The United Arab Emirates announced on Sunday a major plan to stimulate its economy and liberalize stringent residency rules for foreigners, as the country seeks to overhaul its finances and attract visitors and investment.

The nation's plan to lure foreign talent over the next decades reflects an emerging contrast with the other sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf that are growing increasingly protectionist as they try to diversify their oil-bound economies.

The UAE announced a new visa Sunday allowing foreigners to work in the country without being sponsored by an employer, loosening residency requirements in an attempt to boost economic growth.

Syria has agreed to help crisis-hit Lebanon by letting gas and electricity transit through its territory, an official said, during the first high-level visit from Beirut to Damascus since Syria's civil war erupted.

Dozens of worshippers knelt in prayer Friday at the center of hundreds of cars and unruly motorists surrounding a gas station south of Beirut.

Sheikh Ali al-Hussein led the session to highlight the hardship suffered by people who could not leave their spots in line for gas during the worst economic crisis in Lebanon's history. So, he says, he brought the mosque to the people, who were queued up for five kilometers (three miles) near a station in Jiyeh.

Global stock markets were mixed Friday as investors waited to see whether U.S. hiring in August was weak enough to persuade the Federal Reserve to postpone the winding down of economic stimulus.

Tokyo advanced after Wall Street hit its second record this week. Shanghai and Hong Kong declined.

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group said Friday it will spend $15.5 billion to support President Xi Jinping's campaign to spread China's prosperity more evenly, adding to pledges by tech companies that are under pressure to pay for the ruling Communist Party's political initiatives.

Alibaba said it will invest in 10 projects for job creation, "care for vulnerable groups" and technology innovation. Its 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) pledge includes 20 billion yuan ($12.5 billion) for a fund to "cut income inequality" in the company's home province of Zhejiang, south of Shanghai.

German automaker Daimler on Friday dismissed a "cease and desist" demand from two environmental groups to commit to ending the sale of combustion engine vehicles by 2030.

Lawyers for Greenpeace and the group Deutsche Umwelthilfe have threatened to sue Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen unless they sign a legal pledge not to put new gas-fueled vehicles onto the market from the end of this decade.

Sri Lanka imposed price controls on key foods Friday as the government stepped up the use of emergency powers to counter shortages.

Global stocks rose Thursday after soft U.S. jobs surveys fueled optimism the Federal Reserve might feel less pressure to wind down stimulus.

Markets in Shanghai, Tokyo and Frankfurt rose while London opened little changed.

U.S. officials are preparing a new antitrust lawsuit against Google over its power in the online advertising market,  Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Bloomberg cited an unnamed person familiar with the matter as saying the Justice Department could file the litigation by the end of the year.