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German auto giant Volkswagen's management meet Thursday to thrash out plans for what could be the biggest ever restructuring in the global auto industry, with unions set to protest any mass job cuts.

Hungary's lawmakers face a busy summer as Prime Minister Peter Magyar rushes to dismantle the political system built to cement Viktor Orban's hardline 16-year rule.

Living in a mountain village in northern Greece, retired furrier Dimitris Despas is no stranger to brown bear encounters -- the latest one in his garden just weeks ago.

Veteran politician Andy Burnham will take another step towards becoming the UK's next prime minister when nominations to replace Keir Starmer as Labour leader formally open on Thursday.

At least 100 animals, including alpacas, miniature pigs and zebras, escaped a zoo in southern China's Guangxi region after floods damaged their enclosures.

New Zealand is considering joining a defence alliance signed by Australia and Fiji, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Thursday.

New Zealand coach Dave Rennie on Thursday made five changes to his starting team for the Nations Championship Test against Italy, while shaking up his replacements bench.

Rookie Declan Meredith was named as the Australia starting fly-half Thursday to face France in Brisbane after Carter Gordon and Ben Donaldson were both ruled out with injuries.

Western Europe this year experienced its hottest June on record as a searing heatwave swept across a continent facing increasingly frequent and intense heat extremes, the EU's climate monitor said Thursday.

The United States and Iran traded strikes on Thursday for the second day running as Washington and Tehran battled over the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

After spending his career scrupulously avoiding being photographed, star Belgian fashion designer Martin Margiela has decided to open up and sell off part of his personal archives.

Australia has a "historic" chance to supply the uranium that could power India's nuclear energy transformation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday ahead of high-level talks.

The Pacific nation of Marshall Islands cited its history as a nuclear test ground as it criticized China's ballistic missile test that landed in the Pacific Ocean.

The US government's shock moves to restrict access to top artificial intelligence systems from Anthropic and OpenAI have sparked growing interest in open-source models -- especially ones from China.

South Korean chip giant SK hynix is expected on Thursday to set the price for its mega US listing that could be one of the world's largest stock sales.

Restrictions on children's use of social media in the European Union could come as early as this summer, as a long-awaited expert report next week is expected to recommend limiting minors' access to online platforms.

Oil prices extended their surge Thursday as Donald Trump said the US ceasefire with Iran was over and ordered fresh strikes against the country following attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Standing knee-deep in coastal waters, environmentalist Andrea Pimentel guides workers as they drive bamboo poles into the seabed to block sediment from choking the tidal channel sustaining a mangrove forest.

Graham Platner, a scandal-plagued Democratic Senate nominee whose insurgent rise had drawn comparisons to Donald Trump, ended his campaign Wednesday after a rape allegation threatened to derail one of his party's best chances of flipping a Republican-held seat.

The expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams has offered more of a chance to continents that were previously underrepresented at the tournament, but a glance at the quarter-final line-up tells a familiar tale.

Japan kept university student fly-half Ryunosuke Ito in their starting line-up named Thursday to face Ireland in the Nations Championship, as head coach Eddie Jones returns from suspension.

Morocco star Ismael Saibari will miss his team's World Cup quarter-final showdown with France, coach Mohamed Ouahbi confirmed on Wednesday.

Belgium meet Spain in the World Cup quarter-finals on Friday with the daunting task of breaching the European champions' watertight defence for the first time at the 2026 tournament.

US President Donald Trump ordered new strikes on Iran on Wednesday and warned of "much worse" if Tehran continues to attack vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil shipping channel.

A California man who swapped a library's 17th century Chinese manuscript for a fake was sentenced on Wednesday after admitting to stealing a major artwork.

Paris Saint-Germain's South Korea attacker Lee Kang-In is set to join Atletico Madrid in a deal worth almost 40 million euros ($45.7 million), a source told AFP on Wednesday.

The United States launched new strikes on Iran on Wednesday after President Donald Trump vowed to hit "hard" following Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

With its defiant strikes on ships, Iran is making a paradoxical and explosively high-risk calculation -- that it can boost its long-term deterrence through actions that invite new US attacks.

Taylor Swift fans have paid $25 for pieces of trash -- including cigarette butts and an ovulation test kit -- collected near the US pop queen's wedding to NFL star Travis Kelce.

Oil prices briefly soared back above $80 per barrel while stock markets slid Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump said Washington's ceasefire with Iran was over following renewed strikes in the Middle East.

Morela Luna anxiously awaits the arrival of a team of experts to inspect her partially collapsed home, where her neighbors had to rescue her after Venezuela's double earthquake on June 24 that has claimed more than 3,600 lives.

Meta said Wednesday it plans to build a $9 billion data center in western Canada's Alberta province, in what local officials called one of the largest private-sector investments ever in Canada.

Paris Saint-Germain's South Korea attacker Lee Kang-In is set to join Athletico Madrid in a deal worth almost 40 million euros ($45.7 million), a source told AFP on Wednesday.

England's Morgan Rogers backed Harry Kane to come out on top when he faces Norway's Erling Haaland in an enticing battle between the World Cup sharpshooters on Saturday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered a pistol as a gift to each of his fellow leaders who attended this week's NATO summit in Ankara, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday.

Some US Federal Reserve officials saw reasons to hike rates at the central bank's June policy meeting given elevated inflation on fallout from the Middle East war, minutes of the gathering showed Wednesday.

Investment Positions Nocera at the Intersection of the Global AI and Energy Infrastructure Build-Out, a Market Projected to Approach $7 Trillion by 2030

The United Nations launched an urgent appeal Wednesday for nearly $300 million towards Venezuela earthquake relief operations after the death toll from the disaster rose to more than 3,600 people.

China's test of a long-range submarine-launched missile is a stark demonstration of its growing military power at a time when US attention is primarily focused on the Middle East and the Iran war rather than Asia.