Ukrainians have started casting their votes in a snap parliamentary election.
The result could consolidate power at the hands of new President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Opinion polls suggest that his new party could win a majority in the elections.
Zelensky, a former comedian best known for playing a president on a popular television show, beat incumbent Petro Poroshenko with landslide 73 per cent of the vote in May's presidential election
UN agency pauses Hormuz ship evacuation after vessel attacked
The United Nations’ shipping agency on Thursday paused an evacuation effort to get hundreds of stranded ships and thousands of seafarers out through the Strait of Hormuz after a vessel was attacked in the Gulf of Oman.
164 confirmed dead after two major earthquakes strike Venezuela
At least 164 people were confirmed dead on Thursday after two powerful earthquakes wreaked havoc in and around Venezuela's capital Caracas, trapping people beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings and setting off powerful aftershocks.
Europeans told to protect themselves as deadly heatwave takes its toll
The city mayor told busy Parisians to slow down on Thursday as large parts of Western Europe remained in the grip of a deadly heatwave that has claimed dozens of lives, disrupted power supplies, and shut schools and cultural landmarks.
Trump asks Congress for more funds to fight Iran, defying rebuke on war powers
President Donald Trump's administration has asked the US Congress on Wednesday for $87.6 billion in additional funding, most of it related to the Iran war, setting the stage for another fight with lawmakers already frustrated with the conflict.
Magnitude 6.9 quake strikes Japan's northeast, no tsunami warning
An earthquake of magnitude 6.9 has struck Japan's northeast coast on Thursday, but no tsunami warning was issued, no injuries were immediately reported and no irregularities were found at nuclear facilities, the authorities said.
