Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen opened a virtual meeting of Asian and European leaders Thursday with a call for sustainable and shared global growth as the world seeks to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thirty European countries and 21 Asian countries, along with multinational organizations representing the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, are represented at the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting. The biennial event is being hosted by Cambodia after being postponed from last year due to the pandemic.

The holiday tree is towering over the main square in this central German city, the chestnuts and sugared almonds are roasted, and kids are clambering aboard the merry-go-round just like they did before the pandemic. But a surge in coronavirus infections has left an uneasy feeling hanging over Frankfurt's Christmas market.

To savor a mug of mulled wine — an uncomplicated rite of winter in pre-pandemic times — masked customers must pass through a one-way entrance to a fenced-off wine hut, stopping at the hand sanitizer station. Elsewhere, security officers check vaccination certificates before letting customers head for the steaming sausages and kebabs.

Israel's deputy foreign minister has canceled meetings with Belgian officials after a decision by Brussels earlier this week to begin labeling products made in Jewish West Bank settlements.

Idan Roll said on Twitter he was scrapping meetings with the Belgian Foreign Ministry and parliament during a visit this week to the European country.

German business confidence has dropped for the fifth consecutive month amid persistent supply-chain bottlenecks and a resurgence of coronavirus infections in Europe's biggest economy, a closely watched survey showed Wednesday.

The Ifo institute said its monthly confidence index dropped to 96.5 points in November from 97.7 last month. Companies' assessment of both their current situation and their outlook for the next six months worsened. It was the lowest figure since February.

The Lebanese pound sank to a new low on the black market Wednesday, with no end in sight to the economic and political crisis plunging ever growing numbers into poverty.

According to websites monitoring the black market rate, the pound was trading at 24,000 to the dollar, or 16 times less than its official peg value of 1,500.

Global shares were mixed Wednesday as worries about inflation set off expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve might move faster than anticipated to raise interest rates.

France's CAC 40 edged up 0.4% to 7,074.05 in early trading, while Germany's DAX rose 0.1% to 15,955.14. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.5% to 7,303.68. The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% lower to 35,744.00. The S&P 500 future fell 0.1% to 4,685.00.

LBJ tried jawboning. Richard Nixon issued a presidential edict. The Ford administration printed buttons exhorting Americans to "Whip Inflation Now.''

Over the years, American presidents have tried, and mostly floundered, in their efforts to quell the economic and political menace of consumer inflation.

The Turkish currency weakened by nearly 10% against the U.S. dollar Tuesday, a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted there would be no turning back from his unconventional policy of cutting interest rates despite high inflation.

The lira plunged to a record low of 12.51 against the dollar — down 9.9% from Monday's close. The currency was trading at 14.08 against the euro. The lira has lost some 40% of its value since the start of the year.

Europe's main stock markets slipped Tuesday, as the spreading Covid crisis took the shine off upbeat survey data. 

Countries must prepare for future "shocks" to their agricultural and food systems from droughts, floods or diseases following the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, a U.N. agency said Tuesday.