Town Hall News

By Alan Baldwin LONDON (Reuters) – Half the Formula One calendar could be turned into sprint weekends if changes to the format are given the go-ahead and prove a hit in Baku next week, according to Haas team boss Guenther Steiner. The sport is due to vote next week on changing the sprint format from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix so that the Saturday 100km race stands alone with its own […]

By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden announced plans to increase U.S. funding to help developing countries fight climate change and curb deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest during a meeting on Thursday with leaders from the world’s largest economies. During a virtual meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, Biden urged his counterparts to be ambitious in setting goals to reduce emissions and meet a […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. banking system remains sound and the U.S. government will take “any necessary steps” to keep it the strongest and safest financial system in the world, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday. Yellen said decisive U.S. actions taken after the failure of two regional banks had shored up the financial system. “The U.S. banking system remains sound and we will take any necessary steps […]

By Alan Baldwin LONDON (Reuters) – Half the Formula One calendar could be turned into sprint weekends if changes to the format are given the go-ahead and prove a hit in Baku next week, according to Haas team boss Guenther Steiner. The sport is due to vote next week on changing the sprint format from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix so that the Saturday 100km race stands alone with its own […]

GDYNIA, Poland (Reuters) – At 88, Polish retiree Piotr Dudek is hoping to officially become the world’s oldest windsurfer – still relishing the battle with the wind and waves as he takes to the water and teaches children to enjoy the sport. Dudek has been windsurfing for 40 years and is known by the nickname “Junior”, coined for him by his friends when he was around 80. “The challenge is […]

By Fabian Hamacher NANGAN, Taiwan (Reuters) – Emergency workers on a Taiwan-controlled island next to China’s coast practiced responding to a simulated Chinese attack on Thursday, a little more than a week after Beijing staged war games around the sensitive Taiwan Strait. The Matsu Islands, close to China’s Fuzhou city, have been controlled by the government in Taipei since defeated Republic of China forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after […]

SKOPJE (Reuters) – The European Union’s border agency, Frontex, started deploying guards at North Macedonia’s southern border with Greece on Thursday in a joint operation with Skopje to control and prevent illegal migration and cross-border crime. Under an agreement signed last October, Frontex will deploy more than 100 guards at the border, Frontex officials said. The agreement is valid until Jan. 24 2024 but may be extended. North Macedonia is […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Much like the Russian government, the Bolshoi Theatre, home to two of the world’s greatest opera and ballet companies, is being shunned by the West over Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine and looking east to China instead. The Bolshoi’s director, Vladimir Urin, told a news conference in Moscow to announce its 2023/24 programme that he was saddened by the loss of what had been regular creative cooperation […]

By Shadia Nasralla LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices fell to their lowest level in about three weeks on Thursday, as a firmer dollar and rate hike expectations outweighed lower U.S. crude stocks. Brent crude futures were down $1.65, or 2%, to trade at $81.47 a barrel at 1342 GMT. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures dropped $1.61, or 2%, to $77.55 a barrel. Both benchmarks, after a 2% fall on Wednesday, […]