German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged his government won't leave citizens freezing or unable to pay their energy bills but acknowledged Thursday that his country faces considerable challenges in the coming months.

Rising fuel costs sparked by Russia's war against Ukraine have put severe financial strain on many in Germany and beyond, raising concerns about a possible winter of discontent.

The Finance and Budget Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday approved amendments to the law related to the $150 World Bank loan aimed at buying wheat, the National News Agency said.

The approval of two articles was however postponed until Thursday’s session, NNA added.

Falling gas prices gave Americans a slight break from the pain of high inflation last month, though the surge in overall prices slowed only modestly from the four-decade high it reached in June.

Consumer prices jumped 8.5% in July compared with a year earlier, the government said Wednesday, down from a 9.1% year-over-year jump in June. On a monthly basis, prices were unchanged from June to July, the smallest such rise more than two years.

Oil shipments from Russia through a critical pipeline to several European countries should resume soon after a problem over payments for the transit was resolved, Slovakia's economy minister said on Wednesday.

Russian state pipeline operator Transneft said Tuesday it halted shipments through the southern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which flows through Ukraine to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

Elon Musk has sold nearly $7 billion worth of shares in Tesla as the billionaire gets his finances in order ahead of his court battle with Twitter.

Musk disclosed in series of regulatory filings that he unloaded about 8 million shares of his company Tesla Inc. in recent days.

Russians are snapping up Western fashion and furniture this week as H&M and IKEA sell off the last of their inventory in Russia, moving forward with their exit from the country after it sent troops into Ukraine.

Sweden-based H&M and Netherlands-based IKEA had paused sales in Russia after the military operation began and are now looking to unload their stocks of clothing and furnishings as they wind down operations there, saying the future is unpredictable. IKEA's sales are online only, while the H&M store at the Moscow shopping mall Aviapark saw a steady stream of young shoppers Tuesday.

A new buyer is being sought for the first grain shipment to leave Ukraine under a hard-won deal with Russia after the original Lebanese buyer cancelled its order, the Ukrainian embassy said.

The Sierra Leone-flagged vessel Razoni left the Ukrainian port of Odessa on August 1 carrying 26,000 tons of maize and had been expected to dock in the Lebanese port of Tripoli at the weekend.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has started thinking of potential candidates for the presidential election, Kuwait’s al-Rai newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Tarek Younes was once solidly middle class and felt he helped contribute to society as an inspector in the Lebanese government's consumer protection agency. But the country's economic free-fall has eroded his income and civic pride.

In his desperation, Younes has joined tens of thousands of public sector employees across the country in an open-ended strike that has already lasted for six weeks.

The United States placed sanctions Monday on Tornado Cash, a leading "crypto mixer" for transactions in virtual currency that U.S. officials describe as a hub for laundering stolen funds, including by North Korean hackers.