A cargo ship moving through the Strait of Hormuz on a route backed by the United Nations was hit by a projectile Thursday, the British military said, as several tankers made their way out of the channel using the same path.

It was unclear who launched the projectile or the type of vessel that was targeted. The report of a strike came hours after Iran threatened vessels to stop using the route through the strait without Tehran's permission.

A powerful earthquake struck off the northern coast of Japan during rush hour on Thursday morning, but the country's meteorological agency said there was no danger of a tsunami and no serious injuries were reported.

The temblor shook dozens of towns across northeastern Japan and was even mildly felt in the capital, Tokyo. It hit in an area where strong earthquakes have repeatedly been reported in recent months, including one that triggered a weeklong mega-quake caution advisory in December.

The European Union has disbursed the first 3 billion-euro ($3.4 billion) tranche of a 90 billion-euro ($101 billion) loan to Ukraine, the country's prime minister announced Thursday at the opening of a conference on Ukraine's post-war recovery in Poland.

The conference, attended by key European leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is both a fundraising forum and a message to Russia that Ukraine's Western supporters are in it for a long haul.

The U.S. Senate rejected a resolution on Wednesday to rein in President Donald Trump's handling of the Iran war -- an apparent U-turn following pressure from the Republican leader.

The move came just one day after the Senate voted 50-48 to pass a resolution calling for an end to the Iran war, delivering a rebuke to the White House as it seeks to negotiate a lasting deal with Tehran.

At least 164 people have died and 971 were injured after a pair of powerful quakes rocked Venezuela, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said Thursday, adding that rescue teams are rushing to the hardest-hit areas to free people trapped under rubble.

Wednesday evening's 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century and could be felt throughout the region. The country's main airport was damaged and closed, while buildings were evacuated in places as far away as Brazil's Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from Venezuela's capital, Caracas.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington would not accept Iranian tolls or fees on the Strait of Hormuz, as disputes over the vital waterway, nuclear inspections, and missiles exposed early strains in negotiations to end the Middle East war.

Washington and Tehran have signed a preliminary agreement to halt the conflict and concluded a first round of talks in Switzerland, opening a 60-day negotiation period on sanctions relief, Iran's nuclear program and the future of Hormuz.

The U.S. Senate passed a largely symbolic resolution Tuesday calling for an end to President Donald Trump's war with Iran, delivering a fresh rebuke to the White House as it tries to negotiate a lasting settlement with Tehran.

The House-passed measure, adopted by the Senate in a 50-48 vote, directs Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran unless Congress explicitly authorizes military action.

Donald Trump said he ordered an investigation into major oil companies over high gasoline prices as the U.S. leader faces criticism over the impact of the Mideast war.

Ukraine on Tuesday announced that President Volodymyr Zelensky will skip the Ukraine Recovery Conference, to be hosted in Poland later this week, amid a spiraling diplomatic spat between the allies and neighbors over World War II memory.

"I am leading Ukraine's delegation and our overall work at the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2026", Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on social media, effectively confirming that Zelensky will not attend the event.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged Tuesday to push through a proposed reform of the country's creaking pension system that would include raising the retirement age gradually in line with life expectancy, declaring that "failure is not an option."

Merz's coalition of center-right and center-left parties took office just over a year ago with pledges to reform and turn around Germany's sluggish economy, Europe's biggest. It has since become deeply unpopular, in part because of perceptions that it has squabbled but so far achieved little.