The nature of the inflation problem in the eurozone is changing, and interest rates will need to be higher for longer than policymakers and investors once estimated, Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, said on Tuesday, the New York Times reported. While the shocks that pushed the region’s inflation rate above 10 percent late last year, such as supply chain bottlenecks during the pandemic and the surge in energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have started to wane, their impact is still passing through the economy.

The UK and the European Union signed a long-awaited memorandum of understanding on financial services on Tuesday, marking a moment of accord amid years of wrangling over post-Brexit co-operation, Bloomberg News reported. Jeremy Hunt approved the memo with Commissioner Mairead McGuinness during the first visit to Brussels by a UK chancellor in more than three years.

Embattled cinema chain operator Cineworld Group on Monday said it will file for administration in Britain and suspend trading on the London Stock Exchange next month, as part of a restructuring plan to reduce its massive debt, Reuters reported. Shares in the world's second-largest movie theatre chain operator, which filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection in September, slumped 26% to 0.52 pence in morning trade. The company had disclosed a net debt of about $8.8 billion, according to its latest results at the time.

The steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta has won a partial reprieve over attempts to force his British operations into insolvency after two winding-up petitions against them were dropped. Sky News has learnt that long-running legal claims against parts of Mr Gupta's Liberty Steel empire in the UK, which employs thousands of people, were withdrawn last week. Originally filed in March 2021, the petitions sought to force Liberty's Speciality Steel arm and a division formally known as Liberty MDR Treasury Company into insolvency.

There is intensifying pressure on Britain’s government to do more to help struggling households, with the country’s shadow finance minister warning of a “mortgage catastrophe” as millions are pushed to the brink of insolvency, CNBC.com reported. The Bank of England last week hiked interest rates by 50 basis points to 5%, a bigger increase than many had expected. The BOE’s 13th consecutive rate rise takes the base rate to the highest level since 2008.

For decades, one fashion accessory was more synonymous with Britain’s most famous music festival, Glastonbury, than any other: Hunter Wellington boots, the New York Times reported. Paparazzi photographs of the likes of Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne and Alexa Chung wearing their Hunters in the early aughts propelled what were once functional footwear favorites of country life into cool style statements with broad global appeal.

Germany was set to raise its minimum wage by 3.4% to 12.41 euros ($13.53) an hour from 2024, based on the proposals of government-appointed commission on Monday, although unions and analysts said the hike would not be enough to cover inflation, Reuters reported. Labour Minister Hubertus Heil said he would accept the proposals - which were also for a further 3.3% rise to 12.82 euros an hour from January 2025 - though "I can understand that some wished for more". His approval means the changes will most likely go ahead, raising the wages of almost 6 million people.

Ukraine's central bank could start cutting its key rate by one to two percentage points in coming months, notes from the central bank's committee for monetary policy showed on Monday, Reuters reported. The bank has kept its main rate unchanged at 25% since last summer, when it increased the rate to tame growing consumer prices fuelled by Russia's war in Ukraine. Recent economic and inflation trends offer grounds for cautious optimism, the central bank said, adding that the majority of members of its monetary policy committee assumed that rate cuts might start earlier than initially forecast.

Austria’s largest insolvency in a decade is turning into a race for workers from companies desperate to fill open jobs, Bloomberg News reported. Retailers, banks, insurers, the postal service and even the country’s tiny military have offered to take some of the 1,034 workers initially set to be laid off from furniture chain Kika/Leiner. The bankrupt firm is itself organizing a jobs fair to aid the process.

The storied brokerage firm of Lorentzen & Co. has declared bankruptcy after years of losses, changing its name and moving in a new direction after more than 100 years in operation, the Maritime Executive reported. Lorentzen & Co. was founded in 1919 by four brothers from the prominent Norwegian shipping family of the same name. It has had a concentration in dry bulk broking, but has had staff working in other segments as well. Its operations have lost money in recent years, and in 2022 it announced that it would be downsizing its team.