Town Hall News

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Bluestar Alliance, a U.S. brand management company, said on Monday it has acquired the Scotch & Soda clothing brand from its Dutch owner for an undisclosed sum. Scotch & Soda filed a bankruptcy request for its Dutch operations, which include the company’s head office, earlier this month. “Following the closing of the transaction, Scotch & Soda will be enabled to continue its activities in selected markets,” Bluestar […]

By Nick Starkov KYIV (Reuters) – Orlando Bloom, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations children’s organization UNICEF and a star of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Lord of the Rings” movies visited a children’s centre in Kyiv on Sunday. It was his first trip to Ukraine since 2016, the British actor said. He also met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “I would have never expected the war to […]

KINSHASA (Reuters) – A video showing nine Congolese miners unexpectedly popping out of a collapsed gold mine and tumbling down a steep slope as onlookers cry out in joy has gone viral in Democratic Republic of Congo, a rare happy ending to an all-too-common story. Mining accidents are rife in the giant Central African country, especially at small, artisanal sites such as the one in South Kivu province that collapsed […]

MADRID (Reuters) – Officials evacuated people from three small villages in eastern Spain on Monday as winds and dry weather fanned a wildfire ravaging the area. Flames shot high into the air and plumes of smoke billowed from trees close to houses in another village, in a video shared by Valencia’s regional weather agency AVAMET. “We are receiving images that we would not want to see. The fire is gaining […]

By Humphrey Malalo and Ayenat Mersie NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenyan police fired teargas and water cannons at stone-throwing supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga on Monday during a second week of protests against the government and high food prices, with one person shot dead in the western city of Kisumu. The clashes broke out as Odinga’s convoy passed through the Kawangware neighbourhood in the capital Nairobi, Reuters reporters said. Hundreds […]

By Karen Freifeld (Reuters) – A Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence about former President Donald Trump’s role in a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels was expected to reconvene on Monday, a law enforcement source said.     The grand jury, which has been meeting since January, could indict Trump over the handling of the payment, which would make him the first U.S. president to face a criminal charge in […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Prince Harry, Elton John and five other high-profile figures are suing the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper over allegations of phone-tapping and other privacy breaches. As the case was heard at London’s High Court for the first time on Monday, here are some details about the case and the background of lawsuits against the British press. WHAT IS THE CASE ABOUT? The claimants allege Associated Newspapers […]

By Saeed Azhar and Davide Barbuscia NEW YORK (Reuters) – After the collapse of two U.S. banks and record outflows from smaller lenders, the banking industry is shifting its concern from an immediate crisis to a medium-term worry: economic growth. Deposits held by small U.S. banks dropped by a record $119 billion to $5.46 trillion after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10, according to data released Friday […]

By Christopher Bing WASHINGTON (Reuters) -At least 50 U.S. government staffers stationed in 10 countries were targeted with commercial hacking tools, commonly known as spyware, a senior administration official said, highlighting the growing threat by offensive cyber vendors and prompting the White House to introduce rules to hinder the spying. U.S. President Joseph Biden signed an executive order on Monday to curb the malicious use of digital spy tools around […]