As Houthi rebels closed in, Eshraq Abdel Gelil and her husband fled their home, walking through the mountains before catching a ride to a nearby city. Four months pregnant, she feared another miscarriage.

They are among more than 125,000 people who have fled as the Iran-backed rebels have advanced down the Red Sea coast to a key maritime chokepoint. The offensive, linked to the wider Iran war, has threatened Saudi oil exports, pushed up global fuel prices and rattled markets.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen's proposal to make Canada an "associate member" of the bloc is not aimed against the United States, the European Commission said Thursday after President Donald Trump threatened trade ties over the plan.

"As our president made clear yesterday, the proposed strengthening of our partnership with Canada is not against anyone else, but for our common strength," the commission's trade spokesperson Olof Gill said when asked about Trump's threat.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Wednesday that he's going to block a proposed sale of $2.8 billion in heavy weaponry to Israel over concerns that the powerful bombs may not be used in line with U.S. and international law.

Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York said he would withhold approval for the sale because of "grave, unresolved concerns" about how these munitions could be used in densely populated areas of Gaza and Lebanon by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

The heads of state of Lebanon, France and Jordan will meet Thursday in Paris as part of an effort to drum up support for the struggling Lebanese military.

A donor conference for Lebanon's cash-strapped army was initially set to take place in February, led by France, Saudi Arabia and the United States. However, it was postponed following the eruption of the Iran war and the latest round of the Israel-Hezbollah war.

A scorching summer that dried up rivers and killed tens of thousands across the European Union from Portugal to Hungary has shown that the bloc needs to develop new tools to meet a worsening climate, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.

She said that this instability led her to propose a new European Heatwave Plan as well as a future European firefighting fleet of airplanes. Currently, the EU operates a small fleet itself but coordinates a network of aircraft, water trucks and volunteers that move across the 27-nation bloc as fires ignite.

Paul George made one thing clear during his introductory news conference with the Boston Celtics on Tuesday: his ears work just fine.

He's heard the not-so silent chorus of Celtics fans who bemoaned the front office's decision to jettison 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown in the July trade with Philadelphia that sent the 36-year-old George to his fifth NBA team.

Formula 1 plans to open the 2027 season in Bahrain even as uncertainty remains over this year's races in the Middle East.

F1 released a 24-race schedule for 2027 on Wednesday starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 14 and then Saudi Arabia a week later, with events also scheduled for Qatar and Abu Dhabi at the end of the year. All have long-term contracts to host F1 and Bahrain also hosts preseason testing in February.

The Trump administration has announced that it will impose travel bans on officials it claims are responsible for discrimination against whites and other minority groups in South Africa.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday he would revoke U.S. visas or reject visa applications from foreign nationals found to be responsible for, or complicit in, enacting or enforcing laws and policies that allow for uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination and the incitement of violence against minority ethnic and racial groups in South Africa.

Hong Kong's leader on Wednesday unveiled the city's first five-year plan in a politically symbolic step that echoes Beijing's approach to development, pushing to broaden Hong Kong's identity beyond international finance to also encompass technology and higher education.

In a speech to the legislature, Chief Executive John Lee said the plan's goals include breakthroughs in economic development and enhanced competitiveness, as well as improving people's livelihoods and well-being.

Inflation in the United Kingdom rose to a five-month high as the aftershocks of the Iran war continued to ratchet up fuel prices, official figures showed Wednesday, an increase that will pressure the Bank of England to hike interest rates again over coming months.

The Office for National Statistics said rising prices at the pump and airfares were largely behind the increase in the U.K.'s consumer prices index to 3.1% in August from 2.9% the month before. The increase moved inflation further away from the Bank of England's 2% inflation target.