Town Hall News

By Ahmad Ghaddar and Maha El Dahan LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) -OPEC and its allies are unlikely to deepen supply cuts at their ministerial meeting on Sunday despite a fall in oil prices toward $70 per barrel, four sources from the alliance told Reuters.     OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, pumps around 40% of the world’s crude and supplies around 60% of […]

By Byron Kaye SYDNEY (Reuters) -One of Australia’s most decorated soldiers lost a defamation lawsuit against three newspapers that accused him of involvement in the murder of six Afghans while on deployment, a stunning end to a case that lifted the veil of secrecy over the elite SAS. The newspapers proved four of the six murder accusations they levelled at former SAS corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, but Federal Court Judge Anthony […]

OSLO (Reuters) – NATO’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said he condemned North Korea’s failed satellite launch, adding he called upon the country to “cease these provocative actions”. A North Korean satellite launch on Wednesday ended in failure, sending the booster and payload plunging into the sea, North Korean state media said. North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong, leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, said her country would soon put a military […]

(Reuters) -Argentina forward Lionel Messi will play his last game for Paris St Germain against Clermont on Saturday, coach Christophe Galtier said on Thursday. “I had the privilege of coaching the best player in the history of football. This will be his last match at the Parc des Princes, and I hope that he will receive the warmest of welcomes,” Galtier told reporters on Thursday. Messi, who has 21 goals […]

By Maria Martinez BERLIN (Reuters) – Rising rents, less venture capital and a shortage of talent are taking the shine off Berlin as a hub for startups. “The one single thing more difficult to find in Berlin than an apartment is a programmer,” said Avitosh Sawhney, 36, who moved his tech startup Ynertia to the German capital from Paris in 2020 but found it did not offer the plentiful space, […]

(Clarifies comment in paragraph 9 referred to another case, not Credit Suisse) ZURICH (Reuters) -Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan on Wednesday defended recent interest rate hikes to tackle inflation, saying they were neither damaging for Swiss financial stability nor responsible for the downfall of Credit Suisse. The SNB has increased interest rates four times over the past year to reduce inflation which has persisted above the central bank’s target […]

By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) – How rules are applied to banks and the calculation of their liquidity buffers should be reviewed following recent turmoil in the banking sector, Klaas Knot, chair of the G20’s Financial Stability Board said on Thursday. European banking stocks plunged after the collapse of Silicon Valley (SVB) bank in the U.S. in March, creating turmoil that lead to the forced takeover of ailing Credit Suisse […]

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The Dutch government has stepped up its criticism of a push by EU telecoms operators to get Big Tech to help pay for the rollout of 5G and broadband, saying claims that unchecked data growth has pushed up network costs are not backed by facts. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach such as a network fee levied on video streaming companies, it would be […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Thursday that relations with Saudi Arabia were constructive and based on mutual understanding and respect ahead of an OPEC+ meeting. Asked about relations with Saudi Arabia ahead of the meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they were “constructive, based on mutual understanding, mutual respect, mutual trust, and very work-like”. OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with Russia and other […]