The United Arab Emirates has created a federal authority to potentially run a national lottery and what it describes as "commercial gaming," likely a sign that it is on the verge of allowing gambling as major casino operators flock to the Gulf Arab nation.

The state-run WAM news agency carried an announcement late Sunday on the creation of the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority, without offering many details about its structure or operations.

China's foreign minister is seeking to sell his Italian counterpart on the benefits of leader Xi Jinping's signature "Belt and Road" initiative of Chinese-built and -funded infrastructure projects, as Rome considers whether to renew the agreement.

In a Monday meeting, Wang Yi told Antonio Tajani that bilateral trade had grown from $50 billion to nearly $80 billion and that Italy's exports to China increased by around 30% over the past five years.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Vladimir Putin on Monday, hoping to persuade the Russian leader to rejoin a deal allowing Ukraine to safely export grain. Moscow withdrew from the agreement in July. But Putin made it clear that the initiative would not be restored right now.

Here's what's at stake:

Interim Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri has held "promising talks" with Arab and Saudi central banks governors on the sidelines of the Arab Banking Conference in Riyadh, media reports said.

Al-Liwaa newspaper reported Tuesday that Mansouri has asked for Saudi support and for enhancing joint financial investments and that in the coming weeks, financial meetings will take place in Lebanon in order to support the central bank.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that a landmark deal allowing Ukraine to export grain safely through the Black Sea amid the war won't be restored until the West meets Moscow's demands on its own agricultural exports.

Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed the Kremlin's demands as a ploy to advance its own interests.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Monday a 20.7 billion yen ($141 million) emergency fund to help exporters hit by a ban on Japanese seafood imposed by China in response to the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The discharge of the wastewater into the ocean began Aug. 24 and is expected to continue for decades. Japanese fishing associations and groups in neighboring countries have strongly opposed the release, and China immediately banned all imports of Japanese seafood. Hong Kong has banned Japanese seafood from Fukushima and nine other prefectures.

Interim Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri reassured Monday that the Central Bank will not finance the Lebanese state, neither in dollar nor in LBP.

"The decision is final," Mansouri said in an interview with al-Arabiyya, stressing that the state must find other ways to finance its budget deficit.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with Vladimir Putin on Monday, hoping to persuade the Russian leader to rejoin the Black Sea grain deal that Moscow broke off from in July.

Here are some key things to know and what's at stake:

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban government said it has signed seven mining contracts amounting to $6.5 billion in investment, in the biggest such round of deals since seizing power two years ago.

The seven contracts are with locally based companies, many of whom have foreign partners in countries including China, Iran, and Turkey. They include the extraction and processing of iron ore, lead, zinc and gold in four provinces: Herat, Ghor, Logar and Takhar.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday, the Kremlin announced Friday, just over six weeks after Moscow broke off a deal partly brokered by Ankara that allowed Ukrainian grain to reach world markets despite the 18-month war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced the talks Friday, ending weeks of speculation about when and where the two leaders might meet next as international efforts continue to patch up the Black Sea Grain Initiative which got grain and other food to Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat.