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Airlines blocked flights to Israel Wednesday after a Gaza rocket struck near airport runways, as the UN chief urged an end to a conflict that has killed 639 Palestinians and 31 Israelis. As the violence entered its 16th day, neither Israel or Islamist movement Hamas appeared willing to end hostilities, despite days of diplomatic efforts to coax them into a truce. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on a visit to Tel Aviv, appealed on Tuesday for the bitter rivals to "stop fighting" and "start talking.".

By Jonathan Thatcher and Kanupriya Kapoor JAKARTA (Reuters) - Joko "Jokowi" Widodo was declared the winner of Indonesia's presidential election on Tuesday, bringing the promise of major reforms to the world's third largest democracy. The Elections Commission, known as KPU, said the Jakarta governor had won by just over six percentage points, with 53.15 percent of the nearly 130 million votes cast on July 9. It was the closest and most bitterly fought election in Indonesia's history, pitting Jokowi against former general Prabowo Subianto, whose promise of strong leadership brought echoes of decades under autocratic rule. "This victory is a victory for all the people of Indonesia," the president-elect told hundreds of supporters gathered at a port on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, chosen to emphasize his commitment to Indonesia's maritime potential.