World News: 05 December 2022

BIS warns of $80 trillion of hidden FX swap debt
Dubbed the central bank to the world's central banks, the BIS raised the concerns in its latest quarterly report, in which it also said this year's market upheaval had, by and large, been navigated without many major issues.
Having repeatedly urged central banks to act forcefully to dampen inflation, it struck a more measured tone this time around and also picked over the ongoing crypto market problems and September's UK government bond market turmoil.
Its main warning though was what it described as the FX swap debt "blind spot" that risked leaving policymakers in a "fog".

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Indonesia set to pass new criminal code that will ban sex outside marriage
Among the most controversial revisions to the code are articles that would penalise sex outside of marriage with up to one year in jail, outlaw cohabitation between unmarried couples, insulting the president, and expressing views counter to the national ideology, known as the Pancasila.
The government and House of Representatives have agreed on the draft code, clearing a hurdle to its passage.
Decades in the making, the revision of the country's colonial-era penal code has sparked mass protests in recent years, although the response has been considerably more muted this year.

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Mexico: Endangered monarch butterflies inspire hopes of a comeback
Every year, migratory monarchs travel up to 3000km from the eastern United States and Canada to spend the winter among the forests of central and western Mexico.
Winter weekends bring hundreds of visitors to Sierra Chincua, an idyllic monarch sanctuary in the western state of Michoacan, about three hours drive from Mexico City.
Sierra Chincua in 1986 was brought into the protected Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site spanning some 56,000 hectares.

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India's capital blanketed in smog; private construction banned
The air quality index in several parts of the city was between 350 and 400 on Monday, meaning it was "very poor", according to the Central Pollution Control Board.
The central government banned all private construction in the city and surrounding areas on Sunday. Authorities also sprayed water in some neighbourhoods to try to clear the air.
The government said last week it would ban diesel autorickshaws in the capital and from 2027, allowing only those three-wheeled taxis that are powered by compressed natural gas or electricity to operate.

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Emotions run high as Brussels bombing trial opens
In its largest ever trial, Belgium will on Monday begin hearings over the 2016 Islamist bombings in Brussels that left 32 people dead and more than 300 injured.
More than 900 civil plaintiffs are taking part in the trial against ten suspects with charges that include terrorist murder, attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization.

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UAE leader makes surprise visit to Qatar following boycott
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who also serves as the ruler of Abu Dhabi, made the trip at the invitation of Qatar's ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the state-run WAM news agency reported on Monday.
Sheikh Mohammed was widely viewed by analysts as one of the main architects of the boycott of Qatar by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that began in 2017.

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