The EU on Thursday struck a deal with Israel to increase aid access to Gaza that should see more food trucks entering and the opening of additional crossing points, the bloc's top diplomat said.

"Today, we reached an agreement with Israel to expand humanitarian access to Gaza," EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday to "stay with us" Europeans in maintaining support for Ukraine, at a Rome conference on rebuilding the war-torn country.

Addressing himself "to Washington DC and to President Donald Trump: stay with us and stay with the Europeans, we are on the same page and we are looking for a stable political order in this world" -- adding in a message to Moscow, that "we will not give up".

The European Parliament on Thursday voted down a no-confidence motion against EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, initiated by the far right over her handling of Covid vaccine contracts.

Von der Leyen comfortably survived the vote by a wide margin, with 360 MEPs rejecting it and 175 backing the move.

The U.S. embassy accused Yemen's Houthi rebels Wednesday of kidnapping crew members from the Eternity C during their deadly attack on the cargo vessel in the Red Sea earlier this week.

"After killing their shipmates, sinking their ship and hampering rescue efforts, the Houthi terrorists have kidnapped many surviving crew members of the Eternity C. We call for their immediate and unconditional safe release," the embassy said in a statement on X.

Hamas has said it agreed to release 10 hostages held in Gaza as part of ongoing ceasefire talks with Israel, adding it was working to overcome hurdles despite the "difficulty of negotiations".

"In the framework of (Hamas') commitment to ensuring the success of ongoing efforts, the movement displayed the required flexibility and agreed to release 10 prisoners (hostages)," the group said in a statement Wednesday, adding that the "core points remain under negotiations", notably the flow of aid, Israel's withdrawal and guarantees for a permanent ceasefire.

Paris Saint-Germain thrashed Real Madrid 4-0 in their Club World Cup semi-final on Wednesday to set up a final showdown against Chelsea.

Fabian Ruiz scored twice in the first half either side of an Ousmane Dembele strike, and Goncalo Ramos sealed the stunning victory late on. PSG and Chelsea will meet in the final on Sunday.

The UK and France will declare that the two nations' nuclear deterrents, while independent, can be coordinated and that they will jointly respond to any "extreme threat to Europe," both countries said Wednesday.

The declaration, to be signed Thursday, will state that the respective deterrents of both countries remain independent "but can be co-ordinated, and that there is no extreme threat to Europe that would not prompt a response by both nations", the UK government and French presidency said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday he expressed "disappointment and frustration" to his Russian counterpart over the lack of progress on resolving the Ukraine war.

"I echoed what the president (Donald Trump) said, both a disappointment and frustration at the lack of progress," Rubio told reporters after the meeting with Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering in Malaysia.

Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed responsibility on Thursday for a missile attack targeting Israel's Ben Gurion airport, after the Israeli military said it had intercepted the strike.

The Iran-backed Houthis "carried out a qualitative military operation" using a ballistic missile, military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement.

The OPEC oil cartel said Thursday that demand for crude will continue to expand through at least 2050, calling efforts to rapidly shift away from fossil fuels an unworkable fantasy.

In its latest annual report on the outlook for oil demand, OPEC sees oil demand rising by 18.6 percent from 103.7 million barrels per day in 2024 to around 123 mbd in 2050. "There is no peak oil demand on the horizon," said Haitham Al Ghais.