Town Hall News

By Curtis Williams (Reuters) – The Trinidad and Tobago government accepted bid recommendations for six of eight onshore oil and gas exploration blocks, people close to the matter said on Sunday, setting the stage for awards to be disclosed as soon as this week. The Caribbean nation has pushed to expand exploration to counter declines in its oil and gas production. Gas and petrochemicals provide a large part of its […]

(Reuters) – Binance has appointed Richard Teng to head its regional markets outside the United States, at a time when the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has been facing scrutiny from U.S. regulators over compliance issues. Teng, who revealed his promotion on his LinkedIn profile, is already heading regions like Asia, Europe and the Middle East. He joined Binance as CEO of Singapore in August 2021. Teng will begin his new […]

By Hyunsu Yim SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hosted the country’s first summit with leaders of Pacific islands on Monday, as Seoul seeks to boost its influence in a region that has become the focus of intense geopolitical rivalry. As the leaders agreed to increase efforts to fight climate change, South Korea will also consider additional funding initiatives to support the Pacific region, Yoon’s office said. […]

By Hyunsu Yim and Nobuhiro Kubo TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) – Japan put its ballistic missile defences on alert on Monday, vowing to shoot down any projectile that threatened its territory after North Korea notified it of a satellite launch between May 31 and June 11. The nuclear-armed North says it has completed its first military spy satellite and leader Kim Jong Un has approved final preparations for the launch. It would […]

By Valentyn Ogirenko and Gleb Garanich KYIV (Reuters) – Russia put five aircraft out of action in an attack on a military target in western Ukraine and caused a fire at the Black Sea port of Odesa in heavy air strikes early on Monday, Ukrainian officials said. Kyiv came under intense attack for the second successive night but said that most of the drones and missiles fired at the capital […]

By Pavel Polityuk and Max Hunder KYIV (Reuters) – Explosions rang out across Kyiv on Monday as Russia launched its 16th air attack on the Ukrainian capital this month, hours after unleashing dozens of missiles and drones overnight. Panicked residents, some of whom initially ignored the air raid siren as they ate breakfast in cafes, rushed for cover when the sky filled with smoke trails and blast clouds. All the […]

JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed a Palestinian security officer during clashes in the occupied West Bank flashpoint city of Jenin on Monday, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report. Earlier it said in a statement that its forces came under heavy Palestinian fire while seeking the arrest of security suspects in Jenin and returned fire at the […]

By Belén Carreño and Inti Landauro MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called a snap national election on Monday after left-wing parties were routed in a regional ballot, portraying the defeat as a debilitating vote of no confidence in his coalition government. Sanchez had said on numerous occasions that he wanted to see out a full term in office and that elections would take place in December, […]

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – The foreign ministers of Sweden and Turkey will meet “soon” to discuss Stockholm’s delayed bid to join NATO, the Swedish foreign ministry said on Monday. Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. However, while Finland joined the Western military alliance in April, Sweden’s bid has been held up by objections from Turkey and Hungary. Turkey’s presidential election, won […]