With America's knife-edge election yet to be called, and the Covid-19 pandemic surging across the nation, analysts will be watching the Federal Reserve on Thursday for signs of whether it may step in again to help the US economy survive the coronavirus downturn.

With no clear winner in the U.S. presidential election and hopes for more economic stimulus in limbo, all eyes will be on the Federal Reserve's policy meeting beginning Wednesday for signs of whether the central bank will step up and do more.

European stock markets slid at the start of trading on Wednesday on US election uncertainty as President Donald Trump said he will go to the Supreme court to dispute the vote count.

Lebanon's prosecutor general decided Tuesday not to charge fugitive ex-auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn for visiting Israel in 2008 because a statute of limitations has expired, a judicial source said.

Three lawyers filed a motion in January calling for the 66-year-old businessman to be prosecuted over his trip to Israel as Renault-Nissan chairman.

Energy giant Saudi Aramco on Tuesday posted a 44.6 percent slump in third-quarter profit, as the coronavirus pandemic weighs heavily on demand for crude oil.

"Net income for the third quarter of 2020 was 44.21 billion Saudi riyals ($11.79 billion)," compared to $21.3 billion in the same period last year, the company said in a statement.

Several French Muslim leaders on Monday condemned calls for boycotts of French goods in Muslim countries as "unjustified" and accused those leading the charge of "using Islam for political gain".

Under the autumn Iraqi sun, Abbas Abbud expertly scrambles up the ragged trunk of the palm tree. His mission? Picking the juicy dates overhead, and keeping this ancient profession alive.

Asian markets were mixed Monday following last week's painful global sell-off, with attention on the US presidential election, which comes against a backdrop of rising virus infections across the country and Europe.

French oil and gas giant Total said Friday it sustained a steep drop in profits in the third quarter as a result of the falling price of crude, but it still managed to remain in the black.

The U.S. State Department has agreed to turn over to Japan two American men accused of smuggling former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of the country while he was awaiting trial, the men's lawyers said in legal filing on Thursday.

Lawyers for Peter Taylor and Michael Taylor say the men are set to be flown to Japan from Boston on Thursday. They are urging a judge to block their transfer until they can have had a "full and fair opportunity to receive and review the State Department administrative record, present and support their challenges to the Secretary's decision, and have those challenges heard by the Court in accordance with U.S. law and procedure."