Australia Live Blog

Citizens in France's overseas territories began going to the polls on Saturday, and expatriates in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere have already begun to vote on Sunday.

Polls on the mainland are due to open at 8:00am local time (06:00 GMT), and will close 12 hours later at 8:00pm (18:00 GMT). We'll bring you all the latest, as it happens, from our teams on the ground.

Preliminary results are due as soon as polls close. French news media laws forbid the publishing of opinion polls and vote forecasts on the day of voting, but the estimates released at the close of polling by the French government have historically been accurate.

In the meantime, catch up on all things election-related on our France Votes spotlight page, and follow Yasmine Ryan, Al Jazeera's online correspondent in Paris, on Twitter.

Tsunami watch issued for the following countries:

Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, Maldives, British Indean Ocean territories, Malaysia, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Madagascar, Iran, Uae, Yemen, Comores, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Islands, South Africa, Singapore

The earthquake off the coast of Aceh has been downgraded to 8.7

Protestors stormed Syria's Australian embassy and trashed its lower level, police said on Sunday.

Police said a "number of men forced entry" to the Syrian embassy in Canberra on Saturday evening and "caused extensive damage to the ground floor" of the building.

Three diplomatic staff present at the time barricaded themselves in a back room according to media reports, which said as many as 40 people were involved in overrunning the embassy.

Police were alerted to the incident by a phone call from embassy staff but said the group dispersed before officers arrived.

"We are obviously concerned about it and three staff members from the embassy were present when the men forced entry. However, no one was injured," said superintendent Mick Calatzis.

The attack on the embassy follows similar incidents in Athens, Berlin, Cairo, Kuwait and London. [AFP]

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said nuclear North Korea was the single most armed military zone anywhere in the world and it was at a critical juncture.

"Two critical points need to be emphasised at this important time," he said.

"The first is that all governments, including the government of North Korea, should at this time be exercising maximum calm and restraint both in terms of what they do and in their diplomatic signalling.

"It is at times like this that we cannot afford to have any wrong or ambiguous signalling.

"This time also presents an important opportunity to the new North Korean leadership to engage fully with the international community on how to improve their economy in order to properly feed their people and critically on how to deal with the outstanding problem of North Korea's nuclear weapons programme."

Rudd said Canberra would remain in close contact with allies in the region in the days and weeks ahead, with the leadership transition "uncertain".

"The political succession in North Korea is uncertain," he said.

"It will be difficult to read in the immediate days ahead precisely what will transpire in terms of the future of the North Korean leadership."

Kim's youngest son Kim Jong-Un, who Rudd said was 28, is seen as the heir apparent. [AFP]