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BEIRUT, Lebanon — A Lebanese judge Monday issued an arrest warrant for ex-central bank chief Riad Salameh, a judicial official said, after the embattled former governor was questioned in an embezzlement case.

Salameh, 74, who headed the central bank for three decades, faces numerous charges including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion in separate probes in crisis-hit Lebanon and abroad.

The most senior Lebanese figure to be arrested in the wake of the country's dramatic economic collapse in 2019, Salameh has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The investigating judge questioned Salameh for two and a half hours and "issued an arrest warrant against him", the official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to brief the media.

The judge scheduled another hearing Thursday to continue questioning Salameh, the official said.

The warrant, a procedural formality, ends his provisional detention and places him under formal arrest, the official added, with the measure indicating the judge's suspicions against Salameh had "strengthened".

On Tuesday last week, Lebanese authorities for the first time provisionally arrested Salameh after questioning over the alleged embezzlement of more than $40 million, another judicial had told AFP.

The official said at the time that the case was "completely separate" from others being investigated.

The following day, Lebanon's financial prosecutor initiated legal proceedings against Salameh over allegations of "embezzling" public funds, as well as "illicit enrichment and money laundering", and the case was referred to the investigating judge, the same official told AFP.

In a statement on Friday carried by Lebanon's official National News Agency, Salameh's office said he had cooperated with the Lebanese judiciary "before and after finishing his official duties" and "has continued with this cooperation since his detention".

'Thief' 

Salameh, who also has French nationality, is widely viewed as a key culprit in Lebanon's economic crash, which the World Bank has called one of the worst in recent history.

A handful of protesters gathered outside Beirut's justice palace on Monday, some trying to attack a convoy of vehicles transporting Salameh as he arrived, hitting the windows and yelling "Riad Salameh is a thief," an AFP correspondent said.

Unemployed protester Simon al-Barrak, among many Lebanese who have been unable to access their savings since late 2019, said his money had been "stolen".

"We're here in support of a clean justice system," he said, in a country known for its history of official impunity.

"It's not just Riad Salameh we want to see in prison," he added, accusing the political class broadly for the economic collapse.

After Monday's questioning, Salameh was returned to the jail where he has been detained in recent days, the first judicial official said, adding he was being held in an individual cell in "good conditions".

In May last year, Germany and France issued arrest warrants for Salameh over accusations including money laundering and fraud, though German prosecutors later cancelled their warrant, saying Salameh could no longer use his post to suppress evidence.

In August last year, the United States announced coordinated sanctions with Canada and Britain against Salameh.

Salameh, who left office at the end of July last year, has repeatedly said his wealth comes from private investment and his previous work at US investment firm Merrill Lynch.

He has defended his legacy, saying he is a "scapegoat" for Lebanon's economic collapse.

ATHENS — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced a new set of policies aimed at boosting citizens' purchasing power and tackling the country's housing crisis.

The measures include a 14 per cent increase in the minimum wage, a 2.5 per cent increase in pensions and a new tourist tax.

Mitsotakis vowed to bring prosperity to Greece — which in 2023 had the second lowest GDP per capita in the European Union — by 2027 during a speech at the opening of the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) on Saturday.

The premier referred to nine challenges facing his government, including the convergence of public and private sector wages, the green transition using cheaper energy and the mitigation of the effects of the runaway growth in tourism.

He also vowed to create an effective response to the country's declining and ageing population.

The country of 10 million people — which relies heavily on tourism — has endured a near decade-long economic crisis exacerbated by the post-pandemic recession.

Housing and food prices had soared due to sky-high inflation, which has only just begun to fall.

Average annual income in Greece was half the European average in 2023, while the minimum wage of 830 euros a month ($920) is less than half that of France.

Mitsotakis vowed to increase pensions by up to 2.5 per cent in 2025 and to gradually push up the minimum wage to 950 euros by 2027.

He also announced new incentives to boost the birth rate and tax benefits to galvanise the rental market.

A special levy on the self-employed will be gradually abolished, while the 243 million euro revenue from a windfall tax on energy companies will be distributed to vulnerable citizens.

Mitsotakis also announced a new fee for passengers disembarking from cruise ships in Greek ports and a Golden Visa scheme for foreigners investing at least 250,000 euros in start-ups.

JANAJAH, Iraq — Bare feet pressed against the rough trunk of a palm tree, his back supported by a metal and fabric harness, Ali Abed begins the climb to the dates above.

In Iraq, the date palm and its bounty are national icons, but they are being battered by drought.

Once known as the country of "30 million palm trees", Iraq's ancient date-growing culture had already suffered from upheaval, especially during the 1980-88 war with Iran, before climate change became a major threat.

In the still lush countryside of central Iraq, near Janajah village in Babylon province, hundreds of date palms stand tall and majestic, surrounded by vines and fruit trees.

During harvest season, the branches are heavy with clusters of yellow and red dates.

Rising at dawn to avoid the searing heat, harvesters climb the palms using only their upper body strength, aided by a harness and rope wrapped around the trunk.

"Last year, the orchards and the palm groves were thirsty; we almost lost them. This year, thanks to God, we had good water and a good harvest," said Abed, a 36-year-old farmer from Biramana, a village a few kilometres from Janajah.

Once at the top, they pick the ripe dates, filling baskets that are lowered to the ground and emptied into basins, which are then loaded onto lorries.

Abed noted, however, that the harvest is much smaller now — about half of what it used to be. He once collected more than 12 tonnes but now brings in just four or five.

Abed criticised the lack of government support, saying aerial insecticide campaigns are not enough.

'Used to be paradise'

Iraq has spent over a decade trying to revive the date palm, a vital economic asset and national symbol.

Authorities and religious institutions have launched programmes and mega-projects to encourage tree planting and growth.

An agriculture ministry spokesperson told the official INA news agency last month that, "for the first time since the 1980s", the number of date palms had risen to "more than 22 million", up from a low of just eight million.

During the Iran-Iraq War, palm groves were razed in vast areas along the border to prevent enemy infiltration.

Today, dates are Iraq's second-largest export product after oil, which dominates export revenues and generates more than $120 million, according to the World Bank.

In 2023, Iraq exported around 650,000 tonnes of dates, official statistics show.

Yet, around Janajah, many palm trees lie dead and decapitated.

"All these palm trees are dead due to the drought; the whole region is suffering," said 56-year-old farmer Maitham Talib.

"Before, we had water. People irrigated abundantly. Now, we need complicated machinery", he said, observing the harvest.

The United Nations has labelled Iraq one of the five countries in the world most vulnerable to some of the effects of climate change.

The country has endured four consecutive years of drought, though this year saw some relief with winter rainfall.

Alongside rising temperatures that have hit 50ºC (122 Fahrenheit) in summer and declining rainfall, Iraq also faces falling river levels, blamed on dams built upstream by Iran and Turkey.

Kifah Talib, 42, lamented the slow devastation wrought by the drought.

"It used to be paradise: apple, pomegranate, citrus trees and vines  — everything grew here," he said.

BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday pledged over $50 billion in financing for Africa over the next three years, promising to deepen cooperation in infrastructure and trade with the continent as he addressed Beijing's biggest summit since the pandemic.

More than 50 African leaders and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres are attending this week's China-Africa forum, according to state media.

African leaders already secured a plethora of deals this week for greater cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, trade and energy.

Addressing the leaders at the forum's opening ceremony in Beijing's ornate Great Hall of the People on Thursday, Xi hailed ties with the continent as in their "best period in history".

"China is ready to deepen cooperation with African countries in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment," he said.

"Over the next three years, the Chinese government is willing to provide financial support amounting to 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion)," Xi said.

Over half of that will be in credit, he said, with $11 billion "in various types of assistance" as well as $10 billion through encouraging Chinese firms to invest.

He also promised to help "create at least one million jobs for Africa".

The Chinese leader pledged $141 million in grants for military assistance to the continent as well.

Beijing would "provide training for 6,000 military personnel and 1,000 police and law enforcement officers from Africa", Xi said.

Also addressing the meeting, UN chief Guterres told African leaders that growing ties between China and the continent could "drive the renewable energy revolution".

"China's remarkable record of development -- including on eradicating poverty -- provides a wealth of experience and expertise," he said.

Deals and pledges 

China, the world's number two economy, is Africa's largest trading partner and has sought to tap the continent's vast troves of natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.

It has also furnished African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure but sometimes stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts.

Analysts say that Beijing's largesse towards Africa is being recalibrated in the face of economic trouble at home and that geopolitical concerns over a growing tussle with the United States may increasingly be driving policy.

But bilateral meetings held on the sidelines of the summit delivered a slew of pledges on greater cooperation in projects from railway to solar panels to avocados.

Following meetings on Wednesday, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said he had overseen a deal between the country's state-owned power company ZESCO and Beijing's PowerChina to expand the use of rooftop solar panels in his country.

Nigeria -- one of Beijing's biggest debtors on the continent -- and China inked a joint statement agreeing to "deepen cooperation" in infrastructure, including "transportation, ports and free trade zones".

Expanding transport links 

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, in turn, obtained a commitment from Xi to push for new progress on a long-stalled railway connecting his country to neighbouring Zambia.

That project -- which Zambian media has said Beijing has pledged $1 billion towards -- is aimed at expanding transport links in the resource-rich eastern part of the continent.

Zimbabwe also won promises from Beijing for deeper cooperation in "agriculture, mining, environmentally friendly traditional and new energy [and] transportation infrastructure", according to a joint statement by the two countries.

The southern African nation and Beijing also agreed to sign a deal that would allow the export of fresh Zimbabwean avocados to China, the joint statement said. 

And Kenyan leader William Ruto said Xi had promised to open up China's markets to agricultural products from his country. 

The two sides agreed to work together on the expansion of the country's Standard Gauge Railway -- built with finance from Exim Bank of China -- which connects the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa.

And Ruto also secured a pledge for greater cooperation with China on the Rironi-Mau Summit-Malaba motorway, which Kenyan media has said is expected to cost $1.2 billion.

Ruto last year asked China for a $1 billion loan and the restructuring of existing debt to complete other stalled construction projects. The country now owes China more than $8 billion.

WASHINGTON — The US trade deficit in July expanded to its largest since mid-2022, according to government data released Wednesday, as imports rose more quickly than exports.

Overall, the trade gap widened to $78.8 billion, from a revised $73 billion in June, the Department of Commerce said.

The growth was slightly more than analysts expected and the widest since June 2022.

Businesses were likely to be frontloading imports ahead of an increase in tariffs, analysts say, given that Washington earlier unveiled plans to hike levies on Chinese goods ranging from semiconductors to batteries and solar panels.

In July, imports jumped 2.1 per cent to $345.4 billion, boosted by capital goods like computer accessories, as well as by industrial supplies.

Exports, meanwhile, edged up 0.5 per cent to $266.6 billion, the Commerce Department report said.

Among individual segments, exports of semiconductors rose but auto shipments and that of consumer goods fell as well.

Capital goods imports have been supported by boosts from investments relating to government incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act, said Matthew Martin, US economist at Oxford Economics.

Another source of support is the prospect of lower interest rates, he added.

"Depleted inventories and resilient consumer demand should ensure the other components of imports stay on a strong growth path as well," said Martin.

US consumer demand has held up in the face of high interest rates, as the central bank hiked the benchmark lending rate in recent years to counter soaring inflation.

Households have continued spending, dipping into savings, supported by a robust jobs market.

A reduction in interest rates, widely expected later this month, could bring the world's biggest economy a further boost.

Exports have had a harder time with global demand weakening and with a strong dollar, analysts noted earlier.

China trade

In July, the US goods deficit with China increased by $4.9 billion to $27.2 billion, as exports fell and imports picked up.

"The trade gap with China blew out in July," said economists Carl Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics in a note.

BEIRUT — Once lauded for reviving Lebanon's economy, former central bank chief Riad Salameh, wanted abroad and reviled at home after years of financial meltdown, was arrested on Tuesday by Lebanese authorities.

The 74-year-old French-Lebanese national is widely viewed as a key culprit in the country's dramatic economic crash, which the World Bank has called one of the worst in recent history.

Salameh left office at the end of July 2023 without a successor and faces numerous accusations including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion in separate probes in Lebanon and abroad.

He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and defended his legacy, saying he is a "scapegoat" for Lebanon's economic collapse.

Rarely seen in public since leaving office, he was arrested on Tuesday after being questioned by the public prosecutor over the alleged embezzlement of some $40 million in central bank funds, a judicial official told AFP.

Germany, along with France, issued an arrest warrant for Salameh in May 2023 over accusations including money laundering and fraud.

In June this year, a Munich court cancelled the German warrant, saying Salameh could no longer use his post to suppress evidence but "confirmed the urgent suspicion with regard to the accusations" against him.

Salameh has not appeared before the French judiciary, but his brother Raja was placed under official investigation last month in France as part of probes there over alleged illicit enrichment.

Revived the economy

In August last year, the United States Treasury announced coordinated sanctions with Canada and Britain against Salameh.

His "corrupt and unlawful actions have contributed to the breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon", the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

"Salameh abused his position of power, likely in violation of Lebanese law, to enrich himself and his associates by funnelling hundreds of millions of dollars through layered shell companies to invest in European real estate," it said.

In March 2022, France, Germany and Luxembourg seized assets worth $130 million in a move linked to a French probe into Salameh's personal wealth.

In 2023, Lebanon charged him with embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion.

The domestic probe was opened following a request for assistance from Switzerland's public prosecutor, who was investigating more than $300 million in fund movements by Salameh and his brother.

Before his judicial troubles, Salameh was largely viewed as the architect of the financial policy that allowed Lebanon to recover from a grinding 1975-1990 civil war, and was responsible for pegging the Lebanese pound at 1,507 to the dollar.

Known for his calm demeanour, he studied economics at the American University of Beirut and worked for Merrill Lynch in the Lebanese capital before becoming its vice-president in France.

In 1993, Salameh was nominated as central bank governor by then prime minister Rafic Hariri, a wealthy real estate developer whose portfolio Salameh handled at Merrill Lynch.

Salameh received accolades, and was named the world's best central bank governor by Euromoney in 2006 and by The Banker magazine in 2009.

Warning signs

"He's the man who knew how to revive the economy and gain the confidence of investors," said economist Nicolas Chikhani.

But after war broke out in neighbouring Syria in 2011, "warning signs started to grow" for the Lebanese economy, Chikhani said.

Successive governments failed to take action to restructure the economy, and public debt piled up.

From 2016, Salameh launched so-called financial engineering aimed at increasing central bank reserves, providing capital to banks and maintaining the value of the pound, in measures that some have compared to a Ponzi scheme.

In late 2019, he became the main focus of public anger as the economy began to unravel, and in 2020 Lebanon defaulted on its debt for the first time.

Commercial banks imposed draconian withdrawal restrictions when the economy collapsed, preventing depositors from accessing their life savings.

Salameh "never refused the political class anything", and "protected the banks whose main shareholders are politicians" because he once had presidential aspirations, one veteran banker told AFP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of this topic.

In the days leading to his retirement, Salameh told local media the political class abandoned him "a long time ago".

FRANKFURT, Germany — German automotive giant Volkswagen said on Monday it could close production sites in Germany, as the auto industry struggles to manage rising costs.

"In the current situation, even plant closures at vehicle production and component sites can no longer be ruled out," Volkswagen said in an internal memo sent to employees and seen by AFP.

Europe's largest auto manufacturer remained committed to Germany as a "business location" but "headwinds have become significantly stronger", VW brand CEO Thomas Schaefer was quoted in the document as saying.

The challenging conditions meant "we must now step up our efforts" to secure the long-term success of the company, Schaefer said in the note sent to employees.

"We want to remain the leading volume manufacturer worldwide, and do so on our own strength," Schaefer said.

Volkswagen last year announced plans for a 10-billion-euro ($11-billion) savings programme and has flagged cuts to its workforce over the coming years to improve profitability.

But the group said further measures were now required after disappointing results published in August that showed a dip in profits.

Rising costs and cooling demand in China also meant the group had to lower its profit margin forecasts for the rest of the year.

The core of the Volkswagen group "now faces particularly significant challenges", the memo said.

Despite the cost-saving measures already announced, "the current developments in the automotive market and the German economy demand further action", it said.

The company's board had determined that "the brands within Volkswagen AG must undergo comprehensive restructuring".

"The goal must be to optimise product costs, material costs, and sales performance, as well as factory and labour costs," the memo said, evoking possible plant closures.

"Simple cost-cutting measures" were no longer enough, while the group said it was open to further job cuts, according to the memo.