A senior delegation from the U.S. Department of the Treasury concluded a three-day visit to Lebanon on Wednesday.
The delegation met with members of the Lebanese government, civil society, and the banking sector to reiterate the U.S. government’s “commitment to stand with the Lebanese people during this time of economic turmoil,” the Treasury said in a statement.
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The leaders of OPEC and its oil-producing allies are deciding Wednesday how much oil to release while Russia's invasion of Ukraine rattles markets, reshapes alliances, kills civilians and sends the price of crude skyrocketing.
The OPEC+ coalition of oil producers — made up of OPEC members led by Saudi Arabia and non-cartel members led by Russia — is weighing whether to increase oil production by 400,000 barrels per day in April.
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Moscow's war on Ukraine and the ferocious financial backlash it's unleashed are not only inflicting an economic catastrophe on President Vladimir Putin's Russia. The repercussions are also menacing the global economy, shaking financial markets and making life more perilous for everyone from Uzbek migrant workers to European consumers to hungry Yemeni families.
Even before Putin's troops invaded Ukraine, the global economy was straining under a range of burdens: Surging inflation. Tangled supply chains. Tumbling stock prices.
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U.S. markets were headed for declines on Tuesday after talks between Russia and Ukraine aimed at ending the war yielded only an agreement to meet again.
On Wall Street, futures for both the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials slipped 0.7%. Major European indices fell sharply while Asian shares were mostly higher. Oil prices continue to spike and U.S. benchmark crude eclipsed $100 for the first time since the summer of 2014.
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Cash-strapped Egypt increased transit fees Tuesday for ships passing through the Suez Canal, one of the world's most crucial waterways, with hikes of up to 10%, officials said.
The Suez Canal Authority said on its website the increases were "in line with the significant growth in global trade" and cited the canal's "development and enhancement of the transit service."
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It's a globalized world — a planet stitched together by intricate supply chains, banking, sports and countless other threads of deep connection. Until it isn't.
Exhibit A: Russia this week, abruptly cut off from the larger world on multiple fronts. Its ability to bank internationally has been curtailed. Its participation in major international sports is crumbling. Its planes are restricted over Europe. Its vodka may no longer be welcome in multiple U.S. states. Even Switzerland, whose very name is shorthand for neutrality, is carefully turning its back on Vladimir Putin.
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The harsh sanctions imposed on Russia and the resulting crash of the ruble have the Kremlin scrambling to keep the country's economy running. For Vladimir Putin, that means finding workarounds to the Western economic blockade even as his forces continue to invade Ukraine.
Former Treasury Department officials and sanctions experts expect Russia to try to mitigate the impact of the financial penalties by relying on energy sales and leaning on the country's reserves in gold and Chinese currency. Putin also is expected to move funds through smaller banks and accounts of elite families not covered by the sanctions, deal in cryptocurrency and rely on Russia's relationship with China.
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As Russia's war in Ukraine plays out for the world on social media, big tech platforms are facing increased calls to bar Russian state media from using their platforms to spread propaganda and misinformation.
None of the U.S.-owned tech companies have responded with an outright ban of those outlets. Instead they've offered more modest changes: limiting the Kremlin's reach, labeling more of this content so that people know it originated with the Russian government, and cutting Russian state organs off from whatever ad revenue they were previously making.
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A 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks and other vehicles threatened Ukraine's capital Tuesday, the sixth day of the war. But even as Russia intensified shelling of the country's second-largest city, the Kremlin has found itself increasingly isolated by tough economic sanctions that have sent its currency plummeting.
After a first, five-hour session of talks between Ukraine and Russia yielded no stop in the fighting, both sides agreed to another meeting in coming days. Ukraine's embattled president, however, said he believed the stepped-up shelling was designed to force him into concessions.
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A Tokyo court will hand down a verdict Thursday in the criminal trial of Greg Kelly, an American and former executive at Japanese automaker Nissan. Kelly was charged with financial wrongdoing in under-reporting the compensation of Carlos Ghosn, his former boss and Nissan ex-chairman.
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