Inflation in Europe has eased for the first time in more than a year as energy prices drifted down from painful highs, but the double-digit rate still hovers near a record that has robbed consumers of their spending power and led economists to predict a recession.

The consumer price index in the 19 countries that use the euro currency hit 10% in November from a year earlier, the European Union statistics agency Eurostat said Wednesday. That was a drop from 10.6% in October, the first decrease since June 2021.

Joint parliamentary committees convened again on Wednesday to resume the discussion of a capital control draft law.

The committees had convened Tuesday, as depositors and activists rallied near Parliament to protest the law.

HSBC has agreed to sell its Canadian division to Royal Bank of Canada for US$10.1 billion, the Asia-focused banking giant announced Tuesday.

Joint parliamentary committees convened Tuesday in Parliament to resume the discussion of a capital control draft law, including one of its most important clauses.

A clause about forming a special committee to supervise the implementation of the law is to be discussed today or tomorrow, as the discussion will resume during a second session on Wednesday.

Qatar on Tuesday announced its first major deal to send liquefied natural gas to Germany as Europe scrambles to find alternatives to Russian energy sources.

Qatar's Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said up to two million tons of gas a year would be sent for at least 15 years from 2026, and that state-run QatarEnergy was discussing other possible deals for Europe's biggest economy.

The number of babies born in Japan this year is below last year's record low in what the the top government spokesman described as a "critical situation."

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno promised comprehensive measures to encourage more marriages and births.

Russian energy giant Gazprom announced Monday that it will not further reduce natural gas to Moldova as it had threatened to do after claiming that bills went unpaid and that flows crossing through Ukraine were not making it to Moldova.

Gazprom tweeted that Moldovagaz has "eliminated the violation of payment" for November supplies and that "funds for the gas deposited on the territory of Ukraine, intended for consumers in Moldova, have been received."

Wall Street is heading lower ahead of Monday's opening bell amid widespread protests in China calling for Xi Jinping to step down and an end to one-party rule.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrials fell 0.5% and the S&P slipped 0.7%.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said that he has “asked the Americans” about the issue of the Iranian fuel grant for Lebanon and that he is yet to receive an “official answer.”

“I do not accept to subject Lebanon to any sanctions, whatever they may be,” Mikati added, in an interview on LBCI television.

MP Paula Yacoubian on Monday filed an appeal before the Constitutional Council against the 2022 state budget law.

The appeal carried the signatures of more than ten lawmakers.