Taking the lead after just 11 seconds wasn't enough for Napoli to avoid a loss in the second round of Europa League group-stage matches on Thursday.

Eljif Elmas netted the early goal for Napoli — the second-quickest ever in UEFA's second-tier competition — but Spartak Moscow rallied to a 3-2 victory after both teams were reduced to 10 men.

A Hollywood event that's supposed to be about women's empowerment in the industry and the world was more about how their rights are being imperiled at home and abroad.

Restrictive abortion legislation in the U.S. and the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan took center stage Thursday at the Variety Power of Women event, which honored actor Rita Moreno, singers Katy Perry and Lorde, poet/activist Amanda Gorman, and Channing Dungey, chairwoman of Warner Bros. Television Group.

Police in Hong Kong halted a four-person pro-democracy protest on China's National Day Friday amid a expanding crackdown on free speech and opposition politics.

Chanting and carrying a placard calling for the release of Hong Kongers arrested in the crackdown and chanting pro-democracy slogans, the four members of the opposition party League of Social Democrats had attempted to march to the harbor-side Convention Center where the official celebration was being held.

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the U.N. political mission in Libya until after the country's critical presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for late December.

However, the U.N.'s most powerfule body remained divided over the withdrawal of all mercenaries and foreign forces from the oil-rich North African nation and the mission's leadership.

California's reservoirs are so dry from a historic drought that regulators warned Thursday it's possible the state's water agencies won't get anything from them next year, a frightening possibility that could force mandatory restrictions for residents.

California has a system of giant lakes called reservoirs that store water during the state's rainy and snowy winter months. Most of the water comes from snow that melts in the Sierra Nevada mountains and fills rivers and streams in the spring.

Turkey intends to seek compensation for its removal from a U.S.-led stealth fighter jet program, possibly during a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on the margins of a Group of 20 meeting next month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Erdogan, speaking to journalists during a flight back from a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, also said there would be no "turning back" from deal with Russia for Turkey's acquisition of S-400 advanced missile defense systems. That deal led to NATO-member Turkey's removal from the international program that produces F-35 fighter jets.

The head of the World Bank held talks Thursday with Sudan's transitional leaders, focusing on the country's daunting economic challenges and a reform program the African nation is undertaking to overhaul the battered economy.

David Malpass landed in Khartoum late Wednesday, the first visit by a World Bank president to Sudan in around 50 years. From the Sudanese capital, he delivered a virtual address to the annual meetings of the financial institution and the International Monetary Fund on Thursday.

Israel and Bahrain cemented their year-old agreement to establish diplomatic ties on Thursday, with the king of the small Gulf Arab state hosting Israel's foreign minister who for the first time opened an embassy in the capital of Manama.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on the same day as the first direct flight from Manama touched down in Tel Aviv. The top Israeli diplomat later called the visit "warm and optimistic."

After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle East's first ever World Fair opened on Friday in Dubai, with hopes the months-long extravaganza draws both visitors and global attention to this desert-turned-dreamscape.

Named Expo 2020, the event was postponed by a year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus last year. While that could have an impact on how many people flock to the United Arab Emirates, the six-month-long exhibition offers Dubai a momentous opportunity to showcase its unique East-meets-West appeal as a place where all are welcome for business.

Authorities sandbagged low-lying areas in the Thai capital and checked pumping stations Thursday along the Chao Phraya River in preparation for possible flooding as dams upstream, swollen by heavy rains, were forced to release water as a precaution.

Flooding in the northern and central regions has already displaced thousands. Seven people have died and one woman is missing.