NEW YORK (AP) — Celebrities, lawmakers, brands and everyday social media users are flocking to Meta’s freshly minted app Threads to connect with their followers, including many Twitter refugees tired of the drama surrounding Elon Musk’s raucous oversight of that platform.

But the real question is: Will they stay?

Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a Threads post Monday that in the five days since its launch, 100 million people have signed up for Threads, which was rolled out as a companion app to Instagram.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Marine Corps is without a confirmed leader for the first time in a century as Gen. David Berger stepped down as commandant on Monday and a Republican senator is blocking approval of his successor.

Berger took over as the 38th commandant in July 2019, and is required to leave the job after four years. Gen. Eric Smith, currently the assistant commandant, has been nominated to be the next leader, but will serve in an acting capacity because he hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Authorities in Iceland on Tuesday warned tourists and other spectators to stay away from a newly erupting volcano that is spewing lava and noxious gases from a fissure in the country’s southwest.

The eruption began Monday afternoon after thousands of earthquakes in the area, meteorological authorities said. This one comes 11 months after its last eruption officially ended. The eruption is in an uninhabited valley near the Litli-Hrútur mountain, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of the capital, Reykjavik.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan is facing a long-delayed reckoning with sexual harassment and sexual violence. In the past month, people have stepped forward with accusations, one after the other, leading to criminal investigations, resignations at different levels of government, and a society-wide discussion of the unspoken rules that govern gender norms in society.

TOKYO (AP) — Torrential rain pounded southwestern Japan, triggering floods and mudslides and leaving two people dead and at least six others missing, officials said Monday.

Rain falling in the regions of Kyushu and Chugoku since the weekend caused flooding along many rivers, triggered mudslides, closed roads, disrupted trains and cut the water supply in some areas.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is unwell and the country’s senior diplomat will take his place at a two-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this week in Jakarta, Indonesia, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin gave no details of what was ailing Qin, who has not been seen in public in more than two weeks.

“State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang is unable to attend this series of foreign ministers’ meetings due to health reasons,” Wang said at a daily briefing Tuesday.

BANGKOK (AP) — The dismembered body of a missing German businessman was found in a freezer inside a house in southern Thailand, police said Tuesday.

Tawee Kudthalaeng, the police chief in the town of Nong Prue, said the body of 62-year-old Hans-Peter Mack was discovered at about 11 p.m. Monday. Mack had been missing for a week.

Investigators located his body by using security camera videos from the area, Tawee said. He did not elaborate, but photos and video published by Thai media showed the freezer in the bed of a black truck with a man squatting next to it.

July 11 (Reuters) - A Russian military official who had commanded a submarine in the Black Sea and appeared on a Ukrainian blacklist of alleged war criminals has been shot dead by an unknown assassin while on his morning run.

Russia's top investigative body said Stanislav Rzhitsky, 42, was gunned down early on Monday in the southern city of Krasnodar.

Rzhitsky's address and personal details appeared on the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets (Peacemaker), a vast unofficial database of people considered to be enemies of Ukraine.

10 July 2023; MEMO: Israeli President Isaac Herzog yesterday condemned the recent attacks against Christians as a "true disgrace".

"I utterly condemn violence, in all its forms, directed by a small and extreme group, towards the holy places of the Christian faith, and against Christian clergy in Israel," stated Herzog.

ISLAMABAD, July 11 (Xinhua) -- At least six people were killed and nine others injured in monsoon rain-triggered flash floods during the last 24 hours in Pakistan, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said.

Three women and a child were among those who lost their lives in separate flood-related incidents, according to an NDMA report released Monday.

The total death toll in Pakistan from this season's monsoon rains and floods that started on June 25 has risen to around 86, along with 151 injured, the NDMA said.

NAIROBI, July 11 (NNN-KBC) — Kenyan President William Ruto will Tuesday host visiting Iranian leader Ebrahim Raisi at State House, Nairobi.

The meeting will be Ruto’s first official engagement since jetting back into the country Monday evening from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he attended IGAD Quartet Heads of State and Government meeting that focussed on the Sudan conflict.

Raisi is on a three-day visit to Africa which includes Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

11 July 2023; MEMO: Palestinian Authority (PAA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said yesterday that the Israeli occupation authorities "must" return Palestinian money it is withholding "without extortion or conditions."

At the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, Shtayyeh said: "Israel must return our money withheld without extortion or conditions. Our people are fully aware of the reality of the matter and reject this extortion."