The Lebanese government agreed on Friday to extend the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon for another year, the information minister said.

The Lebanese parliament approved on Thursday a law to remove decades-old banking secrecy rules in order to better fight rampant corruption that has pushed the country to the edge of economic collapse.

Touted as the guardian of Lebanon's monetary stability, he steered the tiny country's finances for nearly three decades, through post-war recovery and bouts of unrest.

Now, Lebanon's central bank governor is being called a "thief" by some anti-government protesters who see him as a member of a corrupt ruling elite whose mismanagement has driven the country to the edge of bankruptcy.

Long before the pandemic struck, they lived and worked in conditions that rights groups called exploitative — low wages, long hours, no labor law protections.

Now, some 250,000 registered migrant laborers in Lebanon — maids, garbage collectors, farm hands and construction workers — are growing more desperate as a crippling economic and financial crisis sets in, coupled with coronavirus restrictions.

David Waugh is putting down barrier tape and spraying yellow lines on the ground outside the main door of his school near Manchester.

Waugh, who oversees five schools in northwestern England, already has painted yellow arrows to ensure that children follow a one-way path around the building when they return next month from an extended break due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic continued to drop in much of Asia on Saturday even as the outbreak surged in Latin America, as the world grappled with balancing the urge to restart economies with fears about health risks.

China, where the outbreak began late last year, reported no new confirmed cases for the first time. In South Korea, there were 23 fresh infections, mostly from the densely populated Seoul area where authorities shut down thousands of nightclubs, bars and karaoke rooms to stem transmissions.

Muslims worldwide will celebrate one of their biggest holidays under the long shadow of the coronavirus, with millions confined to their homes and others gripped by economic concerns during what is usually a festive time of shopping and celebration.

"A Trump enemy statement," he said of one study.

The coronavirus pandemic accelerated across Latin America, Russia and the Indian subcontinent on Friday even as curves flattened and reopening was underway in much of Europe, Asia and the United States.

Many governments say they have to shift their focus to saving jobs that are vanishing as quickly as the virus can spread. In the United States and China, the world's two largest economies, unemployment is soaring.

The Israeli military said Thursday that it would be prepared to respond to any Hizbullah attack by striking homes, factories and other civilian infrastructure used by the group.