On a scorching June day, a senior U.S. official arrived in the United Arab Emirates with a clear message: The Trump administration intended to tighten the screws on Iran through sanctions targeting its oil sales.

“We are going to increase our sanctions on Iran and continue our foreign policy,” Brian Hook, the White House special envoy on Iran, told CNBC from the U.A.E. capital of Abu Dhabi.

Days...

Group Nine Media Inc. raised an additional $50 million from existing investors Discovery Inc. and Axel Springer SE, an investment that people familiar with the matter said values the owner of NowThis, the Dodo and Thrillist at more than $600 million when accounting for the new cash.

British Airways canceled almost all of its flights globally scheduled for Monday and Tuesday because of strike action by the airline’s pilots over pay.

The carrier said the move, which was flagged last month after a breakdown in lengthy negotiations between management and pilots, would result in more than 1,700 flight cancellations, affecting 195,000 customers.

The...

Stocks have raced higher to start September, but signs of faltering growth are keeping investors on edge as they navigate what historically has been a turbulent period for markets.

Going back to 1928, the S&P 500 has on average fallen only in three months—with September proving to be the index’s worst month of the year, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The parallels between market and economic conditions today and last fall are heightening the anxiety of many money managers.

Australia faced a personal-credit crunch, housing slump and weak business confidence, threatening to derail the longest-running growth streak in the developed world. Then it got a trade boost as U.S.-China relations soured.

Australia ships around a third of its exports to China, mostly commodities such as iron ore and coal that are used by heavy industry and in the building of apartments. Those exports are in demand as Beijing accelerates construction spending to head off damage caused by Washington raising tariffs.

Trade has been so buoyant that Australia logged its first current-account surplus—a measure of trade and financial flows with other countries—since 1975 in the second quarter of this year. That has provided some much-needed juice to Australia’s economy, on a 28-year run without a recession, as other headwinds to growth intensify. Australia’s gross domestic product expanded at its slowest pace since the financial crisis in the second quarter.

BERLIN—As corporate America debates whether companies should consider other constituencies than just their shareholders, Germany offers an example of what a new approach might look like for labor.

In Germany, where workers enjoy high labor protections and a say in management decisions, companies such as Volkswagen AG and Bayer AG have announced plans this year to cut tens of thousands of jobs.

But...

Interpublic Group of Cos. is promoting longtime executive Philippe Krakowsky to a newly created position of chief operating officer, putting him in line to succeed Chief Executive Michael I. Roth at the helm of one of the world’s largest advertising holding companies.

A 17-year veteran of Interpublic , Mr. Krakowsky, 57 years old, will continue to serve as chief strategy officer and chief talent officer and to report to Mr. Roth, who is 73.

“The recognition he is getting now certainly puts him in a strong position” to lead Interpublic, said Mr. Roth, who is also chairman of the company.

In the second quarter of this year, official Chinese data showed economic growth of 6.2%, close to Beijing’s target and within a percentage point of what it has reported every quarter for the past 4½ years.

A few months earlier, satellites monitoring Chinese industrial hubs suggested parts of the world’s largest trading economy were contracting. An index of Chinese industrial production created by a multinational manufacturer was pointing to lower growth than official figures. And a web-search index used to gauge how many workers return to their jobs after the Lunar New Year holidays was down sharply from a year earlier.

President Trump ’s decision to suspend talks with the Taliban stemmed from opposing views within his administration, the group’s refusal to meet certain conditions and growing bipartisan criticism of an emerging deal to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Nissan Motor Co.’s board will discuss on Monday a plan to replace Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa, and if directors approve the plan it would set in motion a formal search for candidates, according to people familiar with the board’s plans.

Mr. Saikawa said Monday ahead of the meeting that he wants the directors to move forward with a succession plan “as quickly as possible.”

One...

San Francisco offered $2.5 billion to acquire PG&E Corp. ’s electrical lines serving the city, a first step toward separating from the troubled utility that is facing billions of dollars in liabilities for starting a series of deadly wildfires.

The proposal, which officials discussed publicly on Sunday, is a significant escalation by San Francisco in its bid to create a municipal utility that is owned and operated by the city. It comes a day before PG&E is expected to unveil its plan to reorganize and leave chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by a California-imposed deadline next year.

Mark Sanford, a former South Carolina governor and congressman, said he would challenge President Trump for the 2020 Republican nomination, adding another vocal critic of Mr. Trump to a GOP primary race considered a lock for the president.

“I don’t know what will come of it, but I believe what’s happening in Washington needs challenging,” Mr. Sanford said in an announcement video posted Sunday.

In...

The brooding horror sequel “It Chapter Two” gave the domestic box office a much-needed jolt over the weekend.

While this latest film fell short of its predecessor’s record-breaking opening, “Chapter Two” still amassed a strong $91 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to preliminary studio estimates. AT&T Inc. ’s Warner Bros. released the first installment in its two-film adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel in 2017. “It” grossed a whopping $123.4 million during its first weekend in theaters, a record for a horror movie.

Sales of Mac computers, iPads and wearable products such as the Apple Watch and AirPods have all notched gains in the first nine months of Apple’s current fiscal year, which ends later this month. Accessories like the AirPods have been especially hot, with Apple crediting “phenomenal demand” for the wireless earbuds in its most recent results.

The iPhone, alas, isn’t doing so hot. Revenue from the iconic smartphone slid 15% from a year earlier for the nine-month period that ended in June. Apple has successfully diversified its business some; iPhone now accounts for 56% of the company’s trailing 12-month revenue compared with 64% three years ago. But the iPhone’s slump still weighs heavy on the company. Apple’s total revenue so far this fiscal year is down 3%—despite gains in all of the company’s other segments.

The new phones Apple is slated to unveil Tuesday are unlikely to change that. No major new designs are expected, and the company is also unlikely to...

Days after Hurricane Dorian deluged the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama with rain and massive storm surges, the logistical challenges of getting aid where it is needed are staggering, a top health official in the Bahamas said.

“The level of damage is so intense that it’s almost difficult to conceptualize what force or convergence of forces could have led to the shattering, the splintering of buildings of stone, of concrete and wood,” Duane Sands, minister of health in the Bahamas, said in an interview Sunday.

Mohammed bin Salman’s placement of a royal insider at the helm of Saudi Arabia’s powerful energy ministry tightens the crown prince’s grip on one of the most important levers of the kingdom’s economy.

Successive Saudi kings had avoided naming a royal to lead the energy ministry for fear it would place too much power in one branch of the ruling family. But Sunday’s appointment of Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, an experienced oil official and son of the king, upends that arrangement, allowing his younger half brother, Prince...

WeWork’s parent is eyeing a valuation for its initial public offering that could fall below $20 billion as some existing investors push the workspace company to shelve the planned offering, people familiar with the matter said.

Despite plans to begin a roadshow to market the shares to new investors as early as Monday, We Co. and its underwriters are planning to hold meetings this week among themselves and with investors to figure out what changes may be needed to help garner enough demand for an IPO, the people said.

The 2020 presidential campaign has revealed a clear split on the future of mental-health policy, with President Trump focused primarily on addressing gun violence and his potential Democratic foes making a wider variety of proposals.

Mr. Trump has focused on the issue in response to recent mass shootings, calling for more psychiatric institutions and making it easier to commit people for treatment.

Sens....

Apple Inc.’s iPhone is expected to remain the star of the company’s annual publicity showcase this week, as it has been for the past dozen years. But the spotlight is turning toward a younger cast of products that Apple needs to galvanize growth.

On Tuesday, Apple plans to reveal a trio of new iPhones with additional rear cameras and enhanced capabilities for low-light photos, according to people familiar with the plans. Analysts expect the phones to also feature faster processors, new exterior colors such as green and purple,...

A Mongolian flag is hoisted above the entrance to the Chinbat family home, on a quiet street here in Mór.

It isn’t a rare sight in this part of Central Europe. About a hundred Mongolians live in this town, as do immigrants from other parts of the world.

Borolzoi and Narandelger Chinbat, a married couple who work in a factory that manufactures...

U.S. manufacturers are investing less in their factories and workforces as the trade dispute with China makes it more difficult for executives to anticipate costs and demand.

The shifting contours of the tariffs that the U.S. and China have applied to each other’s goods are prompting some companies to put business plans on hold. Others are cutting back investments as trade volumes and economic growth slow around the world.

Global interest rates are low and may head lower, driven by slowing economies and the U.S.-China trade war. A less appreciated reason for lower rates is a mountain of debt built up during the past decade.

Debt owed by governments, businesses and households around the globe is up nearly 50% since before the financial crisis to $246.6 trillion...

WASHINGTON—Congress returns from an August recess on Monday evening to face a broad array of issues, with spending, trade policy, guns and an expanded border wall all potential flashpoints. Adding to the complication: Lawmakers are already keeping an eye on next year’s elections.

In a political climate in which fresh issues emerge nearly every day from the White House, the campaign trail, the geopolitical scene and beyond, lawmakers are setting themselves up for a frenzy of activity. Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to keep...

SANYO-ONODA, Japan— Keijiro Nawata, a 38-year-old truck driver, had finished the day’s deliveries and was changing his truck’s oil in the shop one day in June last year when an uncle called saying something was wrong. Mr. Nawata’s mother had received a letter urging her to pay $3,600 in overdue life-insurance premiums, the uncle said.

Mr. Nawata immediately called the insurance office and set up a meeting for the next day, where the news got worse. He discovered that salesmen had persuaded his mother, who suffers from dementia, to take out a dozen policies costing her $2,400 a month—twice her income. She had even been induced to get a $7,000 bank loan to cover payments when she ran out of money.

HONG KONG—Tens of thousands of demonstrators called on the U.S. to protect human rights in Hong Kong, capping a weekend of smaller, heated protests that continued even after the government’s recent attempt at conciliation.

Protesters, many waving American flags, gathered at a park in the city’s main business district during the early afternoon on Sunday and for hours marched past the sprawling U.S. consular complex up a nearby hill.