South Korea ruling party wins election with parliamentary majority

South Korea and the US are sending a signal to North Korea, which had fired eight short-range missiles a day prior.

The industry association representing 32 petrochemical companies in South Korea said the average daily ex-factory shipments of their member companies had plunged by 90% due to the strike, now in its seventh day. The 22,000-strong union is protesting against soaring fuel prices and demanding minimum pay guarantees.

Joe Biden is set to travel to Israel on July 13 before heading to the occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia. The trip's announcement comes despite pledges to side-line the "pariah" Saudi state.

Burkina Faso's leader, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba traveled to Seytenga on Wenesday to visit people who survived an attack that reportedly killed over 100 people over the weekend. Soldiers have recovered 79 bodies so far after the attack in the northern Seno province, the government said on Tuesday, as new details of the assault emerged.

Hundreds demonstrated in Tunis on Sunday (June 19) in a second day of protest against a constitutional referendum called by President Kais Saied that his opponents say would cement his hold on power. The demonstration was organized by the Salvation Front, a coalition including the moderate Islamist Ennahda, the largest party in a parliament that Saied dissolved in March.

Marcos Jr. has given himself the position of secretary of agriculture ahead of taking his presidential office and amid prohibitively high global prices. The Philippines is heavily reliant on importing its staple — rice.

French politics continues to dominate the papers as Emmanuel Macron desperately seeks an alliance to secure a parliamentary majority. The US Senate finds bipartisan support for new gun possession laws for the first time in 30 years. Organisers of the Miss France beauty pageant introduce radical new changes to shake up the contest. Finally, a man escapes his kidnappers by driving erratically on a highway in order to be stopped by authorities.

Colombians have elected a new president. Gustavo Petro, 62, is set to become the first leftist in the country's top job. The former rebel of the now defunct M-19 movement beat millionaire businessman Rodolfo Hernandez in Sunday's election. Petro will take the oath of office in August, replacing the deeply unpopular Ivan Duque. For analysis, we speak to Gerard Martin, a political sociologist based in Medellin, Colombia.

Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Friday.

Ecuador's president has accused Indigenous protesters of attempting a coup. Clashes between protesters and security forces have left six people dead, and six of the country's 24 provinces are under a state of emergency.

Protests led by Indigenous groups have continued for nearly two weeks, as parliament begins a no-confidence vote against President Guillermo Lasso. The state of emergency imposed in some parts has been repealed.

GuardianTV speaks to a few Nigerian celebrities about which entertainer can possibly be the President and Vice President of Nigeria.