Global stock markets and oil prices soared on Monday, boosted by progress on Covid vaccinations and increasing chances of a vast U.S. stimulus, dealers said.

They were omnipresent on the streets of New York day and night, as emblematic of the Big Apple as the Empire State Building or Yankees caps. But the pandemic has made yellow taxis scarce and facing an uncertain future.

On a February morning in a parking lot near La Guardia Airport, a few dozen of the yellow cabs patiently queue in the freezing cold to catch a fare from one of the terminals.

Israeli environmentalists are warning that a UAE-Israeli oil pipeline deal threatens unique Red Sea coral reefs and could lead to "the next ecological disaster." 

Asian markets rallied again Monday, extending a global advance after another record on Wall Street as traders were cheered by the prospect of a huge new US stimulus as well as further falls in coronavirus infection and death rates.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, crowds have grown at the Martha and Mary Convent in central Moscow.

Rejecting an emergency appeal, U.S. Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer has cleared the way for the extradition to Japan of two Americans accused of helping former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn flee the Asian nation.

Markets fell in Asia on Friday in holiday-thinned trade with investors awaiting developments in US stimulus talks, while bitcoin hit a new record as it crept towards $50,000.

Venezuela ended 2020 with inflation of nearly 3,000 percent, the central bank said Thursday.

The oil-rich country is mired in the worst economic crisis of its modern history and struggling through its seventh straight year of recession.

A U.S. appeals court refused Thursday to put on hold the extradition of two men wanted by Japan on accusations that they helped smuggle former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn out of the country in a box in 2019.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an emergency petition to halt Michael and Peter Taylor's extradition to give them time to challenge a lower court ruling. The U.S. government has said it could surrender the men to Japan as early as Friday, according to the Taylors' lawyers.

The Biden administration is assessing immediate steps to address the semiconductor shortage and plans an executive order to shore up critical supply chain items, a White House spokeswoman said Thursday.