Lebanese drinks giant Kassatly Group Holding has started work on a new plant in Cyprus under "Boutique Beverage Bottling Int'l Ltd" as part of ambitious plans to move the brand from a regional powerhouse to a global player.

The mega plant in Ypsonas, Limassol, should be fully operational by the end of 2023, with the company aiming to make the island home within a year, creating 100+ jobs.

The government of Cyprus is weighing a proposal for a pipeline that would carry natural gas from Israel to the island nation, where it would be processed and exported by ship to Europe and elsewhere as Russia's war in Ukraine compounds an energy crisis, the Cypriot energy minister said.

Minister Natasa Pilides said the government is mulling licensing requests from energy company Energean to move ahead with the plan once Israel decides how much offshore gas it would agree to export via such a pipeline. The plan to then liquefy and ship the gas from Cyprus is a better option than a pipeline that would connect east Mediterranean gas deposits to Europe, she said.

EU energy ministers sought a breakthrough Monday on plans to cap natural gas prices, weighing the danger of allowing prices to soar against the fear of driving exporters elsewhere.

The International Monetary Fund has approved a deal that will provide a $3 billion support package to cash-strapped Egypt over a period of almost four years, with the agreement expected to draw in additional $14 billion in financing for the Middle East country.

The announcement from the IMF's executive board late on Friday comes after a preliminary agreement was reached in October between Egypt and the fund, hours after Egypt's central bank introduced a series of reforms, including a hike in key interest rates by roughly 2 percentage points.

Stock markets dropped further Friday on prospects of more aggressive rises to interest rates to fight sky-high inflation, renewing concerns over the global economy entering recession next year.

Jordanian police say a senior commander has been killed in clashes with protesters that broke out over high fuel prices.

Abdul Razzaq Abdel Hafez Al Dalabeh, deputy police director in the city of Maan, was shot Thursday "by a group of outlaws," police said.

Elon Musk sold another $3.58 billion worth of Tesla stock this week, but it wasn't clear where the proceeds were being spent.

The Tesla CEO, and new owner of Twitter, sold the shares from Monday through Wednesday, according to a filing posted Wednesday night by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Japan's trade deficit surged to over 2 trillion yen ($15 billion) in November as higher costs for oil and a weak yen combined to push imports sharply higher.

It was the 16th straight month of red ink and a record high for the month of November. The country will likely post a record deficit for the year.

The worst may be yet to come for the stock market.

Wall Street's mini-rebound since mid-October has recovered some of the index's sharp losses from the first 10 months of the year. It closed Monday a shade below 4,000, up more than 10% since its bottom two months earlier.

The European Central Bank slowed its record pace of interest rate hikes only slightly Thursday, joining the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world in reinforcing an inflation crackdown while glimpsing headway against the high prices that are plaguing consumers.

The Bank of England and Swiss National Bank also dialed back to half-point increases from three-quarters Thursday, as did the Fed a day earlier in a blitz of central bank action this week.