Starmer will officially become prime minister later in the day, leading his party back to government less than five years after it suffered its worst defeat in almost a century. In the brutal choreography of British politics, he will take charge in 10 Downing St. hours after the votes are counted – as Conservative leader Rishi Sunak is hustled out. "A mandate like this comes with a great responsibility," Starmer acknowledged in a speech to supporters, saying that the fight to regain people’s trust "is the battle that defines our age." Speaking as drawn broke in London, he said Labour would offer "the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger though the day." Sunak conceded defeat, saying the voters had delivered a "sobering verdict." Labour's triumph and challenges For Starmer, it's a massive triumph that will bring huge challenges, as he faces a jaded electorate impatient for change against a gloomy backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust in institutions and a fraying social fabric. "Nothing has gone well in the last 14 years," said London voter James Erskine, who was optimistic for change in the hours before polls closed. "I just see this as the potential for a seismic shift, and that’s what I’m hoping for." Anand Menon, professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King’s College London, said British voters were about to see a marked change in political atmosphere from the tumultuous "politics as pantomime" of the last few years. "I think we’re going to have to get used again to relatively stable government, with ministers staying in power for quite a long time, and with government being able to think beyond the very short term to medium-term objectives," he said. Britain has experienced a run of turbulent years — some of it of the Conservatives’ own making and some of it not — that has left many voters pessimistic about their country’s future. Britain’s exit from the European Union followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine battered the economy, while lockdown-breaching parties held by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff caused widespread anger. Johnson’s successor, Liz Truss, rocked the economy further with a package of drastic tax cuts and lasted just 49 days in office. Rising poverty and cuts to state services have led to gripes about "Broken Britain." While the result appears to buck recent rightward electoral shifts in Europe, including in France and Italy, many of those same populist undercurrents flow in Britain. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has roiled the race with his party’s anti-immigrant "take our country back" sentiment and undercut support for the Conservatives, who already faced dismal prospects. The exit poll suggested Labour was on course to win about 410 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons and the Conservatives 131. With a majority of results in, the broad picture of a Labour landslide was borne out, though estimates of the final tally varied. The BBC projected that Labour would end up with 410 seats and the Conservatives with 144. Conservative vote collapses as smaller parties surge Even that higher tally for the Tories would leave the party with the fewest seats in its nearly two-century history and cause disarray. The result is a catastrophe for the Conservatives as voters punished them for 14 years of presiding over austerity, Brexit, a pandemic, political scandals and internecine Tory conflict. The historic defeat leaves the party depleted and in disarray and will likely spark an immediate contest to replace Sunak as leader. In a sign of the volatile public mood and anger at the system, some smaller parties picked up millions of votes, including the centrist Liberal Democrats and Farage’s Reform UK. Farage won his race in the seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea, securing a seat in Parliament on his eighth attempt, and Reform has won four seats so far. The Liberal Democrats won many more than that on a slightly lower share of the vote because its votes were more efficiently distributed. In Britain's first-past-the-post system, the candidate with the most votes in each constituency wins. Labour was cautious but reliable Hundreds of seats changed hands in tight contests in which traditional party loyalties come second to more immediate concerns about the economy, crumbling infrastructure and the National Health Service. Labour did not set pulses racing with its pledges to get the sluggish economy growing, invest in infrastructure and make Britain a "clean energy superpower." But the party's cautious, safety-first campaign delivered the desired result. The party won the support of large chunks of the business community and endorsements from traditionally conservative newspapers, including the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun tabloid, which praised Starmer for "dragging his party back to the center ground of British politics." Conservative missteps The Conservative campaign, meanwhile, was plagued by gaffes. The campaign got off to an inauspicious start when rain drenched Sunak as he made the announcement outside 10 Downing St. Then, Sunak went home early from commemorations in France marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Several Conservatives close to Sunak are being investigated over suspicions they used inside information to place bets on the date of the election before it was announced. Sunak has struggled to shake off the taint of political chaos and mismanagement that’s gathered around the Conservatives. In Henley-on-Thames, about 65 kilometers west of London, voters like Patricia Mulcahy, who is retired, sensed the nation was looking for something different. The community, which normally votes Conservative, may change its stripes this time. "The younger generation are far more interested in change,’’ Mulcahy said. "But whoever gets in, they’ve got a heck of a job ahead of them. It’s not going to be easy."

JERUSALEM — The Israeli government has approved plans to build nearly 5,300 new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank, a monitoring group said Thursday, the latest in a campaign to accelerate settlement expansion, aimed at cementing Israeli control over the territory and preventing the establishment of a future Palestinian state. Word of the decision emerged as diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the nine-month war in Gaza appeared to be stirring back to life after a weekslong hiatus. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had decided to send negotiators to resume negotiations. A day earlier, the militant Hamas group handed mediators its latest response to a U.S.-backed proposal for a deal. Fighting intensified between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, with the militant group saying Thursday it fired more than 200 rockets and exploding drones into northern Israel to avenge the killing of a senior commander in an Israeli airstrike the day before. Months of exchanges have literally set the Israeli-Lebanese border ablaze and raised fears of a potentially even more devastating war in the Middle East. Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks if there is a cease-fire between Hamas — a fellow Iran-backed ally — and Israel. Israel's turbocharged settlement drive threatens to further stoke tensions in the West Bank, which has seen a surge in violence since the war in Gaza began on October 7. The Israeli anti-settlement monitoring Peace Now said the government's Higher Planning Council had approved or advanced plans for 5,295 homes in dozens of settlements across the West Bank. It also "legalized" three informal outposts as new neighborhoods of existing settlements in the Jordan Valley and near the city of Hebron. On Wednesday, Peace Now said Israel approved the largest seizure of land in the West Bank in over three decades. COGAT, the Israeli defense body that oversees the planning council, referred questions to Netanyahu's office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Netanyahu’s government is dominated by settlers and their supporters. The hard-line nationalist finance minister, Bazalel Smotrich, himself a settler, has been put in charge of settlement policy and has said his rapid expansion drive is in part intended to ensure a Palestinian state cannot be created. In an escalation over past months, settlers have carried out more than 1,000 attacks on Palestinians, causing deaths, damaging property and in some cases prompting Palestinians to flee villages. The Palestinians seek the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza – areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war – for an independent state. The new housing approvals could also rankle Israel’s ally, the United States, which speaks out against settlements, though it has done little to pressure Israel on the issue. Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday that the number of Palestinians killed by Israel’s campaign in Gaza had climbed past 38,000. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count. The war began when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on October 7 into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting another 250 people. The revival of cease-fire talks appeared to mark another attempt by U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators to overcome the gap that has repeatedly thwarted a deal over the past months. Hamas wants a deal that ensures Israeli troops fully leave Gaza and the war ends; Netanyahu says the war cannot end before Hamas is eliminated. Israeli negotiators are expected to arrive in Doha, Qatar's capital, for the talks as early as Friday, with American, Egyptian and Qatari officials present. A senior Biden administration official said the White House viewed the resumption of negotiations as a "breakthrough" that "moves the process forward" while cautioning that there is still much work to do. Netanyahu spoke earlier on Thursday with President Joe Biden. Netanyahu's office said he told Biden that Israel is committed "to finish the war only after achieving all of its objectives" — a reference to the twin war goals of rescuing hostages and destroying Hamas. Biden made clear to Netanyahu that "it’s time to bring the deal to closure," said the administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the 30-minute call. The U.S. has rallied world support behind a plan for a phased cease-fire in Gaza that calls for the release of all hostages still held by Hamas in return for a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. So far, neither side appears to have fully embraced it. Last month, Hamas suggested "amendments" to the proposal, some of which the U.S. said were unworkable. Talks ground to a halt. After the U.S. put forward a new version, Hamas said Wednesday it sent a new response to Egypt and Qatar. Hamas political official Bassem Naim said the group "responded with some ideas to bridge the gap" between the two sides, without elaborating. For his part, Netanyahu has given conflicting stances — he has said Israel is committed to the proposal outlined by Biden in a May 31 speech. But in a TV interview last month, he said he was only prepared to make a "partial deal," and would continue the war "after a pause." At its core, the U.S. proposal calls for a three-phase process. The first phase would bring a cease-fire, a pullback of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, older people and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. After some hostages were released during a November cease-fire, militants still hold around 80 hostages and the remains of 40 others. During the 42 days of phase one, the parties would negotiate the terms of phase two. The negotiations are meant to lead to a "sustainable calm" and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza – with the release by Hamas of all remaining male hostages in return for an Israeli release of Palestinian prisoners. The third phase would see the return of the remains of hostages. The transition from the first to the second phase has appeared to be the main sticking point. Hamas is concerned that Israel will restart the war after the first phase, perhaps after making unrealistic demands in the talks. Israeli officials have said they want the negotiations to lead to Hamas’ removal from power in Gaza — a provision not spelled out in the proposal. They have also pushed for a time limit on negotiations to keep pressure on Hamas and prevent it from drawing out talks and the initial cease-fire. The U.S. administration official indicated that Hamas has moved from its position demanding guarantees of a permanent cease-fire to begin the three-phase deal. Hamas' response indicates that there is a "decent understanding of what would have to happen" to move from phase one to phase two, the official said.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Keir Starmer will be Britain's next prime minister with his Labour Party set to win a massive majority in a parliamentary election, an exit poll on Thursday indicated, while Rishi Sunak's Conservatives are forecast to suffer historic losses. President Joe Biden admitted in a radio interview that he "screwed up" his presidential debate against Republican candidate former President Donald Trump. We talk to political consultant Matt Klink of Klink Campaigns. And the United States celebrates its independence in the annual 4th of July festivities.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.