The British government offered millions of public sector workers pay raises Thursday in a bid to end an array of strikes, including a five-day walkout from doctors in Britain's publicly funded health service.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed that the government was accepting the recommendations from pay review bodies, which will see a 7% rise for police, 6.5% for teachers and 6% for the striking junior doctors, who are at the early stages of their careers in the National Health Service.

A multibillion-dollar agreement signed with France's TotalEnergies could help resolve Iraq's longstanding electricity crisis, attract international investors and reduce its reliance on gas imports from neighboring Iran, a point of tension with Washington.

The $27 billion agreement signed in Baghdad on Monday after years of negotiation marks the largest foreign investment in Iraq's history. It could even help combat climate change by reducing oil flares, and relieve some of the stress on Iraq's dwindling waterways through a new desalination plant.

Concerns are growing that Russia will not extend a United Nations-brokered deal that allows grain to flow from Ukraine to parts of the world struggling with hunger, with ships no longer heading to the war-torn country's Black Sea ports and food exports dwindling.

Turkey and the U.N. negotiated the breakthrough accord last summer to ease a global food crisis, along with a separate agreement with Russia to facilitate shipments of its food and fertilizer. Moscow insists it's still facing hurdles, though data shows it has been exporting record amounts of wheat.

Iran's president has begun a rare visit to Africa as the country, which is under heavy U.S. economic sanctions, seeks to deepen partnerships around the world.

President Ebrahim Raisi's visit to Kenya on Wednesday is the first to the African continent by an Iranian leader in more than a decade. He is also expected to visit Uganda and Zimbabwe and meet with the presidents there.

Saudi Arabia has deposited $2 billion into Pakistan's central bank, the government said Tuesday, a much-needed financial boost ahead of a critical meeting of the International Monetary Fund on the new bailout package for the cash-strapped South Asian country.

In a video statement, Pakistani Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the kingdom was making good on its promise to bolster Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves. The infusion is not a loan as such but will shore up the reserves and remain with Pakistan's central bank for at least a year.

Wages in the U.K. are rising at a record high rate amid stubbornly high inflation, official figures showed Tuesday, bolstering expectations that interest rates will increase again — to the worry of homeowners who are seeing their mortgage payments spike to levels not seen since the global financial crisis 15 years ago.

The Office for National Statistics said wages, excluding bonuses, rose by 7.3% in the three months to May, matching the highest rate since records began in 2001. The private sector was the main driver behind the increase.

Stocks are edging higher in early trading as Wall Street waits for updates later in the week on inflation and corporate profits. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% early Tuesday and looks to be on track for another quiet day after a listless Monday. The Dow was up 164 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite was up less than 0.1%. The week's main event arrives Wednesday when the government offers the latest update on inflation in consumer prices. The hope on Wall Street is that a continued easing in inflation will convince the Federal Reserve to stop raising interest rates.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.

Bank of America must pay more than $100 million to customers for double-dipping on some fees, withholding reward bonuses and opening accounts without customer consent.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also found that the bank's double-dipping on fees was illegal.

Iraq on Monday signed agreements with TotalEnergies for a $10 billion set of projects that aim to improve the country's electricity supply through capturing flared gas and harnessing solar energy.

The deal, originally unveiled in 2021 but delayed by disagreements over the terms, was signed by TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne and Iraq's Oil Minister Hayan Abdel Ghani at a ceremony held at Iraq's Ministry of Oil headquarters in Baghdad after lengthy negotiations.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that her talks with top Chinese officials have helped put ties on "surer footing", as she wrapped up a trip aimed at stabilising fraught relations between the two biggest economies.