Iran's currency fell on Wednesday to an all-time low as former President Donald Trump was on the verge of clinching the U.S. presidency again, signaling new challenges ahead for Tehran as it remains locked in the wars raging in the Middle East.

The rial traded at 703,000 rials to the dollar, traders in Tehran said. The rate could still change throughout the day. Iran's Central Bank could flood the market with more hard currencies as an attempt to improve the rate, as it has done in the past.

Lebanese farmer Abu Taleb briefly returned to his orchard last month to salvage an avocado harvest but ran away empty handed as soon as Israeli air raids began.

Israel’s Cabinet on Friday passed a budget for 2025 Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, ramping up defense spending amid the war in Gaza and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

The budget, which must still be approved by Israel’s parliament before taking effect, increased allotted defense spending to at least $27.2 billion, Israeli media reported, though that could increase to $40 billion pending further cabinet discussions.

Lebanon charged the country's former central bank governor with illicit enrichment and issued an arrest warrant against the detained banker, the second in less than two months, judicial officials said Thursday.

Riad Salameh, 74, was charged by the first examining magistrate of Mount Lebanon Nicola Mansour over an apartment that was rented in France to be a substitute office for the central bank if needed, the four official said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Germany's economy is struggling and the governing coalition has a lot of ideas on how to fix it. But it can't agree which the right one is.

The latest outbreak of infighting in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has raised questions about whether it will get anything done in the 11 months before Germany's next election is due — and whether it will survive until then.

Powered by consumer spending, the U.S. economy likely kept expanding at a healthy pace from July through September despite the pressure of still-high interest rates.

The Commerce Department is expected to report Wednesday that the gross domestic product — the economy's total output of goods and services — grew at a 2.6% annual pace last quarter, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet. That would be down from a 3% annual rate in the April-June period. But it would still amount to a solid pace as Americans ponder the state of the economy in the final stretch of the presidential race.

Google is changing the way its Google Local Services ads work, which could affect millions of small businesses.

Google Local Services ads run locally and are a big way that small businesses market their goods and services. Ads appear on the top of Google search results.

Iranians will soon be able to get their hands on iPhones 14, 15 and 16 after authorities lifted a ban on new smartphone models by the U.S. tech giant Apple, according to an announcement Wednesday.

The ban on new iPhone models had been in place since 2023 but now, the country's telecommunications minister said authorities are allowing the registration of the new models.

BEIRUT — Analysis from a humanitarian group working in Lebanon forecasts two scenarios in its report on the Hezbollah-Israel conflict, both predicting a severe economic contraction in Lebanon by early 2025.

Mercy Corps’ Lebanon Crisis Analysis Team says Israel’s continued strikes on suspected Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, without blocking key infrastructure, will still bring severe economic and humanitarian risks.

Global oil prices are falling sharply Monday after a retaliatory strike by Israel over the weekend targeted Iranian military sites rather than its energy infrastructure as had been feared.

Prices for crude spiked globally on Oct. 1 after Iran fired nearly 200 missiles into Israel, part of a series of rapidly escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatened to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.