British inflation has jumped to a 41-year high on soaring energy and food bills in a worsening cost-of-living crisis, data showed Wednesday on the eve of a key budget.

The moment of truth is almost here for Britain's new prime minister Rishi Sunak and finance minister Jeremy Hunt.

While traditional financial markets are heavily regulated, crypto is not, something that looks likely to change following FTX's recent difficulties

Stock pickers have a message for company finance bosses and it's getting louder: bolster your balance sheets before the downturn strikes.

Britain's economy shrank in the third quarter as inflation soars, official data showed Friday, likely confirming it is already in a recession, dealing a fresh blow to new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Thousands of Spaniards packed Madrid's landmark Plaza Mayor square on Thursday to demand higher pay in the first mass protest since the start of the cost of living crisis.

Hundreds of Apple workers in Australia are set to strike again after almost two-thirds of employees rejected a pay and benefits deal, the latest escalation of a fight that has seen weeks of walkouts at stores around the country.

The Bank of England looks set to raise borrowing costs by the most since 1989 next week even as it prepares for a recession that could be deepened by spending cuts under new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Newly confirmed finance minister Jeremy Hunt must keep investors calm about Britain's debt mountain, avoid causing a deep recession and work out a way to stop the Conservative Party from splintering again - and all of it by next Monday.

The screeching about-turn on tax cuts by finance minister Jeremy Hunt on Monday will not spare Britain from painful spending cuts and new tax hikes to fix the country's public finances.

British Airways-owner IAG, Europe's biggest airline Ryanair and rival easyJet said demand for travel was holding up, calming worries that pressure on household budgets could stall aviation's recovery from the pandemic.

Qantas Airways Ltd will return to a profit in the first half for the first time since the pandemic began as demand rebounds and it focuses on ensuring reliable operations and sweetens its wages offer to employees, its chief executive said.

Britain's financial regulators will work together to tighten rules for pension funds which use derivatives to insure themselves against big moves in bond markets, drawing on lessons from past crises, the Bank of England said on Wednesday.

Global bond funds saw the biggest outflows in two decades in the first three quarters of this year as hefty interest rate increases by central banks to tame inflation sparked fears of a recession.

Train travel in Britain was disrupted on Wednesday by the latest in a string of strikes by railway workers over wages.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has refused to rule out cutting benefit payments by less than soaring inflation to help fund her tax-cutting growth plan in what is likely to spark the next political rebellion over her economic plans.

From 1925, the Bank of England had kept interest rates high to keep the pound at a fixed parity to gold

Liz Truss's government is following an economic doctrine which argues that richer people are more likely to invest, set up businesses, hire people and grow the economy.

Ireland will deliver what ministers have called two budgets in one on Tuesday, making the usual spending increases and tax cuts while also helping firms and consumers pay soaring energy bills in what they hope will be a one-off intervention.

France's biggest retailer Carrefour has increased its offer in the third round of wage talks with unions, suggesting a 2.5% pay hike from November this year, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.

China is leading in the digital economy with the recent release of the digital Yuan.

Zara owner Inditex's strong first-half results show its strategy of raising prices since early 2022 paying off so far, but it and other fashion retailers have to be careful not to overdo it with further hikes that may scare away shoppers, analysts said.

UK inflation has eased on lower motor fuel costs but remains close to 40-year peaks, official data showed Wednesday as the nation faces more strikes over a cost-of-living crisis.

Economists around the world, from the most liberal free-spenders to fiscal conservative deficit hawks, largely agreed the coronavirus pandemic required a go-big, go-fast policy response to avoid an outright global depression.

Truss, who officially became leader Tuesday at an audience with head of state Queen Elizabeth II in Scotland after the resignation of Boris Johnson, is set to meet her top team at a morning meeting.

Europe faces massive increases in energy bills driven by rocketing gas prices as the Ukraine conflict and European sanctions on Russia heighten concerns over gas supplies.

Liz Truss is expected to be named leader of the governing Conservative Party and Britain's next prime minister on Monday, poised to take power at a time when the country faces a cost of living crisis, industrial unrest and a recession.

The surge in British house prices will come to an end next year as the cost of living crisis and rising borrowing costs put the brakes on what has been a buoyant market for years, a Reuters poll found.

NHS England set aside £1.5 billion to cover an expected ₤485-million increase in energy bills. But the estimate was made in May and prices have risen again.

Natural gas a few years ago was so unwanted that U.S. shale oil producers sold it at cost just to pump more oil.