The Lebanese parliament voted in on Sunday will have to tackle overdue reforms required for international assistance the cash-strapped country desperately needs. 

After Lebanon struck a conditional deal with the International Monetary Fund for a $3 billion aid package, AFP looks at the challenges that await incoming lawmakers in a country where there is little consensus on a roadmap for financial recovery.

Ukraine stopped the flow of Russian natural gas through one hub that feeds European homes and industry on Wednesday, while a pro-Kremlin official in a southern region seized by Russian troops said it would ask Moscow to annex it.

The remarks could be another sign of Russia's broader plan for Ukraine as it tries to salvage an invasion that has so far gone awry — amid concerns that the country may remain a source of continental and global instability for months, or even years, to come.

Inflation slowed in April after seven months of relentless gains, a tentative sign that price increases may be peaking while still imposing a financial strain on American households.

Consumer prices jumped 8.3% last month from 12 months earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday. That was below the 8.5% year-over-year surge in March, which was the highest rate since 1981. On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.3% from March to April, a still-elevated rate but the smallest increase in eight months.

The "destructive actions" of Lebanon’s political and financial leaders are responsible for forcing most of the country’s population into poverty, in violation of international human rights law, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, said in a report published Wednesday.

Urging the country to "change course," De Schutter accused the central bank of an "accounting sleight of hand regarding its losses... that covertly created a massive public debt... which will condemn the Lebanese for generations."

Wall Street appeared headed for gains when the market opens on Tuesday after recent losses dragged some benchmarks to their lowest levels in more than a year as war, inflation and rising interest rates have rattled investors in 2022.

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were each 0.7% higher.

Nintendo's profit for the fiscal year ended in March was little changed from the previous year, edging down 0.6% to 477.7 billion yen ($3.7 billion), the Japanese video game maker behind the Super Mario and Pokemon franchises said Tuesday.

Sales for the fiscal year fell 3.6% to 1.7 trillion yen ($13 billion) as fewer Nintendo Switch machines were sold, and IP income from mobile content also declined, according to Kyoto-based Nintendo Co.

Sony's fiscal fourth quarter surged 67% to 111.1 billion yen ($852.7 million) from the previous year, as the Japanese entertainment and electronics company racked up profits in video game and movie divisions.

Tokyo-based Sony Corp.'s January-March quarterly sales edged up 1% to 2.26 trillion yen ($17 billion), as its music operations also did well, boosted by the popularity of streaming services, the company said Tuesday.

Egypt's annual inflation rate continues to surge amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine that has shaken the global economy, the country's statistics bureau announced Tuesday.

The inflation rate was up 2.8%, reaching around 14.9% in April, up from 12.1% in March, the Central Agency for Mobilization and Statistics said.

Food-delivery workers across Dubai protesting meager pay and inadequate protections have walked off the job across the city, the company confirmed on Tuesday, marking the second strike in as many weeks in an emirate that outlaws dissent.

The foreign workers contracted by Talabat, the Middle East unit of Delivery Hero, began their walkout late Monday after organizing on social media, crippling the application's services.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited gas-producing ally Algeria for talks Tuesday as a European drive to secure alternative supplies gathers pace.

Lavrov, who arrived in Algiers late Monday, was due to hold talks with both Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Algerian reports said.