Town Hall News

PUERTO ORDAZ, Venezuela (Reuters) – Flooding collapsed a gold mine in southern Venezuela, killing at least 12 miners, local authorities said on Sunday, adding that the victims’ bodies were returned to their families. The Talavera mine, located in El Callao, in Venezuela’s Bolivar state, flooded on Wednesday due to heavy rains but rescue workers could not finish recovery efforts before Saturday. Another 112 people survived the mine collapse, said Edgar […]

By Michael Church (Reuters) – South Korea coach Juergen Klinsmann has included Son Jun-ho in his squad for this month’s friendly matches against Peru and El Salvador despite the midfielder’s ongoing detention in China in connection with a bribery case in Liaoning province. Son, who plays his club football for Chinese Super League side Shandong Taishan, was listed in the 23-man squad for the games, which will see the Koreans […]

By Elida Moreno PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – Panama’s former President Ricardo Martinelli was on Sunday chosen as the presidential candidate for his party Realizando Metas (RM) in next year’s elections. Martinelli, who was in office from 2009 to 2014, is accused of laundering public funds through the purchase of a news outlet during his term. Martinelli – along with his sons – is also charged in Panama for his alleged […]

(Reuters) – Russian police on Sunday arrested more than 100 people who had taken to the streets to mark the 47th birthday of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, a protest monitoring group said. OVD-Info said in a statement that 109 people had been detained in 23 cities as of 10:42 p.m. Moscow time (1942 GMT). Authorities have clamped down heavily on signs of dissent since Russia’s invasion of […]

By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Monday that its forces had thwarted a major Ukrainian offensive at five points along the front in the southern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and killed hundreds of pro-Kyiv troops. It was not immediately clear whether or not the reported attack represented the start of a Ukrainian counteroffensive which Kyiv has been promising for months to recapture territory taken by Russian forces […]

By Anton Bridge and Tom Bateman TOKYO (Reuters) – In one of Keiko Kawano’s recent classes, more than a dozen Tokyo art school students held mirrors to their faces, stretching the sides of their mouths upward with their fingers: they were practising how to smile. It’s not something most people would think to pay for but Kawano’s services as a smile instructor are seeing a surge in demand in Japan, […]

By Anton Bridge and Tom Bateman TOKYO (Reuters) – In one of Keiko Kawano’s recent classes, more than a dozen Tokyo art school students held mirrors to their faces, stretching the sides of their mouths upward with their fingers: they were practising how to smile. It’s not something most people would think to pay for but Kawano’s services as a smile instructor are seeing a surge in demand in Japan, […]

By Jessie Pang and Ben Blanchard HONG KONG/TAIPEI (Reuters) -Hong Kong police said they detained 23 people on Sunday for “breaching public peace”, including a 53-year-old woman for “obstructing police officers” as authorities ramped up security for the 34th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Restrictions in Hong Kong have stifled what were once the largest vigils marking the anniversary of the bloody crackdown by Chinese troops on pro-democracy […]

By Florence Tan SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices jumped more than $1 a barrel on Monday after the world’s top exporter Saudi Arabia pledged to cut production by another 1 million barrels per day from July, counteracting macroeconomic headwinds that have depressed markets. Brent crude futures were at $77.64 a barrel, up $1.51, or 2%, at 0014 GMT after earlier hitting a session-high of $78.73 a barrel. U.S. West Texas […]