At age 38 and playing in his sixth World Cup, Lionel Messi has his first hat trick in soccer's biggest tournament and Argentina's defense of the trophy is off to a flying start.

Messi's three goals in the 3-0 win over Algeria on Tuesday saw him become the joint highest scorer in men's World Cup history alongside Germany's Miroslav Klose with 16 in total. It was also the first hat trick of this year's tournament and the 55th in World Cup history.

President Donald Trump is not known to be a fan of international gatherings of world leaders, but he changed his tune at this year's G7 summit at a French Alpine resort, where he was buoyed by support from his counterparts for his tentative agreement with Iran to end the war.

It was an about-face for Trump, who weeks ago had sharply criticized his counterparts for refusing to join the United States and Israel in bombing Iran to force it to abandon its nuclear aspirations — and who last year spent only a day at the G7 summit before cutting out early and going back to Washington.

Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip have killed 1,005 Palestinians since a ceasefire was reached between Israel and the militant group Hamas last October, the Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday.

The enclave has seen near-daily strikes, as well as shelling and gunfire along the boundary that divides Gaza into Israeli and Palestinian-controlled zones. The most recent deaths were recorded after a series of Israeli drone strikes in the past few days on towns and refugee camps in central Gaza and Gaza City.

Whenever Ebola comes, some of the afflicted choose the road to the nearest hospital. Others take the path to the shrine of a traditional healer, often with devastating consequences.

Many view the onset of hemorrhagic fever as a spiritual affliction and seek out herbs and prayers instead of going to the hospital. This is the case now in Congo, which is suffering its seventeenth outbreak of Ebola since 1976, when the virus was first identified in the rich Congo Basin ecosystem.

JD Vance was supposed to be spending the week promoting his new book, the kind of event a potential presidential candidate like the vice president typically uses to speak to a wide audience about his life and values ahead of a campaign.

Instead, the rollout of Vance's second book, "Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith," has been largely crowded out by something else he's put his name on: the tentative deal to end the Iran war.

Hey, Jude, you and Harry didn't let England down.

Harry Kane scored twice to equal the English record for World Cup goals, and Jude Bellingham put England in front for good two minutes into the second half of a 4-2 victory over Croatia on Wednesday.

World shares were mixed on Thursday, with benchmarks in Japan and South Korea setting fresh records, after the U.S. and Iran signed their initial agreement ending the war.

The rally in Asia followed a retreat Wednesday on Wall Street driven by speculation the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates this year to curb inflation.

Ukraine hit a Moscow oil refinery for a second time in a week and disrupted commercial flights at Moscow airports in one of its biggest drone attacks since Russia's invasion more than four years ago, Russian officials said Thursday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its air defenses overnight shot down 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions, with almost 200 intercepted as they were approaching the Russian capital.

Israeli strikes in south Lebanon killed three people on Thursday, according to Lebanese state media, hours after the United States and Iran signed an agreement to end the Middle East war.

"An enemy drone targeted a car" in the Kfartebnit area, killing two people, the official National News Agency (NNA) reported, raising an earlier toll of one dead.

Hezbollah supporters gathered Wednesday at the grave of former leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut to hear a speech by Hezbollah new leader Sheikh Naim Qassem marking Ashoura, when Shiite Muslims commemorate Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

In his speech, Qassem urged Lebanese authorities to take advantage of a "pivotal" moment following a U.S.-Iran deal to end the Middle East war.