Town Hall News

SYDNEY (Reuters) – A group of Indigenous Australians on Wednesday filed a human rights complaint against 20 large Australian pension funds for investing in Santos Ltd’s two gas projects, putting pressure on the funds over their fossil fuel investment plans. Three traditional landowners, in the complaint filed directly with the superannuation funds, alleged the funds had an “obligation to prevent adverse human rights impacts of companies in which they are […]

By Ankur Banerjee SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar and the yen, both safe haven assets, were mostly steady after spiking higher overnight as renewed concerns over the U.S. banking sector and economy dented risk sentiment. The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major rivals, nudged 0.01% higher to 101.80 following a 0.5% increase overnight. The index is down 0.76% for the month. Shares of First Republic Bank […]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The Bank of Mexico’s governing board may consider keeping its benchmark interest rate steady at its next monetary policy meeting, in what would be its first rate hold after 15 straight hikes, Central Bank Governor Victoria Rodriguez said on Tuesday. Banxico, as the Mexican central bank is known, hiked its key lending rate by 25 basis points to 11.25% at its March 29 meeting, moderating the […]

By David Lawder, David Shepardson and Hyonhee Shin WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Tuesday the South Korean-U.S. alliance must “leap into a new phase” to jointly overcome complex crises, including slowing economic growth, technology competition with strategic rivals and climate change. Speaking a day before a Washington summit with President Joe Biden, Yoon told an event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce the bilateral […]

By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) -Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Wednesday the central bank’s response to cost-push inflation would depend on economic conditions. “In general, dealing with cost-push inflation is very difficult for central banks. On the one hand, you’d like to curb inflation. On the other hand, you don’t want to tighten monetary policy knowing that cost-push inflation will cool the economy,” Ueda told parliament. “Striking […]

TOKYO (Reuters) – Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Wednesday how the central bank should deal with cost-push inflation will depend on economic conditions at the time. “In general, dealing with cost-push inflation is very difficult for central banks. On the one hand, you’d like to curb inflation. On the other hand, you don’t want to tighten monetary policy knowing that cost-push inflation will cool the economy,” Ueda […]

By Kantaro Komiya and Joey Roulette (Reuters) – Japanese startup ispace Inc said its attempt to make the first private moon landing had failed on Tuesday after losing contact with its Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) lander, concluding it had most likely crashed on the lunar surface. Final pings of data in the moments before the planned touchdown showed the lander’s speed rapidly increasing, leading engineers at mission control in Tokyo […]

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s LG Energy Solution on Wednesday posted a 145% jump in quarterly profit, as the battery maker factored in subsidies from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and solid sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in U.S. and European markets. The company, which supplies Tesla Inc, General Motors Co and others, reported an operating profit of 633 billion won ($472.6 million) for the January-March period, versus 259 billion […]

By Joseph Campbell and Sunil Kataria VARANASI, India (Reuters) – Murali Mohan Sastry is waiting peacefully for death on the banks of the Ganges River in India’s northern city of Varanasi, revered by millions of Hindus. More than a decade ago, the 82-year-old former college teacher and his wife left behind comfortable lives in the southern city of Hyderabad. Now he hopes that by dying in Varanasi, he can break […]