British consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in 30 years last month, fueled by soaring costs for household energy and motor fuels — the latest grim figures as inflation surges around the world.

Inflation in the United Kingdom accelerated to 7% in the 12 months through March, the highest annual rate since March 1992, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday.

Swiss prosecutors are concluding without any charges a decade-long investigation into alleged money laundering and organized crime linked to late former President Hosni Mubarak's circles in Egypt, and will release some 400 million Swiss francs ($430 million) frozen in Swiss banks.

The office of the Swiss attorney general said Wednesday that information received as part of cooperation with Egyptian authorities wasn't sufficient to back up the claims that emerged in the wake of Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 that felled Mubarak's three-decade rule.

The Mount Lebanon accusatory body led by Judge Pierre Francis on Tuesday approved a ruling to release Raja Salameh from jail, dismissing an appeal filed by Mt. Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun.

The accusatory body also agreed to slash the bail value from LBP 500 billion to LBP 200 billion.

Some vendors on Etsy say they are halting sales of their items on the site for a week to protest a hike in the fees the crafts e-commerce marketplace charges them.

Starting Monday, Etsy sellers must pay a 6.5% commission on each transaction, up from the 5% in place since 2018.

Sri Lanka is suspending its repayment of foreign debt, including bonds and government-to-government borrowings, pending the completion of a loan restructuring program with the International Monetary Fund to deal with the island nation's worst economic crisis in decades, the government said Tuesday.

Sri Lankans for the past months have been enduring shortages of fuel, food and other essentials and daily power outages. Most of those items are paid for in hard currency, but Sri Lanka is on the brink of bankruptcy, saddled with dwindling foreign reserves and $25 billion in foreign debt. Nearly $7 billion is due this year.

Monica Kariuki is about ready to give up on farming. What is driving her off her 10 acres of land outside Nairobi isn't bad weather, pests or blight — the traditional agricultural curses — but fertilizer: It costs too much.

Despite thousands of miles separating her from the battlefields of Ukraine, Kariuki and her cabbage, corn and spinach farm are indirect victims of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion. The war has pushed up the price of natural gas, a key ingredient in fertilizer, and has led to severe sanctions against Russia, a major exporter of fertilizer.

Dubai's Water and Electricity Authority, known as DEWA, began trading for the first time on Tuesday, after raising just over $6 billion during its initial public offering, making it the second largest offering ever in the Middle East.

While that figure still trails far below the record $29.4 billion raised by Saudi oil giant Aramco, it marks an inflection point for Dubai at a time when high oil prices are buoying the economies and spending power of energy-producing Gulf Arab states.

Some bakeries had already closed their doors when others threatened of closing on Monday night, as bakeries announced they do not have sufficient quantities of wheat to produce bread, urging officials for a fast solution.

General Confederation of Lebanese Workers head Bechara al-Asmar warned Tuesday that there is a scarce quantity of wheat in the bakeries that can barely last for 10 days, urging officials to act swiftly and not to lift subsidies on wheat.

Oil sank Monday on Chinese demand fears, the recent release of strategic reserves, and dimming hope of a European embargo on Russian supplies in the wake of the Ukraine war.

Moscow will start legal proceedings if it is declared in default by the West, finance minister Anton Siluanov said Monday, after Russia was declared in "selective" default over the weekend.