The central African nation of Congo is offering 30 oil and gas blocks around the country for auction. It's a prospect that concerns environmentalists and some of the people who live near the drilling that has so far been limited to a small area near its far western border on the Atlantic Ocean.

The Associated Press visited Moanda territory, including two villages near drilling sites, and heard from residents who said air and ground pollution has hurt their crops and caused health problems. They say Perenco, the French-British company that began drilling in 2000, has failed to address those problems, and advocacy groups say they want to see changes before drilling expands.

Marcus Rashford fired back at critics who have questioned his commitment to Manchester United amid a disappointing season and the forward suggested on Thursday that he's judged more critically than other players.

The England international has scored just five goals so far this season — after a career-high 30 last campaign — and has come under scrutiny off the field.

Spain's women's soccer team is finally getting attention for its play on the field, rather than the behavior of its officials.

Spain followed up its Women's World Cup title in August with victory in the inaugural Women's Nations League on Wednesday, and this time the talk in Spain is about the great performances of the team and not about an unwanted kiss that ruined the team's World Cup celebrations.

Paris Saint-Germain's defensive worries deepened when Danilo Pereira was ruled out of Friday's match at Monaco because of a thigh injury sustained just a few days before a Champions League match at Real Sociedad.

The French league leader was already without captain Marquinhos after the center back injured his calf two weeks ago in a 2-0 win at Nantes.

Japanese stocks again set a record on Friday, after U.S. stocks climbed to all-time highs the previous day, European markets also went up ahead of euro zone inflation data.

The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.1%.

Local buses, subway trains and trams ground to a halt in much of Germany on Friday, at the peak of a week of walkouts by employees demanding better working conditions.

The Ver.di service workers' union called for a week of strikes lasting from Monday to Saturday, with the main day of walkouts on Friday. The union is being backed by the Fridays for Future climate activist group, which called on supporters to take to the streets for "good work and climate-friendly mobility."

The inflation that has ravaged the European economy eased again in February, falling to 2.6% as high interest rates, moderating oil and gas prices, and sluggish growth held back price increases in stores.

February's figure for the 20 countries that use the euro currency compares to 2.8% from January, the European Union's statistical agency Eurostat said Friday.

Environmental activists are staging a protest in a forest near Berlin against plans to expand the grounds of electric carmaker Tesla's first plant in Europe and are vowing to stay in place for weeks.

Between 80 and 100 activists have been camping in the forest since early Thursday, according to an initiative called "Stop Tesla." They put up tents and built treehouses, some of them several meters above the ground — a tactic used in previous German environmental protests.

The United Kingdom is poised to hold its first election in five years in a country battered by a cost-of-living crisis, fallout from the Israel-Hamas conflict and deep divisions over how to deal with migrants and asylum seekers crossing the English Channel from Europe on small inflatable boats.

Here is a look at the upcoming election and the biggest issues at stake.

South Korea's president lambasted North Korea on Friday over what he called its repressive rule and vowed to achieve a free, unified Korean Peninsula, weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rejected the idea of peaceful unification and threatened to occupy the South in the event of war.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol spoke on March 1 Independence Movement Day, a holiday marking a 1919 Korean uprising against Japanese colonial rule.