A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire on Thursday night, Gaza health officials said, during a violent protest along the Israeli border.

Hundreds of Palestinians took part in protests held at five locations, demanding an end to Israel's 14-year blockade of Gaza.

Egypt's president held talks in Cairo on Thursday with the King of Jordan and the president of the Palestinian Authority aimed at reviving the Middle East peace process and strengthening a ceasefire that halted the Israel-Hamas war.

Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, King Abdullah II of Jordan and the Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas discussed the elusive two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, according to a statement from el-Sissi's office. The three leaders said the Palestinians have a right to an independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel staunchly opposes such a plan.

Israeli missile strikes hit military positions used by pro-Iran groups near the Syrian capital Damascus overnight, a war monitor said Friday.

The African Union's COVID-19 envoy says vaccine doses produced by a plant in South Africa will no longer be exported to Europe after the intervention of South Africa's government.

Strive Masiyiwa told reporters Thursday that South African drug manufacturer Aspen, which has a contract with Johnson & Johnson to assemble the ingredients of its COVID-19 vaccine, will no longer ship vaccine doses out of the continent and that millions of doses warehoused in Europe will be returned to the continent.

Spain's northeast town of Alcanar on Thursday assessed the damage to homes and businesses caused by flooding produced by intense rain that fell over large areas of the country.

Residents said that they were fortunate that no lives were lost when over 250 liters per square meter (45 gallons per square yard) were dumped on the town between 12 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Twelve million children in France went back to school Thursday for the new academic year, wearing face masks as part of rules aimed at slowing down the spread of the coronavirus in the country.

President Emmanuel Macron visited a primary school in the southern city of Marseille. He was greeted with a fist bump by children and teachers, all wearing masks, which are mandatory indoors starting from age 6.

Angela Merkel will leave office as one of modern Germany's longest-serving leaders and a global diplomatic heavyweight, with a legacy defined by her management of a succession of crises that shook a fragile Europe rather than any grand visions for her own country.

In 16 years at the helm of Europe's biggest economy, Merkel did end military conscription, set Germany on course for a future without nuclear and fossil-fueled power, enable the legalization of same-sex marriage, introduce a national minimum wage and benefits encouraging fathers to look after young children, among other things.

The Vatican has concluded that allegations of sexual abuse dating back a half century against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn do not "have the semblance of truth," but an attorney for the accusers said they would press forward with their civil cases.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, said Wednesday that the Vatican has closed its investigation into allegations made separately by two men, who accused the bishop, Nicholas DiMarzio, of abusing them a half century ago when he was a priest in New Jersey.

China needs to expand its efforts to reduce carbon emissions to help hold back the rise in global temperatures, U.S. envoy John Kerry said Thursday.

The State Department said Kerry told Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng in a virtual meeting that there is "no way" for the world to solve the climate crisis without China's "full engagement and commitment."

The president of the U.N. Security Council says the U.N.'s most powerful body will not take its focus off Afghanistan this month and "the real litmus test" for the new Taliban government will be how it treats women and girls.

Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason of Ireland said Wednesday that the protection and promotion of human rights for women "must be at the very heart of our collective response to the crisis."