Russia's current account surplus more than doubled year-on-year to $225.7 billion in January-November from $108.6 billion, the central bank said on Friday, giving much-needed fiscal wriggle room as the country's economy heads into 2023 on shaky ground, Reuters reported. This year, Russia is on track to post a record high current account surplus after its imports of goods and services fell due to Western sanctions while globally high commodity prices boosted its export revenues.

With Russian missiles pounding apartment buildings, power plants, schools and roads, a glimmering vision of a reconstructed postwar Ukraine seems impossibly far off. But an urgent battle of ideas has already begun over how to manage what would be the most extensive rebuilding project in Europe since the end of World War II, the New York Times reported.

Government measures to ease the cost of Europe's energy price shock should not be ramped up further and should be wound down in the next two or three years, the head of France's central bank said on Thursday, Reuters reported. European governments have committed tens of billions of euros this year to help households and businesses cope with record power and gas prices with measures ranging from subsidies to tax breaks and price caps.

Wirecard's former chief executive, who steered the payments company through its rise and spectacular collapse two years ago, went on trial for fraud on Thursday after a scandal that shook German politics and tarnished the country's business reputation, Reuters reported. The 53-year-old former CEO Markus Braun, who has been in custody since his arrest in 2020, and two other managers of the former blue chip company face charges including fraud and market manipulation that could result in a jail term of up to 15 years for each of them if convicted.

The Bank of England looks set to raise interest rates to 3.5% or more next week, but policymakers appear increasingly split on how much tightening is needed to tame double-digit inflation as the economy heads into recession, Reuters reported. Last month BoE Governor Andrew Bailey said further rate rises were likely to be necessary, though fewer than financial markets had priced in before that meeting, when investors were betting rates would reach 5.25% in mid-2023.

England's Rugby Football Union (RFU) has rejected applications by the administrators of Wasps and Worcester seeking to prevent the automatic relegation of both clubs, saying the COVID-19 pandemic was not the primary reason for their financial woes, Reuters reported. Wasps and Worcester, who have both been suspended for going into administration, will now drop from the top-flight Premiership to the second-tier Championship in the 2023-24 season.

Germany’s top court dismissed two cases challenging the country’s approval of the European Union’s €800 billion ($839 billion) pandemic recovery fund, Bloomberg News reported. The Federal Constitutional Court cleared the fund, dubbed “Next Generation EU,” on Tuesday. The massive stimulus plan marked the crux of the region’s economic response to the pandemic, consisting of grants and loans primarily for the worst-hit EU nations. The program doesn’t “blatantly transgress” the EU rules under which it was set up, Court Vice-President Doris Koenig said as she delivered the ruling.

Former Wirecard executives go on trial on Thursday, two years after the collapse of the payments company that produced Germany's biggest post-war fraud scandal and sent shockwaves through the country's political and financial establishment, Reuters reported. Austrian former chief executive Markus Braun and two other high-ranking managers of the defunct blue-chip company are facing a number of charges, including fraud and market manipulation, and could be jailed for up to 15 years if convicted. Braun denies wrongdoing and accuses others of running a shadow operation without his knowledge.

After a string of battlefield losses in Ukraine in recent months, President Vladimir Putin faces a big test at home: mobilizing Russia’s economy to feed the war effort, the Wall Street Journal reported. Russian officials have crisscrossed the country to increase production and replenish dwindling stockpiles of missiles and other munitions. State budget data from the Russian Ministry of Finance shows defense expenditures rising this year by around 30% compared with 2021 to around $78 billion and increasing further next year to around $82.5 billion.

Britain's financial watchdog on Tuesday proposed tougher rules for approving financial promotions after a sharp rise in misleading marketing online, Reuters reported. Currently, marketing information can be approved by a firm regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) without its direct nod. But under the new measures, which are part of a draft financial services and markets bill before the parliament, firms approving the promotions will have to show they have the right expertise.