Britain’s economy unexpectedly shrank in April, official figures showed on Monday, adding to fears of a sharp slowdown just three days before the Bank of England announces the scale of its latest interest rate response to the surge in inflation.

Two major economic powers of the world, the US and the European Union, are divided on continuation of trade facilities meant for the least-developed countries (LDCs) once they make the United Nations status graduation to become developing countries.

Malaysian companies from palm oil plantations to semiconductor makers are refusing orders and forgoing billions in sales, hampered by a shortage of more than a million workers that threatens the country's economic recovery.

Ukraine has established two routes through Poland and Romania to export grain and avert a global food crisis although bottlenecks have slowed the supply chain, Kyiv’s deputy foreign minister said on Sunday.

India is considering restricting imports of refrigerators to promote local manufacturing, two industry sources told Reuters on Thursday, potentially freezing out shipments from Samsung Electronics Co and LG Electronics Inc in the $5 billion market.

Red-hot US inflation is showing few signs of cooling, putting the Federal Reserve on track to continue its aggressive interest rate increases to help cool high prices that are challenging Joe Biden’s presidency.

It might look and smell like McDonald’s but now it’s Vkusno & tochka. The golden arches are gone, the filet-of-fish is simply a fish burger. The Big Mac has left Russia.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka announced weekly fuel quotas for motorists on Sunday, as an acute shortage worsened and longer queues formed outside the few pumping stations still operating.

Coal India, the world’s largest coal miner by output, has issued two tenders to import 6 million tonnes of coal for utilities in the next 12 months, it said on Friday, as the government seeks to boost fuel availability.

World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed cautious optimism on Sunday that more than 100 trade ministers meeting in Geneva would achieve one or two global deals this week, but warned the path there would be bumpy and rocky.

Iran and Venezuela signed a 20-year deal on cooperation between the two allies subject to US sanctions during a visit Saturday to the Islamic republic by Venezuela’s President Nicholas Maduro.

Canada’s jobless rate inched down to a new record low after adding more jobs than expected in May, and wage growth picked up steam, official data showed on Friday, bolstering the case for an even larger rate increase next month by the central bank.

Japan’s government and central bank said on Friday they were concerned by recent sharp falls in the yen in a rare joint statement, the strongest warning to date that Tokyo could intervene to support the currency as it plumbs 20-year lows.

India’s fuel consumption jumped 23.8 per cent in May from a year earlier, continuing a recovery from a relatively low base in 2021 when the world’s third biggest oil consumer was in the grip of a second wave of Covid-19.

US inflation surged to a new four-decade high in May, defying hopes that price pressures had peaked and deepening President Joe Biden’s political troubles as Americans struggle to meet the cost of essentials like food and gas.

US President Joe Biden on Friday accused the US oil industry, and Exxon Mobil Corp in particular, of capitalizing on a supply shortage to fatten profits after a report showed inflation surging to a new 40-year record.

Russia's economy will shrink 15 percent this year and three percent in 2023 as the hit from Western sanctions, an exodus of companies, a Russian "brain-drain" and collapse in exports wipe out 15 years of economic gains, a global banking industry lobby group said.

The OECD warned Wednesday that the world economy will pay a “hefty price” for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as it slashed its 2022 growth forecast and projected higher inflation.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, despite a likely rise in US oil stocks, on the easing of Chinese Covid-19 related lockdowns and a possible strike by Norwegian oil workers.

About three weeks after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Indonesian housewife Liesye Setiana was forced to close her banana chip business as cooking oil supplies dried up across the country.