Inflation in Britain rose 5.1 percent last month, the highest annual rate in more than a decade, driven mainly by jumps in the cost of gasoline and clothing, the New York Times reported. The figure is a significant increase from October’s 4.2 percent rate, and shows that prices are rising faster than the Bank of England’s most recent forecast, which predicted inflation would rise to about 5 percent next spring. The central bank tries to keep inflation at about 2 percent.

With winter just beginning, European natural gas prices have once again reached record highs, as worries grow over potential supply disruptions because of tensions over Ukraine or from cold weather, the New York Times reported. “We are literally at the mercy of the weather for the next month or two,” said Henning Gloystein, an analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk firm. On Europe’s main trading hub for natural gas, the TTF in the Netherlands, futures are trading at their highest levels in more than a decade and are roughly eight times their value of a year ago.

Bulgaria's lawmakers voted on Wednesday to shield households from surging energy costs by freezing their electricity and heating prices at current levels in the European Union's poorest state, a move slammed by power distribution companies, Reuters reported. In the past, rising prices have sparked protests in the Balkan country, where poor households often struggle to pay winter bills. Bulgaria's independent energy regulator had been discussing raising electricity prices by an average of 11.5% and heating prices by up to 30% for households from Jan.

Major British airlines on Monday called on the government to remove testing rules for vaccinated passengers and provide economic support for the battered sector, as new travel rules were imposed to fight off the Omicron coronavirus variant, Reuters reported. Britain currently requires all inbound travellers to take a pre-departure COVID-19 test and another test on arrival in England, despite their vaccination status, dealing a blow to airlines trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hungary's central bank raised its base rate by 30 basis points to 2.4% on Tuesday, its highest level since May 2014, and pledged further rate hikes next year in order to anchor rising inflation expectations, Reuters reported. The National Bank of Hungary (NBH) also raised the rate on its overnight deposit facility by a larger-than-expected 80 basis points to 2.4%, aligning it with the base rate in a surprise move which the bank said was aimed at supporting the stability of swap market rates. The base rate decision was in line with a Reuters poll forecast last week.

The International Monetary Fund urged the Bank of England on Tuesday to avoid an "inaction bias" when it comes to raising interest rates as it forecast British inflation would hit a 30-year high of around 5.5% next year, Reuters reported. The BoE has said rates will need to rise to ensure that consumer price inflation - currently 4.2% - returns to its 2% target in the next couple of years.

Britain will remove all 11 countries from its COVID-19 travel red list on Wednesday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told parliament, Reuters reported. "Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad," he said.

France plans to require banks to build up their capital reserves again after easing requirements during the coronavirus crisis to keep credit flowing, the finance stability council said on Monday, Reuters reported. The council said it expects to raise the countercyclical capital buffer from 0% to the pre-crisis level of 0.5% at its next meeting in March. The council, which is chaired by Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and includes the central bank governor, said that economic and financial conditions justified increasing the amount of extra capital banks have to keep on hand for a rainy day.

The European Central Bank’s top task is to keep inflation at bay. But as the cost of everything from gas to food has soared to record highs, the bank’s employees are joining workers across Europe in demanding something rarely seen in recent years: a hefty wage increase, the New York Times reported. “It seems like a paradox, but the E.C.B. isn’t protecting its own staff against inflation,” said Carlos Bowles, an economist at the central bank and vice president of IPSO, an employee trade union.

French judges are set to rule on Monday on whether to overturn a record 4.5 billion euro ($5.1 billion) fine against Swiss bank UBS (UBSG.S) for allegedly helping wealthy clients stash undeclared assets offshore, Reuters reported. The case is being watched by banks to see if it signals a toughening European stance. Fines in Europe for tax-related and other offences have in the past been smaller than in the United States, but the size of the UBS penalty has proved an exception.