Stock markets were mixed Friday after a painful few days as traders tracked Delta variant developments, Chinese regulatory crackdowns, disappointing economic data and brewing geopolitical tensions.

Work-related illnesses and injuries kill nearly two million people annually, largely because of long working hours, the U.N. said Friday, warning the pandemic would surely worsen the situation.

The White House is warning state and local governments about severe cuts to disaster relief, Medicaid, infrastructure grants. school money and other programs if Congress fails to raise the U.S. debt limit.

A fact sheet for state and local officials that was obtained by The Associated Press is an attempt to ratchet up the public pressure on Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. President Joe Biden has insisted so far on bipartisan backing to increase the cap on debt that was almost entirely accrued before he took office, but McConnell, R-Ky., has been unmoved and has repeatedly said that Democrats must act on their own.

Lebanon's incoming finance minister signed a contract on Friday with a New-York-based company to conduct a forensic audit of the country's central bank, a key demand of the international community to restore confidence in the crisis-struck country.

Alvarez & Marsal had pulled out of an earlier deal late last year, complaining that after months of work it was not able to acquire the information it needed to conduct its audit. The withdrawal was a blow to calls for accountability in the country mired in decades of corruption which many consider a key reason for the economic meltdown.

Germany's biggest rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, and a labor union representing train drivers said Thursday they have agreed on a pay raise to end a series of strikes that had caused chaos for commuters and vacationers over the summer.

The GDL union said it secured assurances over pensions, a raise of about 3.3% over 32 months and plus two bonus payments of 800 to 1,000 euros ($940-1,180) for each member during the period

A month after the fall of Kabul, the world is still wrestling with how to help Afghanistan's impoverished people without propping up their Taliban leaders — a question that grows more urgent by the day.

With the Afghan government severed from the international banking system, aid groups both inside Afghanistan and abroad say they are struggling to get emergency relief, basic services and funds to a population at risk of starvation, unemployment and the coronavirus after 20 years of war.

Australia decided to invest in U.S. nuclear-powered submarines and dump its contract with France to build diesel-electric submarines because of a changed strategic environment, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday had announced a new U.S. security alliance with Australia and Britain that would develop an Australian nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

Carmaker Tesla has opened a store and repair shop on Native American land for the first time, marking a new approach to its yearslong fight to sell cars directly to consumers and cut car dealerships out of the process.

The white-walled, silver-lettered Tesla store, which opened last week, sits in Nambé Pueblo, north of Santa Fe, on tribal land that's not subject to state laws.

World shares and U.S. futures were mostly higher Monday, bouncing back from losses last week on Wall Street.

Stocks rose in London, Paris, Tokyo and Shanghai but fell in Hong Kong, where a Financial Times report that Chinese regulators want to break up the mammoth e-commerce payments platform Alipay dragged shares in Alibaba Group Holding nearly 4.3% lower. The company said it had no comment on the report.

Epic Games filed notice that is appealing a federal judge's decision in a lawsuit alleging that Apple has been running an illegal monopoly that stifles competition.

The maker of the popular Fortnite video game said in a court filing Sunday that it will take the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.