Amid sky-high inflation, water and energy cuts and prospects for a deal with the U. S. dimming, President Masoud Pezeshkian has apparently thrown up his hands.

© Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times

Britain’s central bank reduced interest rates to 3.75 percent, a move that was welcomed by the government, which has been looking to lower the high cost of living.

© Justin Tallis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A broad measure of investment fell more than 10 percent in November, continuing a recent reversal and signaling the depth of China’s property crisis.

Investment in manufacturing, infrastructure and property is expected to fall this year, a remarkable turn for an economy whose growth reshaped the world.

Generative A.I. needs a course correction for the sake of energy efficiency and for its own advancement.

Despair about dimming economic and personal prospects has created an outwardly strong, inwardly brittle nation.

At this year’s climate summit, the United States is out and Europe is struggling. But emerging countries are embracing renewable energy thanks to a glut of cheap equipment.

As he so often does, the president is pushing the wrong answer to the right question on trade policy with Beijing.

Two decades of sustained effort to build national self-reliance and minimize imports have antagonized trade partners but fortified what a senior adviser called Beijing’s “bulwark” against conflicts.

At an Asia-Pacific summit, the Chinese leader urged countries to “resist unilateral bullying,” an appeal that seemed at odds with his country’s recent actions.

A botched spying case prompted accusations that the British government was soft on China, highlighting tensions between economic and national security interests.

From Kuala Lumpur to Gyeongju, President Trump is casting himself as a deal-maker and peace negotiator, while a wary region looks for tariff relief and steadier ties.