The yen plunged to a new 24-year low against the dollar on Thursday as Japan sticks with its long-standing monetary easing policies in contrast to tightening by the US Federal Reserve.

Prices for gasoline and public transport in Germany surged Thursday as government subsidies expired, hurting commuters already struggling with high energy costs, as a senior official warned that the country couldn't rely on Russia to fulfill gas supply contracts.

Germany's biggest auto club, ADAC, said initial estimates indicated that the average price of one liter of E10 super was about 0.25 euros ($0.25) higher in the morning than the previous day. Diesel fuel was about 0.10 euros ($0.10) more expensive, it said.

Even as he battles Lebanon's summer heat without air-conditioning, Judge Faysal Makki tries not to drink too much water because the toilets at the Justice Palace are broken.

As the war in Ukraine stretches into its seventh month, North Korea is hinting at its interest in sending construction workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in the country's east.

The idea is openly endorsed by senior Russian officials and diplomats, who foresee a cheap and hard-working workforce that could be thrown into the "most arduous conditions," a term Russia's ambassador to North Korea used in a recent interview.

Israel on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 20 companies and individuals operating across the Middle East that it says are involved in financing the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The sanctions are directed against what the Defense Ministry described as an international network operating "under the guise of legitimate companies" in Sudan, Turkey, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates.

European Union countries agreed Wednesday to make it harder for Russian citizens to enter the 27-nation bloc, but they failed to find a consensus on imposing an outright tourist ban in response to Russia's war on Ukraine.

At talks in the Czech Republic, EU foreign ministers were desperate to put on a show of unity and punish President Vladimir Putin for launching the war over six months ago. Still, they couldn't bridge differences over whether Russian citizens, some of them possibly opposed to the invasion, should also pay a price.

Inflation in the European countries using the euro currency hit another record in August, fueled by soaring energy prices mainly driven by Russia's war in Ukraine.

Annual inflation in the eurozone's 19 countries rose to 9.1%, up from 8.9% in July, according to the latest figures released Wednesday by the European Union statistics agency Eurostat.

Internet shutdowns rippled through cash-strapped Lebanon on Tuesday after employees of the country's state-owned telecom company went on strike, demanding higher wages.

It was the latest reflection of one of the world's worst economic disasters, which has pulled three quarters of Lebanon's 6 million people into poverty. The Lebanese pound in three years has lost over 90 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar.

As winter nears, European nations, desperate to replace the natural gas they once bought from Russia, have embraced a short-term fix: A series of roughly 20 floating terminals that would receive liquefied natural gas from other countries and convert it into heating fuel.

Yet the plan, with the first floating terminals set to deliver natural gas by year's end, has raised alarms among scientists who fear the long-term consequences for the environment. They warn that these terminals would perpetuate Europe's reliance on natural gas, which releases climate-warming methane and carbon dioxide when it's produced, transported and burned.

Russia's Gazprom stopped the flow of natural gas through a major pipeline from Russia to Europe early Wednesday, a temporary move to it announced in advance.

The Russian state-controlled energy giant said earlier this month that it would the cut the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline until Saturday for what it says is a three-day pause for routine maintenance at a compressor station.