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Economic Watch: Hong Kong engages partners to fuel maritime green shift

by Xinhua writer Wang Xinyi

World

Trump picks Matthew Whitaker as nominee for NATO ambassador

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President-elect Donald Trump chose Matthew Whitaker on Wednesday as his nominee to be U.S. ambassador to NATO, selecting a loyalist who briefly served as acting attorney general during Trump's first White House term.

World

Spain's deputy PM Ribera deflects blame over floods to climate change

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Teresa Ribera, who is vying for a top European Commission job, on Wednesday defended the state's handling of last month's deadly floods in Valencia and said climate change was largely to blame for the disaster.

World

Russian doctors decry 'shameful' conviction of colleague over Ukraine war comments

LONDON (Reuters) - A group of Russian doctors has appealed to President Vladimir Putin over the "shameful" jailing of a Moscow paediatrician for comments she was alleged to have made about the war in Ukraine.

World

Mexican president to offer new proposals to implement judicial overhaul

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that her administration will propose to Congress three bills to help implement a sweeping judicial reform that aims to move the country to the direct election of all judges.

World

Greece general strike brings thousands onto streets, halts shipping, transport

ATHENS (Reuters) - A general strike docked ships and disrupted rail and bus services across Greece on Wednesday, as thousands of workers marched in Athens to demand better pay and living standards.

World

Netherlands to hire private firms for North Sea security amid Russian threats

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands plans to temporarily enlist additional personnel and equipment from private companies to strengthen security in its part of the North Sea, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday, confirming media reports.

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Greece arrests Algerian suspected of smuggling pain relief drug to France

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police arrested an Algerian man suspected of smuggling tablets of pain-fighting drug pregabalin to France from Greece, following an operation with French authorities and EU police agency Europol.

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Ukrainian capital Kyiv under air raid alert amid missile threat

KYIV: An air raid alert has been declared in the Ukrainian capital and several other regions on Wednesday (Nov 20), amid what Kyiv's air force described as a missile threat.

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Putin's spy chief warns West against direct military conflict with Russia

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin's spy chief warned the West on Wednesday that it risked disastrous consequences if the United States and its European allies stoke a direct military confrontation with Russia over Ukraine.

World

Kremlin says 'absurd' to suggest Russia involved in Baltic Sea cable damage

MOSCOW/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Russia dismissed as "absurd" on Wednesday any suggestion that it had been involved in damage caused at the weekend to two fibre-optic data telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea.

World

Once again, polls underestimated Trump. Experts only have a hunch why

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Following Republican President-elect Donald Trump's resounding victory in this month's election, some U.S. pollsters are scrambling to understand why their surveys once again underestimated his support among American voters.

World

Chile's rare salt flat fish faces threat from lithium mining project

ASCOTAN SALT FLAT, Chile (Reuters) - At more than 3,700 meters (12,000 feet) above sea level, the "karachi" swims happily in dense salt flat waters, but locals worry a future lithium project will endanger this extreme-environment fish.

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Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan gets bail in state gifts case, his party says

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -A court in Pakistan granted bail to jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a case relating to the illegal sale of state gifts, his party said on Wednesday.

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At least 50 insurgents killed, seven Nigerian officers missing after convoy attack

ABUJA (Reuters) - At least 50 Boko Haram fighters were killed on Tuesday and seven members of Nigeria's infrastructure security force were missing following an insurgent ambush on a convoy monitoring the country's power grid installations, a spokesperson said.

World

France's Le Pen threatens to topple government on cost-of-living concerns

PARIS (Reuters) - French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Wednesday threatened to seek to topple Prime Minister Michel Barnier's fragile coalition government if her National Rally (RN) party's cost-of-living concerns were not incorporated into the 2025 budget.

World

Pope to make late Italian millennial Carlo Acutis a saint in April

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - An Italian teenager who used his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith will become the first saint from the millennial generation when he is canonized next April.

World

Russia detains German man accused of blowing up gas distribution pipe

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has detained a German citizen on suspicion of explosives-smuggling and terrorism, accusing him of blowing up a pipe at a gas distribution station, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday.

World

Reaction to Putin's approval of a new Russian nuclear doctrine

(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a new nuclear doctrine, lowering the threshold for a nuclear strike in response to a broader range of conventional attacks.

World

Russian spy chief says NATO aid for Ukraine missile strikes will be punished

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will retaliate against NATO countries that facilitate long-range missile strikes against Russian territory by Ukraine, foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said in an interview published on Wednesday.