Town Hall News

(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law on Friday a bill on setting up electronic draft call-up procedures aimed at making military mobilisation more efficient and closing loopholes. A website outlining legislative procedures said Putin signed the law, endorsed this week by the State Duma lower house of parliament. Russia says it mobilised just over 300,000 men last year to help bolster its “special military operation” in Ukraine. […]

(Reuters) – The National Basketball Association (NBA) has suspended former Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges 30 games without pay as a result of a domestic violence incident involving the mother of his children, the league said on Friday. The incident occurred last June in Los Angeles, after which Bridges was arrested and charged with multiple offenses. Bridges entered a plea of no contest to a felony domestic violence charge and the […]

By Graham Fahy and Steve Holland BALLINA, Ireland (Reuters) -Thousands took to the streets of U.S. President Joe Biden’s ancestral home town in the west of Ireland on Friday for a farewell rally to end a nostalgic three-day state visit ahead of what is expected to be a grueling 2024 re-election bid. The speech and concert in front of a cathedral that Biden’s great-great-great-grandfather helped build is likely to provide […]

By Elena Rodriguez MADRID (Reuters) -A 50-year-old Spanish extreme athlete emerged on Friday from a 500-day challenge living 70 metres (230 feet) deep in a cave outside Granada with minimal contact outside. Wearing dark glasses and smiling as she adjusted to the light of spring in southern Spain, elite mountaineer Beatriz Flamini told reporters that time had flown by and she did not want to come out. “When they came […]

By Horacio Soria and Juan Carlos Bustamante BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentines, painfully accustomed to decades of soaring prices, say that the current 102.5%-and-climbing inflation rate is on another level and is making it almost impossible to get by. “In my case, I have zero capacity to save,” said Claudia Hernansaez, a publishing company employee. “I try to think that someday we’re going to be better off. But the inflation we’re […]

By Nupur Anand, Tatiana Bautzer and Saeed Azhar NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. banking heavyweights reaped windfalls from higher interest payments in the first quarter, brushing off a sector shakedown and taking the opportunity to set aside billions of dollars in case loans turn sour as the economic outlook dims. First-quarter 2023 earnings from JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co beat Wall Street expectations on Friday […]

(Reuters) – Norwegian fencers will not participate in events where Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete, Norway’s fencing federation said on Friday, extending the list of nations opposing the return of athletes from the two countries. The International Fencing Federation (FIE) on March 10 cleared fencers from Russia and Belarus to return to international events just before 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers, which resulted in the cancellation of events in Denmark, […]

By Chris Prentice and Hannah Lang NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission met on Friday to open public comment again on its proposal to expand the definition of an “exchange,” clarifying that its existing rules on exchanges also apply to decentralized cryptocurrency platforms. The SEC voted 3-2 to take additional comments from the public after crypto firms criticized the plan as vague and aimed at roping in […]

By Chris Prentice and Hannah Lang NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission met on Friday to open public comment again on its proposal to expand the definition of an “exchange,” clarifying that its existing rules on exchanges also apply to decentralized cryptocurrency platforms. The SEC voted 3-2 to take additional comments from the public after crypto firms criticized the plan as vague and aimed at roping in […]