From nurses to lawyers, staff hit by a cost-of-living crisis have been striking across the economy.

Britain on Wednesday unveils a new cost-of-living budget, including more help on soaring energy bills, but the government is set to stand firm on rising public sector pay demands as the country endures a fresh wave of strikes.

In their fifties and deciding there was more to life than work, Liz and Ian Woodbridge quit stressful jobs during the pandemic - part of a cohort of British early retirees now resisting a government call to return, despite rising living costs.

France faces massive strikes over pension reform.

Fresh strikes hit trains, schools and refineries in France on Tuesday over an unpopular pension reform pushed by President Emmanuel Macron, with nationwide protests planned for later in the day.

While unions have welcomed the government's readiness for negotiation on parts of the plan, they say the proposed 64-year rule has to go.

Taken aback by the size of mass protests against its pension reform, the French government on Friday signalled readiness for compromise on the unpopular plan but vowed that its core measures would remain intact.

UK property funds face further exit requests, asset fire sales and reduced demand from pension schemes after payout restrictions prompted investors to reassess the risks of such holdings, industry experts say.

Military personnel stood in for passport control staff at UK airports on Friday as Border Force officers walked out in an escalating wave of public sector strikes over pay.

With a secure job as a bricklayer, Hugo Ramirez never thought he would need the help of charity to feed his family.

Credit funds at Blackstone, Apollo, DZ Bank and Astra Asset Management picked up bargains from UK pension funds during their scramble for cash, and some say pension schemes are still offloading assets as pressures persist.

The British government and the Bank of England are reforming insurers' capital rules, seen as a post-Brexit test of UK willingness to "unshackle" the City of London after leaving the European Union.

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

Commuters in London and Paris scrambled for alternatives Thursday -- or simply stayed home -- as public transport workers went on strike for higher pay, the latest industrial action seeking relief from soaring prices in Europe.

Political differences remain, with Sunak a conservative Eurosceptic free-marketeer, while Macron is fervently pro-EU and a believer in strong state intervention.

The cost of Russia's military mobilisation and the impact of Western sanctions are set to blow a hole in the government's budget forecasts and drain Moscow's reserves to their lowest level in years, according to analysts' latest calculations.

Britain still faces a 40 billion pound ($46 billion) budget hole that will need to be filled by tax rises as well as spending cuts, despite recent U-turns on measures proposed during Liz Truss's short-lived premiership, a think tank said on Tuesday.

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.

Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday he was not daunted by the scale of the challenge as he became Britain's third prime minister in two months, pledging to restore trust, rebuild confidence and lead the country through an economic crisis.

Elected for the first time to parliament in 2015, Rishi Sunak became Britain's youngest prime minister in more than 200 years on Monday, tasked with steering the country through an economic crisis and mounting anger among some voters.

Sudden changes in the gilts market are rare, but when they do happen it can cause major problems for certain types of pension scheme.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss insisted she would not quit on Wednesday as she faced questions from booing MPs at her first Question Time session since abandoning her disastrous tax-slashing economic policies.

Prime Minister Liz Truss apologised for threatening Britain's economic stability after she was forced to scrap her vast tax-cutting plans and embark on a programme of "eye-watering" public spending cuts instead.

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.

Calls to the Bank of England saying some British pension funds were struggling to meet margin calls began on Monday. By Wednesday they were getting more urgent and coordinated.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss heads to her Conservative Party conference next week with a packed diary of "meet and greets" to try to win over lawmakers angry over an economic plan that triggered market chaos and badly eroded support.

The Bank of England stepped into Britain's bond market on Wednesday to stem a market rout, pledging to buy 65 billion pounds ($69.4 billion) of long-dated gilts after a government fiscal statement triggered the biggest sell-off in decades.

Shrugging off old age, ill-health, sex scandals and a criminal conviction, Silvio Berlusconi is in the thick of yet another Italian election campaign as the four-times prime minister battles for a central role after the vote.

Coffey was appointed health secretary by Prime Minister Liz Truss earlier this week.

The wife of a minister sacked by the newly appointed Prime Minister, Liz Truss, has called the PM an "imbecile" for sacking her husband.