Qatar is still bustling with life just days before the end of the first World Cup in the Middle East.

At Katara beach in Doha, children play soccer on the golden sand during the day, while others go for a swim at night in waters lit by the capital's glimmering skyline.

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné said Monday that the French energy giant has mobilized the teams in charge of drilling operations in Lebanon's Block 9, as he met with caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad.

TotalEnergies said that it has launched a call for tenders to select a vendor for a new drilling rig in the first quarter of 2023.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has held talks in Riyadh with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Lebanese actress Stephanie Saliba was released after questioning Friday as a witness in a corruption probe involving Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, a judicial source and her agent told AFP.

Saliba was detained after failing to appear for previous summons in the case and was subsequently "questioned as a witness" in the investigation into money laundering and illicit enrichment, the source said.

Britain announced plans Friday to ease banking rules brought in after the 2008 global financial crisis in a bid to attract investment and secure London's status as Europe's leading finance center.

Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt said the changes, which follow Britain's departure from the European Union in 2020, will make the U.K. "one of the most open, dynamic and competitive financial services hubs in the world."

Arab Gulf countries, strategic partners of Washington, are bolstering ties with China as part of an eastward turn that involves diversifying their fossil fuel-heavy economies. 

As a Gulf-China summit takes place in Riyadh on Friday, AFP examines key areas of economic cooperation between the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council and the world's second-largest economy. 

South Korea's government expanded its back-to-work orders Thursday against thousands of cargo truck drivers who are staging a nationwide walkout over freight fare issues, saying a prolonged strike could inflict "deep scars" on the country's economy.

The "work start" orders on steel and fuel truckers were inevitable because the strike could begin to hurt major export industries like automobiles and shipbuilding if it extends further, Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said in a news conference.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince on Thursday on an Arab outreach visit that will yield billions of dollars in deals and has earned a rebuke from Washington. 

About $30 billion in agreements will be signed on Thursday, Saudi state media said, as China seeks to shore up its Covid-hit economy and as the Saudis, long-term U.S. allies, push to diversify their economic and political alliances. 

Lebanon's once burgeoning banking sector has been hard hit by the country's historic economic meltdown. It has suffered staggering losses worth tens of billions of dollars and many of the small nation's lenders now face possible closures or mergers.

Yet bankers have been resisting attempts to make their shareholders assume responsibility for those losses and instead have been trying to shift the burden to the government or even their own depositors. The country's political class, blamed for decades of corruption and mismanagement that led to the meltdown, has also resisted reforms.

Uber users in Las Vegas can now ride in fully autonomous vehicles, as the ride-hailing app on Wednesday began its partnership with Motional, a driverless technology company.