Japan's exports to the United States plummeted 13.8% in August compared to the same month the previous year, marking the fifth straight month of declines, as auto exports were hit by President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Inflation in the U.K. held steady at 3.8% in the year to August, official figures showed Wednesday, a day before the Bank of England is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold.

Wall Street is stuck on pause Wednesday as it waits to hear from the Federal Reserve in the afternoon, when it's expected to deliver the first cut to interest rates of the year.

Canada's central bank cut its key lending rate to 2.5 percent on Wednesday, offering a boost to borrowers in an economy squeezed by US President Donald Trump's trade war.

A ballooning deficit. A fractious Parliament. Unrest on the streets. The challenges facing Sébastien Lecornu, France's fourth prime minister in a year, are daunting and defeated his immediate predecessors.

So he's trying a different tack. To ease tensions, Lecornu has scrapped proposals to axe two public holidays and trimmed lifetime benefits for former government ministers. A loyal ally to unpopular centrist President Emmanuel Macron, he began meeting with opposition leaders and trade unions this week.

The EU on Wednesday proposed curbing trade ties with Israel and sanctioning ministers in its strongest action over the war in Gaza, but the measures will struggle to be adopted due to reluctance from key member states.

"I want to be very clear, the aim is not to punish Israel. The aim is to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

Democrats are planning to force two Senate votes on President Donald Trump's tariffs in the coming weeks, keeping pressure on Senate Republicans as many of them have voiced frustration with the policies.

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives in the United Kingdom on Tuesday for a state visit during which the British government hopes a multibillion-dollar technology deal will show the transatlantic bond remains strong despite differences over Ukraine, the Middle East and the future of the Western alliance.

A framework deal has been reached between China and the U.S. for the ownership of popular social video platform TikTok, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after weekend trade talks in Spain.

President Donald Trump's push to revitalize American manufacturing by luring foreign investment into the U.S. has run smack into one of his other priorities: cracking down on illegal immigration.

Hardly a week after immigration authorities raided a sprawling Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, detained more than 300 South Korean workers and showed video of some of them shackled in chains, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned that the country's other companies may be reluctant to take up Trump's invitation to pour money into the United States.