Town Hall News

By Andy Bruce LONDON (Reuters) – Retailers and the film industry helped Britain’s economy inch higher in April, despite contractions in manufacturing and construction, according to data on Wednesday that pointed to slow growth rather than recession. Britain’s economy grew by 0.2% month-on-month in April, the Office for National Statistics said, matching the consensus in a Reuters poll of economists. Financial markets showed little reaction to the figures – in […]

By Tom Sims FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Greenpeace activists scaled Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt on Wednesday and strung up a large yellow banner to protest against the climate investment policies of the German lender and its asset management company DWS. The action came a day ahead of the annual shareholder meeting of DWS, which is mostly owned by Deutsche Bank and has drawn attention from activists and regulators over allegations that […]

Ramon Laureano ran his way into the difference-making score in the eighth inning, rookie Hogan Harris limited the Tampa Bay Rays to one run in seven innings, and the Oakland Athletics thrilled their largest home crowd of the season on a “reverse boycott” night with a 2-1 victory and a seventh straight win Tuesday. With 27,759 mostly green-and-gold-clad fans — many donning “SELL” T-shirts as a message to owner John […]

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden hopes to be able to determine who was behind the Nord Stream gas pipeline sabotage by the autumn, the prosecutor leading the country’s investigation told Swedish radio. In September 2022, several unexplained underwater explosions ruptured the Nord Stream 1 and newly-built Nord Stream 2 pipelines that link Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea. The blasts occurred in the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark and […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian court on Wednesday jailed the former head of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s campaign organisation in the Urals city of Ufa to seven years and six months in prison, Russian media reported. Liliya Chanysheva was sentenced after being convicted of “creating an extremist organisation”, media said. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge late on Tuesday granted the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) request to temporarily block Microsoft Corp’s acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard and set a hearing next week. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila scheduled a two-day evidentiary hearing on the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction for June 22-23 in San Francisco. Without a court order, Microsoft could have closed on the […]

By Ngouda Dione THIES, Senegal (Reuters) – In a dusty alleyway in the Senegalese city of Thies, Japanese wrestler Shogo Uozumi lay face-down in the sand after being tossed in the air by an oversized opponent. Uozumi then rose to his feet, dusted himself off and rejoined the surrounding group of wrestlers wearing loincloths. Back in a fighting stance, Uozumi smiled. After competing at national level in Greco-Roman wrestling back […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s dominant lender on Wednesday said individuals could now open accounts in Indian rupees, expanding the range of foreign currencies available as Moscow strives to reduce dependency on the U.S. dollar and euro. “As Sberbank has highlighted, the bank supports the trend of de-dollarisation and constantly increases the number of foreign currencies available to clients,” Sberbank said in a statement. Sberbank has more than 100 million retail […]

By Guy Faulconbridge and Vladimir Soldatkin MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that any further mobilisation would depend on what Russia wanted to achieve in the war in Ukraine, adding that he faced a question only he could answer – should Russia try to take Kyiv again? More than 15 months since Putin sent troops into Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian forces are still battling with artillery, tanks and […]