Germany's passenger train network faces a second round of strikes on Monday, with freight services beginning this weekend, adding more pain to the tourist season and already strained supply chains.

The latest move in an escalating wage dispute will impact passenger services from 2:00 am (0000 GMT) on August 23 and last 48 hours, the head of the GDL train drivers union Claus Weselsky told reporters Friday.

Asian stock markets fell Friday as worries surrounding the spread of the delta variant again took center stage.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1% to 27,013.25 and Seoul's Kospi fell 1.5% to 3,050.48. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 1.6% to 24,918.36 in afternoon trading.

China is tightening control over data gathered by companies about the public under a law approved Friday by its ceremonial legislature, expanding the ruling Communist Party's crackdown on internet industries.

The data protection law follows anti-monopoly and other enforcement actions against companies including e-commerce giant Alibaba and games and social media operator Tencent that caused their share prices to plunge.

The Syndicate of the Gas Filling Factories in Lebanon announced Friday that the Banque du Liban has approved the entry of a ship carrying 5,000-ton of liquid gas on Monday, August 23.

The syndicate reassured the Lebanese that "this vital substance will remain available in the coming days."

Hours after Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced that a ship carrying diesel from Iran to Lebanon would arrive within hours, President Michel Aoun's office announced that U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea told him the United States would help Lebanon get electricity from Jordan and facilitate the flow of Egyptian gas through Jordan and Syria to northern Lebanon.

Shea told Aoun that negotiations are ongoing with the World Bank to pay for Egyptian gas and to fix cables and pipelines that will be used, according to the statement.

Japan's exports in July jumped 37% from a year ago, the government said Wednesday, highlighting an overseas recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Imports also grew, rising 28.5%, according to Finance Ministry data, for the second straight month of a trade surplus for the world's third largest economy.

A decade after Libya descended into chaos, a host of countries are eyeing potential multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects in the oil-rich nation if stability is assured.

Spain said Tuesday it had received its first tranche of funds amounting to 9 billion euros from the European Union's multi-billion-euro coronavirus fund.

Purchases of vehicles plunged in July, sending U.S. retail sales down a surprising 1.1 percent, the government reported Tuesday, a far bigger drop than analysts were expecting.

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By SARA RATHNER of NerdWallet undefined