A Chinese state-owned company is negotiating to buy a forestry planation with a deep-water port and World War II airstrip in Solomon Islands amid persistent concerns that China wants to establish a naval foothold in the South Pacific country.

A delegation from China Forestry Group Corp. visited the plantation that covers most of Kolombangar Island in 2019, asking questions about the length of the wharf and depth of the water while showing little interest in the trees, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on Monday.

Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba said Monday that it wants to keep its shares listed in both New York and Hong Kong, days after U.S. regulators included it in a list of companies that may be delisted for not complying with auditing requirements.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has said foreign companies face having their shares delisted if they don't give American regulators access to their financial statements and auditing process as required of other companies around the world.

Saudi Aramco announced a $2.65 billion agreement on Monday to acquire Valvoline's global products business, which includes motor oils, transmission fluids, coolants and other automotive maintenance products.

Valvoline said the transaction will separate its global products from its retail services businesses, transforming it into a purely automotive service provider. The more than 150-year-old company operates and franchises around 1,700 service centers, with stores across the United States offering oil changes and other quick services.

Rising concern over the impact of a potential Russian gas cutoff is fueling the debate in Germany over whether the country should switch off its last three nuclear power plants as planned at the end of this year.

The door to some kind of extension appeared to open a crack after the Economy Ministry in mid-July announced a new "stress test" on the security of electricity supplies. It's supposed to take into account a tougher scenario than a previous test, concluded in May, that found supplies were assured.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has suggested that his country, Africa's largest natural gas exporter, could join the BRICS economic group that includes Russia and China.

Tebboune's comment comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin -- whose country is hit with Western sanctions over its Ukraine invasion -- in June called on BRICS leaders to move towards "formation of a truly multipolar system of inter-government relations".

The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain set out from the port of Odesa on Monday under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey that is expected to release large stores of Ukrainian crops to foreign markets and ease a growing food crisis.

The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni left Odesa carrying over 26,000 tons of corn destined for Lebanon.

In bankrupt Lebanon, Khalil Mansour has to queue for hours every day just to buy bread for his family and some days he can't afford any.

Lebanon's State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat has ordered the seizure of a Syrian-flagged ship that docked at a northern port with a cargo of Ukrainian grain Kyiv's embassy in Beirut said was "illegal."

Oueidat instructed police to investigate the Laodicea, which docked in Tripoli earlier this week, a judicial official said.

Lebanon has appeared to reject claims by the Ukrainian Embassy in Beirut that a Syrian ship docked in a Lebanese port is carrying Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia, following an inspection by Lebanese customs officials.

A senior Lebanese customs official told The Associated Press that there was "nothing wrong" with the cargo of the Laodicea, which docked in the Lebanese port of Tripoli on Thursday, and that its papers were in order. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Russian energy giant Gazprom Saturday suspended gas supplies to Latvia following tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and sweeping European and US sanctions against Russia.