Powered by consumer spending, the U.S. economy likely kept expanding at a healthy pace from July through September despite the pressure of still-high interest rates.

The Commerce Department is expected to report Wednesday that the gross domestic product — the economy's total output of goods and services — grew at a 2.6% annual pace last quarter, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet. That would be down from a 3% annual rate in the April-June period. But it would still amount to a solid pace as Americans ponder the state of the economy in the final stretch of the presidential race.

Google is changing the way its Google Local Services ads work, which could affect millions of small businesses.

Google Local Services ads run locally and are a big way that small businesses market their goods and services. Ads appear on the top of Google search results.

Iranians will soon be able to get their hands on iPhones 14, 15 and 16 after authorities lifted a ban on new smartphone models by the U.S. tech giant Apple, according to an announcement Wednesday.

The ban on new iPhone models had been in place since 2023 but now, the country's telecommunications minister said authorities are allowing the registration of the new models.

BEIRUT — Analysis from a humanitarian group working in Lebanon forecasts two scenarios in its report on the Hezbollah-Israel conflict, both predicting a severe economic contraction in Lebanon by early 2025.

Mercy Corps’ Lebanon Crisis Analysis Team says Israel’s continued strikes on suspected Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, without blocking key infrastructure, will still bring severe economic and humanitarian risks.

Global oil prices are falling sharply Monday after a retaliatory strike by Israel over the weekend targeted Iranian military sites rather than its energy infrastructure as had been feared.

Prices for crude spiked globally on Oct. 1 after Iran fired nearly 200 missiles into Israel, part of a series of rapidly escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatened to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.

Global anti-money laundering watchdog FATF on Friday added Lebanon, which is currently being pummeled by Israeli air strikes, to its "grey list" of nations that are subject to increased monitoring of financial transactions.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force said it also added Algeria, Angola, and Ivory Coast.

Since Israel began bombarding Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon's national air carrier has become a local icon simply by continuing to do its job.

Middle East Airlines is the only commercial airline still operating out of the Beirut airport, located on the coast next to the densely populated suburbs.

In the coming days, Russian President Vladimir Putin will be shaking hands with multiple world leaders, including China's Xi Jinping, India's Narendra Modi, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian.

They will all be in the Russian city of Kazan on Tuesday for a meeting of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, defying predictions that the war in Ukraine and an international arrest warrant against Putin would turn him into a pariah.

Voters remain largely divided over whether they prefer Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris to handle key economic issues, although Harris earns slightly better marks on elements such as taxes for the middle class, according to a new poll.

A majority of registered voters in the survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research describe the economy as poor. About 7 in 10 say the nation is going in the wrong direction.

Former U.S. national team captain Becky Sauerbrunn and Netherlands forward Vivianne Miedema are among more than 100 women's football players who have signed an open letter protesting FIFA's sponsorship deal with Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco.

The letter calls the deal, which includes sponsorship at the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil, "much worse than an own goal," citing Saudi Arabia's record on the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people and the impact of Aramco's oil and gas production on climate change.