The German economy grew in the third quarter, an unexpectedly positive performance powered largely by private spending, official figures showed Friday. But the immediate outlook for Europe's biggest economy remained gloomy, with inflation rising again in October.

Gross domestic product expanded by 0.3% in the July-September period compared with the previous quarter, the Federal Statistical Office said. That followed a slight increase of 0.1% in the second quarter.

Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter after a protracted legal battle and months of uncertainty. The question now is what the billionaire Tesla CEO will actually do with the social media platform.

The New York Stock Exchange began the process Friday to delist Twitter. That means everyday investors will no longer be able to buy and sell stock in the company and Twitter would no longer be required to publicly reveal details of its quarterly or annual financial performance with U.S. regulators.

Oil companies brought in record profits once again as people worldwide struggled with high gasoline and energy prices.

Exxon Mobil broke records with its profits in the third quarter, raking in $19.66 billion in net income. The Irving, Texas company said Friday that it booked $112.07 billion in quarterly revenue, more than double the revenue it received last year during the same period.

Israel and Lebanon on Thursday concluded a long-awaited deal to delimit their maritime borders, as Israel this week activated the key Karish gas field unlocked by the agreement.

The offshore field is crucial to Israel's ambitions to tap into European markets, and on Wednesday London-listed firm Energean said it had already begun producing gas from Karish ahead of the signing of the U.S.-brokered deal.

The European Central Bank piled on another outsized interest rate hike aimed at squelching out-of-control inflation, increasing rates Thursday at the fastest pace in the euro currency's history and raising questions about how far the bank intends to go with the threat of recession looming over the economy.

The 25-member governing council raised its interest rate benchmarks by three-quarters of a percentage point at a meeting in Frankfurt, matching its record increase from last month and joining the U.S. Federal Reserve in making a series of rapid hikes to tackle soaring consumer prices.

The problems have hardly gone away. Inflation, still near a 40-year high, is punishing households. Rising interest rates have derailed the housing market and threaten to inflict broader damage. And the outlook for the world economy grows bleaker the longer that Russia's war against Ukraine drags on.

But for now anyway, the U.S. economy has likely returned to growth after having shrunk in each of the first two quarters of 2022.

The International Monetary Fund reached a preliminary agreement with the Egyptian government on Thursday, paving the way for the economically troubled Arab nation to access a $3 billion loan, officials said Thursday.

IMF officials said a "staff agreement" between the Egyptian government and IMF leaders had been reached following months of talks, as Egypt struggles to combat surging inflation caused, in part, by the war in Ukraine.

Spiraling energy costs caused by various economic factors and the Ukraine war could be a turning point toward cleaner energy, the International Energy Agency said in a report Thursday. It found the global demand for fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas, is set to peak or plateau in the next few decades.

The report looked at scenarios based on current policies and said that coal use will fall back within the next few years, natural gas demand will reach a plateau by the end of the decade and rising sales of electric vehicles mean that the need for oil will level off in the mid-2030s before ebbing slightly by mid-century. Total emissions are currently going up each year, but slowly.

French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to implement a pension reform that would eventually push up the retirement age by three years to 65, making younger generations work longer.

In an interview on France 2 television, Macron said the changes would start being applied next year.

Tudor Popescu swings his ax down on a log, then feeds the split wood into a stove that heats his home in the capital of Moldova. As the nights turn chilly, the stack of firewood has been growing higher around him — his provisions for the coming winter.

In the past, Popescu relied on natural gas to keep warm in the mornings and firewood in the evenings. But gas is now in shorter supply, creating a crisis in his small Eastern European country.