Global oil demand is expected to grow slower than previously forecast this year as the spread of Covid's Delta variant has prompted lockdowns in major consuming countries, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.

Demand surged in June as mobility increased in North America and Europe.

Lebanon's central bank said overnight it will provide a line of credit for fuel importers at market price, ending subsidies on the scarce resource. The move is likely to send prices soaring in a country already in the throes of an economic crisis.

The decision comes amid an unfolding energy crisis that has plunged the country into hours of darkness, threatened hospitals and businesses with shutdown and sparked deadly violence among consumers and motorists looking for fuel.

Lebanon has been plunged into darkness while hospitals and bakeries have sounded the alarm in connection with the growing diesel shortage crisis.

As Lebanon’s biggest serums factory announced that it has stopped its manufacturing operations due to lack of diesel and some hospitals said that they will soon stop operating, the association of flour mill owners issued a statement saying that several mills have closed due to the same reason.

Lebanese have lined up in long queues to stock up on cooking gas following warnings of imminent shortages, as an economic crisis eats away at supplies of basic imports.

More than half of Lebanon's migrant workers are in need of "urgent humanitarian assistance" to survive an economic crisis that has plunged most of the population into poverty, the U.N. warned Tuesday.

The country of six million is in the throes of a financial downturn branded by the World Bank as one of the worst since the mid-19th century, with the local currency losing more than 90 percent of its black market value.

China's anti-sanctions law will be implemented in some form in Hong Kong, the city's leader confirmed Tuesday, a move that will add fresh regulatory pressure on international companies in the finance hub.

Beijing's rubber-stamp legislature passed the law in June in response to Western penalties that were imposed following crackdowns in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

Tokyo stocks closed higher on Tuesday helped by a cheaper yen against the dollar as investors kept their focus on corporate earnings.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.24 percent, or 68.11 points, at 27,888.15, while the broader Topix index gained 0.36 percent, or 6.94 points, to 1,936.28.

Two separate brawls over scarce fuel in northern Lebanon have left three people dead, state media and security sources said, as shortages spark a wave of confrontations at gas stations.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil lamented Sunday that “every hour of power rationing by the power plants costs the dollar reserves 32% more,” seeing as the power supply deficit is being covered by privately-owned neighborhood generators.

Stock markets steadied and the dollar firmed Friday before the release of monthly U.S. jobs data that will highlight strength of recovery in the world's biggest economy.

Around midday, European equities were mirroring a sluggish end to the week for Asian stocks.