COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) -- A verdict is expected Thursday in the case of an Iranian-born Norwegian man who is charged with terrorism in a 2002 attack at an LGBTQ+ festival in Oslo, Norway, in which two people were killed and nine seriously wounded at three locations. Read More

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A Japanese climber has died while descending one of the highest mountains in northern Pakistan, the third death of a Japanese on the mountain in less than a month, officials said Thursday. Read More

• Liam Wright is Australia’s seventh skipper in past year
• Tom Lynagh follows father’s footsteps in first Test

The Wallabies have named a first-time captain and seven debutants in the squad to take on Wales in the first Test in Sydney as a new era begins under head coach Joe Schmidt. The raft of changes mean that only five Australians – as well as three Welsh starters – remain from the last time the sides met, when Wales thrashed the Wallabies 40-6 during last year’s Rugby World Cup.

The new-look Australian squad will have their seventh captain in the past year with Liam Wright named to lead Schmidt’s first Test team since replacing Eddie Jones as coach. The blindside flanker has captained the Queensland Reds since 2020 and will lead his country for the first time in the Wallabies’ opening Test of the year on Saturday night.

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© Photograph: Matt King/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Matt King/Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are attending the summit of a security grouping created by Moscow and Beijing to counter Western alliances

© Sputnik

Voters in the U.K. are casting their ballots in a national election to choose the 650 lawmakers who will sit in Parliament for the next five years

© Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday attended the summit of a security grouping created by Moscow and Beijing to counter Western alliances. Read More

Voters in the U.K. are casting their ballots in a national election to choose the 650 lawmakers who will sit in Parliament for the next five years. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak surprised his own party on May 22 when he called the election, which could have taken place as late as January 2025. Read More

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- On his way to the Kyiv train station to greet his wife and daughter returning from Poland to Ukraine, Oleksander Tryfonov made a stop. Read More

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- Scientists in South Africa have been stunned to discover that termite mounds that are still inhabited in an arid region of the country are more than 30,000 years old, meaning they are the oldest known active termite hills. Read More

BENGALURU, India (AP) -- Months of scorching temperatures sometimes over 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in parts of India this year -- its worst heat wave in over a decade -- left hundreds dead or ill. But the official number of deaths listed in government reports barely scratches the surface of the true toll and that's affecting future preparations for similar swelters, according to public health experts. Read More

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- After the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, Iranian lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian wrote that it was "unacceptable in the Islamic Republic to arrest a girl for her hijab and then hand over her dead body to her family." Read More

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- As Iran's runoff presidential election nears, comments by an official in the campaign of reformist Masoud Pezeshkian raised the possibility of his government increasing government-set gasoline prices -- a move that has sparked nationwide protests in the past. Read More

Many Americans weren't letting worries about their pocketbooks keep them from traveling and enjoying fireworks as they celebrate their nation's birth with parades, cookouts and fiery splashes of colors against the evening sky. Read More

NEW YORK (AP) -- The annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest will see a slate of competitive eaters wolf down as many franks as they can in New York City on Thursday -- but this year, the event's biggest star will be chowing down 1,900 miles (3,000 km) away. Read More

LONDON (AP) -- British voters are picking a new government Thursday, voting in a parliamentary election that is widely expected to bring the Labour Party to power against a gloomy backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust in institutions and a fraying social fabric. Read More

General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in penalties to the federal government because 5.9 million of its older vehicles do not comply with emissions and fuel economy standards.

Wrexham star striker Paul Mullin is set to miss the start of the new season after undergoing “minor spinal surgery.”

NEW YORK (AP) -- Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. But despite its age, the vitality and fleet-footed movement of Kurosawa's epic is still breathtaking. Read More

WASHINGTON -- A defiant President Joe Biden vowed Wednesday to keep running for re-election, rejecting growing pressure from Democrats to withdraw after a disastrous debate performance raised questions about his readiness to keep campaigning, much less win in November. Read More

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A 68-year-old tourist from New Zealand was struck and killed by a car during a botched robbery at an upscale mall in a popular Southern California beach city south of Los Angeles, police said. Read More

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- An Italian Air force precision demonstration team made a colorful green, white and red flight over the Las Vegas Strip on Wednesday as part of a North American tour headed to Los Angeles and Huntington Beach, California, for the U.S. Independence Day holiday. Read More

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- A California man was convicted of murder with a hate crime enhancement Wednesday for the 2018 stabbing death of a gay University of Pennsylvania student. Read More