Town Hall News

BEIJING (Reuters) – Visa applications by Chinese citizens remain well below pre-pandemic levels following the lifting of travel restrictions in January, data from a specialist visa firm revealed, as the number of international flights remained limited. VFS Global, a visa application outsourcing and technology services firm, said in a statement visa application volumes from China reached 35% of pre-COVID levels by May compared with the same period of 2019 (January […]

WARSAW (Reuters) – A political video by Poland’s ruling nationalist party that uses images of Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz death camp is an insult to those who lost their lives there, the museum that preserves the site said on Wednesday. The short video, which the Law and Justice Party (PiS) posted on social media, aims to discourage people from attending an opposition march due to take place in Warsaw on Sunday. […]

(In May 17 story, corrects to Marathon Petroleum, not Marathon Oil, in paragraph 8) By Trixie Yap and Florence Tan SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Finnish refiner Neste expects renewable fuels from its new facilities in Singapore and the U.S. to drive its growth this year despite expectations of lower oil product margins in the second quarter, its chief executive said on Wednesday. “The macroeconomic situation is something that is affecting many businesses,” […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s most powerful mercenary, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Wednesday that he had asked prosecutors to investigate whether senior Russian defence officials had committed any “crime” before or during the war in Ukraine. Prigozhin’s request is his most blatant public challenge to date against President Vladimir Putin’s top military brass, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The 61-year-old restaurateur-turned-mercenary has spent months insulting […]

By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s defence chief said on Wednesday the United States warned him in 2021 that allegations Australian special forces soldiers killed prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan may trigger a law prohibiting assistance from the United States. The United States is Australia’s biggest security alliance partner and Angus Campbell’s comments are the first time it has been publicly disclosed there was a disruption to defence ties. […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s military said a U.S. reconnaissance plane deliberately intruded into its training area on May 26 and that the move seriously undermined regional peace and stability. During routine training in the South China Sea with several ships of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, one RC-135 reconnaissance plane of the U.S. military deliberately broke into in the training area, a spokesperson for the Southern Theatre Command said […]

By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) -Global shares fell on Wednesday ahead of a crucial vote in Washington on the U.S. debt ceiling, while commodities and the Chinese yuan came under pressure after data highlighted faltering growth in the world’s second-largest economy. The MSCI All-World Index of global shares, which is heading for its first monthly decline since February, was down 0.4% in early U.S. hours, largely due to declines across […]

BENGALURU (Reuters) -India has launched a pilot project to establish itself as an electronics repair hub with certain favourable policy changes, which has already attracted companies like Lenovo and Flex, the country’s IT ministry said on Wednesday. The ministry did not elaborate on the policy changes, but Reuters has reported that India plans to relax some of its cumbersome import-export rules and environmental laws to help foreign manufacturers to set […]

By Jonathan Cable LONDON (Reuters) – The Bank of England will be far more aggressive in policy tightening than previously thought as it battles to contain stubbornly-high inflation running at the joint-highest rate among Group of Seven advanced economies, a Reuters poll found. Consumer prices rose 8.7% in annual terms last month, down from 10.1% in March but faster than the 8.2% predicted in a Reuters poll, while a closely-watched […]