Town Hall News

PARIS (Reuters) – Chanel sales in the United States, one of the luxury label’s top three markets, have slowed to a single-digit growth rate over the past six months, it said on Thursday, adding to evidence that the post-pandemic spending splurge in the country has tapered off. “Clearly the trend has softened since November,” Chanel’s chief financial officer Philippe Blondiaux said of U.S. sales, adding that the U.S. market has […]

By Julien Pretot PARIS (Reuters) -French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) president Brigitte Henriques has resigned a little over a year before the Paris 2024 Summer Games, the CNOSF said on Thursday. “At the opening of the CNOSF general assembly held today at the Maison du Sport Français, Brigitte Henriques announced her decision to step down as president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee,” the CNOSF said in a statement. […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it had summoned the ambassadors of Germany, Sweden and Denmark to protest over what it said was the “complete lack of results” in an investigation to identify who blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year. 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 […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Emerging economies will continue to suffer from the spillover of economic problems in the U.S., which are restricting their market access and pushing up financing costs, a Moody’s report said on Thursday. A combination of U.S. monetary policy, the banking system stress and “any consequences of the debt ceiling impasse” contribute to weak credit conditions in emerging markets, the credit agency said, adding that the world’s biggest […]

(Reuters) – Novak Djokovic enters the French Open amid a run of indifferent claycourt form but few would be surprised to the see Serbian great hoist the Musketeers’ Trophy for a third time. With Rafa Nadal sidelined with injury, Djokovic has the chance to move past the Spaniard in the Grand Slam race and take a record 23rd major title, which would strengthen his case in the GOAT (Greatest Of […]

By Joan Faus BARCELONA (Reuters) – Scrawled across Barcelona’s opera house, along the city’s renowned La Rambla boulevard, is expletive-laden graffiti urging tourists to “go home”. In another district, the messaging is more emphatic still: “Tourism kills neighbourhoods”. The signs, which appeared in recent days, underline how anti-tourism sentiment is bubbling up in the Spanish city most-visited by foreigners, as arrival numbers return to near pre-pandemic levels following the lull […]

By Peter Hobson (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates has become a key trade hub for Russian gold since Western sanctions over Ukraine cut Russia’s more traditional export routes, Russian customs records show. The records, which contain details of nearly a thousand gold shipments in the year since the Ukraine war started, show the Gulf state imported 75.7 tonnes of Russian gold worth $4.3 billion – up from just 1.3 […]

By Nick Mulvenney (Reuters) – A sizzling start to the season and a first big claycourt triumph at the Italian Open last week has many convinced that Elena Rybakina could be poised to shed the “one slam wonder” tag at the French Open. The 23-year-old may have enjoyed an element of good fortune in Rome with Anhelina Kalinina’s retirement from the final following the injury withdrawals of Iga Swiatek and […]

(Reuters) – The U.S. on Thursday will hold its first sale of oil and gas drilling rights on federal lands since passage of President Joe Biden’s landmark climate change law, with more than 10,000 acres (40.5 square kilometers) on offer in New Mexico and Kansas. The federal lease auction is just the second to be held in New Mexico, the nation’s second-largest oil-producing state, since Biden became president in 2021. […]