Town Hall News

By Mark Trevelyan (Reuters) – Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday his Wagner fighters had completed the capture of Bakhmut, but Ukraine rejected the claim and said fighting was still going on. Prigozhin made the claim in a video in which he appeared in combat fatigues in front of a line of fighters holding Russian flags and Wagner banners. “Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken,” Prigozhin […]

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Saturday to maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait amid high tensions with China, which has stepped up military pressure on the democratically governed island. Taiwan will not provoke and will not bow to Chinese pressure, Tsai said in a speech in the presidential office in Taipei marking the seventh anniversary of her governance. China, which considers […]

By Luc Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters) -A judge said on Friday he would decide by the end of the month whether a JPMorgan Chase & Co lawsuit should proceed against a former executive who it accuses of entangling the bank with late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan spoke after a one-hour hearing over whether to let the largest U.S. bank sue […]

MADRID (Reuters) -Emergency crews evacuated around 600 villagers in western Spain overnight as a wildfire blamed on arsonists ravaged up to 8,000 hectares (19,800 acres) near the border with Portugal, officials said. Strong winds were making it harder to control the blaze in the densely forested areas of Las Hurdes and Sierra de Gata in the Extremadura region, emergency services said on Friday. People from three villages – Cadalso, Descargamaría […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House and Republican congressional negotiators on raising the federal $31.4 trillion debt ceiling were quiet on Saturday after meetings on Friday failed and President Joe Biden said in Japan he believed a default could be avoided. A second meeting broke up late Friday with no progress cited by either side and with negotiators saying they were not sure when fresh meetings would take place. There are […]

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s military denied on Saturday that Russia’s Wagner private military unit had taken full control of the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut and said its troops were continuing to fight there. “This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut,” military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi told Reuters after the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said his forces had taken full control of the city. (Reporting by […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – China firmly opposes the G7 joint statement out of Hiroshima and has complained to summit organiser Japan, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Saturday. The ministry said that the G7, disregarding China’s concerns, had attacked it and interfered in its internal affairs, including Taiwan, the ministry said in a statement. China has expressed its strong dissatisfaction and has lodged stern representations with summit host Japan, the statement […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House and Republican congressional negotiators on raising the federal $31.4 trillion debt ceiling were quiet on Saturday after meetings on Friday failed and President Joe Biden said in Japan he believed a default could be avoided. A second meeting broke up late Friday with no progress cited by either side and with negotiators saying they were not sure when fresh meetings would take place. There are […]

By Mark Trevelyan (Reuters) – Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday his Wagner fighters had completed the capture of Bakhmut, but Ukraine rejected the claim and said fighting was still going on. Prigozhin made the claim in a video in which he appeared in combat fatigues in front of a line of fighters holding Russian flags and Wagner banners. “Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken,” Prigozhin […]