China's exports beat forecasts in June, customs data showed Friday, while imports grew less than expected.

Exports grew 8.6% from the same time last year to hit $307.8 billion, according to data released by Chinese customs, beating estimates of about 7.4% to 8% growth. Imports however fell 2.3% from a year earlier to $208.8 billion.

Luis Díaz was unable to control his excitement — and tears — when talking about James Rodríguez, the key player in Colombia's journey to the Copa America final against Argentina on Sunday.

"From the moment I arrived at the national team, I let him know that he has always been my idol," Liverpool winger Díaz said. "I grew up watching him."

Despite a record 46-day streak of triple digit feels-like temperatures, Miami's unprecedented brutal summer last year wasn't that deadly, contrasting with the rest of the nation where federal records show heat fatalities nationally spiked to a 45-year high.

One of the reasons is that Miami takes heat seriously, not just reacting when temperatures soar, but planning months in advance. Officials talk to vulnerable people, install air conditioning units early and essentially figure out what to do when things get nasty and practice at it. The Miami-Dade government and the local National Weather Service office team up to treat heat like something more scary, but often less deadly.

Saudi Arabia and the IOC are teaming up for their first commercial deal together with the oil-rich kingdom set to host the Esports Olympics that launch next year.

The gaming partnership will be for 12 years "with Olympic Esports Games held regularly," the International Olympic Committee said in a statement Friday. The value was not stated.

The European Union said Friday that blue checkmarks from Elon Musk's X are deceptive and that the online platform falls short on transparency and accountability requirements, the first charges against a tech company since the bloc's new social media regulations took effect.

The European Commission outlined the preliminary findings from its investigation into X, formerly known as Twitter, under the 27-nation bloc's Digital Services Act.

They were billed as artworks by Pablo Picasso, paintings so valuable that an Australian art museum's decision to display them in an exhibition restricted to women visitors provoked a gender discrimination lawsuit. The paintings again prompted international headlines when the gallery re-hung them in a women's restroom to sidestep a legal ruling that said men could not be barred from viewing them.

But the artworks at the center of the uproar were not really by Picasso or the other famed artists billed as their creators, it emerged this week when the curator of the women-only exhibition admitted she had painted them herself.

NATO leaders met this week to celebrate the alliance's 75th anniversary under the cloud of deep political uncertainty in its most powerful member — the United States.

But even as questions swirled about President Joe Biden's future and the implications of a possible return to the White House by NATO skeptic Donald Trump, the 32 allies put a brave face on their strength and unity going forward, particularly in relation to Ukraine.

Wholesale prices in the United States rose by a larger-than-expected 2.6% last month from a year earlier, a sign that some inflation pressures remain high.

The increase, the sharpest year-over-year increase since March 2023, comes at a time when other price indicators are showing that inflation has continued to ease.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has made a Trumpian vow to "Make Europe Great Again" during his country's six-month presidency of the European Union. As a first step last week, he astonished his allies by making a surprise trip to Ukraine -- his first since Moscow invaded the country -- followed by similarly unannounced visits to Russia and China for talks with two of the EU's primary adversaries.

The EU's longest-serving leader — who has endorsed former President Donald Trump and is known as having the warmest relations with Vladimir Putin in the bloc — wrapped up a NATO summit in Washington on Thursday before traveling to Trump's Mar-a-Lago compound — his latest stop on what he calls a "peace mission" aimed at brokering an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.

The German government said Friday that it "won't be intimidated" by Russian attempts to undermine the country's support of Ukraine, but refused to comment on a report that Moscow planned to assassinate the chief executive of a leading defense company.

CNN reported Thursday, citing five unidentified U.S. and Western officials, that American intelligence discovered earlier this year that Russia planned to kill Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger. It said the U.S. informed Germany, whose security services were able to protect Papperger and foil the plot. Rheinmetall is a major supplier of military technology and artillery rounds for Ukraine.