BERLIN (AP) -- The Swifties are about to take over the German city formerly known as Gelsenkirchen, where American superstar Taylor Swift is set to give three Eras Tour concerts later this month. Read More

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index closed Thursday at a fresh record high of 40,913.65, pushing past its most recent record close set in March on heavy buying of automaker and technology shares. Read More

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- A Japanese hairstylist has been sentenced to 17.5 years in prison and 20 strokes of the cane in Singapore for what the judge described as a "brutal and cruel" assault and rape of a drunk student five years ago, his lawyer said Thursday. Read More

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- A spokesperson for Ukraine's military said its army has retreated from a neighborhood in the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region which has been reduced to rubble under a months-long Russian assault. Read More

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Philippine forces will defend themselves with "the same level of force" if they come under assault again from China's coast guard in the disputed South China Sea, where Chinese personnel armed with machetes and spears injured Filipino navy personnel and damaged two of their boats in a chaotic faceoff last month, the Philippine military chief said Thursday. Read More

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) -- The suspect in the attempted assassination in May of Slovakia's populist prime minister, Robert Fico, is now facing terror charges as part of an investigation by authorities, the country's prosecutor general said Thursday. Read More

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

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

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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

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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

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