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The Paris stock exchange slipped on Friday towards its worst week in more than two years and the euro fell, dragging down other European markets as investors fret over France's looming snap election.

Wearing kilts and filling the air with the strains of bagpipes, Scotland's "Tartan Army" descended on Munich for Friday's opening game of Euro 2024 where their side face a tough clash against hosts Germany.

Veteran France striker Olivier Giroud knows he is no longer a first choice for his country going into Euro 2024 and says he is ready to be a father figure for the emerging generation as Les Bleus aim to win the continental title for the first time in almost quarter of a century.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow would only halt its offensive on Ukraine if Kyiv effectively surrenders by pulling its troops out of the east and south and dropping its bid for NATO membership.

Romain Grosjean, whose Formula One career ended in flames at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2020, is among a posse of F1 drivers competing in this weekend's Le Mans 24 Hours race.

G7 leaders meeting in Italy Friday hardened their tone against China, warning Beijing to stop sending weapons components to Russia and play by the rules on trade, according to a draft summit statement.

Conor McGregor's comeback fight has been cancelled due to injury just two weeks before he was due to face Michael Chandler in Las Vegas.

South Africa's newly elected parliament met Friday and was expected to re-elect President Cyril Ramaphosa to form an unprecedented coalition government after his humbled ANC cobbled together a deal.

Manchester United will start a £50 million ($64 million) redevelopment of their creaking Carrington training headquarters next week as they look to transform it into a "world-class" facility.

Olympic 100m freestyle champion Emma McKeon will not defend her title in Paris after missing out on qualifying Friday with Mollie O'Callaghan and Shayna Jack securing the two Australian slots at stake.

Borussia Dortmund announced on Friday defender Mats Hummels will leave after 13 years at the club.

Co-leader Rory McIlroy hoped to build momentum with a strong early start as he teed off in Friday's second round of the US Open after a bogey-free opening 65 at Pinehurst.

Portugal midfielder Vitinha said Friday his country's star-studded squad must prove they are a "great" team at Euro 2024.

France's left put up a united front on Friday, vowing a "total break" with President Emmanuel Macron's policies if it wins historic polls, while far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen pledged a "national unity government" if her party emerges victorious.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday played down a "seismic" poll suggesting that his Conservative party has fallen behind the hard-right anti-immigration Reform UK group for the first time.

When Andrey Kozlov saw his mother after being rescued from eight months of captivity in Gaza, the Russian-Israeli fell to his knees while she hugged him.

Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Friday as truce talks with Hamas militants failed to progress and tensions surged on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Friday he supported "dialogue, not confrontation" during a visit to New Zealand where he stirred up hope of new trade avenues.

Pope Francis arrived at a G7 summit Friday in Italy, the first head of the Catholic Church to take part in the meeting of rich democracies, after a morning clowning with comedians at the Vatican.

Robert Lewandowski will "probably" be fit to play in Poland's second Euro 2024 match against Austria in Berlin next week, coach Michal Probierz said on Friday.

European stock markets slid and the euro retreated Friday on lingering concerns over France's looming snap election, called after President Emmanuel Macron's party lost to the far right in last weekend's EU vote.

Grieving families kept a solemn vigil in the terminal of an Indian airport on Friday as the bodies of dozens of migrant workers killed in a Kuwait building fire returned home.

Leading left-wing French politician Raphael Glucksmann on Friday threw his weight behind a new coalition of the left in the run-up to historic elections, while far-right powerhouse Marine Le Pen pledged a "national unity government" if her party wins the snap polls.

The Auckland Blues booked their place in the Super Rugby final with a 34-20 win Friday over the ACT Brumbies after crashing over for four early tries.

Pope Francis on Friday clowned around with over 100 top global comedians including Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock and Jimmy Fallon before leaving to address a summit of G7 leaders in Italy.

The Conservative party of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has fallen behind the hard-right anti-immigration Reform UK party for the first time in a poll by YouGov, which called the development a "seismic shift".

South Korean international footballer Son Jun-ho, who was detained in China for 10 months over a bribery case, is set to sign for Suwon FC, the top-tier K League club said Friday.

The yen fell and Tokyo stocks rose Friday after the Bank of Japan deferred a plan to cut back its bond purchases as it cautiously moves away from its ultra-loose monetary policy.

Debt-laden tech group Atos said Friday the French state has made a 700-million-euro bid for its most sensitive businesses, including cybersecurity and supercomputers used for the country's nuclear deterrent.

China has organised seminars and training courses for officials in African and Latin American countries, aimed at promoting its single-party system and President Xi Jinping's worldview, a report said this week.

Every day, Magda Miloseska dons a white, protective suit and enters the domain of the honeybees in the backyard of her small weekend house in North Macedonia.

It looks like the lair of a Bond villain: behind armoured doors, buried underground below the Louvre in Paris, lies one of the most high-tech art labs in the world.