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European countries meet to discuss 'drone wall' as airspace violations mount

Representatives from European countries with borders close to Russia and Ukraine are holding talks on Friday about building a "drone wall" to plug gaps in their defenses following several airspace violations.

Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have been working on a drone wall project, but in March, the European Union's executive branch rejected a joint Estonia-Lithuania request for funds to set one up.

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Russian forays into NATO airspace reach unprecedented scale

Intrusions into NATO's airspace blamed on Russia reached an unprecedented scale this month, raising questions about whether the Kremlin is trying to test the alliance's willingness and ability to respond to a direct attack or divert its attention and resources from the war in Ukraine.

Russia has been encroaching on its NATO neighbors' airspace for decades, then either denying it happened or brushing it off as unintentional. But since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, such incursions have carried a bigger threat, none more so than when drones swarmed into Poland two weeks ago and caused NATO to scramble jets to shoot them down.

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Salam orders arrest of those who beamed Nasrallah pic to Raouche Rock

Thousands of Hezbollah supporters gathered at a scenic overlook on Beirut's coast Thursday and projected images of the group's former longtime leader and his successor on the iconic arched Raouche rock to commemorate their deaths in Israeli airstrikes nearly a year ago.

The move came despite an attempt by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to halt the planned light show.

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Rihanna and A$AP Rocky welcome third child, Rocki

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky have announced the birth of their third child, a girl.

Rihanna announced the birth of Rocki Irish Mayers in an Instagram post Wednesday. The post featured one photo of the multihyphenate, 37, with the baby and another photo of baby shoes. It was captioned simply with Rocki's name, a date — Sept. 13 — and an emoji ribbon.

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Protests and heavy security as Maccabi Tel Aviv faces PAOK in Greece

Police conducted a large-scale security operation outside the stadium Wednesday ahead of Israeli team' Maccabi Tel Aviv's game against Greek club PAOK in the Europa League.

Two small protests took place earlier in Thessaloniki in northern Greece, calling for Israeli clubs to be expelled from European competition in response to mass casualties in the war in Gaza.

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European football body UEFA moves toward vote to suspend Israel

European football body UEFA is moving toward a vote to suspend its member federation Israel over the war in Gaza, people familiar with the proposal told The Associated Press on Thursday.

A majority of UEFA's 20-member executive committee is expected to support any vote in favor of suspending Israeli teams from international play, two sources told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

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Ragasa weakens but brings heavy rain and flood risk to northern Vietnam

Typhoon Ragasa weakened into a tropical depression early Thursday as it entered northeastern Vietnam, but it is still expected to bring heavy rains across the country's northern provinces.

By Thursday afternoon, the typhoon's sustained winds had weakened to a maximum 55 kph (34 mph) and Ragasa was forecast to dissipate eventually while remaining a rain threat for Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia.

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US economy expanded at surprising 3.8% pace in significant upgrade of second quarter growth

The U.S. economy expanded at a surprising 3.8% from April through June, the government reported in a dramatic upgrade of its previous estimate of second-quarter growth.

U.S. gross domestic product — the nation's output of goods and services — rebounded in the spring from a 0.6% first-quarter drop caused by fallout from President Donald Trump's trade wars, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The department had previously estimated second-quarter growth at 3.3%.

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Apple asks EU to scrap landmark digital competition law

Apple wants the European Union to repeal its digital competition rule book, saying the regulations are cumbersome and are delaying new features for Europeans such as live translation for AirPods.

The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc's executive branch, said Thursday that's not going to happen.

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US lawmaker backs renegotiating global economic rules to reflect China's rise

The head of a U.S. congressional delegation visiting China said he backed renegotiating the rules governing the global economy to take into account China's rise and that of others such as India and Brazil.

Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington state, told the mayor of Shanghai on Thursday that the U.S.-led post-World War II order has worked well for many countries, including China, but that "we understand that things have changed."

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