The 10 most important things in the world right now

Hello! Here's what you need to know on Friday.

1. Britain faces a "dreadful" lost decade of real earnings growth unprecedented in the last 70 years. The Institute for Fiscal Studies also warned that the latest forecasts show that by 2021 real wages in the UK will actually be lower than they were in 2008

2. Morgan Stanley says the UK government's post-Brexit economic forecasts are far too optimistic. Morgan Stanley thinks that longer-term growth will sit at something around 1.6%, rather than the 2.1% the OBR expects.

3. A manhunt is underway in France after a woman was found dead in a retirement home for monks. A caretaker contacted the police after freeing herself up after being bound and gagged by the suspect and escaping from the home in Montferrier-sur-Lez near Montpellier.

4. Germany and 15 other countries are pressing for an arms control deal with Russia. "Europe's security is in danger," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Die Welt newspaper in an interview. "As difficult as ties to Russia may currently be, we need more dialogue, not less."

5. Australian banks, ANZ and Macquarie, face millions in fines over claims of cartel behavior by currency traders. Australia's competition regulator has taken the 2 major banks to court, claiming traders at the institutions colluded in attempts to manipulate the exchange rate for the Malaysian ringgit.

6. Top Trump aide acknowledges grassroots furor over Mitt Romney as potential secretary of state. The former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP presidential nominee is reportedly the frontrunner for the role in the Trump administration.

7. The US presidential election was 'probably not' hacked - but the votes should be checked. A well-respected security professor says that he thinks the US election was "probably not" hacked - but that the only way to check is to urgently audit the results.

8. Myanmar is pursuing an 'ethnic cleansing' of Rohingya Muslims, according to UN officials. Horrifying stories of gang rape, torture, and murder are emerging from among the thousands who have fled to Bangladesh.

9. Goldman thinks that economic growth and inflation in emerging markets to accelerate in 2017. In terms of monetary policy, they expect most central banks to lower benchmark interest rates while the US dollar is expected to strengthen against almost all emerging market currencies tracked in the year ahead.

10. ISIS claimed responsibility for suicide truck bomb that kills about 100 in Iraq. The attack killed about 100 people, most of them Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims, at a petrol station in the city of Hilla 100 km south of Baghdad.