Town Hall News

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan detected 37 Chinese military aircraft flying into its air defence zone starting on Thursday morning, some of which flew into the western Pacific, the island’s defence ministry said. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Tom Hogue) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea will discuss with Japan re-establishment of their bilateral foreign exchange swap line that expired in 2015, its finance minister said on Thursday. “Current economic issues, including bilateral and regional financial cooperation, will be discussed at the bilateral finance minister meeting on June 29,” Minister Choo Kyung-ho said, adding that currency swap arrangement was also on the agenda. Choo was speaking at a discussion forum, in response […]

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Fukuoka District Court ruled on Thursday that not allowing same-sex marriage was “in a state of unconstitutionality”, NHK public broadcaster said. The ruling came a week after another district court said it was unconstitutional to not allow, bolstering hopes of the LGBTQ community in Japan, the only Group of Seven nation without legal protection for same-sex unions. Five rulings on same-sex marriage have now been handed down […]

By Tyler Clifford NEW YORK (Reuters) – Schools across the U.S. East Coast canceled outdoor activities, airline traffic slowed and millions of Americans were urged to stay indoors on Wednesday as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south, blanketing cities in thick, yellowish haze. The U.S. National Weather Service issued air quality alerts for virtually the entire Atlantic seaboard. Health officials from Vermont to South Carolina and as far west as […]

BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s biggest banks on Thursday said they have lowered interest rates on yuan deposits, in actions that could ease pressure on profit margins and reduce lending costs, providing some relief for the financial sector and wider economy. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, Agricultural Bank of China Ltd, Bank of China Ltd and China Construction Bank Corp all cut their rates from Thursday, websites from each bank […]

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – The former JPMorgan Chase & Co executive accused of shepherding the bank’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein formally denied involvement in the disgraced financier’s sex trafficking, and blamed JPMorgan for keeping him as a client. In Wednesday night filings in Manhattan federal court, Jes Staley said his dealings with Epstein were not the “proximate cause” of any damages JPMorgan might incur in two lawsuits […]

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Toshiba Corp said on Thursday its board of directors decided to recommend shareholders to take up a tender offer by a consortium led by private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners (JIP). Toshiba’s board earlier this year accepted the buyout offer, which would value the Japanese electronics conglomerate at 4,620 yen a share or 2 trillion yen ($14.29 billion) in total, but did not go as far as […]

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Fukuoka District Court ruled on Thursday that not allowing same-sex marriage was ‘in a state of unconstitutionality,’ NHK public broadcaster said. (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Historically high levels of attrition in New Zealand’s Defence Force may be slowing as new cash pumped in to the Force delays resignations, New Zealand Defence Forces chiefs said on Thursday. The New Zealand Defence Force has seen attrition of roughly 30% of trained staff over the passed two years, which has forced it to idle three ships and retire the fleet of P-3 Orion aircrafts early. […]