China accused Washington on Friday of improperly attacking Chinese companies after genetics analysis giant BGI Group and 17 others were hit with curbs on access to U.S. technology on security or human rights grounds.

The Commerce Department said it saw a danger that two BGI units might contribute to the government's surveillance apparatus, which human rights groups say is trying to create a database of genetic samples that Muslims and other minorities were compelled to provide.

The installation of new leaders and the need to shore up a flagging economy will dominate the annual session of China's rubber-stamp parliament that kicks off Sunday.

The nearly 3,000 delegates attending the meeting of the largely powerless National People's Congress will hear reports on the work of government that lay out the ruling Communist Party's priorities.

Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson has agreed to plead guilty to U.S. foreign corruption violations and pay more than $206 million for breaking a deal with the Justice Department over charges of bribery and falsifying records in countries from China to Kuwait.

The U.S. Justice Department said the company, based in Stockholm, violated a 2019 agreement by failing to provide documents and information the agency needed for its investigation and to bring charges against individuals accused of misconduct.

Supermarkets in Lebanon have started pricing items in U.S. dollars instead of the nose-diving local currency, after a government announcement allowing the practice in a country heavily reliant on imports.

Since late 2019, Lebanon has been facing a dramatic economic crisis that has seen poverty rates climb to reach more than 80 percent of the population, according to the United Nations.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to strengthen state control over agriculture and take a spate of other steps to increase grain production, state media reported Thursday. But experts say it won't effectively address a worsening food shortage.

Kim's measures unveiled during a recent four-day meeting were largely a repeat of his past policies. Prospects for quickly resolving its food insecurity are dim, as North Korea restricts the operation of markets and devotes much of its scarce resources to its nuclear program.

French senators will start debating President Emmanuel Macron's contested pension plan on Thursday, as the centrist government hopes to find a compromise with the conservatives at the upper house of parliament to be able to push the bill through.

Macron has vowed to go ahead with the bill, which aims to raise the country's minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, despite nationwide demonstrations and strikes and opinion polls consistently showing a majority of French people oppose the change.

When European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen visited Britain last week, some joked on social media: Can you please bring us some tomatoes?

People in the U.K. have had to ration salad staples like tomatoes and cucumbers for the past two weeks amid a shortage of fresh vegetables. Shelves of fresh produce in many stores have been bare, and most major supermarkets have imposed limits on how many salad bags or bell peppers customers are allowed to buy.

Egypt raised the price of some types of gasoline Thursday, the latest hike to beset the cash-strapped North African country amid soaring inflation.

The country's petroleum ministry said in a statement it was raising the price of three octanes of gasoline from between 0.75 to 1 Egyptian pound per liter (around 2.3 to 3.3 U.S. cents). The price hike was introduced Thursday morning, it said.

Budget carrier FlyDubai has announced record profits, benefitting from a surge in air travel following the lifting of pandemic restrictions.

The state-owned carrier, based in the business and tourism hub of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, reported $327 million in profit in 2022, up 43% from the previous year. Annual revenue for 2022 was up 72%, to $2.5 billion, it said.

Lebanon’s unofficial dollar exchange rate dropped by more than LBP 10,000 on Wednesday evening, shortly after Central Bank chief Riad Salameh announced that the bank will start buying and selling dollars at a Sayrafa platform rate of LBP 70,000.