Pressure is building on the Biden administration to begin unwinding sanctions on Venezuela after President Nicolas Maduro freed two American prisoners and promised to resume negotiations with his opponents.

Maduro's goodwill gesture came during a weekend trip to Caracas by senior White House and State Department officials that caught off guard Maduro's friends and foes alike.

German fashion brand Hugo Boss and U.S. hotel chain Hilton are the latest brands to pause their Russian businesses over the Ukraine invasion.

Hugo Boss said Thursday that it has temporarily closed its stores and suspended its own retail and e-commerce business activities in Russia. The company said it will give all affected employees “financial and operational support.”

Two Americans imprisoned in Japan for helping former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn avoid trial and escape to Lebanon are hoping to serve the rest of their time in the U.S.

The Boston-based attorney for Michael Taylor and his son Peter Taylor, Paul Kelly, said Thursday that the elder man was suffering from serious back pain and frostbite.

Lebanon’s central bank, known as the Banque du Liban (BDL), announced Wednesday that it has asked commercial banks to provide it with the names of the “politically exposed figures” who have failed to repatriate their bank transfers from abroad in the wake of the country’s historic financial crisis.

In a statement, BDL’s Special Investigation Commission said it had made the request following a meeting that was held on March 3, adding that the names of those who have complied should also be submitted to the central bank.

Asian stocks rebounded Wednesday after Wall Street declined and Chinese inflation edged higher.

Already high oil prices rose further, adding more than $2 per barrel following President Joe Biden's ban on imports of Russian crude.

McDonald's, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and General Electric __ ubiquitous global brands and symbols of U.S. corporate might __ all announced they were temporarily suspending their business in Russia in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine.

"Our values mean we cannot ignore the needless human suffering unfolding in Ukraine," McDonald's President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said in an open letter to employees.

Protests erupted Wednesday in Iraq's impoverished south over a rise in food prices that officials attributed to the conflict in Ukraine.

For about a week, the price of cooking oils and flour have skyrocketed in local markets as government officials have sought to address growing anger with various statements and measures.

Rising gas prices pose a fresh election year challenge for President Joe Biden. He's balancing concerns about costs at the pump in the U.S. against calls from both parties to step up penalties on Russian President Vladimir Putin following his invasion of Ukraine.

In announcing a ban on U.S. imports of Russian oil on Tuesday, Biden was blunt in warning that while the move would hurt Putin, "there will be a cost as well here in the United States." He sought to avoid being blamed for that by dubbing it "Putin's price hike."

Even though Russia has lost influence and friends since the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989, the nuclear superpower still holds sway over several of its neighbors in Europe and keeps others in an uneasy neutrality.

The Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine and the humanitarian tragedy it provoked over the past two weeks have raised a Western outcry of heartfelt support and spawned calls for a fundamental rethink of how the geopolitical map of Europe should be redrawn in the future.

Congressional leaders reached a bipartisan deal early Wednesday providing $13.6 billion to help Ukraine and European allies plus billions more to battle the pandemic as part of an overdue $1.5 trillion measure financing federal agencies for the rest of this year.

Though a tiny portion of the massive bill, the money responding to the Russian blitzkrieg that's devastated parts of Ukraine and prompted Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II ensured robust bipartisan support for the legislation. President Joe Biden had requested $10 billion for military, humanitarian and economic aid last week, and Democratic and Republican backing was so staunch that the figure grew to $12 billion Monday and $13.6 billion just a day later.