Nepal's prime minister scolded fellow world leaders Thursday, saying the nation's recent deadly flood reminds a warming world that climate change keeps hurting people who didn't cause the crisis but now need help.

The August disaster "was not just a local tragedy. It was a warning to the world. And I ask you today: Have you really heard that warning?" Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday night. "Nearly three years ago, standing in the shadow of our Mount Everest, the secretary-general of the United Nations warned about humanity about the madness and impending climate disaster."

A powerful blast shook the Greek capital's tourist district of Plaka, near the ancient Acropolis, on Friday morning, causing a building to collapse and injuring at least two people who had to be rescued from an adjacent building, authorities said.

The fire department said the explosion occurred in an old two-story building in the Plaka district, the historic part of Athens that lies at the foot of the Acropolis hill, Greece's most visited ancient monument. The building collapsed, while neighboring buildings were also damaged.

Starbucks plans to close 250 North American stores later this week.

It is the second big round of store closures under Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol, who joined the company in 2024. Last September, Starbucks closed 627 stores in North America and Europe.

A tech-heavy guest list, the fashion choices of those on it, who sat where and what was on the menu marked the softer — often and glitzier — details of diplomacy as Donald Trump threw a Thursday night state dinner honoring China's leader Xi Jinping.

The event featured a cavalcade of billionaires, Washington powerbrokers, business leaders and the type of festivities that most excite Trump, who has a reputation for reveling in hosting parties.

Wars in the Middle East and Ukraine are driving governments across Europe to craft subsidies, taxes and policy revisions that might shield their economies, companies and increasingly aggrieved citizens from record gasoline and diesel prices.

Countries around the world have intervened to limit the economic impact of diminished energy supplies and soaring fuel prices since the start of the Iran war, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Seven of the 10 nations working most actively to contain the economic damage are in the European Union, the OECD said in a report published Wednesday.

As the U.S.-created Board of Peace pushes ahead with plans to rebuild Gaza, it has said there's no place for the U.N. body that for decades has provided support to displaced Palestinians. But the agency's last chief says that behind the scenes, board members and others have been more open to working with the U.N. agency for Palestinians than it seems.

Israel wants the agency known as UNRWA out of Gaza and has repeatedly accused it of being infiltrated by Hamas militants, allegations the International Court of Justice says have not been substantiated. And yet UNRWA remains the territory's largest aid provider, playing a key role in health and education.

Pope Leo XIV is taking his call to respect the dignity of every human life on the road with a weekend visit to France, where the Catholic Church has lost ground on influencing ethical issues as the country maintains a strict approach to secularism.

Leo is spending four intense days in Paris, the Catholic shrine at Lourdes and the northeastern city of Metz. He's hoping to draw attention to his appeals for peace at a time of war, and for greater reflection as artificial intelligence questions the very essence of what it means to be human.

Lashing out at his country's critics, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily dismissed allegations of Israeli genocide in Gaza as "the biggest lie of the century" in a defiant speech to the U.N. General Assembly that asserted his nation's right to wage war against Iran. Scores of delegates trooped out of the hall in protest.

Netanyahu addressed the plenum after days of speeches by world leaders condemning Israel's war in Gaza and accusing him of orchestrating a genocide against the Palestinian people. At times, the Israeli leader, facing a tough race for re-election next month, became emotional and indignant as he lectured his critics, among them New York's mayor.

Taylor Swift is back in action. Did you miss her?

On Wednesday, less than one day after announcing a new song, "Patient Zero" — her first since her starry wedding this summer — Swift has revealed "The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore," an extended version of her 2025 album with four new tracks: The aforementioned single "Patient Zero" as well as "Cleveland!," "Pink Clouding" and "Babylon."

This year's powerful El Nino and the record global heat it's driving, along with severe droughts, wildfires and shrinking water supplies, could lead to nearly half a million more deaths worldwide by the end of February, according to a research report released Wednesday.

The grim warning by the University of Chicago-based Climate Impact Lab says that as many as 451,000 more heat-related deaths between June and the end of February could be attributed to El Nino, compared with heat deaths expected in a typical year.