Page 44 - Cisc News Today

Bad ideas never die. European officials are still discussing options to use the proceeds of Russia’s frozen funds to help Ukraine. Yet funnelling the money to the war-torn country, which looks justifiable on moral grounds, would set a bad precedent.

China's imports of refined nickel have fallen to levels last seen almost 20 years ago, when the country's build-out of industrial capacity was still in its infancy.

Ukraine secured the release of 106 captured soldiers in a prisoner exchange with Russia on Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff said.

Oil loadings from Russia's western ports in June will fall by 6% on a daily basis from May, undermined by Russia's voluntary oil production cuts and higher domestic refinery runs, market sources said and Reuters calculations showed.

Egypt has deferred payments for its large wheat purchases, in some cases by months, according to a government official and traders, as the country grapples with a shortage of hard currency.

A two-day incursion from Ukraine into Russia's western borderlands could force the Kremlin to divert troops from front lines as Kyiv prepares a major counteroffensive, and deal Moscow a psychological blow, according to military analysts.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday said the country had no plans to become a NATO member but acknowledged the security alliance's plan to open a liaison office in Japan.

Russia and China are set to sign a set of bilateral agreements on Wednesday during the Russian prime minister's trip to Beijing as the two giant neighbours pledge closer cooperation even as the West remains critical of their ties amid the war in Ukraine.

China is accelerating the building of a long-delayed Central Asian pipeline to source gas from Turkmenistan even as Russia pushes its own new Siberian connection, as Beijing juggles its energy security needs with diplomatic priorities.

Older people have suffered and died at a disproportionately high rate since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a U.N. report showed on Wednesday, with some perishing because they were barred from fetching medicines or leaving basements.