Kremlin urges faster action to let foreign vessels use Northern Sea Route

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Kremlin aide urged the Russian government on Thursday to adopt legislation allowing foreign flagged vessels to use the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which Moscow wants to turn into a new Suez Canal. The NSR runs from Murmansk near Russia’s border with Norway eastwards to the Bering Strait near Alaska. Although the…

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Indian police charge lawmaker with sexual harassment of female wrestlers

By Rupam Jain NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian police filed charges of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation on Thursday against the chief of the country’s wrestling federation, a powerful member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), following complaints by female wrestlers. Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastav read out the charges against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a…

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US plays down chance of breakthrough from Blinken China visit after tense call

By Humeyra Pamuk, David Brunnstrom and Simon Lewis WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Wednesday played down expectations of any breakthrough from the first trip by a U.S. Secretary of State to China in five years, after a tense call with China’s foreign minister ahead Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing next week. Chinese foreign minister…

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Analysis-Spasms in UK mortgage market spell pain for homeowners, economy

By Andy Bruce and Sinead Cruise LONDON (Reuters) – Bedlam in Britain’s 1.5 trillion-pound ($1.9 trillion) mortgage market, fuelled by ructions in money markets, threatens to trigger a renewed slump in housing activity and financial pain for homeowners on a par with the late 1980s. Lenders have repeatedly re-priced and pulled home loan offerings in…

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China bookings to return to pre-pandemic level by early 2024 – Agoda

By Chayut Setboonsarng BANGKOK (Reuters) – Overseas travel bookings from mainland China are currently at just over half of pre-pandemic levels but are on course to return to the 2019 numbers by the end of this year or early 2024, the head of online travel agency Agoda said on Thursday. China was the world’s largest…

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Siemens to spend $2.2 billion to ramp up global production

By John Revill and Fanny Potkin SINGAPORE/ZURICH (Reuters) -Siemens will spend 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) on a new global investment plan, the German engineering group said on Thursday, to make its operations more resilient against supply chain disruptions and geopolitical tensions. Siemens will build new factories, research and development centres and training sites around…

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