The Madrid derby takes center stage in the round of 16 of the Champions League, with Atletico Madrid in a commanding position to try to finally get the best of rival Real Madrid in the European competition.

Madrid, the record 15-time European champion, has been a thorn for Atletico in the Champions League over the years, beating the city rival in two finals and eliminating it from the competition the other two times they faced off in the knockout rounds.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni has selected a preliminary list of 33 players led by Lionel Messi for South American qualifying matches against Uruguay and Brazil.

One of the bright young talents in a revamped squad is striker Claudio Echeverri, who has just joined Manchester City after having played in the South American Under-20 championships.

Barcelona cruised to a 4-0 rout of 10-man Real Sociedad to regain the lead in Spain on Sunday.

Gerard Martín, Marc Casadó, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski scored a goal each to put Barcelona one point ahead of second-placed Atletico Madrid at the top of the Spanish league.

Israel this week introduced what it said was a new U.S. ceasefire plan — different from the one it agreed to in January — and is trying to force Hamas to accept it by imposing a siege on the Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to it as the "Witkoff proposal," saying it came from U.S. President Donald Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff. But the White House has yet to confirm that, saying only that it supports whatever action Israel takes.

Chinese manufacturers reported an uptick in orders in February as importers rushed to beat higher U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, as a Chinese state media report said that Beijing was considering ways to retaliate.

Trump earlier imposed a tariff of 10% on imports from China and that will rise to 20% beginning Tuesday. He also ended the "de minimis" loophole that exempted imports worth less than $800 from tariffs, in a blow to companies whose online sales direct to consumers had soared in recent years.

Elon Musk's car company is required each year to report to investors all the bad things that could happen to it, and the latest version lists every imaginable threat from costly lawsuits to out-of-control battery fires to war and another epidemic.

But there's barely any mention in the latest annual update of Musk's full-bore entry into right-wing politics, which some experts say is turning off potential customers who don't share his views.

A former Iranian foreign minister who was key to the country's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers reportedly tendered his resignation on Monday from the government of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, caving in to pressure from hard-liners.

The resignation of Mohammad Javad Zarif signaled Tehran's rapid retreat from its outreach to the West as U.S. President Donald Trump intensifies sanctions on the country.

Some restaurants and coffee shops in Syria were closed during the day Saturday while others opened as usual as observant Muslims began fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, the first since the fall of Assad family rule in the war-torn country.

Syria's interim Ministry of Religious Endowments reportedly called for all restaurants, coffee shops and street food stands be closed during the day and that people must not eat or drink in public or face punishment. Those who violate the rule could get up to three months in jail. However, it did not appear that any official order had been issued by the government to that effect.

A private lunar lander carrying a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA touched down on the moon Sunday, the latest in a string of companies looking to kickstart business on Earth's celestial neighbor ahead of astronaut missions.

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander descended from lunar orbit on autopilot, aiming for the slopes of an ancient volcanic dome in an impact basin on the moon's northeastern edge of the near side.

Pope Francis had a good night's rest early Monday after apparently overcoming a setback in his recovery from pneumonia: He is stable, off mechanical ventilation and shows no sign of new infection following a respiratory crisis late last week.

"The pope rested well all night," the Vatican said in its update from Gemelli hospital, where Francis has been hospitalized since Feb. 14.