Tarek Younes was once solidly middle class and felt he helped contribute to society as an inspector in the Lebanese government's consumer protection agency. But the country's economic free-fall has eroded his income and civic pride.

In his desperation, Younes has joined tens of thousands of public sector employees across the country in an open-ended strike that has already lasted for six weeks.

The United States placed sanctions Monday on Tornado Cash, a leading "crypto mixer" for transactions in virtual currency that U.S. officials describe as a hub for laundering stolen funds, including by North Korean hackers.

American drugmaker Pfizer announced a deal on Monday to acquire Global Blood Therapeutics, makers of a recently approved treatment for sickle cell disease, for $5.4 billion.

Wall Street stocks opened on a high note Monday ahead of a final salvo of corporate results and with crucial inflation figures on the horizon.

An EU plan to cut gas consumption across the bloc by 15 percent to cope with an energy price crisis spurred by Russia's war in Ukraine comes into effect on Tuesday.

The EU regulation enshrining the plan agreed two weeks ago by the 27-nation bloc was published Monday in the European Union's official administrative gazette, with the stipulation it would take force from Tuesday.

The Sierra Leonian-flagged Razoni ship, carrying 26,000 metric tons of corn for chicken feed that departed from Odesa last Monday will no longer dock in the northern Lebanese port.

According to Marine Traffic, it changed its status on Saturday to "order," meaning the ship was waiting for someone to buy the corn.

Syria's internal commerce ministry has announced a petrol price hike of around 130 percent in the war-torn country facing fuel shortages and extended power cuts. 

The first shipment of Ukrainian grain since Russia's invasion will no longer arrive in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli on Sunday as planned, Ukraine's embassy in Beirut said.

A ship bringing corn to Lebanon's northern port of Tripoli normally would not cause a stir. But it's getting attention because of where it came from: Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa.

The Razoni, loaded with more than 26,000 tons of corn for chicken feed, is emerging from the edges of a Russian war that has threatened food supplies in countries like Lebanon, which has the world's highest rate of food inflation -- a staggering 122% -- and depends on the Black Sea region for nearly all of its wheat.

World food prices fell sharply in July, partly thanks to a deal between Ukraine and Russia lifting a sea blockade that had stopped Ukrainian grain shipments, a U.N. agency said Friday.

Food prices soared to a record high in March after Russia invaded Ukraine, raising fears that the conflict between two of the world's breadbaskets would spark hunger in countries relying on their exports.