Town Hall News

By Casey Hall SHANGHAI (Reuters) -A potential 500 million euro ($551 million) write-off on unsold Yeezy shoes is a headache for Adidas as it looks to implement a global turnaround – but it’s not the German sportswear giant’s biggest problem. That would be China, the world’s second-largest sportswear market, where Adidas saw sales decline 36% in its last fiscal year. “Their numbers there have been just abysmal. They’ve clearly lost […]

By Felix Light and Caleb Davis (Reuters) -Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenary force, said in a sudden and dramatic announcement on Friday that his forces would leave the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut that they have been trying to capture since last summer. Prigozhin said they would pull back on May 10 – ending their involvement in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war – because of […]

By Rodrigo Campos and Marc Jones NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -Credit Suisse has bought up $1.6 billion worth of Ecuador’s bonds, freeing up cash for conservation of the country’s unique Galapagos Islands in what is set to be the biggest debt-for-nature swap ever struck. The plans sees three of Ecuador’s big government bonds, which have slumped in value this year due to a political crisis in the country, being bought at […]

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday he was frustrated for not yet finding a diplomatic fix over the continued detention of Julian Assange and that he remained concerned about the mental health of the WikiLeaks’ founder. “I know it’s frustrating, I share the frustration,” Albanese told ABC television from London where Assange is being held pending a U.S. extradition case. “I can’t do more than […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will hold a rare joint military exercise with its landlocked neighbour Laos this month as Beijing tries to bolster security ties with regional allies to counter an expanding U.S. presence in Southeast Asia. Southern Theater Command, one of the five theatre commands of the People’s Liberation Army, will send troops to Laos for the “Friendship Shield 2023” joint exercise, the Chinese defence ministry said on Friday […]

By Tom Wilson and Angus Berwick LONDON (Reuters) – Israel has seized around 190 crypto accounts at crypto exchange Binance since 2021, including two it said were linked to Islamic State and dozens of others it said were owned by Palestinian firms connected to the Islamist Hamas group, documents released by the country’s counter-terror authorities show. Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) on Jan. 12 confiscated two Binance […]

GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) on Friday called on governments to allow civilians fleeing Sudan into their territory and not to send them back to the conflict-torn country. “We’re advising governments not to return people to Sudan because of the conflict that’s going on there and also advising that this is a refugee movement,” Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR’s Director of International Protection, told reporters at a briefing […]

By Tom Wilson and Angus Berwick LONDON (Reuters) – Israel has seized around 190 crypto accounts at crypto exchange Binance since 2021, including two it said were linked to Islamic State and dozens of others it said were owned by Palestinian firms connected to the Islamist Hamas group, documents released by the country’s counter-terror authorities show. Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) on Jan. 12 confiscated two Binance […]

(Reuters) – Florida’s Senate on Thursday passed a bill that will allow a tourism board appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to cancel development agreements its predecessor body signed, the latest salvo against the Walt Disney Co from the conservative leader. Under the bill, which now goes to DeSantis for signing into law, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board, appointed by DeSantis to oversee development in and around Disney’s theme […]