Town Hall News

By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) -Storm surges whipped up by a powerful cyclone moving inland from the Bay of Bengal inundated the Myanmar port city of Sittwe on Saturday, with winds of up to 210 kph (130 mph) ripping away tin roofs and bringing down a communications tower. Some 400,000 people were evacuated in Myanmar and low-lying neighbouring Bangladesh ahead of Cyclone Mocha making landfall, as authorities and aid agencies […]

PARIS (Reuters) – Rafa Nadal has turned down a wildcard offer for next week’s Challenger tournament in Bordeaux as the Spaniard’s participation in the French Open hangs in the balance, the claycourt event director said on Sunday. Nadal has been struggling with a hip injury he suffered at the Australian Open in January, and fears the Spaniard may miss the Paris Grand Slam grew after he pulled out of this […]

By Chayut Setboonsarng and Kwang Jiraporn Kuhakan BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thais were forecast to have voted in record numbers on Sunday in an election expected to deliver big gains for opposition forces, an outcome that would test the resolve of a pro-military establishment central to two decades of intermittent turmoil. Voting closed at 5 p.m. local time (1000 GMT), with the Election Commission earlier projecting a turnout of 80% among […]

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s health minister and cannabis advocate Anutin Charnvirakul turned heads during Sunday’s election as he arrived to cast his vote at a polling station wearing a dark shirt with bright green marijuana leaves. The 56-year-old is the prime ministerial candidate for the Bhumjaithai Party, which has campaigned on a promise to promote medical marijuana after successfully pushing for the substance to be decriminalised last year. Without associated […]

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Life on both sides of the Gaza Strip border began returning to normal on Sunday after an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire halted five days of fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad, which killed 34 Palestinians and an Israeli. Israel reopened its goods and commercial border crossings, allowing fuel to flow to the lone power plant in the blockaded coastal enclave. Shops and public […]

By YP Rajesh NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s embattled Congress party won big in a southern state election this weekend, exceeding expectations and gaining fresh momentum to take on entrenched Prime Minister Narendra Modi in national elections next year, top politicians and analysts said. At the same time, they cautioned that Congress’ victory on Saturday in Karnataka state, home to the booming tech hub of Bengaluru, was largely due to […]

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Life on both sides of the Gaza Strip border began returning to normal on Sunday after an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire halted five days of fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad, which killed 34 Palestinians and an Israeli. Israel reopened its goods and commercial border crossings, allowing fuel to flow to the lone power plant in the blockaded coastal enclave. Shops and public […]

By Can Sezer and Orhan Coskun ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turks voted on Sunday in one of the most important elections in modern Turkey’s 100-year history, which could either unseat President Tayyip Erdogan and halt his government’s increasingly authoritarian path or usher in a third decade of his rule. The vote will decide not only who leads Turkey, a NATO-member country of 85 million, but also how it is governed, where its […]

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Shelling and air strikes pounded parts of Sudan’s capital on Sunday with little sign that warring military factions were ready to back down in a conflict that has killed hundreds despite ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia. Khartoum and the adjoining cities of Bahri and Omdurman across the Nile’s two branches have been the main theatre of conflict along with western Darfur province since the army and Rapid […]