Raphinha and Lamine Yamal celebrated each other's goals with a raised arm and hands linked as Barcelona won 2-0 at 10-man Villarreal on Sunday to stay four points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.

Raphinha won a penalty after being fouled when cutting inside. He took a slow run-up and sent goalkeeper Luiz Junior the wrong way in the 12th minute for his seventh league goal of the season and Barca's 50th.

A spectacular bicycle kick earned royal approval for Ayoub El Kaabi as host Morocco opened the 35th Africa Cup of Nations with a 2-0 win over Comoros on Sunday.

Home fans including Moroccan Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, who greeted the players before kickoff, had endured a frustrating game as island nation Comoros, ranked 108th in the world, stubbornly held out against one of the tournament favorites.

Even by Bayern Munich standards, it's been an unusually dominant year in Germany.

A 4-0 win at Heidenheim on Sunday meant Vincent Kompany's team ends 2025 nine points clear in the Bundesliga, well on the way to retaining the title it won back in May after Bayer Leverkusen's one-season reign. A first domestic double since 2020 is possible, too.

There were some highs amid a lot of lows in a roller coaster year for clean energy as President Donald Trump worked to boost polluting fuels while blocking wind and solar, according to dozens of energy developers, experts and politicians.

Surveyed by The Associated Press, many described 2025 as turbulent and challenging for clean energy, though there was progress as projects connected to the electric grid. They said clean energy must continue to grow to meet skyrocketing demand for electricity to power data centers and to lower Americans' utility bills.

World shares were mixed on Monday after a rebound in AI-related stocks like Nvidia spurred a late-in-the-week rally on Wall Street.

Germany's DAX edged 0.1% higher to 24,315.90, while the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.2% to 8,135.23. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.3% to 9,864.71.

China will impose up to 42.7% of provisional tariffs on dairy products including milk and cheese imported from the European Union, its Commerce Ministry said Monday.

The elevated duties, which take effect Tuesday, were based on preliminary results from an investigation opened by China's Commerce Ministry in August 2024 as tensions between Beijing and Brussels flared. Beijing reviewed subsidies provided by EU countries for their dairy and other farm products.

Christmas is a Christian holiday that observes the birth of Jesus. But did you know that the earliest followers of Jesus did not annually commemorate his birth? Or that Santa Claus is inspired by the acts of kindness of a fourth-century Christian saint? And have you heard about the modern-day Japanese tradition of eating Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas?

Since the early 20th century, Christmas has evolved from a religious holiday to a hugely popular cultural holiday observed by Christian and secular people across the globe who gather with families, exchange gifts and cards and decorate Christmas trees.

Saudi Arabia has quietly expanded access to its only store that sells alcohol, allowing wealthy foreign residents to buy booze in the latest step in the once-ultraconservative kingdom's experiment in liberalization.

There's been no official announcement of the decision, but word has gotten out, and long lines of cars and people can now be seen at the discreet, unmarked store in the Diplomatic Quarter of the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Political factions in Iraq have been maneuvering since the parliamentary election more than a month ago to form alliances that will shape the next government.

The November election didn't produce a bloc with a decisive majority, opening the door to a prolonged period of negotiations.

Thailand and Cambodia will resume talks later this week to work toward a more durable ceasefire along their border, Thailand's foreign minister said Monday, stressing that progress depends on detailed bilateral negotiations rather than public declarations that internationalize the dispute.

A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by U.S. President Donald Trump and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Monday after an Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers' meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.