Gaza's Hamas rulers have imposed a slew of new taxes on imported clothes and office supplies just ahead of the new school year, sparking limited but rare protests in the impoverished coastal strip.

The move by the militant group comes at a time when Gaza's 2.3 million people are suffering not only from a 15-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade, but also from a new jump in prices caused by global supply-chain issues and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Lebanon plans to build two new grain silos to fight its its worsening food security crisis, the country's caretaker economy minister told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Amin Salam said that several countries and international organizations have expressed an interest in funding and bidding for the new silos, which will cost a total of $100 million.

Lufthansa passengers faced massive travel disruption Wednesday as a strike led the German airline group to cancel almost all its flights from its domestic hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.

Boeing reported a drop in second-quarter profits on Wednesday due to the continued travails of the 787, but the company said it was close to receiving regulatory approval to resume deliveries of the plane.

German chemical giant BASF, the largest gas consumer in Germany, said Wednesday its factories would continue production on a reduced scale even if supplies of the fuel are rationed.

Caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam announced Wednesday that “49,000 tons of wheat will enter the country at the end of this week.”

“We should not see queues (outside bread bakeries) after that and we will prosecute whoever wants to fabricate a crisis,” Salam said in a TV interview.

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday stressed that “Lebanon is committed to carrying out the necessary reforms in order to continue the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund as part of the economic recovery plan.”

Aoun voiced his remarks in a meeting in Baabda with the new World Bank regional director Jean-Christophe Carret and the outgoing director Saroj Kumar Jha.

Business leaders and officials from eight developing nations who had met in Bangladesh on Tuesday said more cooperation was needed among them to overcome dwindling foreign currency reserves, a growing energy crisis and supply chain disruptions.

Representatives from Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladesh under the banner of D-8, or developing eight countries, were discussing alternative trade financing such as cross currency swap, barter and blockchain to address their foreign currency reserves vulnerabilities, according to organizers.

Despite damaging Western sanctions imposed on Moscow in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia's economy appears to be weathering the storm better than expected as it benefits from high energy prices, the IMF said Tuesday.

Turkey will resume gas exploration off its coast in the Mediterranean on August 9, the energy ministry said Tuesday.