The culinary tourism business of Brian Bergey and his wife Ruixi Hu has persevered in China through three years of harsh COVID-19 restrictions.

The UK has forecast its economy to shrink 1.4 percent next year, hit additionally by fallout from Brexit which has resulted in foreign workers returning home.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday denied that his government was seeking to row back on the UK's EU withdrawal deal, despite an apparent growing backlash against Brexit.

Britain's banks are proactively helping customers hit by the cost of living crisis, but implementing a new "consumer duty" on time could exclude vulnerable consumers from help, banking industry body UK Finance said on Wednesday.

European shares fell on Wednesday, with Mercedes Benz Group leading losses in automobiles stocks, while a blast in Poland kept sentiment subdued and pushed up defence stocks.

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.

Skipping lunch each day and watching television in blankets to keep warm is not how Ann and Keith Hartley envisaged their retirement in Burnley, the northern English town hit hardest by Britain's cost of living crisis.

Britain will Thursday hike taxes and slash public spending in a government budget that signals a return to austerity despite a cost-of-living crisis and recession headwinds.

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

Euro zone yields were higher on Friday after plunging the day before when U.S.

European workers squeezed by the soaring cost of living went on strike in Belgium and Greece on Wednesday, with stoppages threatening to paralyse parts of Britain, France and Spain in coming days.

Euro zone government bond yields rose on Tuesday as investor focus was squarely pinned on central banks' fight against inflation, ahead of U.S.

British businesses fear a gloomy Christmas ahead, as almost half of households plan to cut festive spending due to the soaring cost of living and sales are already falling sharply in inflation-adjusted terms.

Higher interest rates can also boost a currency because investors are encouraged to bring money into the country to benefit from higher returns.

The move would mirror aggressive rate-tightening by central banks worldwide as economies battle the highest prices in decades.

The cost of fresh food in British shops last month was 13.3% higher than a year earlier, the biggest annual increase in records going back to 2005, the British Retail Consortium said on Wednesday.

The Port of Douala (PAD) in Cameroon is the largest port in Africa.

Euro zone inflation surged more than expected in October, data showed on Monday, fuelling expectations that the European Central Bank will press on with big interest rate hikes despite economic growth slowing.

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.

Germany's economy unexpectedly grew in the third quarter, official data showed Friday, but slowing growth in France and Spain added to fears that high inflation and an energy crisis will tip the region into recession.

Italian inflation surged to a new record high in October, data showed on Friday, underscoring the economic challenges facing new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and increasing the risk of a further rise in the euro zone as a whole.

Eurozone inflation stood at just under 10 percent in September, nearly five times the ECB's two-percent target.

A senior Ukrainian official predicted "the heaviest of battles" to come for the partially Russian occupied strategic southern province of Kherson and said Moscow's military is digging in to face advancing Ukrainian forces.

Makers of metals, chemicals and gases said on Tuesday that the outlook for the final months of the year had worsened as concerns intensify that a surge in energy and raw material costs will shrink Europe's heavy industry.

The crisis-hit PM, elected Conservative leader just six weeks ago on a tax-slashing platform, announced her resignation Thursday.

British banks are bracing for a potential tax hit to their profits as the government scrambles to plug an estimated 40 billion pound ($45 billion) hole in its finances.

British inflation jumped back above 10 percent in September on soaring food prices, official data showed Wednesday.

British company owners are pulling investments as a crisis triggered in Westminster pushes up borrowing costs and hits confidence in an economy once seen by businesses as a haven of stability.

Asian share markets slipped on Monday following another drubbing for Wall Street as investors brace for further drastic tightening in global financial conditions, with all the risks of recession that brings.

According to World Bank estimates, 8 out of every 10 people pushed into extreme poverty as a result of the coronavirus pandemic were Indians.