Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest for international travel, handled 20% more passenger traffic in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year, its chief executive said Monday, signaling cautious optimism for the ravaged aviation industry.

Yet a full recovery remains years off. Just 20.7 million people squeezed through the airport so far this year — a 74% drop from before the coronavirus hit in 2019.

Pacific Rim leaders agreed to do all they can to improve access to coronavirus vaccines and reduce carbon emissions, but failed to reach agreement on whether the U.S. should host talks in two years' time.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping were among those taking part in the online meeting of 21 leaders at the end of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum on Saturday, which was being hosted virtually by New Zealand.

Top U.K. and European Union officials are meeting Friday to try to resolve their intractable Northern Ireland trade spat, with alarm growing in Europe that Britain plans to suspend parts of the legally binding divorce agreement between the two sides.

That would trigger EU retaliation and could spiral into a trade war between the 27-nation bloc and its increasingly estranged former member.

Embattled Japanese technology conglomerate Toshiba said Friday it is restructuring to improve its competitiveness, spinning off its energy infrastructure and computer devices businesses.

The energy infrastructure spinoff will include Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp.'s nuclear power operations, including the decommissioning efforts at the nuclear plant in Fukushima that suffered meltdowns after an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

The Lebanese government is failing its people, the U.N. envoy on extreme poverty Olivier De Schutter said Friday, warning that the country is on course to becoming a failed state.

Syria has signed a deal with United Arab Emirates firms for the construction of a solar power plant near Damascus, state media said Thursday, in a sign of growing economic ties.

Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, the founder of the Zara clothing brand, has entered the renewable energy sector with the purchase of a stake in a wind farm run by energy giant Repsol.

The designated chief executive of NSO, the Israeli firm infamous for phone hacking, is resigning less than two weeks after being nominated, a source close to the company said Thursday.

The British economy slowed down during the third quarter of the year as widespread supply chain problems hobbled the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, official figures showed Thursday.

The Office for National Statistics said the economy grew by 1.3% between July and September from the previous three-month period, with the health sector and housing market particularly buoyant. The increase was slightly below market expectations and lower than the second quarter's 5.5% boost.

China's Singles' Day, the world's largest online shopping festival which falls on Nov. 11 every year, is losing its shine, with less marketing hype and a crackdown on the technology industry.

Singles' Day has been viewed as the largest online marketing event of the year. It is heavily advertised for weeks ahead of time with brands and merchants offering deep discounts to attract consumers looking for bargains.