Reuters

European Central Bank policymakers are closing in on a deal to change rules governing trillions of euros worth of loans to banks in a move that will shave tens of billions of euros off in potential banking profits, sources close to the discussion said.

Federal Reserve officials agreed they needed to raise interest rates to a more restrictive level - and then maintain them there for some time - to meet their goal of lowering "broad-based and unacceptably high" inflation, a readout of last month's policy meeting showed on Wednesday.

The head of European planemaker Airbus on Wednesday reaffirmed a target of delivering a total of 700 aircraft in 2022 - a task he said was necessary to reach a separate monthly production target of 65 narrowbody jets in early 2024.

Iranians kept up anti-government protests on Wednesday despite an increasingly deadly state crackdown, social media reports showed, as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the demonstrations as "scattered riots" planned by Iran's enemies.

France will deliver radar and air defence systems to Ukraine in the coming weeks, in particular to help Ukraine protest itself from drone and missile attacks, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday.

For companies playing with virtual reality as disparate as plane-maker Boeing Co and online-gaming platform Roblox Corp, forays into the so-called "metaverse" have come with equal parts promise and peril.

Britain's new government said on Wednesday it would not reverse its vast tax cuts or reduce public spending as it sought to stand firm in the face of yet more turmoil in financial markets and concerns over its change in economic policy.

Ukraine will need an estimated $3 billion to $4 billion in external financing help per month next year to keep its economy running as Russia's war drags on, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday.

Like millions of other Iranian women, retired teacher Somayyeh has been repressed by the country's hardline Islamic laws for decades but was too frightened to stand up to ruling clerics - until Mahsa Amini's death in morality police custody last month.

A member of the far-right Oath Keepers group showed a jury on Wednesday an AR-15 assault-style rifle and a box of ammunition that he brought to a hotel ahead of the attack on the U.S.

A flurry of military activity in Belarus this week has caught the attention of Ukraine and the West as a potential sign that President Alexander Lukashenko may commit his army in support of Russia's flailing war effort in Ukraine.

Signs of stress are growing in the global financial system, sparking worries over everything from contagion between markets to ruptures in financial products.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has been unequivocal: the central bank will end emergency support for bonds on Friday.

Egypt is pushing to tie up a crucial financial package from the International Monetary Fund at annual meetings in Washington this week, hoping to stem a currency crisis that has restricted imports and sparked market unease over foreign debt repayments.

Hungary's central bank tightened forint liquidity further on Wednesday at a deposit tender as part of its latest efforts to shore up the currency, but too much is stacked against it to provide relief any time soon.

Monte dei Paschi di Siena was racing on Wednesday to get commitments from investors for its 2.5 billion euro ($2.4 billion) share issue so it can secure a backstop from banks for any unsold stock, three people close to the matter said.

Since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, American companies have been prohibited from dealing with MMZ Avangard, a state-owned firm that makes missiles for one of Russia's most sophisticated weapons, the S-400 air-defense system.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Wednesday fast and one-sided moves in the yen would be bad for the economy, signalling the speed of its fall - rather than levels - was the key concern for policymakers as the currency plumbs fresh 24-year lows.

BASF is to reduce annual costs by 500 million euros ($485 million) in Europe up to 2024, including job cuts, as the German chemicals group took a 740 million euro writedown linked to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in September, but underlying goods prices were unchanged for the first time in nearly 2-1/2 years, offering some hope in the battle against inflation.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday began hearing arguments in a copyright dispute between a photographer and Andy Warhol's estate over the famed artist's paintings of rock star Prince in a case that could help set boundaries for artistic works that draw upon other material.

OPEC on Wednesday cut its 2022 forecast for growth in world oil demand for a fourth time since April and also trimmed next year's figure, citing slowing economies, the resurgence of China's COVID-19 containment measures and high inflation.

While a financial storm gathers nearby, the euro zone has so far been comparatively unscathed.

Significant volumes of unwanted Russian-origin copper have been deposited in London Metal Exchange approved warehouses in Germany, the Netherlands and Taiwan since the middle of September, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The United States faces increased uncertainty due to rapid rises in interest rates, and the Federal Reserve should adjust policy as needed as it monitors global events and the impact of its actions on the domestic economy, the OECD said on Wednesday.

Britain's financial regulators will work together to tighten rules for pension funds which use derivatives to insure themselves against big moves in bond markets, drawing on lessons from past crises, the Bank of England said on Wednesday.

U.S. stock index futures pared gains on Wednesday after data showed producer prices increased more than expected in September, in another hot inflation reading that boosted bets of more jumbo-sized interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Britain's Damien Hirst started burning hundreds of his artworks on Tuesday after collectors chose to keep their non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain-based assets representing their digital images, instead.

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia could redirect supplies intended for the damaged Nord Stream pipelines to the Black Sea to create a European gas hub in Turkey, or even use the one intact part of Nord Stream 2 to supply the EU.