Town Hall News

By Tim Hepher and Valerie Insinna PARIS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd is close to placing an order worth around $2 billion for Boeing 777-8F freighters as the Hong Kong carrier embarks on the partial renewal of a fleet of dedicated 747 cargo jets, industry sources said on Monday. The selection follows a hard-fought battle for the business of one of the world’s top-five freight airlines, which had been comparing […]

KYIV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian presidential aide said on Monday a demilitarised zone of 100-120 km (62-75 miles) should be established inside Russia along the border with Ukraine as part of a post-war settlement. The zone would be necessary to protect Ukrainian regions from shelling, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter. “The key theme of the post-war settlement should be the establishment of safeguards to avoid the recurrence of […]

By Belén Carreño, Inti Landauro and David Latona MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez unexpectedly called a snap national election on Monday and his main rival spelled out the aim of becoming the country’s next leader, after left-wing parties were routed in a regional ballot. Sanchez, who had repeatedly said he wanted to see out a full term in office, portrayed Sunday’s crippling defeat as a clear […]

By MacDonald Dzirutwe LAGOS (Reuters) – Bola Tinubu will be sworn in as Nigeria’s president on Monday under the cloud of a disputed election and pressure to quickly improve economic and security conditions, which many complain worsened under his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari. Two of Tinubu’s main opponents in the February election are challenging his victory on the basis of fraud claims, and a tribunal will on Tuesday start hearing their […]

By Karolos Grohmann PARIS (Reuters) – Racism behaviour directed at athletes is getting worse and even software designed to protect them from it has little impact, world number 30 Sloane Stephens said on Monday. The American, speaking after her straight-sets victory over Katerina Pliskova in the French Open first round, said she had had to endure it her whole tennis career. “Yes, it’s obviously been a problem my entire career,” […]

WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland’s president said on Monday he would sign a bill to allow a panel to investigate whether the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party allowed the country to be unduly influenced by Russia and as a result too dependent on its fuel when it was in power. The liberal PO, in government from 2007 to 2015, rejects the claims and says the law is designed to destroy support for […]

By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia warned the West on Monday that a deal allowing Ukrainian grain to be exported from the Black Sea would cease unless a United Nations agreement aimed at overcoming obstacles to Russian grain and fertiliser exports was fulfilled. The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea deal for an initial 120 days in July last year to help tackle a global food crisis […]

By Elizabeth Howcroft LONDON (Reuters) -European stock indexes edged lower on Monday and euro zone bond yields dropped, but news that the U.S. had reached a debt ceiling deal over the weekend kept Wall Street futures positive. U.S. President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy reached a tentative deal on Saturday to raise the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, aiming to stop the U.S. from defaulting on […]

By Canan Sevgili and Libby George LONDON (Reuters) – Turkey’s lira hit fresh record lows against the dollar on Monday, though stocks rallied, after President Tayyip Erdogan secured victory in Sunday’s presidential election, extending his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade. Erdogan prevailed despite years of economic turmoil which critics blame on unorthodox economic policies which the opposition had pledged to reverse. The lira weakened to 20.10 to the […]