Town Hall News

By Eimi Yamamitsu (Reuters) -Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing Co Ltd reported a 16% jump in first-half profit and lifted its outlook for the full year on Thursday, as the Japanese retailer saw a fledgling recovery in China and strong sales growth in Europe and North America. Uniqlo, a clothing giant known for fleece jackets, low-key sweaters and button-down shirts, has become a bellwether for global retailers in China, where it […]

ZURICH (Reuters) – UBS has hired JPMorgan to explore a possible IPO of Credit Suisse’s domestic business, Zurich based finance blog Inside Paradeplatz reported on Thursday. Last month UBS agreed to takeover Credit Suisse for 3 billion francs as part of a merger engineered by Swiss authorities, while the Alpine state put up more than 200 billion francs of support and guarantees. UBS now wants to get down to business […]

By Balazs Koranyi WASHINGTON (Reuters) – European Central Bank policymakers are converging on a 25 basis point interest rate hike in May, even if other options remain on the table and the debate is not yet settled, according to five sources with direct knowledge of the discussion. The ECB has raised rates by at least 50 basis points each at six successive meetings — the fastest pace on record — […]

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – The Sudanese army early on Thursday warned of what it described as a “mobilisation of forces and redeployment” by the powerful Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the capital Khartoum and other cities. The army in a statement said the RSF’s movements represent a “clear violation of law”. The statement represents a rare public rebuke to the RSF, a paramilitary group that operates in Sudan under a specialised […]

By Joe Cash and Ellen Zhang BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s exports unexpectedly surged in March, with officials flagging rising demand for electric vehicles, but analysts cautioned the improvement partly reflects suppliers catching up with unfulfilled orders after last year’s COVID-19 disruptions. Exports in March shot up 14.8% from a year ago, snapping five straight months of declines and stunning economists who predicted a 7.0% fall in a Reuters poll. But analysts […]

By Sonia Rolley KINSHASA (Reuters) – Congolese women and children have been raped and subjected to other abuses during a mass expulsion of migrant workers from Angola to Democratic Republic of Congo, a doctor, officials and the United Nations said. Angola has deported thousands of workers in recent months, U.N. figures show, echoing previous purges over the past 12 years during which abuses also occurred, according to rights groups and […]

(Reuters) -National Public Radio (NPR) will no longer post content to its 52 official Twitter feeds in protest against a label by the social media platform that implies government involvement in the U.S. organization’s editorial content. NPR said on Wednesday Twitter refused its repeated requests to remove the inaccurate label of “state-affiliated media”, now changed to “government-funded media,” which did not accurately capture its public media governance structure. British broadcaster […]

By Jeslyn Lerh SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Oil prices retreated on Thursday after rising for two sessions, with investors still showing lingering concern over a possible U.S. recession and weaker oil demand. Brent crude fell 32 cents, or 0.4%, to $87.01 a barrel by 0630 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) slid 22 cents, or 0.3%, to $83.04. Both benchmarks rose 2% on Wednesday to their highest in more than a […]

By Krisztina Than BUDAPEST (Reuters) – The United States imposed sanctions on three top officials of the Russian-controlled International Investment Bank in Budapest on Wednesday after it said Hungary had ignored U.S. concerns raised over the “opaque Kremlin platform”. The three names added to the U.S. sanctions list are Russian nationals Nikolay Kosov, the bank’s former chairman, and Georgy Potapov, as well as Hungarian national Imre Laszloczki, the latter two […]