Seven out of 10 Germans are using less energy due to decades-high inflation in Europe’s largest economy while half are spending less on leisure activities, according to a new survey.

The UK government has blocked Hong Kong-based firm Super Orange from purchasing British electronic-design company Pulsic, citing security risks posed by China.

The frontrunner to be Britain’s next prime minister Liz Truss said her government’s defining mission would be to revive the economy as she set out a series of measures to help parts of northern England.

The head of Germany’s energy regulator said on Thursday that the country would almost certainly fail to meet its gas reserve targets in the face of a Russian supply squeeze.

Britain’s next prime minister will not have room to make large, permanent tax cuts, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said on Thursday, challenging the plans of the two Conservative candidates vying to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that Germany would temporarily slash the sales tax on gas to help consumers facing soaring bills amid a crunch in Russian energy supplies.

British consumers’ spending on credit and debit cards fell sharply over the past week and other measures of their behaviour were either stable or declined, weekly data collated by the Office for National Statistics showed.

German energy giant Uniper on Wednesday reported heavy first-half losses which it blamed on Russia squeezing gas deliveries in the wake of the Ukraine war.

“A rush like this in the summertime, it’s unheard of -- everybody wants coal,” says Frithjof Engelke, a supplier of the briquettes which have become a hot commodity in the German capital.

British inflation surged to a new 40-year high in July on soaring food prices, official data showed Wednesday, adding to a cost-of-living crisis as the country faces the prospect of recession.

Inflation in Canada eased off slightly in July from its blistering pace thanks in part to lower fuel prices, but food costs continued to soar, government data released Tuesday showed.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday he hopes a gas pipeline linking the Iberian Peninsula to central Europe through France could soon become a reality.

Britain’s unemployment rate remains close to 50-year lows, but wage values are falling at a record pace with inflation at the highest level in decades, official data showed Tuesday.

Finland will limit Russian tourist visas to 10 per cent of current volumes as of September 1 due to rising discontent over Russian tourism amid the war in Ukraine, the government said Tuesday.

Russian gas flows to Europe via some major pipeline routes remained at steady, albeit low, levels on Tuesday morning, operator data showed.

Kevin Kendall pulls up at the only green hydrogen refuelling station in Birmingham, Britain’s second-biggest city, and swiftly fills his sedan with clean gas.

Oil prices extended losses Tuesday but European gas prices hit near six-month highs, in both cases fuelling fears of recession.

Russian state gas company Gazprom said on Tuesday that European gas prices could spike by 60 per cent to more than $4,000 per 1,000 cubic metres this winter, as the company’s own export and production continues to fall amid Western sanctions.

German households face an energy surcharge reaching hundreds of euros in the wake of the Ukraine war, according to the rate published Monday, prompting the government to promise relief measures.

The rouble slid past 61 to the dollar on Monday as the conversion of depository receipts in Russian companies to local shares got underway, and as foreign investors from designated “friendly” countries were able to return to the bond market.