An impressive attack has highlighted Barcelona's season, which was capped with the team winning its 28th Spanish league title on Thursday.

Barcelona thrived offensively in its first season under coach Hansi Flick, scoring with ease both at home and away.

When Lionel Messi left Barcelona it looked like a generation would have to go by before another player of his incredible talent would don the burgundy and blue.

It turned out a couple of years was enough.

The Japanese economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.7% in the first quarter, according to government data released Friday, as U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war hurt exports and dented consumer confidence.

Japan's real gross domestic product, or the measure of a nation's goods and services, shrank at a greater-than-expected 0.2% in January-March compared to the previous quarter in the first contraction in a year, the Cabinet Office's seasonally adjusted preliminary data showed.

European shares advanced after a mixed session in Asia on Friday, with scant news driving trading.

Markets have calmed somewhat after the turmoil unleashed by Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs offensive, aimed at compelling companies to base manufacturing inside the United States.

House Republicans are preparing to push their hard-fought package of tax breaks and spending cuts through its next hurdle Friday in the Budget Committee, but conservatives are warning they could vote to halt it unless there are further changes.

Tallying a whopping 1,116 pages, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, named with a nod to President Donald Trump, is teetering at a critical moment. Conservatives are holding out for steeper cuts to Medicaid and other programs to help offset the costs of the tax breaks. But at the same time, lawmakers from high-tax states including New York are demanding a deeper tax deduction, known as SALT, for their constituents.

The United Nations on Thursday forecast slower global economic growth this year and next, pointing to the impact of the surge in U.S. tariffs and increasing trade tensions.

U.N. economists also cited the volatile geopolitical landscape and threats of rising production costs, supply chain disruptions and financial turbulence.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joined the leaders of dozens of European countries and organizations for a one-day summit in Albania's capital Friday to discuss security and defense challenges across the continent, with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine at the top of the agenda.

On the eve of the summit in Tirana, Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Zelensky to meet face-to-face in Turkey to try to secure a ceasefire with Moscow, sending a low-level delegation instead.

An environment conference opened in Nepal on Friday to discuss global climate change, including the impact on the highest Himalayan peaks where snow and ice are melting.

The three-day conference in Kathmandu titled, "Climate Change, Mountains and the Future of Humanity," is expected to include discussions of critical climate issues.

Saudi royalty and American billionaires were in the front row for a speech in Riyadh where President Donald Trump condemned what he called past U.S. interference in the wealthy Gulf states.

Gone were the days when American officials would fly to the Middle East to give "you lectures on how to live, and how to govern your own affairs," Trump said at a Saudi investment forum this week.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran has an American proposal over its rapidly advancing nuclear program as negotiations between the two countries go on.

Trump's remarks represent the first time he's acknowledged an American proposal is with Tehran after multiple rounds of negotiations between U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.