The massive explosion in Beirut earlier this month that killed and injured thousands of people has caused up to $4.6 billion in physical damage, the World Bank said in a report released Monday.

The Aug. 4 blast was caused by the explosion of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut since 2014. The blast killed 190 people, injured more than 6,000, left nearly 300,000 people homeless, destroyed much of the port and damaged entire neighborhoods.

China's "big four" banks have suffered a rare profit decline in the first half of the year, joining a growing body of financial institutions worldwide that have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

A lawyer for two American men urged a judge Friday to block their extradition to Japan, where they are wanted on charges that they smuggled former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of the country in a box last year.

Attorneys for Michael Taylor and his son, Peter Taylor, have not denied that the men helped Ghosn flee while he was awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges in December, but say their actions don't fit under the law with which Japan is trying to convict them.

The World Trade Organization agreed Friday to establish a panel to help settle a row between Turkey and the EU over tariffs which the bloc has slapped on certain steel products.

Coca-Cola announced Friday it will cut 4,000 jobs in North America as part of a reorganization following a rough second quarter in which Covid-19 slashed profits.

Wall Street indices advanced at the open on Friday, on track for a healthy finish to a week that saw several record highs and a major Federal Reserve policy shift.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index reversed earlier gains and closed down more than 1.4 percent Friday after reports said Japanese Prime Minister Shizo Abe was to resign for health reasons.

Switzerland has plunged into recession after the coronavirus pandemic caused a "historic" 8.2-percent slump in economic activity in the second quarter, official figures showed Thursday.

Argentina formally opened consultations with the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday to agree new terms on the repayment of a $57 billion bailout agreed in 2018.

Most markets in Asia slipped Wednesday as investors weighed worries about the economic impact of coronavirus and fresh outbreaks in some countries against signs it is easing in other parts of the world and hopes for a vaccine.