Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun has frozen the assets of five of Lebanon's largest banks and those of their board of directors as she investigates possible transfers of billions of dollars aboard during the country's economic meltdown.

The state-run National News Agency said the decision covers real estate, vehicles and shares that the five banks or their directors own in other companies.

Lebanon, facing skyrocketing food and fuel prices amid an unprecedented economic crisis exacerbated by the Russian war, is now seeing its breadbasket “being bombed.”

The United Nations chief has warned that the war on Ukraine is holding “a sword of Damocles” over the global economy, especially poor developing countries.

France lifted most COVID-19 restrictions on Monday, abolishing the need to wear face masks in most settings and allowing people who aren't vaccinated back into restaurants, sports arenas and other venues.

The move had been announced earlier this month by the French government based on assessments of the improving situation in hospitals and following weeks of a steady decline in infections. It comes less than a month before the first round of the presidential election scheduled on April 10.

Two months after the Berlin Wall fell, another powerful symbol opened its doors in the middle of Moscow: a gleaming new McDonald's.

It was the first American fast-food restaurant to enter the Soviet Union, reflecting the new political openness of the era. For Vlad Vexler, who as a 9-year-old waited in a two-hour line to enter the restaurant near Moscow's Pushkin Square on its opening day in January 1990, it was a gateway to the utopia he imagined the West to be.

Germany said Monday that it will replace some of its ageing Tornado bomber jets with U.S.-made F-35A Lightning II aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

Announcing the decision, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Germany also will upgrade its Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets for electronic warfare — a capability that's also currently fulfilled by the Tornado jets. The Eurofighter will be replaced from 2040 with the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS, that's being jointly developed with France and Spain, she said.

Stocks on Wall Street are mixed Monday as waves of market-moving forces crash into each other and keep trading jumbled, from war in Ukraine to an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates

The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher after flipping from an earlier loss in morning trading, as the yield on the 10-year Treasury touched its highest level since the summer of 2019. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 254 points, or 0.8%, at 33,198, as of 10:03 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.

Israel is grappling with how to deal with dozens of Jewish Russian oligarchs as Western nations step up sanctions on businesspeople with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A worried Israeli government has formed a high-level committee to see how the country can maintain its status as a haven for any Jew without running afoul of the biting sanctions targeting Putin's inner circle.

The United States announced a ban on exports of American luxury goods to Russia and Belarus Friday, including jewelry, clothing, and vehicles, as Washington increased its pressure on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.

Washington and its allies moved Friday to end normal trade relations with Russia, as President Joe Biden vowed the West would make Vladimir Putin "pay the price" for his invasion of Ukraine.

The government has asked Economy Minister Amin Salam to intensify his foreign contacts to secure essential food stocks in order to enable the country to face the food security crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine, media reports said on Friday.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati has promised to help Salam in his endeavor to obtain wheat and cooking oil donations, especially from the United States, after other countries refrained from offering any promises in this regard due to their local markets’ need for these resources, ad-Diyar newspaper reported.