The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to end Iraq's requirement to compensate victims of its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, with Baghdad having paid out more than $50 billion to 1.5 million claimants.

Michael Gaffey, Ireland's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva and president of the governing board of the U.N. Compensation Commission, whose fund decided on the claims, told the council after the vote that the body's work was a "historic achievement for the United Nations and for effective multilateralism."

Britain on Tuesday slapped sanctions on five Russian banks and three billionaires, in what Prime Minister Boris Johnson called "the first barrage" of measures in response to the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday that he was suspending the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project with Russia in response to Moscow's recognition of two breakaway regions in Ukraine.

Oil prices surged nearly 5% and stock prices dropped after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered forces into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, bringing a long-feared invasion a step closer.

Russia is a major energy producer and the tensions over Ukraine have brought wide swings in volatile energy prices, on top of the inevitable risks of a broader conflict.

European markets slumped Monday as the Kremlin warned there were no firm plans for a summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to avert a possible Moscow invasion of Ukraine.

Once the economy's crown jewel, Lebanon's banks are shutting branches and laying off employees in droves, resizing to the bleak reality of a crisis they are widely blamed for.

Before the onset in 2019 of a financial collapse deemed one of the world's worst since the 1850s by the World Bank, the small country had an oversized but prosperous banking sector.

Finance leaders of the world's biggest economies called Friday for a cautious and well coordinated approach to navigating recoveries from the pandemic.

Finance ministers and top central bankers of the Group of 20 industrial nations agreed on a need to minimize the impact of moves by the U.S. and other countries to combat inflation by raising interest rates and unwinding other measures to buffer economies from repeated waves of coronavirus outbreaks, said Indonesian central bank Gov. Perry Warjiyo.

The main commercial banks in Lebanon have warned the relevant officials that they would shut down their operations and that their CEOs would leave Lebanon should Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh be arrested, informed sources said.

Experts say you may be paying more for your avocado toast in the short term, and the effects of the U.S. temporary ban on imports of the fruit is already being felt by avocado pickers in Mexico.

Mexico is negotiating security guarantees for U.S. inspectors who certify Mexican avocados for export. The inspections were halted last week after one of the U.S. inspectors was threatened in the western state of Michaoacan, where growers are routinely subject to extortion by drug cartels.

Four men walked to the parking lot before dawn, then sat down blocking the entrance and linked their arms to await the arrival of hundreds of federal and state employees for the work day.

Protesting years without pay raises, the four employees of Puerto Rico's Authority of Roads and Transportation refused to budge. A specialized police unit finally moved in to remove them, and as they were put in handcuffs, one of the men yelled: "Fair salary! Give us what you owe us!"