Town Hall News

(Reuters) -The head of Russia’s Wagner private army said on Thursday that Ukrainian units had begun their counterattack, and were approaching Bakhmut from the flanks, while Russia’s defence ministry said its paratroopers were supporting an advance on the west of the city. Reuters could not independently verify either of the assertions, which came amid an escalating dispute between Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian defence ministry over the conduct […]

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli air strikes killed the head of Islamic Jihad’s rocket force in Gaza early on Thursday, part of an operation that has killed 25 people including women and children this week and that has been met with hundreds of rockets fired from the enclave. Egypt was set to host senior Islamic Jihad official Mohammad al-Hindi in Cairo later in the day, part of mediation […]

(Corrects sixth paragraph to say ‘through its platform’, not ‘machines’) By Ariba Shahid KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) -Point-of-sale transactions routed through Pakistan’s main digital payments system fell by nearly 50% the day after former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest ignited countrywide protests and prompted authorities to shut down mobile internet services, data showed on Thursday. The reason for the slump was primarily the mobile broadband suspension, in addition to lower footfall […]

By Angelo Amante ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s school population will shrink by one million in the coming decade because of the plunging birth rate and continuing brain drain, the education minister said on Thursday. National statistics bureau ISTAT has said births in Italy dropped to a historic low below 400,000 in 2022, the 14th consecutive fall, with the overall population declining by 179,000 to 58.85 million. A shrinking and ageing […]

GENEVA (Reuters) – The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) reached a record 71.1 million worldwide last year due to conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and climate calamities like the monsoon floods in Pakistan, according to data published on Thursday. The Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) said that figure represented a 20% increase since 2021, with an unprecedented number of people fleeing in search of safety and […]

(Reuters) -China’s e-commerce giant JD.com Inc, said on Thursday that its chief executive Xu Lei will step down and the chief financial official of the company will take over the position. Xu Lei, who has been officially CEO for a year, will retire in June “due to personal reasons”, the company said in a statement. He will begin the process of handing the CEO role over to Sandy Xu Ran […]

(Reuters) -The leader of Russia’s Wagner private army said on Thursday Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive was already underway and making gains on the outskirts of the eastern city of Bakhmut, while Kyiv said its main effort had not yet started. Ukrainian operations were “unfortunately, partially successful”, Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose force of mercenaries and convicts recruited from prison has led Russia’s main military campaign in Bakhmut, said on social media. Kyiv says […]

By Mike Blake and Ted Hesson SAN DIEGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. will lift COVID-19 border restrictions known as Title 42 on Thursday night, a major shift that has drawn tens of thousands of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border, straining local communities and intensifying political divisions. The number of migrants caught crossing illegally has climbed in recent weeks, with daily apprehensions surpassing 10,000 on Monday and Tuesday. U.S. border cities […]

(Reuters) -Tapestry Inc raised its annual profit forecast on Thursday, betting that price increases and strong demand for its Coach handbags would help cushion a slowdown in luxury purchases in the United States. Shares of the company, also known for its Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman brands, jumped 6% in premarket trading. Demand for luxury goods is seeing a broad-based slowdown in the United States with consumers pausing a strong […]