Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday his war-scarred country wants to join the European single market ahead of a decision on whether to grant Kyiv full EU membership.

"For us, a pressing issue is the question of Ukraine joining the EU single market while we're on the way to EU membership status. I'm sure it will happen and it will be one of our country's most important victories," he told a news conference with visiting EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Parliament on Thursday began discussing the draft 2022 state budget, a day after lack of quorum forced the postponement of a scheduled first session.

Outside the legislature, sit-ins by retired servicemen, bank depositors and several associations and unions got underway in protest at the proposed state budget.

Shell on Thursday announced the exit of chief executive Ben van Beurden as the British oil and gas giant looks to reinvent itself under group renewables boss Wael Sawan.

South Korea's privacy watchdog has fined Google and Meta a combined 100 billion won ($72 million) for tracking consumers' online behavior without their consent and using their data for targeted advertisements.

South Korea's Personal Information and Protection Commission said it fined Google 69.2 billion won ($50 million) and Meta 30.8 billion won ($22 million) after a meeting where officials agreed that the companies' business practices might cause "serious" privacy infringements.

U.S. inflation is showing signs of entering a more stubborn phase that will likely require drastic action by the Federal Reserve, a shift that has panicked financial markets and heightens the risks of a recession.

Some of the longtime drivers of higher inflation — spiking gas prices, supply chain snarls, soaring used-car prices — are fading. Yet underlying measures of inflation are actually worsening.

The European Commission on Wednesday set out proposals to bring down the soaring price of gas and electricity in the EU, notably by taxing excess profits of power producers.

EU energy ministers are to review the plans in an extraordinary meeting in Brussels on September 30.

Stock markets hit reverse while the dollar shot higher Tuesday after data showed that U.S. inflation slowed less than expected.

They literally run the country.

In parking lots, on flatbed trucks, hospital courtyards and rooftops, private generators are ubiquitous in parts of the Middle East, spewing hazardous fumes into homes and businesses 24 hours a day.

Lebanon's central bank lifted its remaining subsidies on fuel on Monday, gas station owners said, ending a year-long process of scaling back on the expensive program.

The Central Bank over a year ago announced it would gradually lift fuel subsidies, to slow down the draining of its foreign exchange reserves. Fuel subsidies once cost the cash-strapped country some $3 billion annually. Last week, it subsidized just 20% of the cost of fuel imports.

Thanks to solar energy, residents of the northern Lebanese village of Toula are finally able to enjoy ice cream again -- a treat in a sun-baked country plagued by power cuts.