News in Brief
World largest cruise ship to set sail
AFP– Royal Caribbean’s luxurious new vessel Icon of the Seas is nearing completion in the Turku shipyard on Finland’s southwestern coast, its maiden voyage scheduled for January 2024.
“This ship is as of today, as far as we are aware of, the biggest cruise ship in the world,” said Tim Meyer, CEO of shipbuilder Meyer Turku tasked with the construction.
Oil hits new highs
REUTERS – Oil hit new peaks on Wednesday with Brent crude touching the highest price since April, as tighter supply owing to Saudi and Russian output cuts offset concerns over slow demand from China and a report showing rising US crude inventories.
Top exporter Saudi Arabia last week extended its voluntary production cut of 1 million barrels per day for another month to include September, and Russia said it would cut oil exports by 300,000 bpd in
September.
Russia to widen scope of digital rouble
CNBC – Russia will begin piloting its digital rouble with consumers on Aug. 15 after a lengthy testing phase with banks, the central bank said on Wednesday, as Moscow looks to widen the scope of its cross-border payments.
Russia, like many countries, has been developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) - digital tokens issued by central banks - over the last couple of years in a bid to modernise its financial system and head off cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.