Town Hall News

(Reuters) – Australia’s QBE Insurance Group Ltd said on Friday costs associated with catastrophic claims for the four months of 2023 had reached nearly 90% of the allowances it had set aside for the first-half, dragging its shares nearly 9%. QBE, the country’s biggest insurer by market capitalisation, said net cost of catastrophe claims was around $480 million at the end of April, compared with the $535 million it had […]

By Yuka Obayashi TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil markets regained some ground in early Asian trade on Friday with traders engaged in short-covering ahead of the weekend, but uncertainties regarding the U.S. debt ceiling and renewed fears over a U.S. regional banking crisis capped gains. Brent crude futures rose by 36 cents, or 0.5%, to $75.34 a barrel by 0051 GMT. U.S. crude futures gained 41 cents, or 0.6%, to $71.28. […]

MANILA (Reuters) – A Philippine court on Friday acquitted former senator Leila De Lima, one of the fiercest critics of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, of a drugs charge, the senator’s lawyer said. De Lima, 63, was charged just a few months after she launched a senate investigation into Duterte’s “war on drugs”, during which thousands of users and dealers were killed, many by police or in mysterious circumstances. (Reporting by Adrian […]

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge on Thursday rejected an effort to disqualify the law firm defending JPMorgan Chase & Co against a lawsuit by women who claim they were abused by Jeffrey Epstein and that the bank aided in the late financier’s sex trafficking. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said the firm WilmerHale did not have a conflict of interest because it once […]

By Allison Lampert MONTREAL (Reuters) -Air Canada pilots eyeing “historic” workplace gains said on Thursday that full bargaining with the carrier was likely to start this summer, before the end of their decade-long contract, according to a letter to union members. North American pilots are pressing for higher salaries and better scheduling after aviators made big gains in a recent deal with Delta Air Lines that delivers a 34% pay […]

TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares of Sharp Corp, the Japanese electronics maker owned by Taiwan’s Foxconn, tumbled 7% on Friday after it reported a $1.9 billion loss on write-downs of its panel display business and other assets. Sharp said it took a hit of 220 billion yen ($1.6 billion) as it wrote down the value of building and machinery in both its LCD and OLED display businesses in Japan, and other […]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico will launch a new tool later this month to help record information on the tens of thousands of people who have gone missing, the country’s federal prosecutors office (FGR) said on Thursday. The registry is set to gather information from a number of databases covering mass and clandestine graves, arrests, torture crimes, criminal records, fingerprints and genetics, the FGR said in Mexico’s official gazette. Last […]

By Allison Lampert MONTREAL (Reuters) -Air Canada pilots eyeing “historic” workplace gains said on Thursday that full bargaining with the carrier was likely to start this summer, before the end of their decade-long contract, according to a letter to union members. North American pilots are pressing for higher salaries and better scheduling after aviators made big gains in a recent deal with Delta Air Lines that delivers a 34% pay […]

TOKYO (Reuters) -SoftBank Group Corp’s shares tumbled 5% in early trade on Friday after the Japanese technology investor reported an annual loss as the value of its portfolio slid. SoftBank reported a net loss of 970 billion yen ($7.18 billion) after a sell-down of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd helped cushion investment loss at its Vision Fund unit. ($1 = 135.0500 yen) (Reporting by Kiyoshi […]