World News in Brief: November 23

The wait for a new Malaysian prime minister entered its fourth day on Wednesday, after the leading two contenders failed to secure enough support for a majority and break a hung parliament following last weekend's election.
Global gross domestic product (GDP) growth is projected to slide from 3.1 percent this year to 2.2 percent in 2023, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in its latest Economic Outlook on Tuesday.
Global gross domestic product (GDP) growth is projected to slide from 3.1 percent this year to 2.2 percent in 2023, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in its latest Economic Outlook on Tuesday.

* Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova attended the 23rd session of the China-Russia Committee on Humanities Cooperation via video link on Tuesday, calling on the two sides to strengthen people-to-people exchanges.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez voiced common readiness on Tuesday to deepen relations between the two countries.

* The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog met a Russian delegation in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss safety at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the watchdog said.

* President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russian officials would work to unblock Russian fertilisers stuck in European ports and to resume ammonia exports via a pipeline through Ukraine.

* France and Germany called on Tuesday for a European Union (EU) industrial policy that enables European companies to thrive at the global level through technological leadership.

* Croatian President Zoran Milanovic on Tuesday rejected the letter of Defense Minister Mario Banozic, who asked the president to approve the training of Ukrainian forces in Croatia.

* A fishing boat believed to be carrying at least 430 migrants was safely towed to the Greek island of Crete on Tuesday after being dramatically rescued during near gale-force winds, the country's national news agency AMNA reported.

* The Pacific Alliance leaders' meeting, previously scheduled for Friday, is postponed due to the Peruvian Congress' refusal to let President Pedro Castillo travel to Mexico, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday.

* Turkey will attack militants with tanks and soldiers soon, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, signalling a possible ground offensive against a Kurdish militia in Syria after retaliatory strikes escalated along the Syrian border.

* Germany will start to pull out its troops from Mali from the middle of next year after a decade-long mission, with the withdrawal to be completed by May 2024, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday.

* An estimated 300 militants are operating in Indian Kashmir, an Indian military commander in the disputed region said on Tuesday, as New Delhi seeks to stabilise the restive Himalayan territory that it reorganised three years ago.

* The death toll of Monday's earthquake in west Indonesia has jumped to 268 and 151 others are still missing, a local official said on Tuesday.

* The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a decrease of 4.8 million barrels of crude oil in US inventories for the week ending Nov. 18. Analysts expected a drop of 2.2 million barrels for this week.

* A European gas price cap at 275 euros (283 USD) per megawatt hour (MWh) has been proposed, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson announced on Tuesday in Strasbourg, France.

* Enterprise Singapore, a government agency, announced on Wednesday in the Review of Third Quarter 2022 Trade Performance that the 2023 growth projections for both Singapore's total merchandise trade and Non-oil Domestic Exports (NODX) are at "minus 2.0 to 0.0 percent."

* The downturn in euro zone business activity eased slightly in November but overall demand continued to decline as consumers cut spending amid a cost of living crisis, a survey showed on Wednesday.

* Iceland's central bank raised its key policy interest rate by 0.25 percentage point to 6.0% on Wednesday, the sixth hike this year in a bid to tame inflation.

* Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research on Tuesday trimmed palm oil short-term price forecasts on the easing of global edible oils market and weaker demand outlook.

* The government of Hungary has decided to suspend the obligation of domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) active in the tourism industry to pay a 4 percent tax known as "tourism development contribution," the Hungarian Tourism Agency (MTU) said on Tuesday.

* German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Tuesday expressed Germany's solidarity with Türkiye in the latter's fight against terrorism, but stressing that it "must be carried out in accordance with the laws of state."

* Iran's first vice president said on Tuesday that Tehran and Minsk will draw up a roadmap for expanding economic and trade relations.

* Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Tuesday urged other countries, particularly the United States, to cease any support for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.

* The Iranian ambassador to Iraq has denied any Iranian military deployment toward Iraqi borders, the IRIB news agency reported Tuesday.

* The Algerian People's National Assembly, or lower house of the Parliament, overwhelmingly adopted the Budget Bill 2023 during a plenary session on Tuesday.

* Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday inaugurated Kolmani Integrated Development Project to drill oil and gas in the northeastern part of the country.

* Nigeria's apex bank on Tuesday raised the country's monetary policy rate to 16.5 percent, up from 15.5 percent, saying the move was deliberate in the quest to avoid a deeper inflation trap.

* The United Nations and humanitarian partners in Kenya have appealed for 472.6 million USD to help 4.3 million drought-affected people in 2023 amid a severe drought.

* Seven member states of the Accra Initiative are in the position to resist the spillover of terrorism and violent extremism from the Sahelian region into coastal West Africa, Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said Tuesday.

* The impact of drought in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia has led to food insecurity and a high level of acute malnutrition, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.

* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and South Sudan have reached a staff-level agreement for the release of about 112.7 million USD in emergency financing, the lender said on Tuesday.

* At least 50 people were injured after a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck Türkiye's northwestern province of Duzce early Wednesday.

* Solomon Islands has established a disaster assessment to ascertain the scope and scale of impact after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the country on Tuesday.

* A soldier was killed in a clash between security forces and terrorists in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a Pakistani army statement said on Tuesday night.

* A single dose of the monkeypox vaccine provides 78% protection against the virus, according to data from England released on Tuesday that health officials said was the strongest evidence yet of its effectiveness.

* Two explosions at bus stops on Jerusalem's outskirts killed one person and wounded at least 14 others on Wednesday, health officials said, in what Israeli police said appeared to be an attack by Palestinian militants.

VNA, Reuters, Xinhua