SEOUL, South Korea—North Korea said Thursday it’s prepared to counter U.S. military moves with the “most overwhelming nuclear force” as it warned that the expansion of the United States’ military exercises with rival South Korea is pushing tensions to an “extreme red line.” The statement by Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry came in response to comments by…

FRANKFURT—Investor morale in the euro zone improved in November, the first time it rose in three months, reflecting hopes that recent warmer temperatures and falling energy prices will prevent gas rationing on the continent this winter, a survey showed Monday. Sentix’s index for the euro zone rose to -30.9 points in November from -38.3 in…

BAGHDAD—Nine rockets landed on Thursday around the Iraqi capital’s Green Zone, home to government buildings and foreign missions, the military said, shortly before parliament began a session to elect a new president amid a protracted political deadlock. Several members of the security forces were injured in the attack, the military statement said without giving more…

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said he is waging “war on poisonous air” as he bids to extend the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) across London. Khan is proposing to extend the scheme’s boundary from the North and South Circular Roads to the whole of Greater London from August 29 next year, and a consultation on…

BRUSSELS—European Union countries broadly agree they need to change EU laws to allow slower debt reduction, move away from complex calculated indicators and come up with an EU fiscal framework that is actually respected, senior euro zone officials said. The EU’s fiscal rules, called the Stability and Growth Pact, are to stop governments from borrowing…

BRUSSELS—Euro zone finance ministers will start a discussion on Monday on how to change the often-broken EU fiscal rules so that governments actually observe them, a euro zone official said. The European Union’s Stability and Growth Pact is meant to stop governments from borrowing too much in order to safeguard the value of the euro…

BERLIN—A senior European Central Bank official says that raising interest rates prematurely could “choke off the recovery,” comments that come as inflation in the 19-nation euro area has hit a record rate. The European Union’s statistical office said on Jan. 7 that the annual inflation rate rose to 5 percent in December—the highest level in…

FRANKFURT—Euro zone retail sales surged past all expectations in November, driven by in-store non-food purchases, data from Eurostat showed on Friday, indicating that consumer demand remained healthy even as fresh pandemic-related restrictions were implemented. Retail sales, a proxy for consumer demand, in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 1 percent by value on the…

LONDON—-Germany’s 10-year bond yield lurched closer to positive territory on Thursday, just as borrowing costs across the euro area hit new highs in the face of a hawkish tone from the U.S. Federal Reserve and fresh signs of high German inflation. Italy’s 10-year bond yield was 4 basis points higher on the day at 1.28…

LONDON—The euro zone’s economic recovery stuttered in December as a renewed wave of COVID-19 infections curtailed growth in the bloc’s dominant service industry, a survey showed on Wednesday, and could weaken further if tighter restrictions are imposed. As the Omicron coronavirus variant spread rapidly at the end of last year governments reimposed measures to contain…