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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to meet with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, hoping to build a personal relationship despite discord over Ukraine and the threat of a trade war.

Scottish Premiership club Rangers on Thursday confirmed the appointment of former Southampton boss Russell Martin as their new head coach on a three-year deal.

A Russian drone slammed into a residential house in central Ukraine overnight Thursday, killing three members of one family, including a one-year-old baby, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies goes on trial in Paris on Thursday over allegations of misleading climate claims, an unprecedented "greenwashing" case against a fossil fuel firm in France.

Shares enjoyed a healthy run Thursday after soft US economic data boosted expectations the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates and put the focus on key jobs figures coming at the end of the week.

After Vietnam removed its two-child limit, pharmacy worker Nguyen Thi Nguyet Nga says she still has no plans to have more kids, since she barely has time to see her daughters or the money to provide them a good life.

Namibia's Gerswin Mouton has experienced a path less trodden by most professional rugby players, but that will count for nothing as he aims to help fire Grenoble to the French Top 14 on Saturday.

The Indonesian government is allowing environmental damage including deforestation and violations against Indigenous people to go unchecked around a multi-billion dollar industrial park on a once-pristine eastern island, a report said Thursday.

In Permet, deep in the spectacular Vjosa Valley of southern Albania, roses rule supreme, whether used to make perfumes, flavoured water or the Turkish delights sought out by thousands of sweet-toothed tourists.

Alarmed by the fact that Turkish women are having fewer children, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has moved to tackle falling birthrates -- "a threat greater than war" -- through policies designed to bring on the babies.

US defence chief Pete Hegseth on Thursday pushed NATO to agree a deal on ramping up defence spending that can satisfy President Donald Trump at a summit later this month.

An American man and two Kazakh nationals face the death penalty for alleged drug crimes on the popular Indonesian resort island of Bali, authorities said Thursday, the latest cases in a nation with some of the world's toughest narcotics laws.

Twenty years ago, British sci-fi author Charles Stross plunged readers into a head-spinning tale of mind uploading, the dismantling of the solar system and inhuman artificial intelligence masquerading as a cat.

Virat Kohli said he was lost for words after celebrations of a dream IPL title turned to tragedy when 11 mainly young cricket fans were crushed to death in Bengaluru.

Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla blasts off into space next week as the first Indian to join the International Space Station (ISS), bearing with him New Delhi's dreams of its own manned space flight.

US President Donald Trump's tariff blitz, persistent growth worries and slowing inflation are expected to prompt eurozone rate-setters to lower borrowing costs again on Thursday.

Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl scored the game-winning goal with 31 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Oilers over Florida 4-3 in Wednesday's opening game of the NHL Stanley Cup Final.

Gamers on Thursday finally got their hands on Nintendo's new Switch 2 console, which could score record early sales for the Japanese "Super Mario" creator.

US defence chief Pete Hegseth will seek on Thursday to drive home a deal on ramping up NATO defence spending that can satisfy President Donald Trump at a summit later this month.

Burundi votes for a new parliament on Thursday but with little risk of an upset after the main opposition was effectively barred from running.

Hundreds of protesting Myanmar tribespeople march up a hillside to a cavernous facility where a Chinese joint venture's giant milling machines stand ready to grind up the rocks of their ancestral homeland for lead ore.

Asian shares mostly rose Thursday after soft US economic data boosted expectations the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates and put the focus on key jobs figures coming at the end of the week.

The European Union will Thursday unveil a new roadmap on marine conservation -- addressing climate and pollution threats to biodiversity as well as challenges for coastal livelihoods -- ahead of a UN summit on preserving the world's seas.

Muslim pilgrims prayed atop Mount Arafat on Thursday during the high point of the annual hajj pilgrimage, as Saudi officials called on participants to refrain from being outside during the hottest hours of the day.

Athletes at next year's Asian Games in Japan will stay on a "floating village" cruise ship and in converted shipping containers, an organising official told AFP, defending the cost-cutting move.

As the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha approaches, Fatima Kharraz can't seem to find the usual sense of celebration after drought-stricken Morocco urged people to forego the traditional sheep sacrifice this year.

President Donald Trump ramped up his campaign against top US universities Wednesday, banning visas for all foreign students coming to attend Harvard and threatening to strip Columbia of its academic accreditation.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to "unconditionally support" Russia in its war in Ukraine and said he expected Moscow to emerge victorious, Pyongyang's state media said Thursday.

Elon Musk has a long way to go before colonizing Mars, but the controversial billionaire already has his own city on a flat patch of Texas, where giant, experimental Starship rockets roar over the incongruous sight of dolphins -- and some skeptical human neighbors.

More than 31,000 people were under evacuation across Canada on Wednesday as firefighters battled raging wildfires threatening towns and villages, authorities said.

A US- and Israeli-backed group operating aid sites in Gaza pushed back the reopening of its facilites set for Thursday, as the Israeli army warned that roads leading to distribution centres were "considered combat zones".

US President Donald Trump signed a new travel ban Wednesday targeting 12 countries including Afghanistan, Iran and Yemen, reviving one of the most controversial measures from his first term.