Town Hall News

By Choonsik Yoo and Jihoon Lee SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s heavily trade-reliant economy barely averted a recession posting slim growth in the first quarter, but the outlook remained clouded by weak exports due to a cooling global economy, even with China’s reopening. South Korea’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter expanded by 0.3% over the previous three-month period, official advance estimates showed on Tuesday, compared with a median […]

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s Treasury and Germany’s Lufthansa have agreed to extend exclusive talks over the sale of ITA Airways until May 12 from the previous deadline of April 24, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Monday. State-controlled ITA officially replaced the money-losing Alitalia airline in 2021. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Treasury granted Lufthansa’s request for extra time for the talks. The source […]

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan raised its official assessment of imports for first time in nine months, the government’s monthly economic report showed on Tuesday, as the yen’s double-digit depreciation from a year earlier puffed up the value of imported goods. While the report maintained the overview of the economy that it was on a moderate recovery, it recognised rising bankruptcies and maintained a warning against global financial volatility it added […]

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission has tweaked draft patent rules to make it easier for patent holders to sue companies over royalty disputes following criticism that an earlier draft favoured users while restricting patent owners from seeking injunctions. The EU executive, which will announce the draft rules on Wednesday, is hoping the move will end costly legal spats over patents essential to key technologies for […]

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s economy in the first quarter expanded by 0.3% over the previous three-month period, official advance estimates showed on Tuesday, compared with a median 0.2% rise tipped in a Reuters survey. It follows a 0.4% contraction of Asia’s fourth-largest economy during the final quarter of 2022, which was the first decline in 2-1/2 years. Economists usually define a recession as two consecutive quarters of contraction. A […]

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump is already the first former American president to face criminal charges. Jurors are expected to soon decide in an unrelated civil case whether he lied about committing rape. A trial is scheduled to begin on April 25 in one of former Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll’s two lawsuits against Trump over his denials that he raped her in the mid-1990s. […]

KATHMANDU/DUBAI (Reuters) – A flydubai flight from Kathmandu to Dubai experienced a bird strike during takeoff but returned to the United Arab Emirates, the company said on Monday. “Our experienced flight crew followed standard operating procedure and continued the onward journey after determining that the engine was within normal operating parameters,” a spokesperson for the UAE company said. Jagannath Niroula, spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, said in a […]

By David Shepardson and Heekyong Yang WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) -General Motors Co and Samsung SDI are expected to announce as early as Tuesday that they plan to build a new joint-venture battery manufacturing plant in the United States, sources told Reuters. Reuters reported in January that GM and LG Energy Solution would not move forward with a fourth U.S. battery manufacturing plant. GM and LG Energy Solution are building a $2.6 […]

TOKYO (Reuters) – All Japanese people who wished to leave Sudan have been evacuated, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday, part of an international exodus from an eruption of violence in the African nation. In addition to the 45 who left late Monday night on a Japanese military flight, eight more have left with the help of France and other groups, Kishida told reporters. It was not immediately clear […]