Australia is set to provide 4.6 billion Australian dollars ($3 billion) to British industry to support the construction of nuclear-powered submarines and ensure its new fleet arrives on time, the two countries said Friday.

The announcement came a day after the two countries signed a defense and security pact to better meet challenges such as China's increased activity in the South China Sea and South Pacific.

Food prices and overall inflation will rise as temperatures climb with climate change, a new study by an environmental scientist and the European Central Bank found.

Looking at monthly price tags of food and other goods, temperatures and other climate factors in 121 nations since 1996, researchers calculate that "weather and climate shocks" will cause the cost of food to rise 1.5 to 1.8 percentage points annually within a decade or so, even higher in already hot places like the Middle East, according to a study in Thursday's journal Communications, Earth and the Environment.

The Egyptian government raised fuel prices on Friday in a move that is bound to exacerbate inflationary pressures on an already-struggling population.

The new prices were announced on the Cabinet's Facebook page and came into effect Friday morning. The price of diesel, the main fuel for transport of people and goods, rose from 8.5 Egyptian pounds ($0.18) to 10 pounds ($0.21) per liter.

The Kremlin on Friday warned the European Union against plans to impose tariffs on its grain exports and use profits from frozen Russian assets to arm Ukraine.

"Consumers in Europe would definitely suffer," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked about the proposed EU duty on grain. He added that the bloc faced "very serious consequences" over its plans to use frozen Russian assets.

Global benchmarks were mostly higher on Thursday after U.S. stocks rallied to records following indications from the Federal Reserve that it expects to deliver interest rate cuts later this year.

France's CAC 40 rose 0.5% in morning trading to 8,199.57, while Germany's DAX edged up 0.8% to 18,159.77. Britain's FTSE 100 surged nearly 1.2% to 7,829.19. U.S. shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures up 0.4% at 40,081.00. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% to 5,309.50.

Sweet Easter baskets will likely come at a bitter cost this year for consumers as the price of cocoa climbs to record highs.

Cocoa futures have surged this year, roughly doubling since the start of 2024. Rising temperatures and weather conditions have stressed and damaged crops in West Africa, which produces more than 70% of the global cocoa supply.

The number of Americans signing up for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week, another sign that the labor market remains strong and most workers enjoy extraordinary job security.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims dipped by 2,000 to 210,000. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, rose by 2,500 to 211,250.

Turkey's central bank raised its key interest rate by 5 percentage points on Thursday, resuming a policy of rate hikes aimed at combating soaring inflation that is causing households severe economic pain.

In a surprise decision, the central bank said it was raising the benchmark one-week repo rate to 50%. The bank had been widely expected to keep the benchmark rate steady for a second month, ahead of mayoral elections on March 31.

A Dubai sovereign wealth fund that's the single-largest shareholder in the Nasdaq stock index plans to sell a third of its shares in the exchange, a deal potentially worth some $1.6 billion that saw the value of the firm fall in aftermarket trading Wednesday.

The announcement from Borse Dubai, owned by the Investment Corp. of Dubai, would make it the second-largest holder in the Nasdaq, a technology-heavy exchange that's one of the three main indexes in the United States.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the Agriculture and Rural Empowerment (ARE) activity, is providing over 11,000 Lebanese farmers with seeds, seedlings, and compost to bolster food security in Lebanon, USAID said.

“This ongoing initiative aims to mitigate the impact of rising food costs and reduced purchasing power, particularly impacting rural Lebanese communities. On March 20, 2024, USAID Lebanon Mission Director Julie Southfield visited a distribution site in Jbeil to engage with farmers, addressing their challenges and underscoring the vital role of the agriculture sector in Lebanon’s economy,” the U.S agency said in a statement.