Town Hall News

(Reuters) – Fighters of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group have captured two more areas of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday. Wagner has spearheaded Russia’s attempt to take Bakhmut since last summer in what has been the longest and deadliest battle of the war for both sides. Reuters could not independently confirm the report. FIGHTING * A Russian missile strike killed at least nine people in […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Fighters of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group have captured two more areas of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday. “On the Donetsk direction, the fiercest fighting has been continuing in the city of Artyomovsk,” the ministry said in a daily statement, referring to the settlement by its Soviet-era name. “Wagner assault units successfully advanced, capturing two areas on the northern and southern outskirts […]

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigeria’s annual inflation accelerated to 22.04% in March from 21.91% in the previous month, its bureau of statistics said on Saturday. Inflation has remained elevated in Africa’s biggest economy, eroding savings and incomes, and prompting the central bank to hike interest rates to their highest level in nearly two decades. Food inflation, which accounts for the bulk of Nigeria’s inflation basket, rose to 24.45% in March from […]

BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan lodged a strong protest on Saturday after its national flag was grabbed and set on fire during the opening ceremony of a weightlifting championship in neighbouring Armenia. Azerbaijan said it had become impossible for its athletes to take part in the championships and they had already left Armenia to travel home via Georgia. Video of the incident showed a man snatching the flag and setting it […]

By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir KHARTOUM (Reuters) -Sudan’s main paramilitary group said it had taken control of the presidential palace, the residence of the army chief and Khartoum international airport on Saturday in an apparent coup attempt as clashes erupted with the military. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which accused the army of attacking them first, also said they had seized the airports in the northern city of Merowe […]

By Humeyra Pamuk HANOI (Reuters) -Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday expressed a desire to deepen their ties, ideally in coming months, as Washington seeks to solidify alliances to counter an increasingly assertive China.     In his first visit to the key southeast Asian country as the top U.S. diplomat, Blinken kicked off his trip with a meeting with Prime Minister […]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Thousands of Palestinian Christians and pilgrims from around the world filled Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday to celebrate the Orthodox Holy Light ceremony, under a heavy Israeli police presence that has drawn anger from churches. The millennium-old celebration, symbolising Jesus’s resurrection, usually draws thousands of worshippers to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe Jesus was buried. But Israeli police this year have significantly limited access […]

(Reuters) – Russia’s regular spring military draft campaign is proceeding as scheduled and there are no plans to send out mass electronic notices under a new system just signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, a top official said on Saturday. The announcement by Colonel Andrei Biryukov, an official in an armed forces department responsible for the draft, appeared aimed at quelling speculation that Russia may quickly use the new […]

By Nupur Anand, Tatiana Bautzer and Saeed Azhar NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. banking heavyweights reaped windfalls from higher interest payments in the first quarter, brushing off a crisis prompted by the collapse of two regional lenders and setting aside billions of dollars in case loans turn sour as the economic outlook dims. First-quarter 2023 earnings from JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co beat Wall Street […]