Town Hall News

By Yew Lun Tian and Casey Hall BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -One joke by a Chinese comedian about the nation’s military has spurred online uproar, a $2 million fine, a police probe, a sweep of cancelled shows and fears for the survival of Chinese stand-up comedy, a rare refuge for somewhat free speech. The furore over Li Haoshi’s wisecrack in Beijing last weekend marks the biggest scandal yet for a form of […]

BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s exports to North Korea soared in April from a year earlier, with wigs and fertiliser among major shipments, Chinese customs data showed on Saturday. Chinese outbound shipments to the isolated country surged 69% year-on-year to $166 million in April, data released by China’s General Administration of Customs showed. The top export items in terms of value were processed hair and wool used in wigs, worth about $11.6 […]

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) -At least 12 people died and an unspecified number were injured in a stampede at a soccer stadium in El Salvador on Saturday, the Central American country’s government said. Alianza FC and Club Deportivo FAS were playing the second leg of their playoff quarter-final game at the Cuscatlan stadium in San Salvador, the country’s capital, when play was suspended after a stampede broke out in the general […]

By Steve Keating ROCHESTER, New York (Reuters) – Brooks Koepka claimed a PGA Championship hat-trick and a landmark major win for LIV Golf on Sunday but the day also belonged to Michael Block, a 46-year-old club professional, who capped a golfing fairytale with a hole-in-one. Kopeka, saying he had learned his lessons from last month’s Masters when he led by two going into the final round before a collapse opened […]

ROCHESTER, New York (Reuters) – LIV Golf’s Brooks Koepka won the PGA Championship by two shots over world number two Scottie Scheffler and Norway’s Viktor Hovland at Oak Hill Country Club on Sunday for his fifth career major title. (Reporting by Steve Keating; Writing by Frank Pingue in Toronto) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

ROCHESTER, New York (Reuters) – Jon Rahm came into the PGA Championship looking to extend a brilliant start to the year that included a Masters triumph but instead struggled just to make the cut and walked away from Oak Hill on Sunday searching for positives. Rahm closed with a one-over-par 71 that left him at seven over on the week and well off the lead and while he is certain […]

(Reuters) – Meta Platform Inc’s Instagram is down for more than 98,000 users on Sunday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. Downdetector tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources including users. (Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

(Reuters) – The head of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will hold talks on Monday with Chen Wenqing, member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo who oversees police, legal affairs and intelligence, the Russian RIA state news reported. This would be Patrushev’s first meeting with Chen Wenqing, RIA reported. In October, Chen Wenqing was named the party secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, China’s top security post […]

By Jamie McGeever (Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever. The People’s Bank of China is expected to keep key lending rates on hold on Monday, as traders in Asia digest the implications of the G7’s stance on China and the tense and fluid situation in Washington regarding the U.S. debt ceiling standoff. Looking further into the week, the main regional drivers for […]