A drone launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels wounded 22 people in the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Wednesday, according to medics. It was a rare breach of Israel's sophisticated missile defenses, which have greatly limited casualties from such attacks.

In the Gaza Strip, at least 41 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, according to local hospitals. U.S. President Donald Trump's Mideast envoy expressed optimism over a new plan for ending the war, without saying what it entails or if Israel or Hamas have accepted it.

Turning the page on decades of distance, Syria's president addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, marking the first time any president from his country has done so in almost 60 years. As he spoke, hundreds of people gathered in front of giant screens in Syrian cities and towns to witness the speech while waving the country's flags.

After six decades of dictatorship that killed 1 million people and tortured hundreds of thousands, "Syria is reclaiming its rightful place among the nations of the world," Ahmad al-Sharaa told the international community.

Iran’s rial currency fell to a new all-time low on Wednesday, reaching 1,074,000 to the U.S. dollar just before Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was due to address the United Nations.

The currency’s fall follows Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejecting direct talks with the United States over its nuclear program.

Some countries' leaders are watching rising seas threaten to swallow their homes. Others are watching their citizens die in floods, hurricanes and heat waves, all exacerbated by climate change.

But the world U.S. President Donald Trump described in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday didn't match the one many world leaders in the audience are contending with. Nor did it align with what scientists have long been observing.

Lionel Messi went to watch some soccer on Friday. He didn't say a word about his own future.

The Inter Miami star — who is closing in on a contract extension that will keep him with his Major League Soccer club through at least the 2026 season and likely beyond — showed up to watch the global finals of the 1v1 soccer tournament that he helped create and is sponsored by a hydration drink that he co-founded.

Kylian Mbappé scored twice in three minutes and teenager Franco Mastantuono made his scoring debut with Real Madrid in a 4-1 win at Levante in the Spanish league on Tuesday, a result that extended the club's winning start to the season.

Vinícius Júnior also scored for Madrid as it earned its sixth straight league victory this season.

Hugo Ekitike apologized to Liverpool fans for being sent off after celebrating his game-winning goal against Southampton in the English League Cup on Tuesday.

China has said it would no longer seek the special treatment given to developing countries in World Trade Organization agreements — a change long demanded by the United States.

Commerce Ministry officials said Wednesday the move was an attempt to boost the global trading system at a time when it is under threat from tariff wars and protectionist moves by individual countries to restrict imports.

France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Belgium were among 10 nations this week to to recognize a Palestinian state that does not yet exist.

Portugal, Luxembourg, Andorra, Malta and Monaco were the other half. Of 193 United Nations member nations, more than 150 now recognize Palestinian statehood. Most had done so decades ago. The United States and other Western powers have held off, saying Palestinian statehood should be part of a final agreement resolving the decades-old Middle East conflict.

A day after France led other nations in recognizing Palestinian statehood, the U.N. Security Council once again aired a deep divide between the veto-wielding United States and most of the rest of the world over how to end the war in the Gaza Strip and resolve the Mideast conflict.

At a special session to discuss the crisis, one representative after another expressed horror at Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack and Israel's ongoing military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed vast areas and displaced around 90% of the population, many of them starving. Most nations called for an immediate ceasefire and an influx of humanitarian aid.