Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday showed his determination to defend rules-based free and multilateral trade systems and take a leadership role to expand the Asia-Pacific trade group at a time of deepening tensions and divisions over U.S. tariffs and trade wars.

"High tariffs will not bring economic prosperity," Ishiba told a global forum in Tokyo. "A prosperity built on sacrifices by someone or another country will not make a strong economy."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen received the International Charlemagne Prize, an annual award for contributions to European unity, on Thursday as the 27-nation bloc confronts Russia's war against Ukraine, the Trump administration's trade war and security issues across the continent.

The European Union's most high-profile political figure, von der Leyen was called "the embodiment of the European spirit" by King Felipe VI of Spain during Thursday's ceremony in Aachen, Germany.

The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.2% annual pace from January through March, the first drop in three years, as President Donald Trump's trade wars disrupted business, the government said Thursday in a slight upgrade of its initial estimate.

First-quarter growth was brought down by a surge in imports as companies in the United States hurried to bring in foreign goods before the president imposed massive import taxes.

Syria signed a $7 billion energy deal on Thursday with a consortium of Qatari, U.S. and Turkish companies as it seeks to rehabilitate its war-ravaged electricity sector.

The agreement was signed at the Syrian presidential palace in the presence of interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and U.S. envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack. It is expected to generate 5,000 megawatts, covering half of the country's electricity needs.

The Canadian province of Manitoba has declared a state of emergency over a series of wildfires, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has agreed to send in the military to help.

"This is the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most peoples' living memory," Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said.

Nepal's mountaineering community celebrated the conquest of the world's highest mountain with a rally of climbers, guides and others who gathered for International Everest Day.

The event Thursday marked the 72nd anniversary of the first summit climb of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.

In Japan, bobtail cats are considered good luck and Nagasaki is the place to find them.

They are known as "omagari neko (bent-tail cats)" or "kagi neko (hook cats)" and have their own society of admirers and even a dedicated Shinto shrine.

U.S. President Donald Trump's Mideast envoy expressed optimism this week about brokering an agreement to halt the Israel-Hamas war and return more of the hostages captured in the attack that ignited it.

"I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution — a temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution of that conflict," Steve Witkoff said in Washington on Wednesday, adding that a new U.S. proposal would soon be delivered to the warring parties.

Palestinians described more scenes of chaos on Thursday at an aid distribution hub in the Gaza Strip established by a new Israeli and U.S.-backed foundation.

They said large crowds pushed their way through metal turnstiles as security contractors struggled to control the crowd. People scattered as gunfire rang out, though it was not clear who fired or if there were any casualties.

Pope Leo XIV visited the papal summer palace south of Rome on Thursday as questions swirled whether he will use it himself to escape the heat or follow in Pope Francis' footsteps and keep the hilltop estate as a museum and environmental center.

Leo paid a visit to the Borgo Laudato Si, an educational sustainability project that grew out of Francis' 2015 environmental encyclical "Praised Be," the Vatican said. The center is located in the gardens of the Vatican's Castel Gandolfo property on Lake Alban in the hills south of Rome.