US consumer prices jumped last year at the fastest pace in four decades, the government confirmed Wednesday, underscoring the potent inflation wave that has sapped public support for President Joe Biden even as the economy recovers from the pandemic.

Sri Lanka accused international rating agencies of undermining efforts to rebuild its cash reserves on Thursday after S&P warned the island’s stricken economy risked a sovereign debt default.

Inflation in China eased in December thanks to falling food and commodity costs, with analysts saying Wednesday’s figures give policymakers room to unveil measures to kickstart the stuttering economy including interest rate cuts.

The Taliban administration said on Tuesday it was expanding its ‘food for work’ program, in which it uses donated wheat to pay thousands of public sector employees instead of cash as a financial crisis intensifies.

Germany faces a gigantic task to achieve the climate protection goals it has set itself, Climate Minister Robert Habeck said on Tuesday,

Sri Lanka ruled out an IMF bailout on Wednesday and said it plans to seek another loan from China to address an economic crisis that has led to food and fuel shortages.

 Only one in 10 World Economic Forum members surveyed expects the global recovery to accelerate over the next three years, a poll of nearly 1,000 business, government and academic leaders found, with only one in six optimistic about the world outlook.

Asian tourism and casinos giant Genting’s shipbuilding subsidiaries in Germany filed for bankruptcy Monday, which one union leader described as a  “dark day” for the country’s dockyards.

Indonesia, the world’s top exporter of thermal coal, on Monday said it would ease a ban on exports of the fuel that it imposed to head off looming blackouts.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will highlight the central bank’s efforts to fight inflation and stabilize the US economy at his confirmation hearing, according to testimony released Monday.

Britain signalled a shake-up in the availability and price of financial market data on Tuesday due to concerns over “limited competition” for benchmarks, indices and credit ratings.

Most Asian and European markets rose Monday as traders brushed off another negative performance on Wall Street as US data showed fewer new jobs than expected were created last month but that wages saw a strong gain, keeping pressure on the Federal Reserve in its battle against inflation.

The unemployment rate in the eurozone dropped again in November, official figures showed on Monday, as hiring withstood new coronavirus outbreaks in several member countries.

Before clashes between security forces and government opponents left dozens dead and rendered parts of Kazakhstan’s largest city almost unrecognisable, citizens in the west of the oil-rich country were staging their own protest against a sudden New Year fuel hike.

China’s aviation sector will aim to turn losses into profits this year with an expected recovery to 85 per cent of its pre-Covid volume of domestic passenger trips, the aviation regulator said on Monday.

Emerging economies should gird for possible rough times as the US Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates and world economic growth slows because of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the IMF warned Monday.

The Philippines has urged Indonesia to lift its recent ban on coal exports, with Manila warning Monday the policy will have a “detrimental” impact on the coal-reliant country.

Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa asked China to help restructure debt repayments as part of efforts to help the South Asian country weather a worsening financial crisis, his office said in a statement on Sunday.

Bangladesh’s relations with the US are expected to be strained over a lack of political reform but economic ties will likely be unaffected, a global provider of credit intelligence said in a policy brief.

The European Union plans to legislate in the coming months to require technology companies to do more to tackle child sexual abuse, beefing up current voluntary arrangements,  said EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson. The official said 22 million offences were related to child sexual abuse in 2020, up from 17 million in 2019.