Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday in a drive by Beijing to elevate relations and increase its overall presence in the Middle East.

Li, who took office just this spring with little foreign policy experience, called Abbas "an old friend of the Chinese people" who has made "important contributions to the promotion of China-Palestinian relations."

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man Thursday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, the latest death in a spike of violence that has rocked the region.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 20-year-old Khalil Yahya Anis was shot in the head in the city of Nablus, a frequent flashpoint for confrontations between the Israeli military and Palestinians.

Pope Francis is expected to be released from the hospital "in the coming days," as he recovers well and without complications from abdominal surgery last week, the Vatican said Wednesday.

In his daily medical update, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Francis again rested well overnight, was at work during the day and had received the Eucharist during a moment of prayer in the chapel of his hospital suite.

The national tour of Broadway's "Tina — The Tina Turner Musical" makes its California debut this week, arriving as a poignant, posthumous celebration following the rock music icon's death last month.

"Tina" opens in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre on Wednesday, steps away from her Hollywood Walk of Fame star and where she recorded for Capitol Records. It plays there until July 9, followed by two weeks at Segerstrom Center the Arts in Costa Mesa and stops in San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose later this summer.

More change is afoot at the Grammys. The Recording Academy announced Tuesday that three new categories will be added to the awards show in 2024: best pop dance recording, best African music performance, and best alternative jazz album.

In addition, two existing categories have been moved to the general field, which means that all Grammy voters can participate in selecting the winners: producer of the year, non-classical, and songwriter of the year, non-classical, the latter of which was first introduced this year.

All the old problems were there to see.

Germany's uninspired showing in a 3-3 draw with Ukraine was just the latest example of the team's struggles, leaving it in a state of alarm one year before the country hosts the European Championship.

Shell has effectively abandoned a plan to cut oil production by 1-2% per year until the end of the decade, instead maintaining output at current levels in a move that risks angering climate activists.

Ahead of an investor update in New York on Wednesday, Europe's largest energy company argued that it had already met the target it had set for itself in 2021 through asset sales.

An 18-year-old army trainee shot three fellow soldiers at a firing range on a Japanese army base Wednesday, killing two of them, officials said.

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder at the scene in Gifu prefecture in central Japan, police said.

European Union antitrust regulators took aim at Google's lucrative digital advertising business in an unprecedented decision, saying Wednesday that the tech giant must sell off some of its ad business to address competition concerns.

The European Commission, the bloc's executive branch and top antitrust enforcer, said its preliminary view after an investigation is that "only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services" would satisfy the concerns.

Toyota executives fielded challenges and reaped praise from investors at an annual general meeting Wednesday where shareholders ultimately rejected demands the automaker do better on fighting climate change.

The investor proposal was initiated by AkademikerPension, a $20 billion Danish investment fund. It accused Toyota Motor Corp. of lobbying to weaken efforts by governments around the world to phase out the internal combustion engine.