Global stock markets were steady Thursday following sharp losses the previous session, with investors spooked by a sharp rise in coronavirus cases and continued uncertainty over a pre-election stimulus package in Washington.

Asian markets retreated Thursday as the chances of a pre-election stimulus package from Washington dimmed, with Democrats and Republicans struggling to bridge their differences.

Britain said Wednesday it was resuming trade negotiations with the European Union, accelerating the fraught process to round-the-clock meetings in a bid to salvage a deal within weeks.

Iraq's Kurdish region has for decades lived off its oil wealth, but plummeting energy prices amid the pandemic and financial mismanagement are forcing locals to return to long abandoned farms.

The U.S. government sued Google Tuesday, accusing the Silicon Valley titan of maintaining an "illegal monopoly" in online search and advertising, in the country's biggest antitrust case in decades, opening up the door to a potential breakup of the company.

Tesla will this month begin exporting cars to Europe that are made at its new factory in Shanghai, the fast-growing U.S. electric carmaker has announced.

Swiss banking giant UBS said Tuesday it nearly doubled its net profit in its best third quarter in a decade, the latest in a string of global lenders to report better-than-expected results despite the coronavirus pandemic. 

Fading hopes for a pre-election US stimulus and concerns about a fresh surge in virus infections in key economies weighed on Asian markets Tuesday, tracking a sharp sell-off on Wall Street.

Major European stock markets were mixed Monday as a technical hiccup hit Paris and investors weighed the chances of a U.S. stimulus package, dealers said.

Iraq's anti-corruption commission on Monday said it had arrested an ex-governor accused of embezzling millions of dollars, including aid for citizens who had fled their homes in war.