Lebanon has appeared to reject claims by the Ukrainian Embassy in Beirut that a Syrian ship docked in a Lebanese port is carrying Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia, following an inspection by Lebanese customs officials.

A senior Lebanese customs official told The Associated Press that there was "nothing wrong" with the cargo of the Laodicea, which docked in the Lebanese port of Tripoli on Thursday, and that its papers were in order. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Russian energy giant Gazprom Saturday suspended gas supplies to Latvia following tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and sweeping European and US sanctions against Russia. 

Twitter's lawsuit to force Elon Musk to complete his $44 billion buyout bid is set to go to trial on October 17, a U.S. judge has ordered, in a case with major stakes for both sides.

The main U.S. oil contract, WTI, jumped more than five percent in trading on Friday as supply concerns outweighed recession worries, and as traders began to look ahead to a meeting next week of OPEC+ nations on production.

China's leaders effectively acknowledged the struggling economy won't hit its official 5.5% growth target this year and said Thursday they will try to prop up sagging consumer demand but will stick to strict anti-COVID-19 tactics that disrupted manufacturing and trade.

The announcement after a Communist Party planning meeting reflected the high cost President Xi Jinping's government has been willing to incur to stop the virus in a politically sensitive year when Xi is widely expected to try to extend his term in power.

Inflation in the European countries using the euro currency shot up to another record in July, pushed by higher energy prices fueled by Russia's war in Ukraine, but the economy managed better-than-expected, if meager, growth in the second quarter.

Annual inflation in the eurozone's 19 countries rose to 8.9% in July, an increase from 8.6% in June, according to numbers published Friday by the European Union statistics agency.

Caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam confirmed Thursday that a Syrian ship carrying stolen Ukrainian barley and wheat is docked at Tripoli’s port, after Kyiv warned over bilateral relations.

“The Directorate General of Customs is following up with the Agriculture Ministry on the issue of the Syrian ship that is under sanctions and has docked at Tripoli’s port carrying stolen Ukrainian barley and wheat,” Salam told Annahar newspaper.

Leading international auditing firm KPMG, which is tasked by the International Monetary Fund to audit the work of Lebanon’s central bank between 2015 and 2020, has not found any violations, LBCI television reported on Thursday.

The firm has also been tasked with auditing the bank’s work between 2020 and 2021, LBCI noted.

Caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam announced Thursday that the country will witness “breakthroughs” in the bread shortage crisis in the “next two days.”

“There is an operations room at the Interior Ministry that will coordinate with the Economy Ministry to monitor all things in the market,” Salam said.

After going backward from January through March, the U.S. economy probably didn't do much better in the spring.

On Thursday morning, the government will reveal just how weak economic growth was in the April-June quarter — and perhaps offer clues about whether the United States may be approaching a recession.