Union Berlin's star player Max Kruse stunned the high-flying club by asking for a transfer to his former team Wolfsburg at the other end of the Bundesliga, with the forward set to rejoin Wolfsburg on the last day of the winter transfer window.

The former Germany striker asked Union fans on Sunday for their "understanding for my decision to accept an offer that is long-term and highly paid."

The biggest stars of African soccer are on course to meet in their continent's biggest game.

Mohamed Salah's Egypt and Sadio Mané's Senegal reached the African Cup of Nations semifinals on Sunday. One more win for both teams will see the Liverpool pair meet in the final.

Global stocks rose Monday following a big Wall Street gain at the start of a week when China, South Korea and Southeast Asian markets will close for the Lunar New Year holiday.

London and Frankfurt opened higher. Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced while Sydney declined. Markets in China, South Korea and Taiwan were closed. Hong Kong and Southeast Asia were due to close later in the week.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for the "immediate release" of a French-Iranian researcher imprisoned in Iran, officials said.

Macron made the plea in a "long" phone call with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, according to a statement from the French presidency.

India's economy is projected to grow 8% to 8.5% in the financial year beginning April 1, signaling a strong recovery after it was slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government's annual economic survey, released Monday, comes a day before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is due to present the national budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

A leading rights group on Monday urged the European Union to reverse its migration policy on Libya, saying the approach helps return migrants to "hellish" conditions in the North African country.

Amnesty International said in a statement more than 82,000 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya in the past five years since the EU began its cooperation with Libyan authorities to block migrants from reaching European shores.

Portugal's center-left Socialist Party won a third straight general election, returning it to power as the country prepares to deploy billions of euros (dollars) of European Union aid for the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a ballot that took place amid a surge of coronavirus cases blamed on the omicron variant, and with around 1 million infected voters allowed to leave home to cast their ballots, the Socialists elected at least 112 lawmakers in the 230-seat parliament.

The United Nations has received "credible allegations" that more than 100 former members of the Afghan government, its security forces and those who worked with international troops have been killed since the Taliban took over the country Aug. 15, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says.

In a report, Guterres said that "more than two-thirds" of the victims were alleged to result from extrajudicial killings by the Taliban or its affiliates, despite the Taliban's announcement of "general amnesties" for those affiliated with the former government and U.S.-led coalition forces.

A top Hong Kong official resigned Monday for attending a birthday party with about 200 guests in early January as the city was battling a coronavirus surge.

At least one guests later tested positive. Secretary of Home Affairs Caspar Tsui was among several officials and lawmakers ordered to quarantine after the party, which was held for Witman Hung, a delegate to China's legislature.

Tighter COVID-19 restrictions, including a ban on dining in restaurants after 6 p.m., mean many Hong Kong families are eating their reunion dinner on Lunar New Year's eve at home this year.

The traditional dish known as "poon choi," or "basin food," is a large dish filled with lotus root, radish, taro and more expensive delicacies such as prawns, abalones and meat layered on top. Each food is symbolic and enjoying the dish with family is a way of sharing hope for a good year.