Chinese leaders met this week to plot economic policy for the coming year, sketching out plans to raise government spending and relax Beijing's monetary policy to encourage more investment and consumer spending.

Leaders of the ruling Communist Party wrapped up their two-day Central Economic Work Conference on Thursday with praise for President Xi Jinping's guidance and a pledge to "enrich and refine the policy toolbox" and defuse risks facing the world's second-largest economy. One of the biggest: threats by President-elect Donald Trump to sharply raise tariffs on imports from China once he takes office.

Iran's capital and outlying provinces have faced rolling power blackouts for weeks in October and November, with electricity cuts disrupting people's lives and businesses. And while several factors are likely involved, some suspect cryptocurrency mining has played a role in the outages.

Iran economy has been hobbled for years by international sanctions over its advancing nuclear program. The country's fuel reserves have plummeted, with the government selling off more to cover budget shortfalls as wars rage in the Middle East and Tehran grapples with mismanagement.

The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is likely to bring big changes for one of the oldest sectors of the U.S. economy — seafood — and some in the industry believe the returning president will be more responsive to its needs.

Economic analysts paint a more complicated picture, as they fear Trump's pending trade hostilities with major trading partners Canada and China could make an already pricy kind of protein more expensive to consumers. Conservationists also fear Trump's emphasis on government deregulation could jeopardize fish stocks that are already in peril.

The European Central Bank has cut rates by a quarter percentage point amid signs of weakening growth and concern about the impact of political chaos in France and the possibility of new U.S. import tariffs.

The bank's rate-setting committee made the decision Thursday at its skyscraper headquarters in Frankfurt to lower the benchmark from 3.25% to 3%.

Fueled by pricier used cars, hotel rooms and auto insurance, inflation in the United States moved slightly higher last month while remaining far below its peak of two years ago.

Consumer prices rose 2.7% in November from a year earlier, up from a yearly figure of 2.6% in October. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices increased 3.3%, the same as in the previous month.

TikTok has challenged a Canadian government order to shut down the Chinese video-sharing app's business operations in the country that was imposed over national security concerns.

The company said Tuesday that it filed an application for a judicial review with the Federal Court in Vancouver on Dec. 5, which seeks to set aside the order for TikTok to wind-up and cease its business in Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that Americans "are beginning to wake up to the real reality that tariffs on everything from Canada would make life a lot more expensive" and said he will retaliate if Donald Trump goes ahead with them.

Trump later responded by calling Canada a state and Trudeau the governor.

The Trump Organization said Monday it has leased its brand to two new real estate projects in Saudi Arabia just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.

It will partner with Dar Global, a London-based luxury real estate developer that will lease the Trump brand but fully own and develop the projects in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The two have partnered on other projects in the region, including the development of a golf resort in neighboring Oman.

The OPEC+ alliance of oil exporting countries will decide Thursday whether to put off plans to pump more crude amid sluggish demand and competing production from non-allied countries -- factors that could keep oil prices stagnant into next year.

Key beneficiaries of that would be U.S. motorists, who have seen gasoline prices fall to their lowest in 2 1/2 years to near $3 a gallon.

President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a strategic partnership on Monday aimed at deepening bilateral ties and de-escalating conflict in the Middle East, including Lebanon, where the two leaders called for presidential elections.

The French leader arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday for a three-day state visit just as a political crisis threatens to topple the French government.