Town Hall News

By Uditha Jayasinghe COLOMBO (Reuters) -Sri Lanka’s economy shrank 11.5% in the first three months of 2023, official data showed on Thursday, as the country remained in the grip of its worst financial crisis in decades. The downturn was driven by high inflation and high interest rates, the rising cost of components, as well as restrictions on imports and lower earnings from apparel exports, Census and Statistics Department said in […]

Israel Advances Controversial West Bank Settlement Expansion Amid Global Scrutiny In response to international pressure, Israel delayed a meeting about the controversial E1 construction plan in the West Bank, but it is moving forward nonetheless with plans for at least 4,000 new housing units in existing settlements By Patrick Doyle/The Media Line Israel is continuing efforts to build and expand settlements in the West Bank despite global scrutiny over the […]

(Reuters) – Irish side Shelbourne are grappling with an unconventional transfer after goalkeeper Scott van der Sluis announced he was leaving to participate in dating reality show “Love Island”. Van der Sluis, a former Wales youth international, is heading to Spain after requesting an early release from his contact to take a break from his professional career. The 22-year-old was confirmed as the British show’s latest “bombshell” entry on Wednesday. […]

KYIV (Reuters) -Russian missiles hit two industrial facilities in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Thursday, and an elderly woman was killed by Russian fire in the southern Kherson region, local officials said. Kryvyi Rih mayor Oleksandr Vilkul reported no deaths in the latest attack on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s hometown, but said a 38-year-old man had been wounded when three missiles struck two industrial enterprises overnight. “The destruction […]

By Krishn Kaushik NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s defence ministry has approved the procurement of U.S.-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones, sources told Reuters on Thursday. India will buy 31 drones made by General Atomics worth slightly over $3 billion, one of the sources said. India’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The defence ministry’s initial clearance for the procurement comes just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi […]

LONDON (Reuters) -Actor Glenda Jackson, a two-time Oscar winner who later served as a socialist politician in the British parliament for 23 years, has died after a brief illness, PA Media reported on Thursday, citing her agent. She was 87. One of four daughters of a bricklayer and a cleaning lady in northwest England, Jackson never forgot her roots even as she made her name as one of the greatest […]

(Reuters) -Hong Kong’s banking regulator said on Thursday it had, in April, asked lenders operating in the region to try and meet the business needs of licensed crypto exchanges, responding to a report saying banks were under pressure to take such exchanges on as clients. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) comments were in response to a Financial Times report which said lenders including HSBC and Standard Chartered were facing […]

LONDON (Reuters) – UK foreign minister James Cleverly called China’s sanctioning of British parliamentarians “deplorable” on Thursday, saying those sanctioned had his full support. Cleverly said on Twitter that he met with lawmakers Nus Ghani, Tim Loughton, and House of Lords member Helena Kennedy. “They have my full support and I, with them, will continue to call out Chinese atrocities at home and abroad,” he added. (Reporting by Muvija M; […]

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Dhara Ranasinghe. A day after the Federal Reserve took markets by surprise with a hawkish message, it’s the European Central Bank’s turn in the hot seat. Short-dated government bond yields in the United States and Europe are heading back up and bullish stock markets are starting to feel, well a little bit less bullish. While the Fed was […]