BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s parliament approved contentious taxes needed to finance a public sector pay rise on Monday and Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri warned the alternative was a collapse of the Lebanese pound in six months. “Without taxes it would have been better in popular terms,...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The dollar was firm against a basket of currencies on Monday, hovering at a 10-week high, as surprisingly stronger U.S. wages data in September bolstered bets the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates in December. Strength on Wall Street with the Dow and Nasdaq...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street fell from record levels on Monday as gains in Microsoft (MSFT.O) and other technology stocks failed to offset a drop in General Electric (GE.N) and a slide in healthcare stocks. Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI...

ROME (Reuters) - The brother of the man who killed two women with a knife outside Marseille train station last week was probably a foreign fighter in Syria and Iraq, Italian investigators said on Monday. Italian police arrested 25-year-old Tunisian Anis Hannachi in Northern Italy on...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The head of Russia’s central election commission urged President Vladimir Putin on Monday to ensure all investigations into election violations detected in Russia last month were completed, and the Kremlin leader promised to do so. Russia voted in local elections in...

US-backed fighters say they are nearing the "final week" of their assault to drive Daesh (ISIS) from their one-time Syrian bastion Raqqa, as the extremists' self-described caliphate crumbles. Losing Raqqa would be only the latest in a series of crushing defeats for the extremist group,...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Powerful Tahrir al-Sham alliance, in statement issued Monday, has accused the Syrian regime and the Islamic State of mutual coordination to attack its bastions in central Hama province. The former al-Qaeda group statement followed a surprise attack by the...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Head of the Political Office of the Mu'tasim Brigade, key rebel group in the Turkish-backed Euphrates Shield, hoped the former al-Qaeda branch will handover the observation points to the Turkish army to implement  the ceasefire deal to avoid any military escalation....

BERLIN (Reuters) - German industrial production jumped more than expected in August, posting its biggest monthly increase in more than six years, data showed on Monday, in a further sign that Europe’s biggest economy is set for solid growth in the third quarter. Industrial output...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Chinese shares climbed on Monday after a week-long break as a disappointing survey on the country’s service sector did little to dent optimism on global growth, while political uncertainty caused turbulence for the Turkish and British currencies. Liquidity was lacking...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up on Monday, after a 2 percent slide on Friday, as the number of rigs drilling for new oil in the United States dipped and on expectations that Saudi Arabia would continue to restrain its output to support the market. Meanwhile, oil ports,...

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Struggling mobile telecom gear maker Ericsson proposed Ronnie Leten, former CEO at Atlas Copco, as its new chairman, it said on Monday. “Mr Leten is a very skilled businessman, technically savvy and strategically versatile,” Johan Forssell, chairman of the...

Turkish troops have begun reconnaissance activities in Syria’s Idlib province as part of an international agreement to establish de-escalation zones, the military said Monday. The operation in the northwestern region, which borders Turkey’s Hatay province, was launched on Sunday under a...

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) reached a deal on migrant policy with her conservative Bavarian allies on Sunday, removing a major obstacle to pursuing talks on a coalition with other parties. In an apparent concession, Merkel agreed to put...

(Reuters) - Iran warned the United States against designating its Revolutionary Guards Corp as a terrorist group and said U.S. regional military bases would be at risk if further sanctions were passed. The warning came after the White House said on Friday that President Donald Trump...

OPEC and other oil producers may need to take “some extraordinary measures” next year to rebalance the oil market, the OPEC secretary-general said on Sunday. “There is a growing consensus that ... a rebalancing process is under way. We are gradually but steadily achieving our common and...

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said on Sunday he was hopeful producers will reach a consensus on extending an oil output cut next month. “We are hopeful that the meeting in November will be a good meeting, that it will not...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - State-run oil giant Saudi Aramco [IPO-ARMO.SE] is in talks with several Indian refiners and hopes to land a joint venture deal by next year, the company’s chief executive told Reuters on Sunday. Aramco, like other major oil producers, wants to tap rising demand...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday that the United States was serving the interests of Islamic State by preventing the Syrian army and its allies advancing in some areas of eastern Syria. American jets have this year targeted pro-government...

ANKARA (Reuters) - The U.S. mission in Turkey and subsequently Turkish mission in Washington mutually reduced visa services after a U.S. mission employee was detained in Turkey last week, saying they needed to reassess each other’s commitment to the security of their personnel. Last...