The leader of Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Thursday that efforts were underway to militarily respond to Israel following the killings of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders that have raised the prospect of war in the region.

The leader of the militant group, Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, said in a televised speech that “there must be a military response to the serious crimes and the significant escalation by the Israeli enemy.” “Efforts are underway to respond,” he added.

The second part of Kevin Costner's "Horizon: An American Saga' will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, organizers said Wednesday. "Chapter Two" was originally set for a mid-August theatrical debut but was pulled from the schedule after "Chapter One" underperformed.

The continuation of the Western epic will play out of competition on September 7, the last day of the festival, alongside a screening of part one. Costner, in a statement, said that his "dream" was always to show the film at Venice. The first installment had a glitzy premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

As a gay youth growing up in central France, Hugo Bardin never felt he lived in a world that represented who he was — a world in which he had a place.

And that is why Bardin, who performs as the drag queen Paloma, felt it was meaningful and important to be part of a Paris Olympics opening ceremony that presented a multifaceted, multiethnic France with people of different ethnicities and orientations.

Taylor Swift is telling fans traveling to her concert in Warsaw on Thursday to not panic, and expect to hear loud sirens in the afternoon honoring a key World War II anniversary.

The Polish capital is holding observances to mark the 80th anniversary of the start of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, a 63-day revolt by Polish insurgents after five years of brutal Nazi German occupation. The entire city stops and alarm sirens sound every year on Aug. 1 at the exact time in the afternoon when the revolt was launched.

Records are being broken daily at the 2024 Olympics, which run from July 27-Aug. 11, as athletes and teams win medals across 32 sports. See which countries lead the medal count, the medal winners and the highlights in today's schedule. Below is a list of all the world and Olympic records set at the Paris Games.

AUG. 1

The atmosphere for Olympic swimming is electrifying.

The times?

Saudi Arabia detailed a massive stadium building project Wednesday to host the 2034 World Cup in men's soccer, with one venue 350 meters (yards) above ground in a planned futuristic city.

A 46,000-seat stadium in the Neom megaproject along the Red Sea coast is "designed to stand out among the world's most iconic landmarks," according to the first overall World Cup plan published by Saudi soccer officials.

More than 100 conflicts fester around the world. The Middle East teeters on the brink of a regional war. In Ukraine, Russia advances slowly but steadily in the east, reducing towns to rubble.

The "Olympic Truce," clearly, is not being heeded.

For more than a year, the U.S. stock market went in mostly one direction, up, and in mostly one manner, quietly. A bonanza around artificial-intelligence technology helped drive Big Tech stocks higher, while other areas of the market held up amid rising hopes for coming cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve.

Last month the S&P 500 suffered its worst one-day loss since 2022. A measure of fear among investors in U.S. stocks also hit 19.4, its highest level since a blip above 21 in April, the last time waves caused a ripple in the placid market's surface. It averaged 15.9 from the start of 2023 until July.

On a scorching July afternoon, a municipal water truck rolls up in a cloud of dust on Liborio Mangiapane's farm in southern Sicily. Some of the precious liquid gets transferred to a smaller cistern on a tractor that Mangiapane's son will use to fill troughs for 250 cattle and sheep, but by tomorrow, all 10,000 liters from the truck will be gone.

Crippling drought from a nearly rainless year, coupled with record-high temperatures, has burned out much of the region's hay and is pushing farmers to the limit. For Mangiapane, every day is a struggle to find water, with frantic phone calls, long trips to faraway wells and long waits for municipal tankers.