Town Hall News

(Reuters) – Russia’s prosecutor general said on Friday it had banned a group campaigning for Japanese sovereignty over four disputed islands seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two, amid rising tensions between Moscow and Tokyo. The group – known as the League of Residents of Chishima and Habomai Islands – organised annual trips to the islands by their former Japanese residents and their descendants, thousands […]

By Emma Farge GENEVA (Reuters) -Global sea levels are rising at more than double the pace they did in the first decade of measurements in 1993-2002 and hit a new record high last year, the World Meteorological Organization said on Friday, warning that the trend would continue for millennia. Extreme glacier melt and record ocean heat levels – which cause water to expand – contributed to an average rise in […]

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (Reuters) -The United States said it will soon start training Ukrainian troops to use its Abrams tank and Germany announced a deal to establish a hub in Poland to repair tanks deployed in Ukraine as the U.S. hosted a meeting of allies at in Germany on Friday. The meeting at Ramstein Air Base, the latest in a series of arms-pledging conferences to Ukraine since Russian President […]

KYIV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian former deputy defence minister and another ministry official have been served with “notices of suspicion” accusing them of wrongdoing over contracts for food purchases for the army, the state anti-corruption agency said on Friday. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said in a statement that their actions had resulted in losses to the state of almost 12 million hryvnias ($328,000). It did not name the suspects […]

(Reuters) – Nasdaq Inc on Friday said its board appointed Tal Cohen and Nelson Griggs each as presidents, formalizing the corporate structure the transatlantic exchange operator recently put in place to boost its efforts in major growth areas, like anti-financial crime software. With the appointments, Nasdaq Chief Executive Officer Adena Friedman, who was also appointed chair of the New York-based company’s board on Dec. 19, gave up the role as […]

WARSAW (Reuters) – The first trucks carrying Ukrainian food products including corn and eggs were bound to start transit via Poland to the Netherlands on Friday morning, a Polish customs official said, as rules allowing the shipments took effect overnight. The rules brought an end to a ban that was introduced without notice on April 15 leaving many companies with goods stranded across the border in Ukraine. “The first convoy […]

By Aditya Samal and Leroy Leo (Reuters) -HCA Healthcare Inc said it expects a recovery in surgical procedures to persist through the year for the hospital operator as staffing almost reaches pre-pandemic levels and allows it to widen bed and surgical capacity. The industry bellwether on Friday reported better-than-expected results and raised its forecasts for 2023 on improved staffing, lifting its shares up nearly 5%. Last year, a spate of […]

By Aditya Samal (Reuters) -HCA Healthcare Inc on Friday reported better-than-expected results and raised its forecasts for 2023 on improved staffing that has allowed the hospital operator to conduct more surgeries, lifting its shares by over 7% in premarket trade. Last year, a spate of resignations by healthcare staff due to pandemic-related fatigue forced hospitals to pay large premiums for new hires, but first-quarter costs neared pre-pandemic levels as workers […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A senior U.S. sanctions official is alerting European countries to Russian efforts to acquire certain sanctioned goods, as Washington seeks to root out sanctions evasion by Moscow. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson is visiting Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany this week, where he is meeting with government officials, financial institutions and other businesses. The Treasury Department is warning during the […]