Town Hall News

By Eduardo Baptista and Ryan Woo BEIJING (Reuters) -China on Tuesday expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai in a tit-for-tat move after Ottawa told a Toronto-based Chinese diplomat to leave, escalating tense relations amid concerns about Chinese influence in Canada. Canada expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei on Monday after an intelligence report accused him of trying to target a Canadian lawmaker critical of China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority. […]

By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russians were united in a “sacred” fight with the West over Ukraine that would end in victory, and accused the United States and its allies of forgetting the Soviet triumph over the Nazis in World War Two. Putin has repeatedly likened the war in Ukraine – which he casts as a defensive move against a West which wants […]

By Renju Jose and Kanishka Singh SYDNEY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A cross-party delegation of Australian lawmakers said on Tuesday they met U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, urging her to help drop the pending extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and allow him to return to Australia. The “Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group” said it had informed the U.S. envoy of “the widespread concern in Australia” about the continued detention of Assange, […]

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday that the European Union was continuously working to improve its sanctions regime against Russia. Responding to a question about whether he was in favour of a proposed expansion of sanctions to include Chinese companies, Scholz said the goal was to improve existing sanctions and that the next sanctions package would not be the last. (Reporting by Rachel More, Editing by […]

KYIV (Reuters) – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy after a new wave of Russian air strikes on the capital. The trip falls on the European Union’s Europe Day, which Ukraine adopted as its own on Monday, underlining its ambition to join Western institutions after applying to join the EU last year following Russia’s invasion. “Good to […]

By Laurie Chen and James Pomfret BEIJING/HONGKONG (Reuters) – The European Union said on Tuesday a crackdown in China on consulting firms was “not good news”, as Chinese state media suggested authorities would intensify law enforcement action to safeguard national security. The scrutiny of consulting firms comes as China is set to expand its counter-espionage law with a broader definition of spying that could criminalise the transfer of information and […]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel killed three senior commanders from Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group, and 10 civilians in surprise strikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medical officials said. Following are some facts about Islamic Jihad: * Founded in the late 1970s by Fathi Shiqaqi and Abdel-Aziz Odeh, Islamic Jihad gained support among Palestinians disillusioned with Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Shiqaqi was assassinated in 1995 in Malta, […]

By Amlan Chakraborty NEW DELHI (Reuters) -England fast bowler Jofra Archer is a doubt for the Ashes after he was ruled out for the remainder of this season’s Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday due to a nagging elbow injury. Archer spent 17 months on the sidelines following elbow and back injuries before returning to international cricket in January. The 28-year-old played only five of Mumbai Indians’ 10 matches this […]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel killed three senior commanders from Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group, and 10 civilians in surprise strikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medical officials said. Following are some facts about Islamic Jihad: * Founded in the late 1970s by Fathi Shiqaqi and Abdel-Aziz Odeh, Islamic Jihad gained support among Palestinians disillusioned with Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Shiqaqi was assassinated in 1995 in Malta, […]