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.

The Ministry of Finance was informed on Monday from the International Monetary Fund that Lebanon will receive about $1.135 billion “as part of the Special Drawing Rights,” the National News Agency said.

The Ministry of Finance had asked the International Monetary Fund to transfer the special drawing rights that Lebanon can benefit from, especially those belonging to the year 2009.

The central bank will give pre-approvals to all seven oil importing companies to import seven fuel ships, according to TV channels.

Israel's foreign minister has proposed improving living conditions in Gaza in exchange for calm from the enclave's Hamas Islamist leaders, aiming to solve "never-ending rounds of violence" as the two sides exchanged fresh fire over the weekend.

The plan, which includes infrastructure and employment benefits, aims to show Palestinians in the Israeli-blockaded enclave that Hamas's campaign of violence against Israel is "why they live in conditions of poverty, scarcity, violence and high unemployment, without hope", Yair Lapid said Sunday.

Children clutching glow sticks shrieked with delight and onlookers gazed awestruck as Blackpool's Illuminations lights festival launched to a spectacular volley of fireworks from its 158-metre Victorian tower.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati has said that since his designation as premier he has been communicating with Arab funds in order to reactivate support projects for Lebanon, noting that he talked to Kuwait to “revive a soft, long-term loan for accomplishing the electricity plan and building plants.”

Kuwait “has always been at the forefront of supporting Lebanon” and “has provided it with urgent and necessary aid during the major crises,” Miqati said in an interview with the Kuwaiti al-Jarida newspaper.