An Emirati delegation comprising approximately 70 businessmen will visit Lebanon on August 26 and 27 to sign agreements with the private sector in Lebanon, LBCI television has reported.

The delegation will also propose providing and developing services at the airport, ports, and border crossings.

Millions more people may be able to get smaller, lightweight Amazon packages delivered by drones by the end of the year under a plan the company announced Wednesday to expand the airborne shipping to suburban areas in nearly 500 U.S. cities.

Customers could receive the drone deliveries in as fast as 30 minutes, Amazon said in a news release. The drones can carry packages up to 5 pounds.

Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella has asked his ally U.S. President Donald Trump to suspend tariffs to help the South American nation recover from a powerful earthquake that killed at least 289 people.

De la Espriella took office earlier this month just days before the 7.4 magnitude quake struck. He was backed by Trump in Colombia's closely contested presidential election, which was decided in a runoff on June 21, and has sought to emphasize his connections with the U.S. leader.

The national debt surpassed a record $40 trillion on Wednesday, a staggering milestone as defense costs, social programs like Social Security and Medicare and interest on the burgeoning deficit make up an enormous share of federal spending.

The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October.

Canada and the United States moved closer Wednesday to finalizing a trade agreement that would avert threatened 50% U.S. tariffs, with a senior Canadian official calling the emerging terms "a very good deal for Canada" while cautioning that negotiations were not complete.

President Donald Trump said the agreement was "very fair" to both sides and predicted U.S. farmers and manufacturers would benefit. The tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian imports have been postponed until 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde said Wednesday that the continent could not afford to miss out on the artificial intelligence revolution as the continent's growth model comes under increasing pressure.

The United Arab Emirates suspended all trade with Iran on Wednesday after it said it had come under renewed fire from the country — a move that will further isolate the Islamic Republic, which is suffering under U.S. sanctions and a blockade.

Incoming ballistic missile fire triggered nationwide warnings Tuesday night for UAE residents to seek shelter, the first time in weeks such an alarm had sounded.

The United States and Canada have wrangled for decades over trade, poking each other interminably over sore spots like Canadian softwood lumber imports and U.S. access to Canada's protected dairy market.

Somehow the two neighbors still managed to remain friends, allies — and trading partners. Canadian soldiers fought alongside Americans in Afghanistan after 9/11. The 5,525-mile U.S.-Canada border is undefended, and nearly 330,000 people and $2 billion dollars' worth of goods cross it every day; 800,000 Canadians live in the United States.

Shares were mixed in Europe and Asia on Monday after U.S. stocks edged back from their all-time high following a weaker than expected report on the U.S. economy.

Oil prices also were mixed.

Japan's economy grew an annual rate of 1.1% in the April-June quarter even as private consumption stayed flat and the growth of exports declined, according to government data released Monday.

Japan 's real GDP, or gross domestic product, the sum value of nation's goods and services, grew at a seasonally adjusted rate of 0.3% from the first quarter to second quarter of this 2026, according to Cabinet Office data.