Strong rains and reduced violence in many Syrian regions have led to much improved harvests in 2019 but high prices remain a threat to food security, the U.N. said Thursday.

The European Union is freeing up 780 million euros ($860 million) in emergency funds to cope with the impact of a possible no-deal Brexit on member states, officials said Wednesday.

British business activity shrank in August, slammed by weakness in the key construction, manufacturing and services sectors, as the economy suffers from Brexit turmoil, a key survey showed Wednesday.

An international ratings agency warned Wednesday there is a risk that customer deposit flows, particularly by nonresidents, could continue to decline in Lebanon, resulting in an accelerated drawdown of foreign currency reserves that would test the highly indebted country's ability to maintain the local currency peg to the U.S. dollar.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri, however, pledged to keep the national currency pegged to the dollar, as it has been since 1997.

The Australian economy has recorded its weakest annual growth in a decade, official data released Wednesday showed, expanding just 1.4 percent in the year to June.

Asian stock markets rose Wednesday following surprise weakness in U.S. manufacturing and wrangling in Britain over the country's departure from the European Union.

Benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced.

Europe's "long battle" against fake goods from China has become even more difficult with the upsurge in online shopping, where fraudulent and often dangerous products were being sold, an EU official said Tuesday.

The insurance payout on the beleaguered Boeing 737 MAX aircraft after two crashes claimed 346 lives will likely be the biggest ever, S&P Global Ratings said Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Beijing not to drag its feet in trade negotiations in hopes of getting a better deal should he lose next year's presidential elections.

The pound hit a two-and-half-year low Tuesday after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened to call a snap election to push through Brexit, while Asian markets were hobbled by worries over China-US trade talks.