Russian Orthodox Church fires Archpriest for ‘obstruction’ of icon transfer

By Alexander Marrow (Reuters) – Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, on Saturday dismissed his expert on art and restoration for obstructing the transfer of a historic 15th-century Trinity icon to the Church from a Moscow museum. Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided that the icon be handed over to the Church from…

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Pacific islands, in spotlight, to push climate change in South Korea summit

By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) – Pacific island leaders will meet South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Monday, their third summit in a week with a large economy as the region seeks stronger action on climate change as it becomes a focus of geopolitical power attention. The Pacific islands span 40 million…

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China’s Wuhan finance regulator urges hundreds of firms to repay debt, local media report

BEIJING (Reuters) – The financial regulator of China’s Wuhan city publicly exposed 259 firms with debt to the government and urged them to immediately pay up, local media reported on Saturday. The rare action from Wuhan’s finance bureau on Friday comes as local governments in China become increasingly pressed by higher debt and expenses. Wuhan…

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Major Hong Kong democratic party disbands amid China security clampdown

By James Pomfret and Jessie Pang HONG KONG (Reuters) – One of Hong Kong’s biggest democratic parties said on Saturday it would disband after a vote by its party members, dealing another blow to the city’s already beleaguered democratic opposition under pressure from China. In recent years, Hong Kong’s opposition has been hit by a…

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Man who opened Asiana plane door in mid-air tells police he was ‘uncomfortable,’ Yonhap reports

By Joyce Lee and Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) – A passenger on an Asiana Airlines flight told police he opened a door on the plane minutes before it landed in Daegu, South Korea, on Friday because he was “uncomfortable”, Yonhap News Agency reported. The man, in his thirties, was detained on landing. He told police…

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