Goldman Sachs Tuesday lowered its annual economic growth forecast for China as nationwide power cuts hit millions of homes and halted production at factories, including some supplying Apple and Tesla.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed confidence on Sunday that the $1 trillion infrastructure bill will pass this week but sounded more doubtful about bringing it to the House floor on Monday as she previously pledged to do.

Up to 90 per cent of British fuel stations ran dry across major English cities on Monday after panic buying deepened a supply chain crisis triggered by a shortage of truckers that retailers are warning could batter the world’s fifth-largest economy.

US officials are set to tour Latin America this week to scout infrastructure projects as they prepare a counter to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.

Widening power shortages in China have halted production at numerous factories including many supplying Apple and Tesla, while some shops in the northeast operated by candlelight and malls shut early as the economic toll of the squeeze mounted.

European stock market listings have come back with a bang after the summer lull but blank cheque firms are nowhere to be seen.

Equity markets mostly rose in Asia on Monday following a broadly positive lead from Wall Street, while investors kept a nervous eye on developments in the crisis at troubled Chinese property giant Evergrande as it teeters on the brink.

Several Apple Inc and Tesla Inc suppliers have suspended production at some Chinese factories for a number of days to comply with tighter energy consumption policies, putting supply chains at risk in the peak season for electronics goods.

Traders of carpets, antiques and souvenirs on Kabul’s famed Chicken Street said Sunday business has completely dried up since the vast majority of foreigners left the Afghan capital as the Taliban took over.

Tesla Inc’s Shanghai factory is expected to produce 300,000 cars in the first nine months of the year, capped by a delivery rush in the end of the July-September quarter, despite a global semiconductor shortage, two sources said.

United Airlines was fined $1.9 million Friday by the US Transportation Department for violating federal rules on long tarmac delays and ordered to cease future similar violations.

Britain will issue up to 10,500 temporary work visas to lorry drivers and poultry workers to ease chronic staff shortages, the government announced Saturday, in a U-turn on post-Brexit immigration policy.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to commit to phasing out fossil fuels as a major climate conference approaches, while his deputy doubled down on opposing targets for net zero emissions of greenhouse gases.

Several local governments in China have set up special custodian accounts for property projects of its most indebted developer, Evergrande, to protect funds earmarked for housing projects from being diverted, media outlet Caixin said. 

Venezuela has agreed to a key contract to swap its heavy oil for Iranian condensate that it can use to improve the quality of its tar-like crude, with the first cargoes due this week, five people close to the deal said.

The United States on Friday praised Taiwan’s record as a candidate to join a trans-Pacific trade deal and criticized Beijing for stepping up jet incursions near the island.

Britain, which faces soaring natural gas prices, has been forced to run coal-fired power stations in order to secure energy supplies, electricity generation company Drax said on Thursday.

Zimbabwe has adopted a more ambitious target for emissions reduction ahead of a United Nations climate conference in November, the country’s new climate change plan showed.

India’s central bank is likely to retain a surplus of liquidity in the banking system and announce another round of bond purchases, but will avoid adding incremental cash in the near future, two sources said on Friday. 

Major UK-based companies on Friday urged the government to accelerate the nation’s shift away from fossil fuels for electricity generation, amid turmoil over surging gas prices.