U.S. President Donald Trump became the first ever recipient of FIFA's new peace prize at the 2026 World Cup draw Friday -- a compensation gift for a leader who still dreams of winning the Nobel.

The deadliest fire in Hong Kong in decades is piling pressure on Beijing's "patriots-only" governance system, casting a shadow on elections widely seen as a further step to tighten control over the city's legislature.

Sunday's vote to elect new lawmakers to Hong Kong's 90-member Legislative Council comes just 11 days after a massive fire engulfed seven towers in a high-rise apartment complex, killing at least 159 people in the financial hub's worst blaze since 1948.

Iran launched massive missiles in the Sea of Oman and near the strategic Strait of Hormuz during the second day of a naval drill, state TV reported Friday.

The report said the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched the missiles from the depth of Iran's mainland, hitting targets in the Oman Sea and neighboring area near Strait of Hormuz in a drill that began on Thursday.

Russian drones struck a house in central Ukraine, killing a 12-year-old boy, officials said, while long-range Ukrainian strikes reportedly targeted a Russian port and an oil refinery as U.S. peace efforts continued out of public view.

U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were set to meet Thursday in Miami with a Ukrainian delegation but there was no official confirmation whether the meeting took place.

German lawmakers on Friday approved the government's plan to attract more military recruits as the country tries to boost the ranks of its armed forces in the face of rising concern about the threat posed by Russia. The plan also foresees mandatory medical checks for young men.

It stops short of reintroducing conscription, though it leaves open the possibility of compulsory service for at least a limited number should the need arise.

Britain sanctioned Russia's GRU intelligence agency and summoned Moscow's ambassador on Thursday after an inquiry concluded that President Vladimir Putin was responsible for a nerve agent attack on British soil in 2018.

U.S. President Donald Trump will host the leaders of Congo and Rwanda on Thursday for a deal signing aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening access to the region's critical minerals for the U.S. government and American companies.

Lauded by the White House as a "historic" agreement brokered by Trump, the so-called Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity between Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda follows monthslong peace efforts by the U.S. and partners, including the African Union and Qatar, and finalizes an earlier deal signed in June.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says some proposals in a U.S. plan to end the war in Ukraine are unacceptable to the Kremlin, indicating in comments published Thursday that any deal is still some ways off.

U.S. President Donald Trump has set in motion the most intense diplomatic push to stop the fighting since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of its neighbor nearly four years ago. But the effort has once again run into demands that are hard to reconcile, especially over whether Ukraine must give up land to Russia and how it can be kept safe from any future aggression by Moscow.

President Donald Trump has said he believes Russia's Vladimir Putin wants to end the Ukraine war despite inconclusive talks in Moscow, as U.S. officials prepared for a follow-up meeting with Kyiv's top negotiator.

Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner huddled into the early hours with Putin in the Kremlin but reached no breakthrough on halting Europe's worst conflict since World War II.

China and France pledged deeper cooperation on global issues like the war in Ukraine and trade, as France prepares to take on the presidency of the Group of Seven next year.

French President Emmanuel Macron met with China's Xi Jinping on Thursday morning as part of a three-day state visit focusing on trade and diplomacy.