Town Hall News

(Reuters) – Germany aims to buy 18 Leopard 2 tanks for 525 million euros ($577.92 million) to replace tanks delivered to Ukraine, a defence source told Reuters on Friday. The total price including an option for another 105 tanks will be 2.9 billion euros, and the German parliament’s budget committee is expected to sign off on the deal at the end of May, the source said. Germany has supplied 18 Leopard […]

PARIS (Reuters) – President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said two French citizens, Bernard Phelan and Benjamin Briere, who were detained in Iran are now free. Ties between France and Iran have deteriorated in recent months with Tehran detaining seven French nationals in what Paris has described as arbitrary arrests equivalent to state hostage-taking. The French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, said in a separate statement that both men were now on […]

PARIS (Reuters) – Lionel Messi will start Paris St Germain’s Ligue 1 home game against AC Ajaccio on Saturday after returning to training following a club-imposed suspension, coach Christophe Galtier said on Friday. “I spoke with him on Tuesday to see what his mindset was and I found him very determined to play… He will start tomorrow,” Galtier told a press conference. Messi was back in training on Monday after […]

By Andrea Shalal NIIGATA, Japan (Reuters) – The risk of a U.S. default is adding to problems facing the slowing global economy, with rising interest rates and high debt levels already choking back investments needed to fuel higher output, World Bank President David Malpass said on Friday. Group of Seven (G7) finance officials meeting in Japan discussed the “very high importance” of raising the U.S. debt limit and averting the […]

HANOI (Reuters) -Vietnamese electric automaker VinFast said on Friday it will list in the U.S. via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Black Spade Acquisition Co. After the merger, the new entity will have an enterprise value of approximately $27 billion and an equity value of $23 billion, “assuming no BSAQ shareholders elect to have their Black Spade shares redeemed for cash as permitted,” VinFast and Black Spade […]

By Cecile Mantovani and Denis Balibouse BRIENZ, Switzerland (Reuters) – Swiss authorities have ordered residents to abandon a tiny mountain village in the eastern canton of Graubunden because of fears it could soon be buried beneath a collapsing mountainside. A thick coat of fog covered the mountaintop overlooking the village of Brienz on Thursday, where vegetation has been replaced by a slope of mud and rocks. Farm workers could be […]

(Reuters) – Germany aims to buy 18 Leopard 2 tanks for 525 million euros ($577.92 million) to replace tanks delivered to Ukraine, a defence source told Reuters on Friday. The total price including an option for another 105 tanks will be 2.9 billion euros, and the German parliament’s budget committee is expected to sign off on the deal at the end of May, the source said. Germany has supplied 18 Leopard […]

By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) -Papua New Guinea (PNG) Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko said he was resigning as minister on Friday amid a controversy over the cost and size of the country’s delegation to the coronation of King Charles III in London. Tkatchenko said in a statement that he “stood aside” after consulting with Prime Minister James Marape, who would assume the portfolio. He remains in parliament. “I want to […]

TBILISI (Reuters) – Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some of the tens of thousands of Russians and Ukrainians who scrambled to safety in the South Caucasus nation of Georgia clubbed together to form an amateur football league. More than a year on, Footbilisi now includes around 700 amateur footballers, drawing together Georgians, Russians, Ukrainians and foreigners from further afield. Regulars say the league’s sense of solidarity has helped them […]