Output is seen shrinking 0.3% in the fourth quarter and 0.2% in the following one, assuming governments offer support to households and businesses and natural gas costs ease next year.

Gradual monthly declines will start as soon as this month as Russia cuts back refining, and will quicken as the embargo takes effect, the IEA said in a market report. The agency expects to see close to 2 million barrels a day shut in by the start of 2023, despite a healthy recovery in production in recent months.

Chile’s congress gave its final approval to a bill that makes it easier to amend the current constitution as polls show more voters inclined to reject the proposed new charter in next month’s referendum.

The lower house on Wednesday voted 130 to 15 in favor of legislation lowering the congressional majority needed for those amendments to four-sevenths, following senate approval of the bill

The US is concerned about “credible reports” that Rwanda is backing the M23 rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Such support endangers regional security and regional stability, Blinken said at a joint press briefing Thursday with Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. Blinken earlier held talks with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Zimbabwe is considering establishing a currency board to support the Zimbabwean dollar, as inflation surges.

“The issue of the currency board is being looked at,” Ashok Chakravarti, a member of the central bank’s monetary policy committee, said Thursday at an economic conference in the resort city of Victoria Falls. “It’s been done by 40 countries before, but it also requires a substantial amount of reserve money. It is being considered.”

The shares sank as much as 11%, the most since late May, after Kwarteng said Drax’s reliance on US pellets isn’t sustainable and “doesn’t make any sense.” It’s another setback for the power producer, which is already under scrutiny following a complaint by environmental campaigners over its green credentials.

Mexico and Peru’s central banks are expected Thursday to hike their key interest rates to the highest point in more than a decade, as they continue their record tightening cycles to try to wrestle persistent inflation back under control.

Banxico, as the Mexican central bank is known, will raise its benchmark rate by 75 basis points to 8.5% -- its highest since adopting a target rate in 2008 -- according to all 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Peru, in the meantime, will increase borrowing costs by a half-point to 6.5%, eight of nine analysts predict.

South Korean prosecutors made their first arrests in a probe of $3.4 billion worth of foreign-exchange transactions for possible links to illegal cryptocurrency-related activities. 

Three people were held on allegations including setting up paper companies and operating a cryptocurrency trading business without registration, the

Ping An estimates a spinoff would generate an additional market value of $25 billion to $35 billion, release $8 billion in capital requirements, and save on headquarter and infrastructure costs, the person said. It argues that HSBC has only emphasized the downsides and challenges of spinning off the business. 

Business in London may face restrictions on water supply if the dry weather desiccating the southeast of England persists. 

“We don’t know when the drought is going to end,” Cathryn Ross, strategy and regulatory affairs director at

Top shareholder Saudi Arabia has been supportive of Lucid Group Inc. during a supply crunch that forced two production target cuts this year, an official at the carmaker said on Thursday. 

The limit of 100,000 daily departing passengers has delivered improvements to the customer experience, with fewer last-minute cancellations and better aircraft punctuality and baggage delivery, Holland-Kaye said in a statement Thursday.

Russian forces “lost” nine combat aircraft in Crimea and one more in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Wednesday in his nightly video address.  

His comments came after a blaze in Crimea that Russian state media said resulted in one fatality. Russia’s Defense Ministry said munitions had exploded and the fire wasn’t caused by an incoming strike; some defense analysts said it had the hallmarks of a Ukrainian attack. 

On Dec. 8, Disney will introduce an ad-supported version of the flagship streaming service and raise the price of the ad-free option to $11 a month, the entertainment giant said Wednesday. Prices for some packages that include Hulu and ESPN+ will also rise.

An unexpected decline in Swedish long-term inflation expectations could ease pressure on the country’s central bank to accelerate interest rate increases next month.

Money market players in the Nordic nation now see price increases according to the

Russia lost nine fighter aircraft in blasts that shook an airbase in Crimea, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

“In just one day, the occupiers lost 10 combat aircraft, nine in Crimea and one more in the direction of Zaporizhzhia,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address to the nation. More Russian armored vehicles, ammunition warehouses and logistics routes were also destroyed, he said.

The cap on energy bills could top a breathtaking £5,000 next year, according to the bleakest forecast yet for struggling households.

Experts said that at Wednesday's energy prices they expect that regulator Ofgem could be forced to set the cap at £5,038 per year for the average household in the three months beginning next April.

Paris (AP) -- More than 1,000 firefighters were struggling Thursday to contain a major wildfire which has burned a large area of pine forest in southwestern France, in a region that was already ravaged by flames last month.

Local authorities said more than 68 square kilometers (26 square miles) have burned since Tuesday in the Gironde region and neighboring Landes as France, like other European countries, swelters through a hot and dry summer.