The closing ceremony of the Technical Assistance Facility for the Lebanese Private Sector (EU-TAF) project in Lebanon funded by the European Union and implemented by DAI was held on December 1.

The ceremony took place in the presence of Alessia Squarcella, Deputy Head of Cooperation, EU Delegation to Lebanon, European Commission and Sinisa Djuric, DAI Project Director along with more than 20 companies in the agri-food, creative ICT and healthcare sectors who benefitted from the 34-month support program to realize their commercial potential.

Ukraine on Saturday welcomed a $60 price cap on Russian oil agreed by the EU, G7 and Australia, saying it would "destroy" Russia's economy.

Western governments are aiming to cap the price of Russia's oil exports in an attempt to limit the fossil fuel earnings that support Moscow's budget, its military and the invasion of Ukraine.

The cap is supposed to take effect Monday, the same day the European Union will impose a boycott on most Russian oil — its crude that is shipped by sea. The EU was moving closer to a $60-per-barrel threshold, but negotiations were still underway Friday.

Japan's parliament approved a hefty 29 trillion yen ($216 billion) supplementary budget Friday aimed at countering the blow to household finances from rising food and utility costs and the weaker yen.

It is the second batch of supplementary spending this year to help boost the economy. The extra spending, funded mainly by government bonds, has added to concerns over the already heavy national debt.

Germany on Friday welcomed President Joe Biden's apparent willingness to discuss tweaking U.S. legislation that European leaders say unfairly discriminates against their industries.

Biden acknowledged during a visit to Washington by French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that there were "glitches" in the Inflation Reduction Act, which favors American-made climate technology for products such as electric vehicles.

The European Union was edging closer to setting a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil — a highly anticipated and complex political and economic maneuver designed to keep Russia's supplies flowing into global markets while clamping down on President Vladimir Putin's ability to fund his war in Ukraine.

EU nations sought to push the cap across the finish line after Poland held out to get as low a figure as possible, diplomats said Thursday. "Still waiting for white smoke from Warsaw," said an EU diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were still ongoing.

Britain's exit from the European Union added almost £6 billion to consumers' food bills, hitting the poor the hardest and further stoking red-hot inflation, a study said Thursday.

President Joe Biden greeted President Emmanuel Macron at the White House on Thursday with full-scale military honors and a pledge to uphold the "unwavering" U.S.-French alliance ahead of talks on Ukraine, China and a looming trade dispute.

The capital control draft law that is being discussed by the joint parliamentary committees is on the “right track,” Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said on Wednesday.

“We have discussed the draft clause by clause and it needs drastic amendments in many points,” Bou Saab said after a committees session.

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.