Core consumer inflation in Japan's capital stayed well above the central bank's 2% target in November as firms continued to pass on rising costs mainly for food, data showed on Friday, reinforcing the case for a near-term interest rate hike. Separate data for October showed retail sales and factory output rose while the jobless rate was steady at 2.6%, suggesting the world's fourth-largest economy was weathering the impact of higher U.S. tariffs at least for now. Learn More

Germany's parliament on Friday passed the budget for 2026 with over 180 billion euros ($208 billion) in new debt, outlining how Berlin will use its financial firepower to revive the anaemic economy. That borrowing level was only surpassed during the pandemic in 2021, with 215 billion euros and is possible thanks to a special 500-billion-euro infrastructure fund and an exemption from debt rules for defence spending approved in March. Learn More

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday his administration will "permanently pause" migration from all "Third World Countries", following the death of a National Guard member in an attack near the White House . The comments mark a further escalation of migration measures Trump has ordered since the shooting on Wednesday that investigators say was carried out by an Afghan national who entered the U.S. in 2021 under a resettlement program . Learn More