Town Hall News

By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices gained about 3% to a one-week high on Thursday on a weaker U.S. dollar and a jump in refinery runs in top crude importer China. Brent futures rose $2.47, or 3.4%, to settle at $75.67 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $2.35, or 3.4%, to settle at $70.62. Those were the highest closes for Brent and WTI since […]

By Jacqueline Thomsen (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed civil rights lawyer Nusrat Choudhury to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, making her the first Bangladeshi-American and female Muslim federal judge in the United States. Choudhury, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois, was confirmed on a 50-49 vote. She will also be the first Bangladeshi-American federal […]

By Andrew Gray BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday left open the prospect that his term may be extended as senior officials from alliance member countries openly endorsed the idea – including one of his potential successors. Stoltenberg’s term has already been prolonged three times and he is due to step down in September after nine years as secretary-general of the military alliance, which has assumed even […]

By Vitalii Hnidyi SOUTHEASTERN UKRAINE (Reuters) – Russia announced plans on Thursday to stage elections in occupied parts of Ukraine in just three months, Moscow’s latest bid to signal it is in control even as a Ukrainian counteroffensive has pushed its forces back in some areas. The Ukrainian assault is in its early stages, and military experts say the decisive battles still lie ahead. But corpses of Russian soldiers and […]

By Vitalii Hnidyi SOUTHEASTERN UKRAINE (Reuters) – Russia announced plans on Thursday to stage elections in occupied parts of Ukraine in just three months, Moscow’s latest bid to signal it is in control even as a Ukrainian counteroffensive has pushed its forces back in some areas. The Ukrainian assault is in its early stages, and military experts say the decisive battles still lie ahead. But corpses of Russian soldiers and […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – African leaders could propose a series of “confidence building measures” during their initial efforts to mediate in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, according to a draft framework document seen by Reuters on Thursday. Senegal President Macky Sall and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are heading a delegation including leaders from Zambia, the Comoros, and Egypt’s prime minister that will travel to Kyiv on Friday and St. […]

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – African leaders could propose a series of “confidence building measures” during their initial efforts to mediate in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, according to a draft framework document seen by Reuters on Thursday. Senegal President Macky Sall and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are heading a delegation including leaders from Zambia, the Comoros, and Egypt’s prime minister that will travel to Kyiv on Friday and St. […]

(Reuters) – Chechen fighters have been deployed in Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine to prevent attacks from “Ukrainian sabotage groups”, Chechnya ruler Ramzan Kadyrov said on Thursday. Belgorod region has in the past month reported a series of cross-border incursions from pro-Ukraine Russian partisan groups calling themselves opponents of President Vladimir Putin. Kadyrov, a Putin ally who leads the Russian region of Chechnya, said that fighters from the “Zapad-Akhmat” battalion […]

(Reuters) – Chechen fighters have been deployed in Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine to prevent attacks from “Ukrainian sabotage groups”, Chechnya ruler Ramzan Kadyrov said on Thursday. Belgorod region has in the past month reported a series of cross-border incursions from pro-Ukraine Russian partisan groups calling themselves opponents of President Vladimir Putin. Kadyrov, a Putin ally who leads the Russian region of Chechnya, said that fighters from the “Zapad-Akhmat” battalion […]