One of the main candidates to be Japan's next prime minister said Wednesday the country needs a new type of capitalism to address income and social gaps caused by the pandemic.

Former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida is the only announced candidate so far in the race to lead the governing Liberal Democratic Party and succeed outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Whoever wins the Sept. 29 party vote is almost certain to be the next government leader.

Shares slipped in Asia and Europe on Wednesday after a lackluster session on Wall Street, where weak jobs data and pandemic concerns weighed on sentiment.

Tokyo's benchmark rose after economic growth for the April-June quarter was revised upward to an annualized 1.9% from an earlier estimate of 1.3%.

The European Union moved Tuesday to force Poland to comply with the rulings of Europe's top court with plans to seek daily fines against the nationalist government in Warsaw linked to a long-running dispute over justice independence in the country.

The EU's executive branch, the European Commission, said that it wants the European Court of Justice to "impose financial penalties on Poland to ensure compliance" with one of the tribunal's previous legal rulings.

China's import and export growth accelerated in August despite disruptions due to the spread of the coronavirus's delta variant.

Exports rose 25.6% over a year earlier to $294.3 billion, up from July's 18.9% growth, customs data showed Tuesday. Imports rose 33.1% to $236 billion, up from the previous month's 28.7%.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans Tuesday to fulfill a election promise to grapple with the rocketing cost of the long-term care needed by Britain's growing older population.

To do it, he appears set to break another election vow: not to raise taxes.

The funds earmarked by the central bank for the subsidization of fuel “have run out,” an official source concerned with the file said on Tuesday.

“Banque du Liban has stopped granting permissions for subsidized importation,” the source told Annahar newspaper.

French energy giant Total signed mega contracts with Iraq worth $27 billion to develop oil fields, natural gas and a crucial water project that officials said Monday will be key for the oil-rich country to maintain crude output.

The deals were inked Sunday with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in attendance, according to an Oil Ministry statement.

The Middle East on Monday got its first completely automated cashier-less store, as retail giant Carrefour rolled out its vision for the future of the industry in a cavernous Dubai mall.

Like Amazon's breakthrough unmanned grocery stores that opened in 2018, the Carrefour mini-market looks like any ordinary convenience store, brimming with sodas and snacks, tucked between sprawling storefronts of this city-state.

Rising eurozone inflation will provide the backdrop for the meeting of European Central Bank governors Thursday, with markets hoping for hints of when policymakers might start easing their massive pandemic-era stimulus.

Rights activists said Monday they had filed a criminal complaint in Germany against five retailers including C&A, Lidl and Hugo Boss, accusing them of benefiting from forced labor among China's Uyghur population.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) said it had filed the case, which also targeted the two supermarket chains Aldi Nord and Aldi Sued, after carrying out an open source investigation.