Mountainous and remote, the Greek-Bulgaria border once formed the southern corner of the Iron Curtain. Today, it's where the European Union is redrawing the region's energy map to ease its heavy reliance on Russian natural gas.

A new pipeline — built during the COVID-19 pandemic, tested and due to start commercial operation in June — would ensure that large volumes of gas flow between the two countries in both directions to generate electricity, fuel industry and heat homes.

President Michel Aoun's end-of-service benefits are also stuck in the banks "like any other Lebanese," visitors of the President have quoted him as saying.

"I have lost my lifetime savings too," Aoun said, according to the visitors.

Sherry Fonseka joined millions in 2019 in electing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a military strategist whose brutal campaign helped end Sri Lanka's 30-year civil war 10 years earlier.

Now he is one of thousands who, for weeks, have protested outside the president's office, calling on Rajapaksa and his brother, Mahinda, who is prime minister, to resign for leading the country into its worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain in 1948.

The U.S. economy shrank last quarter for the first time since the pandemic recession struck two years ago, contracting at a 1.4% annual rate, but consumers and businesses kept spending in a sign of economic durability.

The economy's overall decline in the January-March quarter does not mean a recession is likely in the coming months. Most economists expect a rebound this quarter as solid hiring and wage gains sustain growth.

The world's economy is forecast to grow around 3.6% this year, but Arab oil exporters are seeing a windfall from high energy prices that will buoy their economies and replenish their financial reserves this year and next, according to a report released Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund.

Those hard-hit in the Middle East, however, are oil importers and countries like Lebanon and Egypt that also rely heavily on food imports from the Black Sea region, where Russia's invasion of Ukraine has impacted exports like sunflower oil, barley and wheat worldwide.

Wall Street appeared ready for a rebound when the market opens Wednesday after some lackluster corporate earnings, the war in Ukraine and concerns over coming interest rate hikes led to sharp declines to start the week.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials rose 0.8% and the S&P 500 rose 0.6% following gains in Europe and mixed trading in Asia.

Drone company DJI Technology Co has temporarily suspended business activities in Russia and Ukraine to prevent use of its drones in combat, in a rare case of a Chinese company pulling out of Russia because of the war.

"DJI is internally reassessing compliance requirements in various jurisdictions. Pending the current review, DJI will temporarily suspend all business activities in Russia and Ukraine," the company said in a statement released Tuesday.

Polish and Bulgarian leaders accused Moscow of using natural gas to blackmail their countries after Russia's state-controlled energy company said it would stop supplying the two European nations Wednesday.

The gas cutoff came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that "unfriendly" countries would need to start paying for gas in rubles, Russia's currency, which Bulgaria and Poland refused to do.

Billionaire Moshe Kantor has severed his longstanding ties to Tel Aviv University — joining a growing list of Russian Jewish oligarchs who have scaled back their philanthropic activities after coming under international sanctions for their ties to President Vladimir Putin.

The sanctions have shaken up the world of Jewish philanthropy, which relies heavily on deep-pocketed donors like Kantor, and forced a number of prominent organizations to abruptly end partnerships with their benefactors since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The Minister for EU Affairs, The French Foreign Minister, the French Development Agency, and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre have signed an agreement to launch a joint €30 million fund in support of Lebanon.

The Saudi-French project will fund a series of humanitarian and development initiatives in crisis-hit Lebanon.