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.

U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack on Thursday called for a non-aggression agreement between Syria and Israel as a first step towards building relations between the two countries.

Speaking to Saudi channel Al Arabiya in Damascus, Barrack described the long-standing conflict between Syria and Israel, who have technically been at war since 1948, as a "solvable problem" through dialogue, proposing a "non-aggression agreement" between them.

An Israeli drone strike killed a municipal worker in southern Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency said.

The man was on his way to work on a well supplying water to homes when he was killed in the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, the NNA said. Lebanon’s Health Ministry also reported one person killed in the strike.

An Iraqi official speaking on condition of anonymity has told The Associated Press that the U.S. and Israel are not opposed to the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel as part of a deal for the release of Russian-Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who is held in Iraq by the Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah group.

Sunni regional powerhouses Turkey and Saudi Arabia have had a complicated and often contentious relationship over the years. But their ties warmed significantly after Bashar Assad was toppled in neighboring Syria in a lightning rebel offensive in December.

Since then, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have worked to stabilize the new government in Damascus and usher Syria back into the international fold.