Town Hall News

(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy began a visit to Rome on Saturday for talks with government officials and Pope Francis, who said in late April that the Vatican is involved in a peace mission to end the war with Russia. CONFLICT * Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian aircraft had struck two industrial sites in the Russian-held city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian aircraft had struck two industrial sites in the Russian-held city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles supplied by Britain. Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports. Britain on Thursday became the first country to say it had started supplying Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow it to hit Russian troops and supply […]

By Adrian Portugal MANILA (Reuters) -A Philippine court on Friday acquitted of a drugs charge one of the fiercest critics of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs”, a move welcomed by activists who called her incarceration a vindictive effort to harass and silence her. The court cleared former senator Leila de Lima, 63, of the second of three criminal charges against her, which stemmed from allegations made publicly by Duterte […]

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel on Saturday ruled out an immediate truce in Gaza, saying the onus was on Palestinian militants to stop launching rockets from an arsenal it suggested could be depleted within days, while its aircraft kept up strikes in the enclave. “We’re not holding ceasefire talks,” National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told a municipal event near Jerusalem, adding that Israel’s top priority […]

By Ariba Shahid KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered authorities on Saturday to identify and arrest all those involved in violent acts after former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest this week sparked deadly unrest. Khan departed the court premises late Friday night and headed towards his hometown Lahore amidst high security, after a court granted him bail. His arrest in a land fraud case on Tuesday, […]

By Ismail Shakil OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s main oil-producing province of Alberta is bracing for another hot and dry weekend, with warnings of more intense wildfires after a week of volatile weather forced thousands to evacuate homes and shuttered energy production. Special alerts have been declared across western Canada, where officials have urged vigilance as temperatures in some areas are forecast to hit 30° Celsius (86°F), or 10 to 15 […]

By Ismail Shakil OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s main oil-producing province of Alberta is bracing for another hot and dry weekend, with warnings of more intense wildfires after a week of volatile weather forced thousands to evacuate homes and shuttered energy production. Special alerts have been declared across western Canada, where officials have urged vigilance as temperatures in some areas are forecast to hit 30° Celsius (86°F), or 10 to 15 […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian aircraft had struck two industrial sites in the Russian-held city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles supplied by Britain. Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports. Britain on Thursday became the first country to say it had started supplying Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow it to hit Russian troops and supply […]

By Adrian Portugal MANILA (Reuters) -A Philippine court on Friday acquitted of a drugs charge one of the fiercest critics of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs”, a move welcomed by activists who called her incarceration a vindictive effort to harass and silence her. The court cleared former senator Leila de Lima, 63, of the second of three criminal charges against her, which stemmed from allegations made publicly by Duterte […]