Town Hall News

By Kate Lamb and Ananda Teresia JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia has for months been quietly engaging Myanmar’s pro-democracy shadow government, its ruling junta and ethnic minority armies, its foreign minister told Reuters, in an effort to kick-start a peace process as violence intensifies. As chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year, Indonesia has been working intensively behind the scenes to deescalate the crisis in Myanmar, Retno […]

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 […]

DUBONA, Serbia (Reuters) – Eight people were killed and at least 10 were wounded in a shooting in the town of Mladenovac, 42 km (26 miles) south of Belgrade, local media reported, with police launching a manhunt for the shooter and setting up roadblocks. In remarks carried by the Serbian news portal Telegraf, the Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic described the shooting as a “terrorist act”, without providing further detail. Serbian […]

By Frank Pingue TORONTO (Reuters) – The Toronto Maple Leafs were considered Stanley Cup favourites when the second round began but now have their backs to the wall and are staring at a 2-0 series deficit following a 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday. Toronto, a talented but long-underachieving club that this year finally won a playoff series for the first time since 2004, were undone by costly […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang assured his Russian and Indian counterparts of deepening bilateral ties, promising that “coordination and cooperation” will only grow stronger, in a show of solidarity with two of China’s biggest neighbours. Qin met in India on Thursday with other foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a bloc of nations spanning most of Eurasia, with Beijing seeking to preserve stable relations with countries […]

By Chris Prentice, Trevor Hunnicutt and Andrea Shalal NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. federal and state officials are assessing whether “market manipulation” caused the recent volatility in banking shares, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday, as the White House vowed to monitor “short-selling pressures on healthy banks.” Shares of regional banks resumed their slide this week after the collapse of First Republic Bank, the third U.S. mid-sized […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang assured his Russian and Indian counterparts of deepening bilateral ties, promising that “coordination and cooperation” will only grow stronger, in a show of solidarity with two of China’s biggest neighbours. Qin met in India on Thursday with other foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a bloc of nations spanning most of Eurasia, with Beijing seeking to preserve stable relations with countries […]

By Ankur Banerjee SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Asian stocks rose, the dollar eased and gold hovered around its record highs on Friday, as jittery investors remained nervous about the U.S. banking sector following another rout in shares of regional lenders. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.44% higher and was on course to snap its two-week losing streak. Japan remains shut for holiday, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index […]

By Steve Scherer OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday promised to run in the next election at what is likely the last Liberal party convention before a vote and attacked his Conservative rival’s characterization of the country as broken. Speaking in front of some 3,500 party members at the first in-person gathering in five years, Trudeau delivered what sounded like a campaign speech even though one is […]