The shelves at Moscow supermarkets are full of fruit and vegetables, cheese and meat. But many of the shoppers look at the selection with dismay as inflation makes their wallets feel empty.
Russia's Central Bank has raised its key lending rate four times this year to try to get inflation under control and stabilize the ruble's exchange rate as the economy weathers the effects of Russia's military operation in Ukraine and the Western sanctions imposed as a consequence.

Turkey's central bank delivered another huge interest rate hike on Thursday as it tries to curb double-digit inflation that has left households struggling to afford food and other basic goods.
The bank pushed its policy rate up by 5 percentage points, to 40%, marking its sixth big interest rate hike in a row focused on beating down inflation that hit an eye-watering 61.36% last month.

World shares were mixed on Monday after Wall Street closed its third straight winning week with a tiny gain.
In share trading, Germany's DAX fell 0.1% to 15,907.92 and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.3% to 7,256.93. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 7,481.86. The future for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were virtually changed.

President Joe Biden signed a temporary spending bill a day before a potential government shutdown, pushing a fight with congressional Republicans over the federal budget into the new year, as wartime aid for Ukraine and Israel remains stalled.
The measure passed the House and Senate by wide bipartisan margins this week, ensuring the government remains open until after the holiday season, and potentially giving lawmakers more time to sort out their considerable differences over government spending levels for the current budget year. Biden signed the bill Thursday in San Francisco, where he was hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

European shares opened higher Friday after a day of mixed trading in Asia, as most major markets looked set to end the week with solid gains.
Germany's DAX added 0.8% to 15,910.47 and the CAC 40 in Paris was 0.9% higher at 7,227.97. Britain's FTSE 100 surged 0.9% to 7,473.41. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both edged 0.2% higher.

Bartender Richard Alam has poured hardly any drinks at his pub in Lebanon's seaside city of Byblos, where once-busy streets have emptied of customers scared by border tensions during the Israel-Hamas war.
"I opened this whiskey bottle two weeks ago and it still isn't empty," said Alam, 19, standing behind his empty bar in the coastal city, home to a World Heritage site north of Beirut.

Japan's economy contracted at a 2.1% annual pace in July-September as consumption and investment weakened, the government said Wednesday.
Weak wage growth in the world's third-largest economy also sapped its vitality, the Cabinet Office said. In quarterly terms, the economy contracted by 0.5%.

The European Union's executive commission lowered its growth forecast for this year and next, saying the economy "has lost momentum" in 2023 as inflation weighs on consumer spending and higher central bank interest rates deter borrowing for purchases and investment.
The outlook for this year was lowered to 0.6% from 0.8% for the 20 countries that use the euro currency, and to 1.2% from 1.3% for next year, the commission said Wednesday in its autumn economic forecast, which revised figures from its previous forecast in September.

Inflation in the U.K. dropped sharply in October to its lowest level in two years, largely because last year's steep rise in domestic energy bills following Russia's invasion of Ukraine dropped out of the annual comparison, official figures showed Wednesday.
The Office for National Statistics said consumer prices in the year to October were 4.6% higher than the year before, much lower than the 6.7% recorded in the previous month.

The Biden administration has extended by four months a sanctions waiver that will allow Iraq to continue to purchase electricity from Iran and gives Iran limited access to the proceeds to buy humanitarian goods.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed the 120-day waiver extension and it was transmitted to Congress on Tuesday, U.S. officials said. The move is likely to draw criticism from Iran hawks on Capitol Hill and elsewhere who believe the extension will reward Iran at a time when it is coming under increasing pressure to end its support for proxy groups, including Hamas, that are destabilizing the Middle East.
