US manufacturing activity picked up in November amid strong demand for goods, keeping inflation high as factories continued to struggle with pandemic-related shortages of raw materials.

Asia’s huge pool of informal workers must not be left behind in the global push for greener economies, officials and experts said, warning of social repercussions if the transition away from fossil fuels leaves unprotected labour more vulnerable.

Logistical constraint is the biggest barrier to expanding trade between Bangladesh and India, said Vikram Kumar Doraiswami, the high commissioner of India to Bangladesh, recently.

Colombo threatened Thursday to freeze the bank accounts of Sri Lankans working overseas who send money back to the country using informal money changers, as depleted foreign exchange reserves drive a thriving black market for dollars.

Facebook could be sued by consumer groups for privacy violations, an adviser to Europe’s top court said on Thursday, in a German online gaming case that could pave the way for similar action across the EU.

The Biden administration could adjust the timing of its planned release of strategic crude oil stockpiles if global energy prices drop substantially, US Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk told Reuters on Wednesday.

US and European share futures jumped on Wednesday, oil rose and Asian stocks were heading for their best day in nearly two months as traders reversed course after a sharp selloff the day before took the regional benchmark to a 12-month low.

India’s economy has recovered to its pre-pandemic size, official data showed Tuesday, boosted by a broad-based recovery in the July-September quarter after a deadly infection surge earlier this year.

US President Joe Biden’s top Pacific envoy on Wednesday accused China of trying to “drive Australia to its knees” through a barrage of sanctions that amounted to “economic warfare”.

Pandemic-induced lockdowns caused Australia’s economy to shrink 1.9 per cent in the third quarter, a downturn that bucked the trend of a steady recovery in other wealthy nations.

The OECD warned Wednesday that the Omicron coronavirus variant threatens the global economic recovery as it lowered the growth forecast for 2021 and appealed for a swifter rollout of Covid vaccines.

Soaring energy prices took eurozone inflation to its highest rate on record in November, official data showed Tuesday, challenging the European Central Bank’s resistance to tightening monetary policy earlier than planned.

Just as it was recovering from the body blow of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global economy has taken yet another hit from the Omicron variant of the virus, which has led to a raft of new travel restrictions.

Mortgage approvals in Britain dropped last month to their lowest since June 2020, according to central bank data on Monday that underlined recent signs of slowing housing market activity after the end of a tax break on home purchases.

Spanish inflation accelerated in November to its highest level in nearly three decades on the back of rising food and gas prices, official data showed Monday.

BP said on Monday it plans to set up a large-scale green hydrogen production plant in northeast England, generated with wind, water and solar energy to aid Britain’s move away from fossil fuels.

Asian oil refiners’ margins have slumped to the lowest in nearly five months amid worries that the Omicron coronavirus variant could deal another blow to oil demand recovery, already hit by rising Covid-19 cases in Europe.

China’s factory activity is likely to have shrunk at a slower pace in November, as supply snags and power cuts eased, a Reuters poll showed, but persistent softness in the manufacturing sector points to a further slowing of the economy.

The Biden administration proposed a slew of changes on Friday to the nation’s federal oil and gas leasing program, including hiking fees on drilling companies and limiting their access to sensitive wildlife and cultural zones.

Turkey is determined to continue a policy of interest rate cuts, and  “manipulative attacks” on the lira, which has plunged to all-time lows this week, will not leave any lasting damage, Deputy Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said late on Thursday.