The leaders of Germany, France and the United Kingdom spoke by phone Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, assuring him of their continued support amid the war with Russia as European officials scrambled to respond to U.S. peace proposals that apparently caught them unawares.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer assured Ukraine of "their unchanged and full support on the way to a lasting and just peace," Merz's office said.

Israel plans to seize parts of a major West Bank historic site, according to a government document, and settlers put up a new outpost overnight, even as the country faces pressure to crack down on settler violence in the Palestinian territory.

Israel's Civil Administration announced its intention to expropriate large swaths of Sebastia, a major archaeological site in the West Bank, in the document obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday. Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group, said the site is around 1,800 dunams (450 acres) — Israel's largest seizure of archeologically important land.

President Donald Trump's plan for ending the war in Ukraine would cede land to Russia and limit the size of Kyiv's military, according to a draft obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

The proposal, originating from negotiations between Washington and Moscow, appeared decidedly favorable to Russia, which started the war nearly four years ago by invading its neighbor. If past is prologue, it would seem untenable for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has opposed Trump's previous calls for territorial concessions.

Lebanon's most wanted drug trafficker was arrested Thursday after years on the run, authorities said.

Noah Zeiter was taken into custody during a raid near the eastern city of Baalbeck, according to a high-ranking military official. Zeiter eventually turned himself in to military intelligence after a standoff. The official spoke on condition on anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

Most stock markets rallied on Thursday after strong earnings from chip titan Nvidia eased fears of an AI bubble.

A super-sized World Cup has paved the way for tiny Curaçao and Cape Verde to book their places at sport's biggest global event next year.

Just as FIFA president Gianni Infantino predicted.

Three months in and it has already been a season of extreme highs and lows for Liverpool.

A run of five straight wins to start the Premier League title defense. Then a streak of four consecutive losses.

Italy will first host Northern Ireland in a World Cup qualifying playoff in March but then would go on the road to reach its first tournament after back-to-back failures at this stage.

FIFA made the playoffs draw on Thursday that will send the winner between four-time champion Italy and the Northern Irish on March 26 to travel to face Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina five days later. At stake was a place at the first 48-team finals tournament in north America.

As Brazil seeks to boost its environmental credentials by hosting the United Nations' climate summit, a proposal to build a railway through the Amazon has threatened to tarnish that image amid protests by Indigenous groups and environmentalists.

The Ferrograo railway project would transport commodities including corn and soybeans nearly 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from a city on the southern edge of the rainforest to a port along a major tributary of the Amazon River. From there, commodities would be ferried to a larger port near Belem, the host city of the COP30 conference, for export to China and other trading partners.

India is unlikely to submit its climate pledge before the end of the annual United Nations climate summit, raising questions about how the world's most populous nation can influence others on confronting climate change.

Experts say the delay may be a sign of India's displeasure with a lack of progress toward funding global climate priorities. However, this can also hurt its ability to lead at the climate talks in Brazil.