Firefighters on Thursday discovered the body of an elderly man after extinguishing a wildfire near a village in western Turkey, while crews elsewhere continued to battle another blaze that closed a highway and forced some residents to be evacuated from their homes.

The 81-year-old-man died from smoke inhalation in a village near the town of Odemis, Suleyman Elban, the governor for Izmir province, said. His death marks the first fatality in a series of wildfires across the country that have forced thousands to flee.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin said they will speak by phone Thursday, their sixth publicly disclosed chat since Trump returned to the White House this year.

Trump said in a social media post the call will take place at 10 a.m. EDT. Neither leader offered any immediate details on the topic.

The Western Balkans faces a severe drought after a heatwave hit the region, disrupting daily life and creating issues with agriculture and power.

Temperatures on Thursday in central Albania reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and meteorologists warned there would be scarce rain until September. Rivers are almost dry due to a lack of rainfall during winter and spring.

"Don't Look Back in Anger" is good advice for the Britpop band Oasis, who launch their surprising reunion tour this week in Cardiff, Wales.

Led by brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, the reunion marks the end of the siblings' long-held feud, one that led to Oasis disbanding in 2009. For many fans, this news is almost too good to be true. They're anxiously awaiting whether the Gallaghers will indeed make it through the entire run of international dates and even perhaps extend the reunion.

Atletico Madrid continued boosting its squad by signing midfielder Álex Baena from Villarreal on Wednesday.

The transfer was announced a day after Atletico said it signed 22-year-old Italian left back Matteo Ruggeri from Atalanta. Both have signed five-year contracts. Financial details were not immediately disclosed.

Reaction to the deaths of Liverpool player Diogo Jota and his brother, André Silva, in a car accident in Spain:

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American contractors guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza are using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press.

Two U.S. contractors, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were revealing their employers' internal operations, said they were coming forward because they were disturbed by what they considered dangerous and irresponsible practices. They said the security staff hired were often unqualified, unvetted, heavily armed and seemed to have an open license to do whatever they wished.

A Kurdish militant group that has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkey announced Thursday its fighters in northern Iraq will begin handing over their weapons, marking the first concrete step toward disarmament as part of a peace process.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, announced in May it would disband and renounce armed conflict, ending four decades of hostilities. The move came after PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm.

Wildfires eastern Germany have severely injured two firefighters and forced the evacuation of more than 100 residents.

Nearly 500 firefighters were battling the fires that broke out Tuesday in Gohrischheide on the border between the eastern states of Saxony and Brandenburg.

Wall Street was largely unchanged early Thursday, hovering near record levels ahead of new U.S. jobs data that is expected to show unemployment ticked up to the highest rates since late 2021.

Futures for S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average each inched up less than 0.1% before the bell. Markets are closed Friday for the July 4 holiday.